NoBrain Linux 0.1.5

NoBrain Linux 0.1.5

This release packages runtime checkpoint Build 185. It advances the public
version to 0.1.5 and the Android versionCode to 13.

Highlights

• Screen Scaling now starts from the intended 96-DPI baseline at 100%. Lower
  percentages increase Linux UI zoom without changing the DWM baseline.
• The Android host exposes its camera and microphone to the Linux guest. The
  camera pipeline uses bounded queues and publishes a PipeWire source for the
  standalone camera and WebRTC consumers.
• Camera2 sensor/display orientation is handled in the Android I420 bridge.
  Sony's 270-degree front sensor is delivered as a portrait 480x640 stream.
• The standalone camera UI is English and horizontally mirrors only the selfie
  preview. Photos, recordings, PipeWire, and WebRTC remain unmirrored.
• Android 10 shared storage is mounted at /sdcard, with ~/sdcard provided as
  a stable Linux shortcut.
• Fresh-install and update paths retain package-manager, SSH, WPS, timezone,
  input, clipboard, and session-persistence repairs from Builds 180-184.

Device validation

The final 0.1.5 APK was fresh-installed and validated on a Sony SOV37 running
Android 10. Its installed SHA-256 matches the release asset, the runtime reached
Desktop ready, and recent Android logs contained no fatal exception, ANR,
fatal signal, or phantom-process kill. Validation passed:

• full xbps-install -Suy system update;
• WPS Office installation and launch;
• password SSH, passwordless sudo, and su audit;
• screen-off resume, rotation, and Android/Linux clipboard exchange;
• document creation and a 20-minute retained WPS session;
• two-way Android shared-storage access;
• portrait camera preview, PNG photo, and WebM video capture.
• a direct four-second microphone capture with nonzero audio data;
• GCC, G++, Python SSL, Git, and CMake smoke tests.

The compact rootfs still has package-database integrity debt. A full
xbps-pkgdb -a audit reports mostly intentionally omitted documentation and
locales, but also broken utility and development symlinks. Core workflows above
pass; clean rootfs reconstruction remains follow-up work and the release is not
claimed byte-for-byte reproducible from public source alone.

Artifact identity

Version: 0.1.5
Android versionCode: 13
Runtime build: 185
Size: 605054812 bytes
SHA-256: b1f022a7c6a68822be85a42dd14693e774e67d218399679476351746bd8ce395
Signing certificate SHA-256:
1966b79fe9c29c1ae6949f5669301f4862c9d3dead838c00b188e97e8f2355bc

The public repository intentionally excludes the signed APK, signing key,
compressed rootfs, media overlay, and compiled ARM64 compatibility libraries.
Those binary inputs and the transitional ZIP-swap assembly limitations are
documented in BUILDING.md and LICENSING.md.

NoBrain Linux 0.1.4

NoBrain Linux 0.1.4

NoBrain Linux 0.1.4 is the Build 161 fresh-install reliability release. It
keeps the Build 144 Void rootfs package baseline and the 0.1.3 desktop and
clipboard behavior.

What changed

• Fresh extraction now repairs rootfs symlink targets that accidentally gained
  a trailing 0001, including the ARM64 loader and boot-critical libraries.
• Existing matching rootfs installations receive the same repair before reuse.
• Missing Python, compiler, and GCC compatibility links are recreated and
  verified before Linux startup continues.
• Startup creates the missing libX11.so development linker name before
  compiling the dialog helper. This prevents the linker from selecting the
  static libX11.a and failing on unresolved xcb_* symbols.
• Guest diagnostics use the mounted /sdcard path, so logs remain accessible
  on a fresh Android install without relying on public Downloads permission.
• The local APK alignment helper streams large APK data instead of copying the
  complete archive into RAM.

Root cause

The 0.1.3 rootfs archive contained 938 symlink targets with an accidental
trailing 0001. Build 161 repairs all 934 resolvable archive links plus three
required compatibility links; four optional targets are absent from the
snapshot. After that repair, fresh startup exposed a separate linker issue:
the runtime libX11.so.6 existed but the unversioned libX11.so name did not.
The dialog-helper build consequently selected libX11.a and stopped startup
immediately after MIME/GDK preparation.

Device validation

Build 161 was installed directly after uninstalling NoBrain and clearing its
data on a Nubia 8150N. Rootfs extraction exited successfully, repaired 937
corrupt and compatibility links, installed the missing xterm packages, and
reached Desktop ready. DWM remained alive, xterm opened, xbindkeys and the
command FIFO started, and the application menu cache contained 966 entries. All
public Python and shell regression checks passed.

The OEM Unisoc large-application watchdog independently killed one extraction
attempt at roughly 203 MiB RSS while several unrelated applications were using
hundreds of MiB each. Android recorded a SIGKILL rather than an application
exception; relaunching completed normally.

Candidate identity

The tested release-signed 0.1.4 candidate has the following identity:

Runtime build: 161
Size: 594568475 bytes
SHA-256: a371693b41fb394d8fc628da2570ab50d8c6be5eb23d317eb61f54ed7713f154
Signing certificate SHA-256:
1966b79fe9c29c1ae6949f5669301f4862c9d3dead838c00b188e97e8f2355bc

NoBrain Linux 0.1.3

NoBrain Linux 0.1.3

NoBrain Linux 0.1.3 is the Build 158 patch release. It keeps the Build 144 Void
rootfs package baseline and updates the Android, XLorie clipboard, DWM, and
desktop integration layers.

What changed

• Alt+P, Ctrl+Alt+T, and Ctrl+Tab/Ctrl+Shift+Tab are the canonical
  menu, terminal, and next/previous-window shortcuts.
• Resize arrows now move the tiled divider in the literal arrow direction.
• Hidden Android navigation no longer leaves the intermittent bottom
  framebuffer strip.
• Clipboard synchronization now converges ordinary and shortcut paste on the
  most recently copied value.
• Asynchronous clipboard targets are cleaned up when their X11 client exits,
  preventing the rapid-copy stale-client crash.
• The release source adds a binary hash lock, third-party provenance manifest,
  license index, and extended Void package inventory.

Device validation

Build 158 passed update-in-place device testing across Android, FeatherPad, and
the terminal in both clipboard directions. Rapid Ctrl+Shift+C testing did not
force-close the application. The shortcut, focus, divider-resize, hidden-navbar,
and full-screen behavior was also exercised on the target device.

Artifact identity

The tested candidate is recorded in third-party/release-artifact.toml:

Runtime build: 158
Size: 594568475 bytes
SHA-256: 0bd469587ff1caed0b41a72b2f07b7faa80b131db0d86dce2de9665b7c0449c8
Signing certificate SHA-256:
1966b79fe9c29c1ae6949f5669301f4862c9d3dead838c00b188e97e8f2355bc

Source and licensing status

The binary hash audit passes for all 87 tracked Android-side payloads. This
release is described as source-available with known provenance gaps, not
source-complete or byte-for-byte reproducible. Exact build provenance for the
legacy PulseAudio/VirGL bundle, a clean packaged XLorie rebuild, the historical
Void base-rootfs recipe, and related source archiving are scheduled for the
0.1.4 build-infrastructure patch.

See docs/LICENSING.md for the detailed assessment. WPS Office remains an
optional proprietary third-party download and is not bundled in the APK.

NoBrain Linux 0.1.2

NoBrain Linux 0.1.2

Patch pre-release based on runtime Build 150.

Download

nobrain-linux-0.1.2.apk

Size: 594,519,323 bytes (567 MiB)

SHA-256:

2ec9e60f81412c22619cb63acaf7bb02ae5d790d74bb8fe5adb4891e5909cb60

The APK uses the same NoBrain release certificate as previous public builds.
Install it as an update to preserve the rootfs, Linux home, installed packages,
SSH configuration, Chromium profile, WPS installation, and application data.
A true fresh install was also tested successfully.

Fixes

• Fresh installs no longer try to rebuild DWM when the bundled binary already
  contains the click-to-focus fix. This prevents startup from stalling at
  Preparing application support when Xft development headers are absent.
• An older rootfs that genuinely needs the DWM migration can now defer a
  failed rebuild and continue starting with its existing binary.
• NoBrain repairs the root ownership and setuid modes of su and sudo, and
  safe ownership and modes for the sudo configuration, on every start.
• The XBPS update wrapper repeats that repair after successful package
  transactions, so SSH Access keeps working after a full system update.
• Near-fullscreen WPS file choosers are now attached to and raised above the
  export dialog that opened them.

Runtime verification

Build 148 was tested from a true uninstall/fresh install through Desktop ready, followed by sudo xbps-install -Su, WPS installation, SSH key export,
and a key-only SSH audit. Sudo reached UID 0, direct root SSH remained rejected,
the SSH key fingerprints matched, all WPS executables resolved their shared
libraries, package databases passed their relevant checks, and the desktop,
X server, SSH server, and WPS remained operational. The Build 150 dialog fix
was then verified live against WPS: the chooser became a transient child of the
export dialog and appeared above it.
For the final non-fresh regression, WPS alone was removed and reinstalled with
the packaged install-wps script. Existing Linux documents and WPS settings
were preserved; Writer launched successfully and its first-run dialog stacked
correctly above the application window.

NoBrain Linux 0.1.1

NoBrain Linux 0.1.1

Patch pre-release based on runtime Build 146.

Download

nobrain-linux-0.1.1.apk

SHA-256:

9588914249414db1527680150af297c6efcf046d5468bbfd875122c45afbfec4

The APK uses the same NoBrain release certificate as 0.1.0. Install it as an
update; do not uninstall 0.1.0 first. The update preserves the existing rootfs,
Linux home, SSH configuration, Chromium profile, and application data.

Fixes

• Canonical runtime assets are staged atomically and reconciled after the
  legacy bootstrap payload, preventing startup from restoring stale scripts.
• Chromium uses a persistent profile and stable XDG runtime directory, removes
  unsafe test flags, and receives a graceful shutdown path.
• Existing WPS installations automatically receive the tiff5 compatibility
  library needed by the PDF engine.
• A native helper keeps WPS chooser dialogs above their parent windows.
• DWM uses click-to-focus. Update-in-place users receive it through a one-time
  in-guest rebuild from the packaged canonical DWM source.
• SSH key/config exchange now refuses to run unless Android shared storage is
  genuinely mounted. Successful exports appear under
  Internal storage/Download/NoBrain-SSH.

Runtime verification

The installed Build 146 audit confirmed canonical asset hashes, one DWM
process, an enternotify implementation containing only ret, a running WPS
dialog helper, libqpdfpaint.so resolving libtiff.so.5, a preserved 492 MB
Chromium profile, unchanged rootfs version, and a working exported SSH key on
localhost port 2223.

NoBrain Linux 0.1.0

NoBrain Linux 0.1.0

First public pre-release of NoBrain Linux, based on runtime Build 144.

NoBrain Linux runs a Void Linux ARM64 desktop on Android through PRoot and an
Android-hosted X11 server. Root access is not required.

A Note from the Creator

NoBrain Linux was created 100% with AI. I am not a programmer, a software
developer, or an IT professional. I am simply someone who loves Linux.

This is a personal project. It is far from perfect, and that is okay. I warmly
welcome criticism, bug reports, ideas, and all kinds of feedback. I will be
very happy to keep learning and improving it—with AI, of course.

Please send feedback through
GitHub Issues.

You can also find me on Instagram:
@dwi.dot.yogi. DMs are always
welcome—come talk about Linux! There is only one rule: no brains allowed.

That is the philosophy behind this project: No Brain Required.

Included

• Customized DWM desktop with nine workspaces and keyboard-controlled layouts.
• Android virtual keyboard, external mouse, clipboard, and key input bridge.
• Persistent Chromium profile and application launchers.
• Key-only SSH by default, plus owner-controlled Password and Custom modes.
• NoBrain menu, terminal scrollback, scaling, package update, and shutdown
  controls.

Installation

1. Download nobrain-linux-0.1.0.apk below.
2. Verify its SHA-256 checksum.
3. Allow installation from your browser or file manager when Android asks.
4. Open NoBrain Linux and wait for Desktop ready on first startup.

SHA-256: 9ca835b82eb2368fd26aa63950e57b45dbfb1d9118a8134375b3367843424819

Security Notice

The fresh-install password for both nobrain and root is nobrain. Change
them with passwd and sudo passwd root. SSH remains key-only until another
mode is explicitly selected.

Known Limitations

• ARM64 and Android 9+ only.
• Primarily tested on a Nubia Neo 5G with Android 13 and a Huawei MatePad 11.5
  (2024).
• First startup requires internet and may take time on a slow connection.
• Linux GUI applications run through PRoot/X11; GPU and hardware video decode
  support are limited.
• PulseAudio startup diagnostics still print one obsolete package path, but
  audio itself works.

This is a pre-release. Back up important Linux home data before testing updates.