Is anyone else anxious about effortlessly running Android games & apps on Linux?
KDE Plasma mobile is integrating Waydroid and desktop Plasma is next.
Steam Machine’s launch is imminent, Steam Frame is next. And with it, Lepton. Valve’s way of running Android games on Linux.
Waydroid has been working fine for a while but it requires quite a lot of setup for the casual user. Anyone looking to avoid putting the effort will see their opportunity in the coming months. Thanks to both KDE & Valve.
I honestly don’t know exactly what I’ll do with it, but I freaking love that it is being made available. Personally, I won’t be running any Android games, but my kids might want to. And I’m very motivated to try it. I think my biggest reason to be interested in it is the possibilities it opens for Linux phones.
Sure, Google’s integrity API will still block some apps from even working, but the amount of mainstream apps that will work is immense.
For those curious about this: Do you have any specific reason for it or are you interested in the tech?
Like you, I am excited about it for the sake of the community, though I’m hard pressed to find any reason to play games on my Android phone as it is. Android games are either ad infested junk that isn’t interesting to me, or open source and playable on Linux already.
I’ve messed around with Waydroid because it sounds cool in theory, but every time I get it installed, I’m like “now what?” I can’t think of anything to actually do with it, so I imagine it’ll be the same for Lepton.
Still, very cool to have the options, and I’m happy that Linux is getting more attention as a preferred platform such that gaming companies recognize the value in supporting translation layers for it.
Mobile games usually aren’t controllable with a keyboard and mouse. Being able to run them doesn’t do much good if you can’t control them. Most of the games aren’t even worth playing. They are infested with micro transactions, which are much worse than ads.
Most Android emulators allow you to bind keys to click or drag on certain regions of the screen.
I tried a few mobile exclusive FPS games through an emulators many years ago and I managed to get the controls feeling pretty close to playing a native PC game.
I think a SteamOS gaming phone would make sense for Valve tbh. There is a market there that is untapped that they could pursue with gusto! Handheld, PC, VR, and phone would close the loop nicely i think.
What about streaming apps: Netflix, Disney Plus, etc. would that be a way to stream 4k video on Linux? IIRC, Firefox or Chromium based browsers on Linux don’t allow that.
If so, that would be a great way for those wanting to stream using their Steam Machine, Frame and custom Linux based HTPCs.
No, the DRM wouldn’t work at higher levels so you would have the same requirements with regard to 4k.