📱 DroidDesk

Your phone is a Linux workstation.

Debian 13 + XFCE + Firefox ESR + dev tools — running natively on Android.

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⚡ Install

curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arinadi/DroidDesk/main/bootstrap.sh" | bash

Installs XFCE desktop, launchers, and all built-in tools. Under 30 seconds.

Requirements

• Android ARM64 + Termux (F-Droid, NOT Play Store)
• Termux:X11 — display server
• Termux:API (optional — battery, clipboard, voice)
• Termux:Widget (recommended — home screen launchers)

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🏗️ How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  USER LAYER (mutable)               │  ← Your packages, configs, data
│  VS Code, Chromium, Ollama, etc.    │     Preserved across updates
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│  IMAGE LAYER (immutable)            │  ← Pre-built from Dockerfile
│  Debian 13 + XFCE + Firefox + dev   │     ghcr.io/arinadi/droiddesk
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Two-layer architecture:

• Image layer (immutable) — Debian 13 ARM64, XFCE, Firefox ESR, dev tools. Pre-built on GHCR. Download once.
• User layer (mutable) — Your packages via patch.sh, dotfiles, configs. Preserved across updates via auto backup/restore.

Base: Debian 13 (Trixie). Firefox ESR from native repos — zero external APT sources. Update: bash ~/update.sh pulls latest image, restores user layer.

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📦 Built-In + Extras

In the image (ready to use)

Category	Tools
🌐 Browser	Firefox ESR
🖥️ Desktop	XFCE4 + Whisker Menu + Power Manager + PulseAudio tray
🖱️ Touch	Single-click Thunar, large scrollbars, clipboard auto-sync
📝 Apps	Mousepad (editor), Ristretto (images)
🔧 Dev	Git, Node.js 22 LTS, Python 3 (pip/venv/dev), GCC, Make, CMake
📊 Sys	htop, tmux, OpenSSH
🎨 Theme	Adwaita icons, Greybird, SVG support

Install more with patch

bash ~/.droiddesk/scripts/patch.sh                    # Interactive
bash ~/.droiddesk/scripts/patch.sh --chromium --code --zsh
bash ~/.droiddesk/scripts/patch.sh --list

Category	Packages
🌐 Browser	Chromium
💻 IDE	VS Code (code-server), Geany, Neovim
🤖 AI	Ollama (local LLM)
🖥️ System	Zsh + Oh My Zsh, Nala
🔧 CLI	ripgrep, GitHub CLI
🎨 GUI	Viewnior, Xarchiver, Galculator

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🚀 Start / Stop / Update

bash ~/start-x11.sh    # X11 server + PulseAudio
# → Open Termux:X11 app
bash ~/start-xfce.sh   # XFCE desktop

bash ~/kill-all.sh     # Stop everything
bash ~/update.sh       # Update DroidDesk

📱 Termux:Widget (1-tap launchers)

Shortcut	Action
🟢 start-x11.sh	X11 + audio
🟢 start-xfce.sh	Desktop
🔴 kill-all.sh	Stop all
🔄 update.sh	Update

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📋 Commands

Desktop

Command	Action
bash ~/start-x11.sh	Start X11 + PulseAudio
bash ~/start-xfce.sh	Start XFCE desktop
bash ~/kill-all.sh	Stop everything
bash ~/update.sh	Update
bash ~/.droiddesk/scripts/patch.sh	Install software

Termux:API (inside proot terminal)

Command	Action
battery	Battery % and health
clipget / clipset	Android clipboard
vol-up / vol-down	Media volume
bright 50	Brightness 0-100
toast "msg"	Toast popup
notify "T" "B"	Notification
buzz	Short vibration
speak "hello"	Text-to-speech
listen	Speech-to-text
openurl / share	Open / share in Android
whereami / wifi	GPS / WiFi
photo / flash	Camera / flashlight

Panel Widgets (Whisker Menu → Panel → Add → Generic Monitor)

bash ~/.droiddesk/tools/genmon-battery.sh   # 🔋
bash ~/.droiddesk/tools/genmon-volume.sh    # 🔊

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💡 Why DroidDesk?

Problem	DroidDesk Solution
Chrome sleeps tabs	Firefox ESR desktop browser — stays alive
No glibc apps	Debian 13 proot — standard glibc
No dev tools	Node.js 22, Python 3, GCC, CMake built-in
Background killed	Termux:WakeLock keeps sessions alive
No clipboard bridge	Auto-sync Android ↔ proot

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⚠️ Limitations

Limitation	Workaround
No root	proot provides root-like environment
No systemd	Start services manually
No GPU acceleration	Mesa software rendering
ARM64 only	QEMU user-mode for cross-arch
No native X11	Termux:X11 app
Storage restrictions	termux-setup-storage

Cannot do: Docker containers, GPU hardware access, systemd services, x86 natively.

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🛑 Android 12+ Phantom Process Killer

• Android 14+: Developer Options → Disable child process restrictions
• Android 12-13: adb shell settings put global settings_enable_monitor_phantom_procs false

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📂 Structure

DroidDesk/
├── bootstrap.sh          ← one-command entry point
├── scripts/              ← setup, patch, config
├── launchers/            ← start/kill/update shortcuts
├── image/                ← Dockerfile + XFCE/TAPI configs
├── docs/                 ← documentation
└── archive/              ← git history

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📜 License

GPLv3