Shashlik: A New Way To Run Android Apps On Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Shashlik: A New Way To Run Android Apps On Linux

Shashlik is an "Android Simulated Environment" to serve as a launcher for running Android applications on a conventional GNU/Linux distribution...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Shashlink-Android-Linux

[edoantonioco]

I wonder if the fact than android uses Linux will make easier to port .apks to linux compared to another OS.
But its great news, still, in the KDE project I would be a lot more excited about a project that would have as an objective to make kde stop feeling as an incomplete DE, that would be great. But whatever is progress is always welcome.

[sarmad]

Is this something similar to Wine? I always thought it should be relatively easy to run Android apps on Linux without a VM (at least for the Java apps).

[kenjitamura]

Extremely late to the party but it sounds like something sorely needed to quickly increase the adoption of non-Android Linux smartphone OS'.

[bvbfan]

to make kde stop feeling as an incomplete IDE

WTF?! IDE != DE
Android apps are buggy and unfuctional, Linux not needed them.

[lunarcloud]

It would be nice to run some of the games that haven't or will never be ported to Linux, like anything made by SEGA. It'd be great to run the Jet Set Radio port or the Taxman Sonic CD.

[B.Jay]

Android apps are buggy and unfuctional, Linux not needed them.

I've no idea what problems you may have, but my Android powered tablets and phones work perfectly with all the apps I've installed.

Also... "not need them"? Oh rly?

Well, if we "not need them" then please be so kind to show me a Internet Radio program that can even remotely stand up to "TuneIn Radio". Or... show me a Podcast Manager that can even remotely stand up to "Pocket Casts". Or... show me a media player that can even remotely stand up to MX Player (Pro). I'm pretty sure you won't find anything; I had a look at all the totally over-hyped media players (Audio AND Video) and none of them cuts it for the job (I've not even found anything on Windows that can stand up to TuneIn Radio or Pocket Casts). Totem (now called "Video" in Gnome3) is total garbage (what they call a "Settings menu" is what I call "fail for life"), SMplayer/UMplayer are nice but have severe problems when it comes to vdpau hardware acceleration, audio/podcast managers like Clementine/Rythmbox/Banshee/(continue with overhyped garbage at will) are nothing more than a joke as well (why did WinAMP on Windows had to die?). Okay, on Windows there's at least Media Player Classic Home Cinema that plays on the same level as MX Player does on Android.

Anyway, I for one welcome the idea to have a non-VM (Android-x86, ANDy, whatever else there is) way to run Android apps on Linux - because most of the "native" open source apps we have suck hairy donkey nuts.

[Daktyl198]

in the KDE project I would be a lot more excited about a project that would have as an objective to make kde stop feeling as an incomplete DE, that would be great. But whatever is progress is always welcome.

The project you're thinking of is the "Visual Design Group". Unfortunately, few of them are programmers so they have to work hard with the real application writers to get their work realized. They've already done great things with much of KDE (I can't wait for the System Settings UI rework).

[Dukenukemx]

It would be nice to run some of the games that haven't or will never be ported to Linux, like anything made by SEGA. It'd be great to run the Jet Set Radio port or the Taxman Sonic CD.

I would just run emulators cause Linux has some nice working emulators. Kega for Sega CD emulation and Jet Set Radio already has a Windows version of the game so Wine.

[brotiger]

I tried to build it from github, but stopped at the point where it apparently requires a 32-bit Qt5 installation. No time to fuck around.

This looks like it tries to become some sort of "Wine for Android". A minimal runtime that calls into ported Android code and/or replacement libraries whenever it needs something. Naturally it is fully based on KDE Libraries, because fuck it, who needs a solution that works for everybody when you can use KDE instead.

Usually I would say "let's see where this goes", but it was initiated by Aaron Seigo, who killed the whole KDE experience, failed with his Vivaldi tablet and now apparently hates open source community. The guy who runs the project now, Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen, is the same guy who never finished KDE Gluon (I remember!) and worked three years on the (KDE-based) Calligra Office suite who nobody uses. All of the people on this project have a terrible track record.