Three problems you told us about are fixed today. Each one came from a report, so thank you to everyone who took the time to write in or post about what they ran into.

These fixes are part of the Linux system inside Breadstick, so you do not need to update the app from Google Play. Breadstick updates its Linux system by itself within a day while you are on Wi-Fi, or you can open Breadstick Updates from your apps to get them right away.

Audacity opens again

Audacity, the audio editor in the Media bundle of Recommended apps, stopped with an error as soon as it started (“Unable to create shared memory segment”). It now opens normally, and it opens again after you close it. Audacity needs Breadstick 2.0 or later.

Firefox plays video and sound

Firefox could show YouTube, but every video said “Your browser can’t play this video”, and other videos with sound would not play either. Firefox now plays them, sound included, in Desktop mode and in Floating windows. Restart the desktop once after the update, or close Firefox and open it again.

Each browser icon opens its own browser

If you had more than one browser installed, say Chrome and Firefox, every browser icon opened whichever one you installed last. Now each icon opens its own browser. If you pinned a browser to your Android home screen before this update, remove that shortcut and pin it again.

Keep the reports coming

Every one of these was found because someone told us. If something does not work the way you expect, email us at hello@breadstick.io. The more detail you can send, the faster we can fix it: your device, what you were doing, and, if you can, a diagnostics report from Breadstick’s Settings.

Breadstick 2.0 is rolling out on Google Play today. If your device updates apps automatically, it is already on its way; if not, open Breadstick in the Play Store and tap Update. Two days ago, 1.9.9 brought Breadstick to Googlebooks. This release brings it to the ones with an Intel processor.

Native on Intel

Until now, Breadstick was built for ARM, the processor in nearly every phone and tablet. Intel Googlebooks could install it from Google Play, but setup stopped partway: the ARM build ran translated there, and it could not work. If you tried it on an Intel Googlebook and got stuck, that is why.

Breadstick 2.0 runs natively on Intel Googlebooks and other x86-64 Android devices. It installs a Debian 13 built for the processor, amd64, the same Debian an Intel PC runs, and nothing is translated. Google Play now offers 2.0 to those devices. Breadstick needs Android 8 or newer, on an ARM64 or an x86-64 processor.

On an Intel device, x86 Linux programs are simply native, so the x86 apps pack, which sets up Box64 on ARM devices, is not needed there and not offered. Windows programs still do not run, on either kind of device. x86 apps explains what each one means for you.

Intel graphics, driven directly

GPU acceleration, part of Breadstick Pro, works differently on Intel graphics. On ARM devices, Linux apps hand their drawing to Breadstick’s graphics server, which draws it on the chip. On an Intel device, the Linux system’s own Mesa drives the chip directly, through zink on Intel’s Vulkan driver, with nothing in between.

Here is glmark2-es2 at 1280x720 on a Lenovo Googlebook 15 (Intel Core Ultra 5 325), in frames per second, against software rendering on the same machine:

• build: 952 against 600
• terrain: 288 against 15, about 19 times as fast
• refract: 547 against 44

It turns on where it is faster

On every device, ARM included, GPU acceleration now turns itself on only where Breadstick’s own test shows it is faster than the processor. If your graphics chip runs stably but gains too little, acceleration stays off, and Graphics in Settings shows what the test found, with the switch to turn it on yourself. The GPU acceleration guide has the details.

Fewer processes, fewer closed apps

Apps you open outside the desktop, from Floating windows, the Apps drawer or a Terminal tab, now reach Linux’s system services: the session bus the desktop uses. Until now they were turned away, and some programs got round it by starting a private copy of those services, at three or more processes each. Android limits how many processes one app may run, so that mattered. One set of apps we measured went from 34 processes to 25.

Fewer apps are closed by Android’s process limit, too. One thing changes with it: apps opened outside the desktop now depend on the desktop session, so if Android does close the session, most of them close with it. The troubleshooting guide covers the limit and what to do about it.

Steam, as an experiment

There is one more thing for Pro users on Intel devices, and it comes with a clear label: Steam, experimental and not supported. It is in Recommended apps on x86-64 devices only. Breadstick installs what Steam needs, then downloads Valve’s official installer from Valve and opens it. You accept Valve’s agreement and sign in yourself. If Steam does not open after the install, start it from the Apps page.

On a Lenovo Googlebook 15, Steam signed in, the store and the library worked, downloads worked, and Portal ran with sound. Before you try it, know the limits:

• Native Linux games only. Windows games, which Steam runs through Proton, do not run. Proton is built on Wine, and Android’s security rules do not let an app run the code Wine needs. It is the same reason Wine does not run on ARM devices.
• 32-bit games can be slow. On a device whose processor cannot run 32-bit code natively, and the Lenovo Googlebook 15 is one, 32-bit games draw in software.
• Android’s child process limit has to be off. The Steam card refuses to install until it is, and says how. On some Android 17 devices the switch in Developer options did not take effect while the adb command did, so the adb command in the troubleshooting guide is the reliable way. It removes the limit for every app on the device, so read what that costs first.
• Not supported means just that. Steam or a game may not start, or may stop working after an update.

The Steam section of the docs has all of it in one place.

Also in 2.0

• Sandboxed Linux programs. Programs that use bubblewrap for their sandbox, as Steam’s runtime does, now work inside Breadstick.
• Archives and timers on Intel devices. Android’s rules for x86-64 apps refuse some older system calls that Linux tools still make, among them tools that create archives or set timers. Breadstick translates those calls, so the tools work.

The Linux side

Breadstick’s Linux system updates itself through apt, and version 1.0.25 went out on October 7 with the Linux half of this release: the shared system services, which every device gets, and the Linux half of GPU acceleration on Intel graphics. Start the desktop once after it arrives for the shared services to take effect.

Everything is listed in the changelog.

Update Breadstick on Google Play, and tell us how it goes at hello@breadstick.io, especially if you try it on an Intel device we have not tested. 🥖

Breadstick 1.9.9 is rolling out on Google Play today. If your device updates apps automatically, it is already on its way; if not, open Breadstick in the Play Store and tap Update. It follows 1.3.0 and carries everything since: Linux apps that draw with your graphics chip, Breadstick on Googlebooks, and a set of fixes for work profiles and newer devices.

Linux apps on your graphics chip

Until now, every Linux app in Breadstick drew everything with the processor. With GPU acceleration, new in Breadstick Pro, Linux apps can draw with your device’s graphics chip instead, through OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL ES.

Graphics chips and their drivers vary a lot from one device to the next, so Breadstick does not guess. It tests yours: it draws the same scenes on the graphics chip and on the processor, compares them, and times light and heavy drawing. The test runs by itself, once, while Breadstick is open, and acceleration turns on where it ran stably. Graphics in Settings shows the result, the apps using the GPU, and a switch. You do not need Pro to run the test, so you can see how your own device does before you decide.

Here is what the test measured on our devices on October 6, heavy drawing on the graphics chip against the same drawing on the processor:

• Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (Mali): about 3x
• Pixel 10 Pro XL (PowerVR): 2.5x
• Dell XPS Googlebook (Adreno X1-85): 1.8x
• Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Tri-Fold (Adreno 830): 2.8x to 8.8x

The gain is in 3D-heavy apps. Light drawing is another story: on some chips it ran slower on the graphics chip than on the processor, between 0.4x and 1.2x on the same devices, so an app that draws a few simple shapes gains little or nothing.

What it does not do yet

• Web browsers stay on the processor. Chrome, Chromium and Firefox draw the way they always have.
• Programs that need OpenGL 3 or newer stay on the processor too.
• It is a beta on every chip. Breadstick has not yet verified any chip and driver for good, the ones above included, so a pass is your own device’s result. If something draws wrongly or closes, turn it off for that app or everywhere.

Breadstick also keeps an eye on it. If the graphics server crashes three times in ten minutes, or a desktop start with the GPU does not come up twice in a row, it goes back to the processor on its own. Turn it off while apps are open, and they finish on the GPU while the apps you open next use the processor. The GPU acceleration guide covers all of it.

Breadstick on Googlebooks

Breadstick now runs on Googlebooks, in Android’s own desktop windowing. Every Linux app opens in its own window, with its title and icon, at the right size, and dialogs keep their own size.

• Touchpads. On Android 14 and later, two-finger scrolling and taps work.
• Alt+F4 closes a floating window, on a Googlebook and on Samsung DeX alike.
• Full screen takes the whole display.
• An earlier process warning. The warning before Android’s process limit starts sooner there, because the system’s own virtual machines take part of the limit.
• No back camera needed. Breadstick no longer requires one, so Google Play offers it on laptops.

Fixes worth knowing about

• Work profiles, Secure Folder and Private Space. Installing packages with apt and sudo works there now.
• Archives on newer devices. tar and dpkg-deb failed with “Cannot change mode”; they work now.
• Restoring a backup somewhere else. Restoring into another Linux system, a work profile or Secure Folder no longer affects the original, and systems restored that way before are repaired on their first start.
• Remembered window places (Pro) are no longer overwritten by an app’s splash screen or dialogs. LibreOffice Writer used to reopen at the size of its splash screen.
• Alt+Tab no longer opens the menu of the Linux app underneath.
• 16 KB memory pages. Breadstick is ready for phones that use them.

The Linux side

Breadstick’s Linux system updates itself through apt, and version 1.0.24 went out today with the Linux half of GPU acceleration. It changes nothing for anyone still on 1.3.0, and new installs start on it.

Everything is listed in the changelog.

Update Breadstick on Google Play, and tell us how it goes at hello@breadstick.io, especially if you try it on a Googlebook or a graphics chip we have not tested. 🥖

Can a Samsung tablet replace a laptop for coding? Last weekend, it did for me. With Breadstick, VS Code, compilers and language runtimes, Git and SSH all run on the tablet itself, in real Debian Linux. This is the first post in a series about things Breadstick lets your phone or tablet do that it could not do before, and it starts with the one closest to my own work.

The weekend the laptop stayed home

I live a few hours from the Canadian border, so last weekend we took a quick trip up to Montreal. We drove, and I was the passenger, of course. Normally I would not leave the house without a laptop, in case something needs fixing on the road. This time I took a risk and packed only my Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra and Samsung’s Pro Keyboard for it, running Breadstick.

Links to the tablet and keyboard are affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nothing broke, as it turned out. But I still got a few things done from the passenger seat on the drive up, the same way I work at my desk: I build and test locally in Breadstick, push to GitHub, and GitHub Actions picks it up from there.

VS Code and other IDEs on a Samsung tablet

Breadstick runs real Debian Linux on Android, so the tools are the real desktop ones, not mobile look-alikes or web versions. VS Code is a tap away: the Development bundle in Recommended apps installs it from Microsoft’s own repository, so it keeps updating the way it would on a PC. The same bundle adds git, Python 3 with pip and venv, build tools, and nvm for Node.js.

If you prefer something else, Debian’s own editors and IDEs install with apt, among them Geany, Kate, GNU Emacs, Vim, Neovim, KDevelop and Qt Creator. The app catalog has a whole section of Linux development tools to browse.

Python, Node.js, Go, Rust, Java and more

Debian 13 ships Python 3.13, Node.js 20, Go 1.24, Rust 1.85, OpenJDK 21, Ruby 3.3 and PHP 8.4, all built for the ARM64 processor in your device, so nothing is emulated. Frameworks and libraries arrive the way they do on any Linux PC: pip in a virtual environment for Django or Flask, npm for React or Express, cargo for Rust crates, and Go modules for Go. SQLite and Redis are there for local data; there is no systemd, so you start Redis from the terminal.

One tip: keep your projects in your Linux home folder. It is much faster than Android’s shared folders for builds and for repositories full of small files.

Git, GitHub and SSH

Git works as it does anywhere, and so does GitHub’s own command line tool, gh. Mercurial and Subversion are there too, if your team uses them.

The Breadstick Terminal is a Debian shell with tabs, and ssh reaches your servers from it. With Pro, it adds split panes and saved SSH hosts. It works the other way as well: turn on Breadstick’s SSH server and you can reach the Linux system on your tablet from another computer on the same network.

Programming on Samsung DeX, one window per app

On Samsung DeX, Floating mode opens each Linux app as its own window, right beside your Android apps. VS Code can sit beside your Android browser, with a terminal next to it, each with its own place in the taskbar. If you would rather have a classic Linux desktop, Desktop mode has one, with a panel, an app launcher and a file manager.

What stays in CI

One thing to know before you plan around it: Docker and other containers need kernel features Android does not give apps, so they cannot run in Breadstick. That fits the way I already work: I build and test locally, and after a push, GitHub Actions takes it from there. Anything that needs containers can run in CI the same way, or on a server you reach over SSH. The limits page covers this and the rest honestly.

Try it on your own tablet

Breadstick runs on your device’s own processor and memory, so try it on the tablet or phone you already have before buying anything for it. A keyboard makes a big difference. The getting started guide walks you through the first run.

The laptop stayed home, and the work still got done. Get Breadstick on Google Play and see what your tablet can do. 🥖

Samsung, Galaxy and DeX are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Visual Studio Code is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation, and GitHub is a trademark of GitHub, Inc. Breadstick is not affiliated with or endorsed by Samsung, Microsoft or GitHub.

Breadstick 1.3.0 is rolling out on Google Play today. If your device updates apps automatically, it is already on its way; if not, open Breadstick in the Play Store and tap Update. Thank you to everyone who has written in since the last release with reports, logs and ideas. Most of this release is about everyday reliability: seeing what Linux is using, getting your apps back when Android steps in, and not losing work to a closed window.

See what Linux is using

Breadstick now has a resource monitor, and it is for everyone. Tap Resource monitor, under Monitor on the home screen, to see live what Breadstick and its Linux system take from your device: processor, memory, the process count against Android’s limit of 32, network, power and temperature, and the size of your Linux system on disk. It is also in Settings, Troubleshooting.

It takes a reading every two seconds and draws the last five minutes, and only while the monitor or its home screen card is on screen, so it costs nothing the rest of the time. If your desktop has ever closed on its own, the process count is the number to watch. When the device slows down or gets warm, the processor, power and temperature tiles show what is going on. The troubleshooting guide explains every tile.

When Android closes Linux

Android can close the Linux session on its own, most often at its process limit. This release makes that much easier to recover from:

• Your floating apps come back. If Android closes Linux while you have floating apps open, the next Floating start offers to reopen them, and on Android 11 and newer each one goes back where its window was. See If Android closes Linux.
• Restart works again. Since 1.2.0, once Android had closed the desktop, the automatic restart and the Restart button did nothing until you tapped Stop. Both work again.
• Warnings you can rely on. The warning before the process limit now works on phones that enforce the limit, where it could go quiet for good. If Android closes the session at the limit and Breadstick cannot restart it, a notification tells you why.

Closing a window asks the program first

Closing a floating window now asks its program to close, the way closing a window on a Linux desktop does. A program with unsaved work gets to ask about it before anything is lost, and if you cancel, the window you closed comes back where it was. Until now, closing a window could leave its program running with nothing to show for it: Chrome, LibreOffice and VS Code carried on with no window, still counting against Android’s process limit.

If a program stops responding, close its window again within a minute to end it. Closing a floating window has the details.

Terminal programs open on your session

A program with a window that you start in a Terminal tab now opens on the running session: on the Linux desktop in Desktop mode, or as its own Android window in Floating mode. A tab that was already open when the session started picks it up with the next command you type. See Programs with windows.

Better on phones

• Room for the keyboard. The desktop and the Terminal make room for the on-screen keyboard.
• Clear of the status bar. Floating windows keep clear of the status bar at the top of the screen.
• A full-size desktop. The shelf at the bottom of the Linux desktop and its status icons are full size on phones, and the app launcher fits the screen instead of cutting off its right-hand columns.

Smaller fixes

• Starting after a restore. Starting Linux after a restore could fail with “The display server didn’t start” until you closed the app. It starts now.
• Your clipboard, left alone. Starting the desktop no longer copies to your Android clipboard every time, with Android’s clipboard notice. And a clip from an earlier session no longer comes back over whatever you copied since.
• Android 8 to 10. The Terminal and floating windows no longer crash on Android 8 to 10.
• Setup shows as done. Settings shows a new Linux system as set up right after the first install.

The Linux side kept moving too

Breadstick’s Linux system updates itself through apt, and three updates went out this week. Two of the fixes above arrived that way: the full-size desktop on phones, and old clips no longer coming back. So did these:

• Faster drawing. Linux apps draw faster in Desktop mode. Android gives apps no shared memory of the kind X11 programs use to hand their pixels to the display, so Breadstick now provides it. OpenGL drawn in software ran about twice as fast at 1080p on a Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, and GTK apps, SDL games and video players take the same path. It tests itself each time the desktop starts, and stays off on any device where the test does not pass.
• SSH on Debian 13. The SSH server starts on Debian 13, where turning it on used to end with “SSH server failed to start”.

Those changes reach your device without an app update.

Find your next Linux app

The site has something new as well: the Breadstick app catalog, a guide to more than 1,500 of Debian 13’s desktop apps, by category and by popularity. The ones we have tested on a real device are marked, with the details on each page. If you are wondering whether a desktop app you rely on is in Debian, it is a good place to start.

New in Breadstick Pro

Breadstick Pro gains a good deal in this release as well:

• Printing. LibreOffice, Chrome and every other Linux app print through Android’s print dialog, to any printer your device can use, or save a PDF. See Printing.
• Layouts. Save the floating apps you have open and where their windows are, then open them all again in one tap, from Breadstick or from your home screen. Layouts open in Floating mode, and floating windows reopen where you left them. See Layouts.
• Automatic and encrypted backups. Back up on a schedule while your device charges, to the device or to a folder your cloud storage app syncs, and encrypt backups with a password. Restoring any backup stays free. See automatic backups and encrypted backups.
• Open with, and drag and drop. Open Android documents, photos and code files in Linux apps from Android’s Open with, and drag files from Android apps onto Linux windows on Samsung DeX. See Open with and drag and drop.
• Desks. Up to four desktops in Desktop mode, switched from the shelf, the keyboard or a three-finger swipe. See Desks.
• Keyboard remapping and shortcuts. Caps Lock as Ctrl or Escape, Alt and Super swapped, other keys remapped, and key combinations that open an app, a Layout or a command. See Keyboard and shortcuts.
• Home screen widgets. A live Linux monitor, and Run in Linux, a button that opens a Layout or runs a command. See widgets.
• More in the Terminal. Themes, fonts, split panes, saved SSH hosts and buttons for your own commands. See split panes and saved SSH hosts.
• The x86 apps pack in one tap. It sets up Box64, an experimental way to run 64-bit x86 Linux programs, and no longer installs Wine, which Android does not let start. See x86 apps.

The Free and Pro page lists what each version includes.

Everything is listed in the changelog.

Update Breadstick on Google Play, and tell us how it goes at hello@breadstick.io. 🥖

Breadstick 1.2.0 is rolling out on Google Play today. If your device updates apps automatically, it is already on its way; if not, open Breadstick in the Play Store and tap Update. Most of what is in this release came from your reports, so thank you to everyone who sent logs, screenshots and careful descriptions of what went wrong.

Screen sharing in any browser

Screen sharing used to need a VNC app on the other machine. That still works, and now Breadstick also serves a viewer of its own. Turn on screen sharing, then open the address Breadstick shows, on port 6080, in a web browser on any computer on your network. Enter the password, which is new every time sharing starts, and your Linux desktop appears in the tab. There is nothing to install on the other machine.

Like VNC, the browser viewer sends your screen over the network unencrypted, so use it on a network you trust. The remote access guide has the details.

Copy and paste for more than text

The clipboard now carries images, formatted text and files between Android and Linux, in both directions. Copy on one side, paste on the other, and it arrives as what it was, not just as plain text.

Floating windows that behave

Floating mode got the most attention in this release.

• Clicks land everywhere. On a large floating window, the right and bottom edges used to ignore the mouse. They no longer do.
• The right size from the start. On high-resolution screens, Chrome, VS Code and other Electron apps were drawn twice as large as they should have been at the default display scale, and text in many other apps was too big. Apps now open at the size you expect.
• Back and close do what you expect. Back no longer closes a Linux app, and closing the last window closes it properly.

Stop means stop

Stop now fully stops the Linux session, the SSH server and screen sharing. Before this release, each of them could keep running in the background, and a session that was stopped and started again could end up running twice.

Fewer surprises

• A warning before Android steps in. Android has a limit of 32 background processes, and going past it can close the desktop without warning. Breadstick now warns you as you get close, and Settings shows a live count. The troubleshooting guide explains what to do.
• Better battery life. An idle session no longer keeps your device awake. If you want Linux to keep running with the screen off, Settings, Power has a switch for that.
• Terminal text lines up everywhere. The Terminal now brings its own monospace font, so columns stay aligned on phones set to a custom system font.
• Safer setup. An interrupted install or restore no longer leaves a half-written Linux system behind, and setup asks before downloading over mobile data.

For app developers

Other apps can now open Linux apps or run commands in Breadstick, but only with a permission you grant, and Settings, Other apps shows which apps have asked. If you build Android apps and want to hand work to Linux, the new For app developers page explains how.

The Linux side keeps improving too

Breadstick’s Linux system updates itself through apt, and it had a busy week of its own. Breadstick Updates now installs every waiting update, Debian’s security fixes included, notifications from Linux apps reach Android again, and apt no longer prints “Missing Signed-By” notices. Those changes reach your device without an app update.

Everything is listed in the changelog.

Update Breadstick on Google Play, and tell us how it goes at hello@breadstick.io. 🥖

In 2018, Samsung shipped something unusual for a phone maker: Linux on DeX. Connect a Galaxy phone or tablet to a monitor, open the app, and you had a full Ubuntu desktop running beside Android. For developers it was a glimpse of the pocket workstation, one device for your apps, your code and your terminal.

It never left beta. When Android 10 arrived in 2019, Samsung ended the program, and Linux on DeX went with it.

What people did next

The demand did not go away. Since then, running Linux on DeX has meant stitching things together yourself: a terminal app, a chroot or proot distribution, a separate X server or VNC viewer, and a guide that was already out of date. It works, eventually, but every Linux app ends up trapped inside one viewer window, and none of it feels like it belongs on your device.

Breadstick brings it back

Breadstick is an Android app that runs real Debian Linux on Samsung DeX. There is no root, no sideloading and no second computer. You install it from Google Play, pick a browser, and a few minutes later you have a working Linux system.

It gives you three ways to work:

• Floating mode runs each Linux app as its own DeX window, right next to your Android apps. VS Code, Chrome, GIMP and a terminal each get a window you can move and resize like any other.
• Desktop mode gives you a complete Linux desktop, with a panel, an app launcher and a file manager, for when you want to work the traditional way.
• The Breadstick Terminal is a fast command line with tabs, for when a shell is all you need.

Built into your device

Unlike Linux on DeX, Breadstick is deeply integrated with your Android device. Your Android folders show up in your Linux home folder, the clipboard works in both directions, sound and the microphone work, and web links open in your Android browser. Linux follows your device’s time zone, language and dark mode, and with Pro, your Android calendar and notifications appear on the Linux desktop.

A real Debian system

Everything inside is ordinary Debian with apt, so the software you already know is one command away. The Breadstick app catalog lists Debian’s desktop apps and marks the ones tested on a device. Breadstick keeps its own pieces current through its package repository, alongside Debian’s security updates, so the system improves without reinstalling the app.

Under the hood, Breadstick carries its own X server and hands every Linux window to Android as a window of its own. It is the same idea that makes Linux apps feel at home on a Chromebook, and it is why they finally feel native on DeX.

Try it

Breadstick is free on Google Play, with two floating apps at a time, and a one-time Pro upgrade removes the limits. The documentation covers setup, the three modes, and what Breadstick can and cannot do.

Linux on DeX is back, and this time it does not stop at beta.

Samsung, Galaxy and DeX are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Breadstick is not affiliated with or endorsed by Samsung.

Running Linux on an Android phone or tablet without root is not new, and Breadstick did not invent it. Termux, UserLAnd, AnLinux and Andronix have helped a great many people put a real Linux system in their pocket, and each of them is very good at something. This is an honest look at all four: where they shine, where they differ, and why we think Breadstick is the best choice when what you want is Linux desktop apps on Samsung DeX or a big Android screen.

The short version

• Termux is the best terminal on Android, and the quickest way to run command-line tools.
• UserLAnd is the simplest way to get a whole Linux distribution from a single app.
• AnLinux and Andronix offer the widest choice of distributions, installed through Termux.
• Breadstick makes every Linux app a real Android window, with the setup, the desktop and the updates taken care of.

Termux

Termux is a terminal with its own collection of Linux packages, built specifically for Android. Because those packages run directly on Android, with no translation layer in between, they are fast, and the collection is enormous: shells, editors, compilers, Python, Node.js, Git, SSH and a great deal more. Add-ons such as Termux:API let your scripts reach Android features like the clipboard, notifications and sensors, and Termux:X11 adds an X server for graphical programs. Termux is free and open source, and its developers publish official builds on F-Droid and GitHub. The Google Play build is still experimental.

The trade-off is that Termux is not a standard Linux distribution. Software written for ordinary Linux sometimes has to be ported first, which is why many people add a full distribution on top with proot-distro. Graphical apps work, but you put the pieces together yourself, and everything appears inside one X server window.

UserLAnd

UserLAnd, from the team behind GNURoot Debian, is the most approachable of the traditional options. It is a single app on Google Play and F-Droid, free and open source, with no Termux required. Pick a distribution such as Ubuntu, Debian or Kali, or a ready-made app like Firefox or Octave, answer a few prompts, and UserLAnd downloads and sets everything up. It has a terminal built in, and for graphical apps it connects you to a VNC session.

That VNC session is the main difference from Breadstick. The Linux desktop lives inside a viewer app, so every Linux program shares that one window instead of getting its own.

AnLinux

AnLinux is a free, open source guide with buttons. Choose from a long list of distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Kali, Parrot, Fedora, Arch, Alpine and Void, and it gives you a script to paste into Termux, which downloads the system and starts it. There are scripts for desktops too, from Xfce and LXQt to KDE. It is light and transparent: you can read exactly what every step does before you run it.

You do need Termux alongside it, and you run and look after the setup yourself. The desktop is reached through a VNC viewer, so, as with UserLAnd, your Linux apps share a single window.

Andronix

Andronix is the most polished of the Termux-based installers. It offers Ubuntu, Debian, Manjaro, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, Void and Kali, with desktops such as Xfce, LXQt and LXDE, and keeps the commands and guides in one tidy, ad-free app. Its paid Modded OS editions go further, with tuned and preconfigured systems sold as a lifetime purchase.

Like AnLinux, Andronix runs your distribution inside Termux, and you reach the desktop over VNC, with a viewer of its own or any other you like. Your Linux apps live inside that desktop.

Breadstick

Breadstick also runs a real Linux system without root, and then does the rest for you. It is one app from Google Play. There is no Termux to install, no script to paste and no VNC server to set up: you pick a browser, and a few minutes later you have Debian with apt, ready to use. Recommended apps installs whole bundles with one tap, such as VS Code with Git and Python, LibreOffice, or GIMP and Inkscape. The app catalog lists the rest of Debian’s desktop apps.

The biggest difference is how Linux apps appear. Breadstick carries its own X server, and in Floating mode every Linux app becomes its own Android window, right beside your Android apps, with its own icon in the taskbar. On Samsung DeX, VS Code and Chrome from Linux sit next to Gmail and the rest of your Android apps as if they had always been there. When you want a traditional setup, Desktop mode gives you a complete Linux desktop, and the Breadstick Terminal is there when a shell is all you need.

Breadstick is also built into Android rather than sitting beside it. Your Android folders show up in Linux, the clipboard works in both directions, sound and the microphone work, web links open in your Android browser, and Linux follows your device’s time zone, language and dark mode. With Pro, your Android calendar and notifications appear on the Linux desktop. Updates take one tap, too: Breadstick Updates installs everything waiting, Breadstick’s own packages and Debian’s alike.

Where the others win

A fair comparison should say this part out loud.

• The command line. If you live in a terminal, Termux is lighter and faster than anything that runs a full distribution, Breadstick included.
• Choice of distribution. Breadstick is Debian only. If you want Arch, Fedora or Kali, AnLinux and Andronix have you covered.
• 3D graphics. Breadstick draws everything in software for now, so 3D apps and games are out until GPU acceleration arrives. Some Termux setups can already use the GPU on certain phones.
• Price. Termux, UserLAnd and AnLinux are free, and so are Andronix’s unmodded distributions. Breadstick is free for two floating apps at a time, and a one-time Pro upgrade removes the limits.

Breadstick also shares the limits of every Linux that runs without root: no Docker, no VPN clients inside Linux, no USB devices. Our documentation lists everything Breadstick cannot do, so you can check before you plan around it.

Which one should you choose?

If you want a terminal for scripts and remote servers, choose Termux. If you want to explore many distributions, try Andronix or AnLinux. If you want one distribution in one app with the least fuss, UserLAnd is a good place to start.

If you want Linux desktop apps that feel like they belong on your device, with every app in its own window, your Android files and clipboard at hand, and sound that just works, that is what Breadstick is for. And you do not have to pick only one: Breadstick and Termux install side by side.

Get Breadstick on Google Play, or start with the getting started guide. 🥖

Termux, UserLAnd, AnLinux and Andronix belong to their developers, and Breadstick is not affiliated with any of them. The details here come from each project’s own pages and store listings in September 2026. Samsung and DeX are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

People ask about the name more than almost anything else, so here is the story.

Blame Chromebooks

Blame Chromebooks, and my passion for ChromeOS. Anyone who has run Linux on a Chromebook knows the menu. First came Crouton, the Chromium OS Universal Chroot Environment, which put Ubuntu or Debian in a chroot on developer-mode Chromebooks. Then Google built Linux support into ChromeOS itself and called it Crostini. After that came Bruschetta, for running other Linux virtual machines, and now Baguette.

Croutons, crostini, bruschetta, baguettes. Whoever names these projects is apparently always hungry.

The theme runs deeper than the headline names. Inside Crostini, the piece that brings Linux windows onto the ChromeOS desktop is called Sommelier, and the helper that runs errands between Linux and ChromeOS is called Garcon. It is a whole restaurant.

The best idea in the bakery

What Crostini got right was not the container or the virtual machine. It was the windows. A Linux app on a Chromebook opens in its own window, with its own icon on the shelf, right beside your Chrome tabs. It does not live inside a remote desktop viewer. It behaves like it belongs there.

That is exactly what Samsung DeX was missing. Linux on DeX put a whole Ubuntu desktop in a single window, and once Samsung ended it, the alternatives were mostly that same idea assembled by hand. Breadstick takes Crostini’s approach and brings it to Android: in Floating mode, every Linux app is drawn as its own native DeX window, next to your Android apps, with its own icon and its own place in the taskbar.

So it needed a bread name

A project that borrows the best idea from the bakery could hardly be called anything else. A breadstick felt right: long, thin, and it fits in your pocket, just like the phone it runs on. We checked the rest of the bakery for something better and came back with crumbs.

The name is also a small thank-you. Crouton showed that people wanted real Linux on devices that were never designed for it, and Crostini showed how good it could feel when it was done properly. Breadstick is my attempt to bring that same feeling to Samsung DeX and Android.

What comes in the basket

Breadstick runs a real Debian system with apt and gives you three ways to use it: Floating mode, where each Linux app gets its own window; Desktop mode, a complete Linux desktop; and the Breadstick Terminal. It needs no root, installs from Google Play, and keeps itself up to date.

To see what it can do, start with the getting started guide, or get Breadstick on Google Play. 🥖

ChromeOS and Chromebook are trademarks of Google LLC, and Samsung and DeX are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Breadstick is not affiliated with Google or Samsung. As an Amazon Associate, Breadstick earns from qualifying purchases.