tiny lemmy 

Valve’s Android compatibility layer now has its official name, Lepton, and a cute frog logo.

c/steamdeck · u/woelkchen@lemmy.world · 368 points

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u/lime@feddit.nu · 0 points

more specifically, it's for running _x86_ linux applications on android. and windows applications, i think.

u/Robin@lemmy.world · 8 points

No it's not. This is for their ARM VR headset. They want 0 effort ports to SteamVR from the Meta Quest which runs Android.

u/lime@feddit.nu · 0 points

we already had that, this is for the opposite use case.

u/Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 points

That's because it just sounds cool...

But for Valve, I assume the reason is that it's like the counterpart to Proton (protons are in the nucleus, and electrons are leptons)

u/melfie@lemy.lol · 21 points

Yeah, running Linux in all my devices and ditching Android can’t come soon enough.

Even if the OS itself isn’t as optimal on this form factor as we would like, a plethora of touch-friendly apps will make it a more viable option such that there will be enough interest to develop it further.

Same with HTPCs. Maybe the being able to run the Android Netflix and Hulu apps on Linux will help expedite Plasma Bigscreen.

u/hayvan@feddit.nl · 2 points

I'm seriously considering getting a Legion Go and using it as a Linux Tablet. Sure it's bulky and definitely won't have the power efficiency to be a useful phone, but I can love with tethering to a phone for connectivity for now.

u/Cethin@lemmy.zip · 69 points

No, make a Linux phone. With this compatability layer there's no more issues of not having enough apps, like what largely killed the Windows phone.

u/warmaster@lemmy.world · 9 points

They said they'll start with Steam OS for ARM via their partner program. Same as with their x86 partnerships.

u/ziggurat@lemmy.world · 8 points

Yes, you can do this manually, and actually play video games from steam. There are also a few apps that facilitates this by having configured this already. Like winlator. Sadly maintaining something like this is huge work, so winlator doesn't ship video drivers for my Samsung S25, but there are some other similar programs, like the Chinese spyware gamehub. Gamehub is aimed at spying on you, and letting you run steam games with cloud saves and all.

Thankfully, someone is maintaining a stripped down version of gamehub, that removes spyware functions. This is called gamehub lite.

What's the performance. Its not amazing, but its not bad either. Haven't tested much, only hades 2 runs in full speed, without getting my phone hot.

Also on the same chip as my phone, read dead redemption 1 for PC runs faster than the newly released android port of the game.

These examples are not very demanding games, other games will very much be a ymmw situation

u/poVoq@slrpnk.net · 6 points

Given that they did have a beta for Steam on x86 Chromebooks, and Google seems hellbend to replace ChromeOS with an modified version of Android ("AluminiumOS") these days, it seems likely that Valve will also consider a release for that. I wouldn't expect them to make an official release for phones though.

u/woelkchen@lemmy.world · 2 points

https://www.androidauthority.com/run-desktop-linux-apps-on-android-how-to-3586539/

u/Akip@discuss.tchncs.de · 9 points

I treat it mostly the same I treat games on linux, if your game doesn't run, because of spyware-like DRM, looking at you EA, then I guess it's not for me. Play integrity api is the same in that regard.

Had to switch my mom to a PWA for one of her apps though.

u/Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 13 points

It's ridiculous, I reluctantly have a GrapheneOS phone and my bank was absolutely fine with it, but McDonalds refuses to sell me a cheeseburger.

u/Akip@discuss.tchncs.de · 13 points

Unfortunately the trend is that those apps usually require play integrity api

https://grapheneos.org/articles/attestation-compatibility-guide#apps-banning-grapheneos

which requires that the app is running on a verified android(stock) device and custom ROMs can't run it same for waydroid.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/android-now-allows-apps-to-block-sideloading-and-push-a-google-play-version/

and its just starting, its about to get even worse

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html?m=1

u/timewarp@lemmy.world · 5 points

That is all really useful info to have. Google Play Games for Windows uses their own crosvm sandbox, which has a couple---but not many---hack-a-rounds to run regular apps & for Houdini (ARM translation). And Android source code makes multiple mentions of a container-based Android sandbox. What sucks is that Microsoft discontinued WSA & that Google won't release a modern standard desktop-based Android layer because it is so "security-concious" (aka fragile) that they are worried about users abusing the APIs it exposes.

u/Anafabula@discuss.tchncs.de · 15 points

We know that it started as a fork of Waydroid

But:

>Update: While Lepton was based from Waydroid at the beginning

>

>It seems to be a lot more custom now. To the point where it’s being described as “not really Waydroid anymore” from those who are working on it

u/poVoq@slrpnk.net · 4 points

After finishing to read the interview it does indeed sound different, but it is odd that this isn't open-source somewhere like Proton and Fex always were.

u/timewarp@lemmy.world · 2 points

No, Waydroid merely used other projects wrapped in some crappy Python scripts & had a multitude of issues. If it is anything like Waydroid then I'll lose respect for Valve.

u/DaddleDew@lemmy.world · 39 points

That would be cool to be able to run some apps in a sandbox on a PC just because it would be far easier to circumvent the increasingly intrusive data collection.

u/DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world · 29 points

Oh boy, I’m waiting for the day I can flash a gnu/linux os on my phone and run this compatibility layer. My life will then be complete.

u/Turtle@aussie.zone · 20 points

This made me wonder, with FEX couldn't Valve release steam for android? Steam library on your phone sounds good to me.

u/nyankas@lemmy.ml · 12 points

I always enjoy recognizing a specific developer's handwriting in a finished product. Luckily, Valve's misyltoad, a proud inhabitant of "Frog Cult", United Kingdom, makes this very easy. From their work on frog-fifo-v1 for Mesa, to frog-color-management-v1 and frog protocols for Wayland, to their talk Rainbow Frogs: HDR + Color Management in Gamescope/SteamOS, they seem to follow a very strong theme. I'd be surprised if they weren’t responsible for this frog as well.

u/Kolanaki@pawb.social · 6 points

Why does the name and logo seem familiar...? I am getting vague memories of a brand for one of those toy "computers" that had educational material as the programs when I look at the little frog logo.

u/rcbrk@lemmy.ml · 6 points

Huh. Popular name:

  • https://github.com/dropbox/lepton
  • https://github.com/microsoft/lepton_jpeg_rust
  • https://github.com/lepton-eda/lepton-eda
  • https://hackjutsu.com/Lepton/
  • http://www.leptonica.org/
  • https://github.com/BinaryResearch/lepton
  • https://github.com/lpotthast/leptonic
  • https://github.com/leptonai/leptonai

u/Jackinopolis@sh.itjust.works · 5 points

The minute I saw the Steam Frame was arm based and running Linux, that means a Linux distro for arm processors should get a lot better. I'm hoping this implementation is some what backwards compatible so I can try to put it on a rooted phone.