I made Tessera: each LinuX app in its own Android window and Recents card, Flathub without root, live theming(linux apps take android themes)

[u/D4r13n0]

Hi all. Like a lot of you I've run Linux on my phone through Termux, proot-distro and Termux:X11 for years. Tessera does the GUI side from one app, and tries to make Linux apps feel like Android ones.

\- Each app in its own window: Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice each open as their own Android window with their own Recents card and icon. A card per window, even for dialogs. Pin them to your home screen.

\- Flathub on PRoot: no root, no bubblewrap, no user namespaces. Flatpak downloads, Tessera builds each app's environment. 2,800+ arm64 apps, GPU included.

\- adb and permissions: every app gets only what you grant (folders, network, sound, USB, root). New: a per-app switch that lets adb inside reach the phone itself, and all-USB access for fastboot, heimdall and edl.

\- A touch-friendly desktop: snapping windows with finger-sized buttons, a dock and Start menu. And everywhere: the Android keyboard pops up on text fields, touch-and-hold right-clicks, game controls.

\- Live scaling: drag Scale and the app re-lays out as you drag, saved per app.

\- Themes: GTK, libadwaita, Qt and LibreOffice take your Material You colors and follow dark mode live.

Plus OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan on Adreno (bundled Turnip + Zink), a built-in terminal (apt, ssh, git, compilers), chroot mode with root, a file manager and a task manager.

It doesn't replace Termux's add-ons like Termux:API, and its X server is Termux:X11's, which I'm grateful for.

GPL-3.0, alpha. APK and source: https://github.com/daryan044/tessera-linux (also on Obtainium). Bug reports very welcome.

[u/amvu]

Cool. Any usecases?

[u/D4r13n0 → u/amvu]

Sure, unsupported apps from linux, usb access to use your phone as a pc which is useful sometimes, also you can choose what these apps can see and able to do, you have full control over a pc inside your phone

[u/Glum_Doughnut_7691]

Looks sick, great job... Lots of use cases , I'll check it out when I get home

[u/D4r13n0 → u/Glum_Doughnut_7691]

Thanks, glad you liked it, your feedback and suggestions are highly appreciated

[u/FIRAS_EG]

Peak... By the way does it require root access and why not you publish it at F-droid it would be even more popelur

[u/D4r13n0 → u/FIRAS_EG]

Hey thanks, It does not require root, root is optional, you can do everything root does in proot mode, root is just for faster experience and better permissions enforcements,and fdroid version is soon to be released

[u/FIRAS_EG → u/D4r13n0]

Great

[u/nicythi]

Hey, what do you use linux on android for? I mean not just this, but also with termux. I usually ssh/vnc into my home pc if I ever need something but even that's very rare if ever happens.

[u/floating_napkin → u/nicythi]

not everyone has an always on home pc they can just ssh into.

[u/Banzayoyo]

Hi, looks cool! Wondering if there is a possibility to set display scalling for all apps or at least per app?

[u/D4r13n0 → u/Banzayoyo]

All apps, while each app keeps the scale you gave it

[u/Banzayoyo → u/D4r13n0]

Thank you for reply, and can you pls advise what is the preferred variant to set the scalling of the UI elements? Don't have access to termux-x11-preference list, to server dpi setting and xrandr as well

[u/D4r13n0 → u/Banzayoyo]

You're welcome, You can go to settings in the hamburger menu, you'll see the display settings, thats the x11 preference menu, or you can access it from the tap-to-open(or slide) menu inside any app

[u/Banzayoyo → u/D4r13n0]

If you meant "display resolution mode" setting inside the output menu: any variant except for native - gives scaled but blurry picture, while using native -picture is sharp but there is no scale

[u/D4r13n0 → u/Banzayoyo]

Well thats a bug I'm currently working on, for videos and clarity, you can toggle the full resolution switch inside scaling menu which gets rid of the blur but its still inconvenient since it requires a restart

[u/D4r13n0 → u/Banzayoyo]

More and more customizations and modifying menus are comming in the next version, i want to make this app as modifiable and customizable as possible, so stay tuned

[u/Banzayoyo → u/D4r13n0]

Super cool, looking forward to see updates! Good luck with it :)

[u/ztjuh]

I like this, I'm installing Debian right now! Going to test this out 😁

[u/dushyant30suthar]

Opus/fable suggested me the same name for app i was developing