The Droidian 99 project release is now available, developing a build based on the Debian GNU/Linux package base, intended for use on smartphones instead of the Android platform. Phosh, based on GNOME technologies and the GTK library, is offered as the graphical environment. The system and user environment are built using repositories from Debian and Mobian. Unlike the Mobian distribution, which targets use on boards and specialized Linux smartphones like PinePhone, Droidian is aimed at installation on regular Android smartphones.
To ensure compatibility with smartphone hardware, Droidian utilizes a kernel from the Android platform, a set of system components from the Halium project, and the libhybris layer, which allows the use of drivers created for Android and operating in user space. The Waydroid platform is employed to run Android applications in a Debian-based environment. The oFono2MM stack is used for tasks related to telephony and making calls. Installation of additional programs in Flatpak format is supported.
The project officially supports installation on smartphones such as Xiaomi Poco M2 Pro / Redmi Note 9 Pro / Pro Max / 9S, Fxtec Pro1, Sony Xperia 5, Google Pixel 3a / 3a XL, and Volla Phone. The community is also working on unofficial firmware for Sony Xperia 1, OnePlus 3 / 3T, and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro.
In the new version:
- The package base has been updated to Debian sid as of August 21.
- A new graphical stack has been implemented, utilizing the Wayland protocol and components such as wlroots 0.17.4, phosh 0.41.0, phoc 0.41.0, gtk 4.14.4, phosh-mobile-settings 0.41.0, libhybris 0.0.5.53, and feedbackd 0.4.1.
- The ofono2mm phone stack has expanded logging capabilities and modem status display.
- Applications such as Maps, Weather, Initial Setup, and Eye of GNOME have been ported from GNOME 47.
- For Qt5-based applications, automatic invocation of the on-screen keyboard occurs when focusing on input fields.
- The layer for running Android applications, Waydroid, has been updated to version 1.4.3.
- The Linux kernel has been updated to version 5.10 from Android 12.
- An option for exiting standby mode with a double tap has been implemented in the settings for the Google Pixel 3a.
- The use of another compiler, Clang, and the specification of additional configuration blocks are now allowed.
Source: opennet.ru
