Skip to main content

Maru OS wants to turn your phone into a desktop with its latest open source build

Maru OS Running on a Nexus 5
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Not to be confused with Maru the adorable YouTube cat, Maru OS, the bite-sized Android add-on that turns your phone into a desktop, just went open source.

Maru OS doesn’t change much about the way your phone operates on its own, but once you connect a desktop monitor via a slimport cable, Maru really comes to life. When connected to a display, Maru OS allows you to run a desktop Linux environment straight from your phone.

Your phone is still a phone, it’ll take calls, send texts and do everything else it normally does, even while it’s connected to a desktop monitor running Linux on the side. It’s an interesting concept, but it’s still very much a work in progress. Today’s announcement could help move things along for Maru.

Right now, Maru has a very narrow spectrum of compatibility – currently only the Google Nexus 5. By going open source, independent developers will be able to riff on what Maru’s got going on under the hood, expanding the compatibility to other phones and tablets or building entirely new versions. Now that the project has been completely open sourced, developers are already getting together a list of phones to tackle next, reports Liliputing.

It’s an exciting concept, especially as phones become more and more powerful – and more capable of running desktop apps. In the future, Maru OS could allow you to replace a desktop computer entirely if your phone’s got the horsepower. Right now, it’s capable of running some Linux desktop apps, but the setup process is anything but easy. Installing Maru OS requires flashing the ROM on your phone, and navigating some serious technical obstacles.

It’s a long way from prime time, and it’s not likely you’ll be able to run desktop games from your phone anytime soon, but Maru OS has potential.

Editors' Recommendations

Jayce Wagner
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A staff writer for the Computing section, Jayce covers a little bit of everything -- hardware, gaming, and occasionally VR.
My iPhone 14 Pro camera is ruined, and it’s all Apple’s fault
The iPhone 14 Pro's camera module.

Every year, Apple touts the iPhone as having an incredible camera system — and, yes, the hardware is certainly impressive. The iPhone 14 Pro has the latest advancements that Apple offers in terms of camera upgrades, including a huge jump to a 48MP main camera with pixel-binning technology (four su-pixels to make up one larger pixel), a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom, faster night mode, and more. Again, on the hardware front, the iPhone 14 Pro camera looks impressive. And it is!

But what good is great camera hardware when the software continues to ruin the images you take? Ever since the iPhone 13 lineup, it seems that any images taken from an iPhone, unless it’s shot in ProRaw format, just look bad compared to those taken on older iPhones and the competing best Android phones. That’s because Apple has turned the dial way up on computational photography and post-processing each time you capture a photo. It’s ruining my images, and Apple needs to take a chill pill and take it down a notch.
These 'smart' features aren’t as smart as they claim

Read more
It’s time to update your iPhone and iPad to iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16
iPads with iPadOS 16.

Apple has launched iPadOS 16 for everyone. This software update is available for free to folks with a compatible iPad model and it brings some big changes to the Messages app, has new smart tools for collaboration, a fresh new iCloud Shared Photo Library, Stage Manager, a Weather app (gasp!), and more. On top of that, Apple is also launching iOS 16.1 for all compatible iPhone models as well, like the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro.

In the Messages app, the big changes include the ability to edit, undo send, and mark entire conversations as unread. While the first two may not have been a universal must-have, marking conversations as unread has been something many people have clamored about for many years. Other new additions in Messages include SharePlay and collaboration on shared documents.

Read more
Google wants you to know Android apps aren’t just for phones anymore
Person holding Samsung Galaxy smartphone showing Google Play Store.

When most people think of the Google Play Store, the first thing that comes to mind is smartphones. However, the spread of the Android ecosystem is far broader than that, and Google is taking steps to increase awareness of this and make it easier for folks to find apps on the Play Store for their smart TVs, watches, and even cars.

In a blog post today, the Google Play team announced three significant changes that should make it easier for Android fans to discover apps for all their devices, right from their phone. This includes recommendations of apps for non-phone devices, a search filter to focus on only games optimized for non-phone devices, and even a remote install feature that will let you deliver those apps to your Android TV, Wear OS watch, or Android Automotive-equipped car.

Read more