Maru OS. Android and Debian, in a single device.

We had previously talked about the convergence developed by Ubuntu for its new Tablets. Convergence, highly anticipated by the users of this distro, opens the way to the versatility that your device can have depending on your tasks. This versatility, of extending the functionalities of a computer by combining it with peripherals, can facilitate your daily activities in many ways both on the PC and on your mobile phone. Therefore, it is not surprising, the great desire of all users who handle mobile phones and desktops, for systems that provide this facility.

1

Now, this time we will talk about Maru OS, ROM which offers the ability to use Debian on your device Android. It is based on Android Lollipop 5.1 and is currently in beta version.

Maru OS offers the possibility of connecting your Android device to a computer monitor, which allows working under the desktop interface, and which in turn makes it possible to connect your mobile device with PC accessories; mouse and keyboard. The mobile phone is simply connected to the computer monitor, where Debian can later be viewed on the monitor screen. This way you will have the opportunity to manage both Debian and Android simultaneously; the first on your monitor, and the second on your mobile device.

The Android file system will be accessible through the desktop. Plus, there will be no need to unmount or reinsert the SD to access its content. On the other hand the critical file system is stored in the SD.

3

For those who back up their files, the backup will be possible both on one system and the other. Modifying the Android ROM is simple and selective, removing the need to completely modify the device, which in turn makes it possible to manage the Android device as another GNU / Linux system.

2

It should be taken into account that the device that manages this connection must have certain characteristics to run Debian on Android:

Powerful and large capacity SD cards; so it can be used on two partitions, one FAT and the other with GNU / Linux compatible file systems (the Debian root filesystem is housed in the second partition). The Android SDK Toolkit. Flash capacity on the device, plus a GNU / Linux computer that has an SD card reader.

It is worth noting that the currently compatible equipment for this technology is the Nexus 5.


4 comments, leave yours

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.

  1.   drassill said

    Interesting; too bad it doesn't seem like it will be implanted in other devices apart from the nexus. One of the "drawbacks" that I see with this system is that in a device as "small" as a mobile; even being a nexus 5, I don't think you can get the most out of it; especially at the terminal level. Still, it is a very interesting concept with great potential.

  2.   Oscar said

    Surely it is not easy to move between the different hardware of the Android world, it is still a great idea.

  3.   Juanjo Marin said

    This idea is not new. Motorola, before being acquired by Google, had terminals like the Atrix 4G that came with Android and a mini Linux distro. It was a basic Debian / Ubuntu-based "webtop" distro that interacted with mobile data, but came with a full Firefox. People managed to install more packages. Further. Motorola offered add-ons, such as a lapdock and a dock, that Canonical used for its Ubuntu for Android demo, which was the same idea.

    I guess it can now be implemented much better, with the arrival of new kernel features like cgroups

  4.   Enrique said

    It seems to me a very good idea, everything that is to make things easier for Android users helps, hopefully over time they can implement more devices for that.