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both Android and (too some extent) iOS use .deb files. While the phone versions of the apps may be impossible to use, but could the tablet versions be converted? One of the reasons my friend keeps giving me against Ubuntu and Linux in general is the lack of really good software. If we could tap into the Android apps though, it would really open up possibilities!


If you use a Jailbroken iPhone, you'll notice that all cydia apps are in the .deb form.

And yeah, I'm aware that there is really great software for Linux, but sometimes I feel it lacks, especially in the gaming section (Fingers crossed for OpenMorrowind). Imagine being able to run Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Plants vs Zombies natively on Ubuntu. Or, imagine some of the great Ipad Apps like Dragon Dictation or heck, even Infinity Blade!

The possibilities would be endless.

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    Neither Android nor iOS use debs. May 1, 2011 at 3:15
  • @JeremyBicha Nope... But Cydia does! :P
    – Xerz
    Aug 20, 2012 at 11:17
  • iOS -> .ipa (.zip)
    – Xerz
    Aug 20, 2012 at 11:18
  • Android -> .apk (.jar (.zip))
    – Xerz
    Aug 20, 2012 at 11:18

3 Answers 3

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You can run the apps from Android with an Android emulator, see this was asked before: Can I run Android apps on Ubuntu?.
Maybe you can re-compile the source of some app to work on linux.
Would you explain better the similarities you found between deb and apk?
Finally, about the quality of apps, I think it is a matter of opinion. In my opinion, linux has the greatest softwares available (thanks to the community cooperation and efforts).

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Most Android apps come in .apk files, which are kind of similar to .jar files, and are intended to run on Dalvik Virtual Machine (JVM implementation specific for Android). So unless DVM is implemented for Ubuntu, and taking into account the fact that most Android apps use phone/tablet specific features, it's imposible to run native android apps on Ubuntu.

edit it seems like lot's of Android-like games (including Angry Birds) are available on Google+

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yeah its possible to run android apps in ubuntu.there are many implementation plans from folks across the globe as to how it can be done.according to my research,to make android apps run on a tablet/pc having debian linux(ubuntu,knoppix,fedora etc) as baseline system, we need to first get the dvm source code,compile & run on the machine using gnu c compiler then the libraries has to be compiled into the machine. this would set the required environment for linux users to be able to avail the android features. about apk, its just an extension for zipped files. apk files are first decoded,then unzipped. what is left is .jar file which when compiled gives u java bytecode, this java bytecode is converted to .dex(dalvix executable) bytecode by the dvm and then run in an isolated dvm instance.

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    And how are we going to run Dalvik on the desktop?, also. Fedora is not base don Debian. Could you provide an example of an app compiled and running the way you describe? Dec 15, 2012 at 21:38
  • dalvik can be run on the desktop using git repo.there are D compilers available in git which would help u compile the dvm code & merge it into ur os!i am still working on the project, so regret that cant provide an xample.
    – deepak
    Dec 17, 2012 at 8:36

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