Around two years ago, Samsung officially announced that they will be bringing full-fledged Linux support for Samsung Dex. The company later started testing Linux on different Galaxy devices. Earlier this year, Samsung added more devices to the program which was in beta at the time.

Now, out of nowhere, Samsung has decided to kill the Linux on Dex project. As per an email received by 9to5Google, Samsung plans to kill the project with the release of Android 10 Beta. Samsung has sent out emails to all the Beta testers today informing them about the change.

DeX is a feature on the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab S series that differentiates Samsung’s flagship smartphones and tablets from the company’s competitors. DeX, which debuted back in 2017 with the Samsung Galaxy S8, lets users access a desktop mode UI, with support for Android apps, when connected to a monitor. Initially, DeX required a special accessory in the form of the DeX Station and later the DeX Pad, but with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Samsung made it work with any HDMI to USB Type-C cable, which means that it no longer required any specialized hardware. This significantly improved its versatility. The one real competitor to Dex is Huawei’s Easy Projection feature, which can also work wirelessly. However, Samsung still had a leg up over its Huawei thanks to the Linux on DeX feature.

Linux on DeX enabled the user to get a full-fledged desktop GNU/Linux environment up and running on the smartphone in DeX mode. Specifically, Linux on DeX supported a modified version of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for ARM64. Linux on DeX was first shown off all the way back at SDC 2017, and the company finally released a beta for download a year later. The feature was intended for developers and not for regular users, as only ARM64 packages could be used on Linux on DeX. It allowed developers to compile, build, and test Android apps on their smartphone itself. Max used Linux on DeX extensively on the Galaxy Note 9 and noted that it pushed the limits of the hardware at that time.

If you've been using Linux on DeX (aka Linux on Galaxy) to turn your Samsung phone into a PC, you'll need to make a change of plans. Samsung is warning users that it's shutting down the Linux on DeX beta program, and that its Android 10 update won't support using the open source OS as a desktop environment. The company didn't explain why it was shutting things down, but it did note that the Android 10 beta is already going without the Linux option.

The decision leaves users in a tough spot. This not only gave Linux fans a way to run their preferred computing platform from their phone, it was the only option that provided a full-fledged desktop OS (in this case, Ubuntu Linux). If you use Android 10, you'll have to revert to the considerably more limited DeX-optimized Android interface. While that should work for people who just want a larger canvas for their Android apps, it won't help if you were using Linux as a productivity tool.

In an email to the testers, Samsung has announced that it is ending the Linux on DeX beta program. It will no longer provide support for future OS and device releases, including the Android 10 beta. The team behind the app hasn’t offered any reasons for the shutdown of the program but thanked users for the interest and feedback.

Samsung announced the Linux on DeX app nearly a year ago as an experiment to augment the capabilities of its DeX platform. It enables select Galaxy devices to run full Linux OS in DeX mode when connected to an external monitor (or on the device’s display if it’s a tablet). The app has been in beta for the past year, and the company is now ending the program without releasing a stable version.

The nifty bit of tech, which went by the name ‘Linux on Galaxy’ during its formation, enabled owners of certain Samsung devices to run a fully functional version of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as an ‘app’.

The idea was that users would put their Samsung smartphone or phablet in the DeX dock accessory to connect to external monitor, mouse and keyboard and use their device like a traditional desktop PC.

And while the tech never left beta, it worked well enough for many.

Samsung has created Linux on DeX to leverage the capabilities and capabilities of its high-end smartphones. Linux on DeX was the pinnacle of this ambition, but will now be discontinued with Android 10.

Information is being shared by Samsung itself with developers. Will this feature of Samsung smartphones continue to make sense in the future?

In an email to the testers, Samsung has announced that it is ending the Linux on DeX beta program. It will no longer provide support for future OS and device releases, including the Android 10 beta. The team behind the app hasn’t offered any reasons for the shutdown of the program but thanked users for the interest and feedback.

Samsung announced the Linux on DeX app nearly a year ago as an experiment to augment the capabilities of its DeX platform. It enables select Galaxy devices to run full Linux OS in DeX mode when connected to an external monitor (or on the device’s display if it’s a tablet). The app has been in beta for the past year, and the company is now ending the program without releasing a stable version.

If you've been using Linux on DeX (aka Linux on Galaxy) to turn your Samsung phone into a PC, you'll need to make a change of plans. Samsung is warning users that it's shutting down the Linux on DeX beta program, and that its Android 10 update won't support using the open source OS as a desktop environment. The company didn't explain why it was shutting things down, but it did note that the Android 10 beta is already going without the Linux option...

Back in 2017, Samsung introduced DeX as a feature of its then flagship Galaxy S8 and S8+ that allowed users to extend the functionality of their devices to connected displays by placing them on special dock stations.

Short for “desktop experience”, DeX mostly delivered on that premise, expanding on a vision that others, like Microsoft and its Continuum software, had already introduced the world to.

Today, DeX still exists, with expanded support for newer devices and even more features (users could use their devices as touch pads, for example).

When the Beta was released in November last year, there were 2 devices on the program: Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Tab S4. It’s possible that they’re targeting newer devices that were added to the program. Specifically the S10 range and S5e tablet which were able to join the Beta at a later time.

As part of entry to the program you register your device, so Samsung know exactly what device I’m using for the program when they sent that email.

One thing is pretty clear though – Samsung’s at least talking about Android 10 for the Tab S4 and that’s pretty cool.

Samsung DeX was introduced with the Galaxy S8 series as a facility that expands the UI of those phones and its successors into a desktop environment. It may prove worthwhile for many users, particularly as it no longer depends on separate-purchase accessories such as the DeX Pad. Samsung had also offered the opportunity to run Linux through this connection. However, it is now abandoning the beta in question.

This DeX function existed as a beta and enabled the user to run a certain modification of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for ARM64. It was mainly directed at developers, who may have been able to build Android apps using their premium Galaxy smartphones and a monitor. It is compatible with Android 9.0 (Pie); however, that seems to be as far as it will go.

Samsung has reportedly suspended the Linux on DeX beta. This is apparently connected to the migration to One UI 2.0, the OEM's official skin for Android 10. The beta will be incompatible with this ROM; furthermore, the Korean company has allegedly stated that rolling back to One UI 1.0 (based on Pie) will not be possible on Galaxy devices.

Samsung has ended its Linux on DeX beta program despite not yet launching a stable version of the Android alternative, bringing the Linux project that would have provided users with another software option to a close.

In an email sent to testers, the South Korean tech giant said it would no longer provide support for the program for future operating systems and devices.

This means there will be no further updates to the app or the current version of Ubuntu being used.

The announcement coincides with the rollouts of Android 10 and the new updated OS from Google, which do not provide Linux on DeX support.

"We would like to thank users for their support and interest in the Linux on DeX (LoD) beta program," the company said in a statement to ZDNet.

"We have decided to close the beta program which will end support for LoD on Android 10. Samsung is committed to offering innovative mobile experience and will continue to explore better mobile productivity."

Back in 2018, the South Korean smartphone manufacturer decided to push things to the next level with its DeX project and enable a full version of Linux on top of Android.

Samsung DeX is a special feature that allows flagships like the Galaxy S and Note to connect to larger screens using dedicated hardware and boost the productivity side of Android with mouse and keyboard support. Technically, Samsung DeX allows an Android phone to become an almost fully-featured PC that is connected to a bigger screen. A PC running Android, that is.

Desktop mobile convergence was talked a lot a few years with the hope that smartphones would eventually be used as a phone while on the go, and an efficient desktop or laptop replacement....

The beta programme allowed users to run an entire Linux distro on their Samsung device, using the company's DeX feature to connect it to an external monitor and keyboard to create a complete desktop computer.

However, Samsung has announced that the Android 10 builds for its devices will remove the feature. DeX users will still be able to access a customised version of Android, but the Linux option will be gone.

It told users in an email: "Linux on DeX will not be supported on Android 10 Beta. Once you update your device to Android OS 10, you will not be able to perform a version rollback to Android Pie. If you decide to update your device to Android 10 Beta, we recommend backing up data before updating."

Samsung will no longer provide support for the program for future operating systems and devices.

The desktop environment that turns your Samsung phone or tablet into a PC when connected to an external display, nicknamed 'DeX,' has been around for a while now. Nearly a year ago, Samsung introduced the Linux on DeX beta, which could run a full Linux OS on top of DeX. Sadly, the project seems to have been discontinued.

Samsung is sending out an email to testers explaining that the beta program has ended, and that Linux on DeX will not be supported on devices running Android 10...

Over the weekend, Samsung sent a relatively small number of its customers an email that they probably didn’t want to read on a weekend or on a weekday. The company was put its Linux on DeX beta program to rest and not because it was graduating to a stable release. On the contrary, Samsung was ending the program completely. It may have had a small number of users but LoD, as it was known, was well-loved by those because of what it enabled. Fortunately, there are other ways to carry on that promise in a hopefully more sustainable and more future-proof way.

There are actually two things involved here as the name may suggest, neither of which are actually intrinsically dependent on the other. The first is DeX, which is Samsung’s makeshift desktop experience that runs only on a large screen, either directly on a tablet or via an external screen in the case of phones. Despite looking like a conventional desktop, you are still running Android, just with a different home screen and with windowed apps by default.

Samsung has called quits on its effort to provide a full Linux desktop platform for Android.

In an email to beta testers last week, Samsung said it would not support its Linux on DeX beta program for future operating system and device releases.

Samsung's announcement coincides with Google's release of the Android 10 OS update and its rollout on Samsung phones. Neither company will provide Linux on DeX support.

Linux on DeX allows users to connect smartphones or tablets to monitors to simulate a full Linux desktop computing experience. Samsung initially offered DeX as a docking station for phones. It then allowed users to connect their Android phones to monitors via a USB-C cable.

Samsung did not provide details on what led to the decision to dump DeX support but an advisory informed users that DeX will not be supported in Android 10 beta. Samsung phone users will not be able to perform a version rollback to Android Pie.