Say goodbye to your PC as Samsung's Dex now runs full Desktop Linux

Yesterday we saw Huawei’s challenge to Samsung’s Dex in the form of PC Mode on the Huawei Mate 10, but as usual, Samsung does not take being second best lying down.

The company has responded by announcing a new capability for Samsung Dex, their large-screen desktop mode for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8 – the ability to run a full Linux operating system as an app on their smartphones, with full large-screen Dex support.

They write:

Although it’s in a trial phase, Linux on Galaxy is our innovative solution to bring the Linux experience on PC to mobile, and then further onto a larger display with Samsung DeX. Now developers can code using their mobile on-the-go and with Samsung DeX, and can seamlessly continue the task on a larger display.

Installed as an app, Linux on Galaxy gives smartphones the capability to run multiple operating systems, enabling developers to work with their preferred Linux-based distributions on their mobile devices. Whenever they need to use a function that is not available on the smartphone OS, users can simply switch to the app and run any program they need to in a Linux OS environment.

Linux on Galaxy is made even more powerful because it is DeX-enabled, giving developers the ability to create content on a large screen, powered only by their mobile device. This represents a significant step forward for software developers, who can now set up a fully functional development environment with all the advantages of a desktop setting that is accessible anytime, anywhere.

Samsung says Samsung Linux on Galaxy is still a work in progress, but developers who are interested can get an early notification of availability by sign up at seap.samsung.com/linux-on-galaxy.

While Linux is powerful I’m sure our readers would prefer Dex ran Windows on Arm instead. Maybe if Microsoft asks Samsung nicely enough?

Source: Samsung