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Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

(holdtherobot.com)
1016 points mikenew | 2 comments | 14 May 25 15:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.553s | source
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transpute ◴[18 May 25 04:59 UTC] No.44019103[source]▶

  There's roughly 4 different approaches to Linux on Android:
    • virtual machine emulating x86_64
    • Termux
    • arm64 binaries running in chroot
    • proot..  Same idea as chroot, but doesn't use forbidden system calls
Fifth option: arm64 pKVM VM from Android 15 on Pixel 7+ phone/tablet hardware using nested h/w virtualization. Shipped in 2025 under the uninformative name of "Linux Terminal" via Development options, Android now has full Debian Linux with VM root, no emulation, compatible with USB-c desktop display.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43973395 & https://www.androidauthority.com/android-linux-terminal-purp...

> The main purpose of this Linux terminal feature is to bring more apps (Linux apps/tools/games) into Android, but NOT to bring yet another desktop environment.. Ideally, when in the desktop window mode, Linux apps shall be rendered on windows just like with other native Android apps.. GPU acceleration is something we are preparing for the next release.

Hopefully Android 2025 Linux VMs will lead to iOS 19 VMs at WWDC, since Apple wants to sell smart glasses to compete with Meta glasses.

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anonzzzies ◴[18 May 25 05:49 UTC] No.44019250[source]▶
I use NOMone; works really well. Runs everything I need including vscode/cursor, node and anything else I need without any fiddling, it just all works. Obviously the new linux vm is likely nicer, but this works really well so far.

0] https://desktop.nomone.com/

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1. Zambyte ◴[18 May 25 14:58 UTC] No.44021857[source]▶
This seems pretty nice, but fair warning to anyone planning on checking this out, it's actually just a trial version, and the full version is $8. Not too expensive, but doesn't feel great to me that this information is completely omitted until you download and run the app.
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2. anonzzzies ◴[18 May 25 19:57 UTC] No.44023927[source]▶
You can check for quite a long time and then pay a one off $8. Not ideal as I like opensource, but seems quite a lot of work went into it and it's a smooth experience.

I have nothing to do with them, I am happy with something that just works for all I need it for without having to take all kinds of expert steps. It Just Works. Maybe some massive companies can learn from this; the list is large.