Since https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1gdhy7u/experimental_flathub_release_of_newpipe_on_linux/ got a bit of traction yesterday, this is WhatsApp straight from Meta running on Linux desktop using android-translation-layer.

android-translation-layer (ATL) is a Wine-like approach to run Android applications on Linux. Rather than running an Android container like for example Waydroid does this instead implements the Android API. Note that right now it’s very much work in progress and almost no app will work yet, but the fact that they have apps like Newpipe and WhatsApp running already is very promising!

Join the Matrix chat at #android-translation-layer:matrix.org and follow along!

  • penquin@lemm.ee
    903·
    1 month ago

    I can feel it in the air. This is going to take off just like how wine and proton took off. We are going to go through another “Linux gaming” rush all over again and this shit is going to be fun. Let’s go!!!

    • ouch@lemmy.world
      24·
      1 month ago

      Wine was first released in 1993. I hope our children are there to see the take off.

      • penquin@lemm.ee
        91·
        1 month ago

        I don’t think you should compare the two progresses. Technology is much better now. So, things will definitely move much faster than they did back in the 90s.

        • deltapi@lemmy.world
          6·
          1 month ago

          There is slightly more openness to androids layers than the win32 layers as well.

          I still remember symlinking to binaries in my windows system folder back in the late 90s to be able to run office 95 under Linux. (The MSFT system files permitted some things to work properly that just didn’t with the wine provided libraries back then)

      • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
        1·
        10 days ago

        Didn’t it take off in the late 90’s within Linux communities?

        So I’d give this a few years, then.

            • apostrofail@lemmy.world
              11·
              2 days ago

              Really. Apostrophes are used for possession & contractions (not making words plural). In this case, you are omitting the 19 from the decade starting at 1990. What is plural is the years inside that decade, meaning the 10s place. All to say, it is 100% ’90s*.

                • apostrofail@lemmy.world
                  11·
                  13 hours ago

                  One man’s pedentry is another man’s pet peeve. This is a syntactic error that isn’t just a typo but a misunderstanding of the mechanics of apostrophes.

      • bitwolf@lemmy.one
        11·
        1 month ago

        Yeah but I imagine porting a JVM and an API using open source code is much easier than reversing the Windows API.