Samsung brings Linux on DeX to more devices: Is your phone on the list?

Samsung’s Linux on DeX is one of the coolest manufacturer initiatives around, bringing full-fledged Linux to the company’s desktop environment. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Tab S4 were the first devices to support the initiative, but the Korean manufacturer is expanding support this week.

According to an official email sent to users, Linux on DeX is now available on the Galaxy S9 series, the Galaxy S10 range (including the Galaxy S10e and 5G model), and the Galaxy Tab S5e.

This makes for a pretty big expansion, although the Galaxy S8 series, Galaxy Note 8, and the company’s new crop of A-series devices are left in the lurch. Still, you have to give kudos to Samsung for bringing Linux to DeX in the first place, especially when HUAWEI doesn’t have Linux via its desktop mode.

Samsung launched the first Linux on DeX beta in November 2018, giving users Ubuntu 16.04 at the time. The beta also required 4GB of RAM, and 8GB of free storage. Furthermore, Linux programs need to be built for the Arm 64-bit architecture in order to run on Samsung’s devices.

It makes for an impressive feat anyway, giving developers, administrators, and other technical types a full-fledged Linux desktop in their pocket. And with Snapdragon chips available in Windows machines, it seems like Arm is finally coming into its own as a viable desktop computing backbone for some consumers. Hopefully the drive to offer Arm builds of popular apps, such as Chrome, means we’ll see more compatible apps on Samsung’s platform.

Keen to give Linux on DeX a try? Then you can check out the Play Store beta testing link via the button below.