vmConsole
A free and open-source application that enables you to run Alpine Linux distribution in a virtual machine on your Android device. Thousands of packages available for installation from online repositories make vmConsole a powerful tool for software developers, testers, system administrators and just Linux fans.
This application is built on top of QEMU x86_64 system emulator and should be compatible with majority of devices running Android 7.0 and higher. Your device is not required to be rooted or have custom firmware installed. KVM acceleration is not supported meaning that performance will be low.
vmConsole is exactly console, aka "terminal" application. Input and output are being performed through Xterm-compatible terminal screen. Don't beg for Xorg or Wayland support.
Proper Linux administration skills are needed in order to use vmConsole!
Typical use-cases of vmConsole application:
- Exploring the world of Linux =)
- Programming
- Testing software
- Hacking
- Running TOR hidden services
- Crawling / archiving web sites
The most important information about application usage is embedded as MOTD shown during vmConsole login. Other information is easily discoverable if you have some mid-level Linux skills. Also there is a Wiki which describes some basics.
It is highly recommended to visit Alpine Linux Wiki.
About project
The main idea of this project is to combine a terminal emulator, good Android port of QEMU and a tiny, but production-grade Linux distribution. Think of it as of a headless virtual PC that can run all command line software available on normal computers. So far the vmConsole works much better than analogs like Limbo PC or UserLAnd.
vmConsole is based on Termux. Many GUI elements and terminal features are forked from it. The source code is distributed either by same or compatible license (GPL v3.0). Please consider this when forking vmConsole app.
Since this is more a personal project, I really do not accept pull requests or feature suggestions. Though you can report issues like app crashes or other runtime issues via the bug report form. Also I may do Git rebase or change the APK file delivery way at any time, if consider necessary.
Remember that author does not owe anything for you. Use vmConsole as is or do not use at all, I do not care.
Credits
- Alpine Linux: the operating system used in vmConsole.
- ConnectBot: the recommended SSH client for use with vmConsole.
- QEMU: the emulator and virtualizer, a core of vmConsole.
- Termux: the famous terminal emulator for Android OS, vmConsole uses certain parts of it.