I’m drooling over this. I hope the community picks this up, this could be extended to better support Android apps on Linux phones for example.
I wonder how it deals with gapps and how it compares to waydroid
I think right now the main focus is actually running Oculus/Meta Quest native games on the Steam Frame - the Quest headsets run Android and the games are actually APKs. No GAPPs involved
I’m sure I everything will be working about as soon as the community gets ahold of it though
the Quest headsets run Android and the games are actually APKs
Yes but how will you get those APKs installed on the device and make them run properly?
I think devs will have to ship a build that does not have the extra DRM and whatnot that is required to run on Oculus devices. The beauty of Lepton is just that developers won’t have to rewrite their game for a new architecture or anything. All they have to do (hypothetically) is export a new build of their project without the “include Oculus DRM” button checked. From what I understand, it’s not the exact same situation as Proton, just similar in many regards.
So you think Valve is counting on Oculus devs uploading their games to Steam directly?
Don’t all the games have to be uploaded to Steam by their rightful developer?
If someone wants to publish on Steam, yeah, probably. But if Lepton works like Proton, the game doesn’t actually need to be distributed through Steam. For Proton, you can run basically any Windows executable file through Proton, even if you downloaded the file from somewhere other than Steam. I assume the plan is for Lepton to be able run basically any APK you throw at it regardless of where the APK came from. I just doubt that Lepton will bypass the Oculus DRM.
Cracked quest games exist already, there are side load redistributables which allow you to bypass meta authentication.
So sailing the high seas sounds like an option. But ideally, publishers who want the additional distribution but can’t the arsed to make a new x86-64 version of their game for PCVR, could at least squirt out a new build that leaves off the Oculus DRM.
No? Only Steam games.
Ok to clarify, I mean if Occulus devs want to publish their games to Steam, they can. But Valve won’t add anybody’s games for them to Steam.
Lepton is not designed for general Android use, instead opting to keep the bare minimum functionality required to launch into games.
So it’s nothing more then a layer for games to get shipped via steam sans Gapps integration.
Lepton is a fork of Waydroid.
That Valve has worked on in their own after forking it.
I wonder if lepton will solve the Minecraft problem. Waydroid was broken by some recent drm changes which are unlikely to be reverted although mcplauncher still seems to work although it’s been awhile since I tested on my SteamDeck.
Minecraft problem? I’ve been playing Minecraft happily on cachyos with no compatibility layers for a few months now (it uses java)
The comment is talking about bedrock. Linux user usually play the android version, as opposed to the windows one, because it actually works better.
I’ve had no issues with java edition, on 1.21 or 1.7. on cachyos Pretty sure android would have less features too.
Bedrock gives you cross platform with Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, basically anything that isn’t a pc. So it is worth it depending on what you need.
And how many modpacks does it have? I haven’t really played vanilla in years.
Again, the issue isn’t mods. It’s cross platform compatibility. Feature wise, yes, java wins, but that’s completely irrelevant to what I said. Plus, some people probably just prefer bedrock over Java.
Have you tried io.mrarm.mcpelauncher?
Yes, I misspelt it in my comment. It’s currently working well but I worry that the main developer will burn out. They usually have to add new thunks every new Minecraft release.
What benefits does Minecraft Bedrock have over Java? Cross-play? My kid plays modded Java. Mainly Cobblemon.
Pretty much cross play with tablets and the PlayStation.
Cool, is it better than waydroid?
I think it’s based on waydroid.
Dear God I hope so
I actually just discovered Waydroid this past weekend and it’s been a godsend. I don’t play any android games though, just use it for utility stuff that refuses to run on my physical phone.
I’m super curious to what tools you would use? Other than games off course, I wanted to find a reason to finally get around and install Waydroid. But I just don’t find a reason to, please help. :D
Other uses would be banking apps and store apps (discounts).
Also it is a way to play games that have issues in Wine and have mobile version.
I would assume something like Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty games as an example. I’m curious to use cases outside of (obvious) games. Is there any situation that is not possible to do on a Linux desktop, that requires to use Android or iOS app? Like banking, is there any bank that only offers a mobile app and nothing else? That’s the issue I have right now, finding a real use case where I have to use it (obviously there is none for me personally, so finding it wouldn’t make it a requirement for me).
Some banks will either refuse to run on a desktop browser or need 2FA auth on their app
What is the issue with Waydroid? Thought its a good solution, as it got lot of praise.
For me;
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the download is absurdly massive. Although it makes sense that you’d need an Android OS image to run Android, it’s bigger than the copy of Arch I used to run it
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integration with the host OS is poor - be nice if copy-paste worked, and file transfer was easier
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super-sluggish, even on quite powerful computers
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never idle, makes my laptop run hot
Okay, it’s emulating ARM64, and emulators need a lot of CPU, but since Android apps are compiled to “Google’s own version of Java” and are JIT compiled to suit the phone CPU, should be possible just to compile them to AMD64 instead and run native.
If there’s an app that only exists on Android and has no desktop / web equivalent, it’s a workable solution, but it does entail compromises.
be nice if copy-paste worked
I copy and paste between waydroid and the host os all the time, so this one seems to have been fixed at least.
Android apps are JIT compiled to suit the phone CPU
Don’t most apps have native code modules by now?
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I love it, but I’m personally more interested in FEX. I just prefer playing actually good games on my phone than playing bad games on my pc :P
If this helps Port standalone oculus Quest titles to steam ecosystem, that would be pretty neat.
I’m interested in continuing my game of dead cells that lives on my Android handheld, from my desktop with a controller in the evenings I’m home.
Also, i have preferred the emulator experience when on android devices versus fine-tuning them and playing them one on full-fat PCs.
I could absolutely see continuing gaming old console titles from my living room machine running those mobile platforms with their own front ends
Outside of three Android native titles which are pretty much locked down by Google Play services, and console gaming with emulation, I honestly kind of struggle to find a home for lepton in any of my regular configurations.
The readme says this tool is to help developers power their titles to Steam.
This will be so cool if it allows me access to the required directories to make it possible to play PvZ2 Reflourished. It would be super cool to play Reflourished on pc without a full-blown waydroid install. It’s given me issues installing the required PvZ2 apk, so I kinda gave up.
It’s based on waydroid in the same way that proton is based on wine, so seems unlikely.
Proton is packed with more functionality than wine (by nature of being a superset fork), and is wrapped in a much simpler box to open than Wine for the most part, so it gets a lot more praise and user adoption. I love wine and have used it for decades, but prefer Proton heavily at this point for games. I’ll still use wine for desktop apps though.
I imagine Lepton will eventually be super easy to install and get running compared to Waydroid, which I can also attest was a massive headache.
