Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#1

Post by user070223 » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 7:28 AM UTC

Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)
ivonblog.com

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#2

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Fri, Jul 25, 2025, 10:56 PM UTC

I actually tried to get PMOS support upstreamed: https://github.com/termux/proot-distro/issues/429 But unfortunately they didn't think it was different enough from Alpine and I didn't have the cycles to argue the point at the time. It would be really nice to get all of this packaged up to the point of being like 3 commands to go from just termux to a full PMOS on your Android phone, but it's a lot of different bits to get working together.

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#3

Post by saaspirant » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 1:49 AM UTC

Did anyone manage to install a Linux OS with proper desktop inside your Android phone?

I tried a lot of open source tools written for this with Termux but when I tried to use it via vnc, I got a black screen and there was a black plus or dot iirc.

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#4

Post by noosphr » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:14 AM UTC

saaspirant wrote: post #3

Did anyone manage to install a Linux OS with proper desktop inside your Android phone? I tried a lot of open source tools written for this with Termux but when I tried to use it via vnc, I got a black screen and there was a black plus or dot iirc.

https://github.com/termux/termux-x11

By default it launches with xfce.

The best tutorial for using it is: https://ivonblog.com/en-us/posts/termux-x11/ please ignore the pervy anime.

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#5

Post by heavyset_go » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 2:33 AM UTC

saaspirant wrote: post #3

Did anyone manage to install a Linux OS with proper desktop inside your Android phone? I tried a lot of open source tools written for this with Termux but when I tried to use it via vnc, I got a black screen and there was a black plus or dot iirc.

> I got a black screen and there was a black plus or dot iirc.

That happened because you started X but didn't start a display manager, window manager or desktop environment.

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#6

Post by erelong » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 3:37 AM UTC

saaspirant wrote: post #3

Did anyone manage to install a Linux OS with proper desktop inside your Android phone? I tried a lot of open source tools written for this with Termux but when I tried to use it via vnc, I got a black screen and there was a black plus or dot iirc.

have you used this guide?

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#7

Post by erelong » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 3:39 AM UTC

I guess I'm wondering what the advantage is with this over something like a proot-distro ubuntu distro running

or what specific use cases that ubuntu / android / termux wouldn't otherwise cover

(or really just use cases in general here)

Re: Running PostmarketOS on Android Termux proot without a custom ROM (2024)

#8

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 5:34 AM UTC

erelong wrote: post #7

I guess I'm wondering what the advantage is with this over something like a proot-distro ubuntu distro running or what specific use cases that ubuntu / android / termux wouldn't otherwise cover (or really just use cases in general here)

PMOS is designed to work on small screens, so for instance last I checked they were shipping a special Firefox configuration to make it fit on a phone screen reasonably well