🚀 GassNative — Run a Debian Linux Desktop on Android (ARM64)

Hey everyone! 👋

I'm developing GassNative, an experimental Android application that brings a Debian GNU/Linux ARM64 environment and an XFCE desktop experience directly to Android devices — without requiring root access.

🐧 What GassNative offers:

- Debian GNU/Linux 13 (Trixie) ARM64 environment.

- XFCE4 Linux desktop.

- Integrated Android application interface.

- Linux terminal and compatible desktop applications.

- Environment profiles and settings.

- Automatic startup update checking.

💡 The goal: Turn an Android smartphone into a portable Linux environment for experimentation, learning, and working with compatible Linux software.

🛠️ Current status: GassNative is actively under development. Application compatibility, installation time, and graphics performance depend on the device and configuration. Hardware-accelerated desktop rendering and further desktop integration remain ongoing work.

🔗 Explore the project:

- 💻 GitHub repository and source code: https://github.com/Gass-OS/GassNative-

- 🌐 Official project website: https://gass-os.github.io/GassNative-/

I'm building this project under GASS-OS, and I'd love to hear from the Linux, Android, and open-source communities.

What features would you like to see next? Have you tried running a Linux desktop on your Android phone?

Feedback, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome! 🙌

GassNative — Your Linux world, in your pocket.

#Android #Linux #Debian #XFCE #ARM64 #OpenSource

Hello

yet another post about wifi speed problems on Debian; I digged around but could't find a solution working for me.

So here it is, I am experiencing slow speed with my wifi (and only on my linux laptop). Sometimes it works then it stops working suddenly ; sometimes rebooting can fix the problem. But it seems I cannot get a consistent speed on my wifi.

What I tried :

- reinstalling / changing the firmware

- disabling power management

Any hints would be really appreciated.

Thanks !

cat /etc/os-release

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.7
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

lspci | grep -i wireless

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88W8897 [AVASTAR] 802.11ac Wireless

iwconfig

wlp1s0    IEEE 802.11
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.32 GHz
          Bit Rate=234 Mb/s   Tx-Power=8 dBm
          Retry short limit:9   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=63/70  Signal level=-71 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Greetings. I have an old Macbook Unibody. It currently runs MacOS X (all it can do), and I was wondering if I could put Debian into it. I don't want it to be the only OS on it, though, so I would partition the disk in half. Is this feasible? If I do go the full-partition route, could running a Mac VM be more successful on it?

best,

me

My goal is to make a partition of my ssd in the Debian installation usb. I cannot do it in windows.

Usually, this would just be selecting “manual” as the format when setting up the disk, but when I do that, only the usb flash drive itself shows up, and not the ssd itself. I tried going into busybox and using fdisk but that didn’t work, and neither did cfdisk or part.

After I partition it, I will use the free partition to install Debian and dual boot windows

I know that this is not necessary and interesting for everyone, but... how will things be on Debian? Will the anti-cheat work with Nvidia dkms driver from nvidia cuda?

I've been trying to setup unattended-upgrades to update tailscale along with the rest of the system. However whenever I try doing a dry run it doesn't seem to catch it even though I checked and made sure an upgrade is needed at the moment.

Here's my current config for sources.

Unattended-Upgrade::Origins-Pattern {

// Codename based matching:

// This will follow the migration of a release through different

// archives (e.g. from testing to stable and later oldstable).

// Software will be the latest available for the named release,

// but the Debian release itself will not be automatically upgraded.

"origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename}-updates";

// "origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename}-proposed-updates";

"origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename},label=Debian";

"origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename},label=Debian-Security";

"origin=Debian,codename=${distro_codename}-security,label=Debian-Security";

// "o=Debian Backports,n=${distro_codename}-backports,l=Debian Backports";

"origin=https://pkgs.tailscale.com/stable/debian ,codename=${distro_codename},label=tailscale"

Any help is appreciated.

If anyone still (like me) neeed old Debian systems running I made backports for a number os combinations
Best regards to all Debian users

https://git.iscsp.ulisboa.pt/trincheiras/php-cve-2026-109618-cve-2026-109619

Hi All,
Version: Bullseye
Im maybe missing something.... But today I go to update and and get all sorts of errors.

Included the pics I have of sources list and the update result.
Is something up with that IP address.

Im happy to update it all the the newest version but this has me lost.
Apologies Debian isnt my main language.

Can anyone help ?

Edit: Sorry for my crap spelling but was rushing... "Debian"

Thanks.

Containerized Debian package builds, artifact diffs, and automated maintenance, test running, new upstream imports and more. If you previously struggled with .deb work, this might make things a lot easier now.

I have two Debian 13 (Trixie) (13.7) machines, both tell me they are up to date, but first one tells me:

vstubbs@infinity:~ $ php -v
PHP 8.4.24 (cli) (built: Jul 31 2026 05:11:11) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Built by Debian
Zend Engine v4.4.24, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.4.24, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

this machine has a debian.sources file of:

vstubbs@infinity:~ $ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources

Types: deb deb-src
URIs: https://deb.debian.org/debian/
Suites: trixie
Components: main non-free-firmware contrib non-free
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg

Types: deb deb-src
URIs: https://security.debian.org/debian-security/
Suites: trixie-security
Components: main non-free-firmware contrib non-free
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg

Types: deb deb-src
URIs: http://deb.debian.org/debian/
Suites: trixie-updates
Components: main non-free-firmware
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg

second one tells me:

vstubbs@overwatch:~ $ php -v
PHP 8.4.27 (cli) (built: Oct 21 2026 07:53:46) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Built by Debian
Zend Engine v4.4.27, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.4.27, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

this machine has a a sources.list file of:

vstubbs@overwatch:~ $ cat /etc/apt/sources.list

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 13.4.0 _Trixie_ - Official amd64 NETINST with firmware 20260314-11:53]/ trixie contrib main non-free-firmware

deb http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/debian/ trixie main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/debian/ trixie main non-free-firmware

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security main non-free-firmware

# trixie-updates, to get updates before a point release is made;
# see https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_updates_and_backports
deb http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/debian/ trixie-updates main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/debian/ trixie-updates main non-free-firmware

# This system was installed using removable media other than
# CD/DVD/BD (e.g. USB stick, SD card, ISO image file).
# The matching "deb cdrom" entries were disabled at the end
# of the installation process.
# For information about how to configure apt package sources,
# see the sources.list(5) manual.

They both used to point to the Canadian mirror, but when the first one refused to update PHP, I changed the first one to the main repository source but that didn't help.

This is driving me absolutely crazy, the machines are on the same network, same switch, same router. the only difference between them is one has 48GB of memory the other has 16GB memory, and the first one runs docker the second one doesn't, but that shouldn't matter...should it?

TIA...your very thankfully the insane ;-)

Hey everyone, does anyone else experience a bug on Debian 13 Stable where characters keep repeating/getting stuck as if the key is still pressed?

This happens with both the laptop's built-in keyboard and Bluetooth keyboards. I've noticed this issue specifically on Debian, while other distributions with the exact same hardware don't have it. The bug is intermittent and only happens sometimes.

System Specs:

OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) x86_64

Host: Dell Latitude 3420 (Intel i7-1165G7)

DE/WM: GNOME / Mutter (Wayland)

Kernel: Linux 6.12

Has anyone run into this or know how to fix it?

Im just making myself a little app to add/remove the repo for the Nvidia drivers and then enable you to select the right nvidia driver in the gui, as i currently dont use them myself (yet) do you guys add the nvidia repo directly or do you use the repo setting in extrepo from within Debian? So far i was adding the external nvidia repo directly

Mint must have been the one eating all my battery because I been on Debian now for a few days and my battery lasts sooooooo much longer! Its the little things that make me so happy. I'm done hopping around I found the one for me and its Debian, but I do hear Fedora is really good too. LOL. Maybe both for me.

KDE and Debian on iPhone!

LinuxRunner brings Debian ARM64 to iOS, including desktop environments like KDE Plasma and apps like Blender.

No jailbreak, JIT, or virtualization needed. It runs Linux binaries through an ARM64 interpreter.

Still early in development, but pretty interesting to experiment with. Feel free to try it out!

GitHub: https://github.com/mxhm11cr/LinuxRunner

dell xps 15 7590 - Kernel Linux 6.12.113+deb13-amd64 - FW. 1.9.1 - gome48 - wayland

i don't know since when it's the case but i just saw that and didn't know why it was like that.

someone else has the same problem? is it debian or gnome and what can i do to fix it if it is even fixable for non os dev?

I have set my battery to charge to 80% using KDE's settings and somehow it keeps getting reset with the original settings after reboot. This worked fine for the last three weeks so maybe it was a package update.

Hello all,

I use Debian on a mostly battle-tested Am4 setup, but paired with a 9060 XT. Since the card only came out in 2025 and was like 2 months old when Debian trixie came out, I wonder if I'm missing out on driver improvements using Debian stable. I played around with the testing and unstable branches in the past, but eventually figured I'm happy with stable, so I'd rather keep it that way.

What I've done so far is install the backported kernel with apt install -t trixie-backports linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64. The installed backports (output of dpkg -l | awk '/^ii/ && $3 ~ /bpo[0-9]/ {print $2}') are:

• libdw1t64:amd64
• libelf1t64:amd64
• libelf1t64:i386
• linux-base
• linux-base-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-base-amd64
• linux-binary-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-headers-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-headers-7.2.9+deb13-common
• linux-headers-amd64
• linux-image-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-image-amd64
• linux-kbuild-7.2.9+deb13
• linux-modules-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-sysctl-defaults

But I guess I should also get backported versions of the userland companions of the driver. I'm not entirely sure what packages make sense to get for that. Also, what implications for updating to forky next year do these backports have? Should I continue getting backports once forky is out or use the occasion to go back to pure stable?

Hi all,

I'm working on a Linux remaster project and would appreciate some guidance on two points.

Context: I need a base that is minimal yet functionally complete — not as stripped as TinyCore (missing packages, limited app support), and not as bare as Arch (where everything must be assembled manually). The project has two phases: (1) environment preparation — debranding, identity renaming, and DE selection; (2) integrating my own custom tooling,tools that integrate with the system. Keeping phase 1 short is important, since the real value of the project is in phase 2.

Question 1 Base selection:
Is Debian netinst a good fit for this? I understand that netinst is an installer medium rather than a minimal system by itself, and that the resulting system is a fully modifiable Debian install. My question is whether netinst + selective tasksel (no DE, standard utilities only) is a practical starting point for a remaster, or whether starting from debootstrap directly gives a cleaner/smaller rootfs that is worth the extra manual work. Any guidance on package selection to stay lean without leaving the system incomplete would also help.

Question 2 Tooling:

• What tool would you recommend for building/exporting the system as an ISO? I'm considering live-build — are there better-suited alternatives for a custom remaster?
• After producing the ISO, what's the recommended path to a reliable bootable image (hybrid ISO, El Torito, UEFI + BIOS)? Is xorriso/isohybrid sufficient, or is an additional layer needed?

Thanks , any help is appreciated

Hey everyone,

I’ve been hopping around various distros for side projects over the last few years—testing rolling releases, heavily immutabled setups, and shiny new tech. But time and time again, I find myself coming back to Debian for anything that actually matters.

In an era where operating systems are becoming increasingly bloated with forced telemetry, unrequested AI integrations, and snap/container layers forced down our throats, Debian stands out like a beacon of sanity. It just works, respects user sovereignty, and sticks to its Social Contract.

What’s interesting to me is that "Debian Stable being outdated" feels like a myth of the past now. Between Flatpak/AppImage for user apps, Backports for modern kernels/drivers, and Podman/Docker for dev work, Debian Stable is arguably the most modern, rock-solid base anyone could ask for without the fragility of rolling releases.

My question to the community:

As Linux continues to gain desktop market share (especially with Linux gaming booming), do you think Debian should maintain its conservative, "quiet giant" approach, or is there room for the project to actively market its stability and ethics to refugees from Windows/Ubuntu?

Would love to hear your thoughts on how Debian can keep its core identity while welcoming the new wave of Linux users.

Cheers to all the maintainers and contributors who keep the universal OS rockin'!

Just moved my mum who's 79 from her Windows laptop onto Debian with GNOME de and she loves it, just gave her one of my old Lenovo, i7 6th gen with 16gb laptops. Tbf she only really uses Firefox on it but she was happy that it came with Firefox, she signed into her Mozilla account and away she went, prints first time to her wireless printer too which is all good :)