Linux Apps on Android Are One Step Closer to Reality

The Linux subsystem on Android is able to open a wide range of possibilities. And the vast majority of them can be unlocked once this change, but important, is actually going to Android stable.

Google apparently works to add the acceleration of the GPU Linux of Android, which would mean that the graphic applications carried out on the terminal would be rendered using the GPU of your phone rather than the use of software acceleration. The current Linux graphical applications execution system on Android is based on a software rendering called Lavapipe. This means that the central processing unit (CPU) of the device is responsible for managing the entire graphic treatment. The CPUs are not designed for the intensive parallel treatment required for smooth graphical rendering, and the execution of Linux applications based on the graphical interface on Android is a very slow experience, strongly experiencing the battery of the device and having it heated. This has relegated the functionality to more than one novelty than a practical tool for daily use.

Google plans to rectify this with the addition of GFXSTream, a graphic virtualization framework designed to fill the gap between an invited operating system (in this case, the Linux virtual machine) and the host equipment (the Android device). Instead of relying on the CPU to perform heavy work, GFXSTream will transmit graphic API calls directly from the Linux environment to the GPU of the Android device. This Direct pipeline will allow the GPU to manage the rendering, resulting in massive performance improvement and the creation of Linux graphic applications executed at speeds comparable to native Android applications.

In the latest Android 2509 Canary version, a new “Graphic Acceleration” menu appeared in the terminal application settings. Although this menu is currently displaying a rocking for the “rendered software” based on the existing processor, a deeper dive in the application code has revealed a second hidden option for “GPU accelerated rendering”. This is the switch that will allow GFXSTream once it is live.

Now it is very early for that – it is not something that works on the last construction of Canary, and even if it is the case, it still has to do the output chain of Android in a stable version. It will take a while before you can check it for yourself. However, it’s cool, and I hope we will end up having it.

Source: Android Authority