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Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

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Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#21

Post by seba_dos1 »

shrubble wrote: post #20

Idea: take the open source Beagle Bone Black, which has open source schematics, put into (probably chunkier) phone form factor, add 4g phone modem. Use containers to segregate any apps, e.g. web browser, maps, Signal/Telegram all in a separate container from each other. Would this allow for less privacy-invasion from Google etc.?

BBB requires non-free drivers for the GPU, which are a huge PITA even if you don't mind them being non-free. You would end up with more-or-less a Nokia N9 clone.

It's better to use something like i.MX 8M Quad - you may want to take a look at the Librem 5; or if you want something lower-end than that then there's also the PinePhone which is based on A64.

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#22

Post by piaste »

rd07 wrote: post #4

I have tried Waydroid in Manjaro Linux, and to my surprise, it runs smoothly. I even able to install Aurora Store and install Telegram from there, which also run perfectly. RAM usage was minimal, maybe because of it is running on a container. The only thing I haven't figured out is keyboard input from my physical keyboard directly to the android.

> I even able to install Aurora Store and install Telegram from there, which also run perfectly

Why Telegram specifically, when it already offers both a web client and a FOSS Linux client?

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#23

Post by pinusc »

shrubble wrote: post #20

Idea: take the open source Beagle Bone Black, which has open source schematics, put into (probably chunkier) phone form factor, add 4g phone modem. Use containers to segregate any apps, e.g. web browser, maps, Signal/Telegram all in a separate container from each other. Would this allow for less privacy-invasion from Google etc.?

If Google privacy invasion is what you fear, then there are simpler solutions. Simply installing lineageOS on a supported android device yields a functioning, de-googlified phone. Install only open source apps (from F-Droid, for example) and you're all set.

Android itself containerizes/isolates apps, with better & better security features in modern versions. LineageOS also adds their own layer of security (ex-PrivacyGuard) on top.

Granted, not all phones are created equal, meaning some of them will have restrictive bootloaders/need more proprietary drivers. It's possible some of them have spyware built in their bootloader/recovery/hardware, although I haven't heard of it. And of course there's 0 fully open-source android hardware phones.

Which, speaking of... this would be excellent on pinephone, which runs linux. Would allow running android apps on it, which is very very useful of course. I might finally bite the bullet and buy it...

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#24

Post by tgtweak »

What's different between this and anbox (other than support, focus, etc)?

How good is the 3d support, ie: Does it support a modern version of OpenGL ES? Can it process that via host hardware support (a la angle or similar)? Can it do that headlessly without an window server running on the host? Can the video output of the app be easily captured by nvenc or intel/amd equivalent?

Is arm translation supported natively or does it require plugins for the abi translation?

Are google's libraries (play services, play store, webview) or alternatives easy to install/supported?

Can the app data and system volume be mounted externally?

Can the system details (cpuid/flags, device name/mfg/model, android OS specifics) be provided/spoofed?

Can sensor inputs (gps location, tilt, multi-touch gestures, battery level, network status, camera/s) be easily simulated or passed from host sensor to the guest app? Can bluetooth be passed through from the host?

Would love for somebody to crush this space and not pivot immediately into commercial offering.

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#25

Post by tgtweak »

piaste wrote: post #22
rd07 wrote: post #4

I have tried Waydroid in Manjaro Linux, and to my surprise, it runs smoothly. I even able to install Aurora Store and install Telegram from there, which also run perfectly. RAM usage was minimal, maybe because of it is running on a container. The only thing I haven't figured out is keyboard input from my physical keyboard directly to the android.

> I even able to install Aurora Store and install Telegram from there, which also run perfectly Why Telegram specifically, when it already offers both a web client and a FOSS Linux client?

Isolation probably.

edit: or if it's anything like signal, the mobile app has some extra functionality that is omitted from the desktop/web client...

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#26

Post by dvdkon »

shrubble wrote: post #20

Idea: take the open source Beagle Bone Black, which has open source schematics, put into (probably chunkier) phone form factor, add 4g phone modem. Use containers to segregate any apps, e.g. web browser, maps, Signal/Telegram all in a separate container from each other. Would this allow for less privacy-invasion from Google etc.?

You could just use a PinePhone, you'd probably get similar performance in a much more convenient form factor.

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#28

Post by option_greek »

29083011397778 wrote: post #18

One of the major advantages of Waydroid that I've found is that it's lighter than Anbox. I know some here have compute to spare, but it makes a big difference on my Pinephone :) It's still early days for Waydroid, but it's also decidedly a step forwards.

Can you add a bit more on what works and what doesn't work on waydroid compared with regular android and regular lineageos on pine phone.

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#29

Post by npteljes »

kxyvr wrote: post #17

Has anyone had success getting any of these containers to work with a camera? Recently, my bank discontinued their website based deposit system for checks in favor of their app. I'm reluctant to keep an app with full access to my account on my phone, so a container system like Waydroid or Anbox would be great if I could just emulate the app when I need it. Has anyone else run into this issue and, if so, how have you…

I got by in similar circumstances with Android x86. Which is simply an android VM. The catch is that it's not ARM, which some apps lamented - but the app I needed worked just fine.

Re: Waydroid – Run Android containers on Ubuntu

#30

Post by exikyut »

kxyvr wrote: post #17

Has anyone had success getting any of these containers to work with a camera? Recently, my bank discontinued their website based deposit system for checks in favor of their app. I'm reluctant to keep an app with full access to my account on my phone, so a container system like Waydroid or Anbox would be great if I could just emulate the app when I need it. Has anyone else run into this issue and, if so, how have you…

FWIW/out of curiosity, I just tried poking the emulator that comes with Android Studio, and found an option (under "advanced settings") to route the emulated front or back camera to "Webcam0". This is out of the box on Debian.

While definitely a heavyweight approach (yay, installing all of Android Studio - but you also install an update tool), I can confirm it works. (And you can fish out and save the qemu invocation from `ps axfww`, then launch it directly without needing to start anything else, although I think the idiomatic approach is using the `emulator` command.)

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