Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
Tl; DR
- Google added a tab interface to the terminal application in Android 16 Beta 3.
- The terminal application allows you to run linux applications in a virtual machine on your Android device.
- The addition of tabs facilitates multitasking, as you can issue commands without having to wait a process to be finished.
With the most recent Drop Pixel, Google has finally introduced the Linux Terminal application that we have been following since last year. For those who are not familiar, the Linux Terminal application allows you to execute a complete Debian body in a virtual machine, giving you access to many Linux applications that are not available on Android. The March update is however only the initial version of the Linux Terminal application, so many features are missing. Google makes it a priority to improve the Linux Terminal application, however, and in the latest beta version of Android, the company has implemented significant functionality: TAB management.
After installing the third beta version of Android 16 that Google published earlier this week, we opened the Linux Terminal application and noticed that he now had a tab interface. The tabs of the terminal application are similar to those of a web browser, with a title, a button to close them and a button to open new ones. The tabs can neither be reorganized nor renowned, but this is the functionality that Google could add future updates. The application supports the opening of many tabs, because we were able to open 12 tabs without problem.
The advantage of adding tabs is that it allows you of several tasks. If you run an order that will take a while to finish, you can open another tab to perform other tasks. I think most people intuitively understand the advantages of the tabs, so its inclusion in the terminal application is obvious.
Another new addition to the terminal application in Android 16 Beta 3 is the “Display” button. This button is intended to open the display activity, which allows users to run Linux graphic applications. However, the management of the graphic application is currently deactivated in Android 16 Beta 3, so that the “display” button is not functional. For those who are curious, we have previously demonstrated that Doom runs in the Linux terminal application using this display activity.
Since we have shared a condemnation demo in the Linux terminal, Google has made several improvements to the application, which should be included in a future version of Android. In particular, these improvements include Management of the speaker and microphonewhich, when combined with accelerated graphics in equipment, will allow a wide range of linux programs useful to execute.
To try the Linux Terminal application, you must first activate developer options on your Android device. Then activate the terminal by sailing towards Settings> System> Development options> Linux development environment and switch ‘(Experimental) Execute the Linux terminal on Android‘. After going back to your home screen, open the terminal application from the list of applications. You will be invited to download a ~ 567 MB package containing the Debian image, which will then be unpacked and executed in a virtual machine using the Android virtualization framework (AVF).
Let us know in the comments below what you think of the Android Linux Terminal application and for which you plan to use it!
