Tessera 0.2.0 (alpha)

Alpha. Expect rough edges: much of it has only been tried on one or two phones.

What's new

• A Linux desktop. The button next to the search bar opens a whole desktop, through the same sheet as any app. Windows move, snap to half the screen and minimize, in addy-dclxvi's Circela style redrawn in your phone's colors: title bars that match the apps, ring buttons sized for fingers, your wallpaper behind it all. A floating Material dock (a rail in landscape) has the Start menu with search and categories, your pinned and open apps, Show desktop, the battery and the clock. Icons and files live on the desktop (~/Desktop): drag apps there from the Start menu, files from Linux apps or from Android. Flathub apps open in it too. It runs full screen.
• Search is a pill in the Apps bar, with full-screen results.
• Flathub sets up on a fresh system (it now installs the CA certificates it needs).
• Android 10 and older: sound and USB no longer depend on a hidden API that those versions refuse.
• Chroot mode no longer leaves background processes (D-Bus, PulseAudio, gvfs) running after sessions end.
• Installable and kept up to date with Obtainium: add this repository's URL.

Install

Download tessera-v0.2.0.apk below and open it. Requires Android 7 or newer, arm64.

This release is signed with a new key. If you have 0.1.0 (or a self-built version), uninstall it first. That deletes its PRoot Linux system; a chroot system in /data/local/linux stays. Releases from now on keep this key, so later versions update in place.

Known limits

• Tested on a Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Android 16, Magisk); the desktop only there, in chroot mode.
• Flathub installs have failed on a Huawei phone (Android 10, PRoot); not yet diagnosed.
• USB devices in the desktop are untested.
• See ROADMAP.md for what's done and what's next.

SHA-256: d2c6bdc55341e07b9ed04b92f96d81e179d92204b431085eee954d1e5fc8352e