ExTiX 20.9 Release: Ubuntu-based Linux distro with Anbox (Android in a box) support

ExTiX is an Ubuntu-based and liveDVD Linux distribution that offers a choice of alternative desktop environments, including KDE plasma desktop, with the latest version, ExTiX 20.9, supporting Android apps via Anbox (Android in a box).

While ExTiX 20.9 inclusion of the open-source compatibility layer, Anbox, means that users can now run Android apps on the GNU/Linux distribution.

It features some useful Android apps by default, such as F-Droid and Aptoide App Manager, also allowing users to easily install any other Android app via the Google Play Store, and besides the Play Store, users can download Android APK files and install the apps using ADB tool.

What's New in ExTiX 20.9 Release?

ExTiX 20.09 ships with Refracta Snapshot pre-installed, which application allows you to create an installable Ubuntu/Anbox-based system that runs live on your system or from the hard drive.

$ExTiX Refracta$

And it comes with the highly configurable KDE Plasma 5.104 desktop environment, replacing the lightweight LXQT desktop that came bundled with the previous version ExTiX 20.8. While ExTiX 20.9 KDE plasma runs on the latest Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS “Focal Fossa” point version with long-term Linux Kernel 5.4.

Finally, the major new update in ExTiX, support for Anbox has some limitations such as the fact that users won't be able to run Anbox in VirtualBox. And also, it can't play videos directly on YouTube or other apps, albeit sounds-only media works as well.

How to Upgrade to ExTiX 20.9

ExTiX 20.9 is based on Ubuntu with LXQt/Deepin/KDE/Anbox and kernel 5.8.0-rc7, and, if you want to give it a spin, you can download ExTiX 20.9 with KDE and Anbox directly from SourceForge.

But note that you can also create your own Ubuntu system while running ExTiX from DVD or a USB stick, with the whole process (creating new ISO with Refracta) taking only 10 – 30 minutes. In VirtualBox/VMware it may take a couple of hours. You can find the ISO in /home/snapshots and the whole process is very simple.