Now, this is a debate that is going on for years now and still. Linux is a platform that has delivered the most capable operating systems for both mobile devices and desktops.
Linux Distro is a huge platform and it is a huge family of different kinds of operating systems designed and created to serve different purposes.
Let me clear one thing first. Linux has developed numerous operating system for mobile devices but among all of them, Android is the only operating system which got huge fame among the mobile device manufacturers and mobile users.
Therefore this blog will focus on the major differences between the mobile Linux (that is Android) and the Desktop Linux.
But let me give you a brief story of both these types of the operating systems, otherwise, this blog will make no sense to you.
Linux For Mobile Devices
Linux Distros offer a huge range of operating systems for mobile devices. These operating systems are mainly based on the Linux Kernel platform.
Linux kernel-based operating system was introduced mainly for touchscreen mobile devices. There is a list of operating systems offered by the Linux Kernel for mobile devices.
These operating systems differ from each other in terms of middleware. Some of the mobile operating systems by Linux Kernel are
- Android
- Ubuntu Touch
- Plasma Mobile
- postmarketOS
- SHR
- Firefox
- Bada
- Tizen
Some of the middlewares of Linux Kernel include.
- BusyBox
- Toybox
- Smart Common Input Method
- Uim
Linux for Desktop
Linux was initially created to provide an opensource operating system. You can say that Linux is a derived version of Unix.
Linux mainly got its fame among the community of developers and coders as they found the operating system much more reliable to work in. Some of the major characteristics of Linux includes
- Open source and easy to download
- Ease of installation
- Rock-solid and stable platform
- Initially developed by a group of web developers
Now when it comes to desktop Linux, developers considered networking service as the main priority and kept the office applications at the bottom of the priority list.
Linux provides trade services and database support to giant organizations. The introduction of Linux as a desktop operating system was a revolution in the computer world. Especially internet service providers became a fan of this platform.
They used Linux as a firewall, proxy and web server. Though it is still considered as one of the most complex operating systems of all the time, still it holds one of the top positions in the OS rankings.
So how mobile Linux differ from desktop Linux?
I think now you have gained pretty much knowledge about what a mobile Linux OS and desktop Linux is. So now let’s see some points that make them different from each other.
| Linux for Mobile Devices (Android) | Linux for Desktops |
| Android is mainly built for mobile devices and tablets. More Specifically saying it was built for touch-screen devices. | Linux is mainly developed for personal and office system users. |
| Android supports two types architectures, ARM and x86. ARM is widely used in mobile devices x86 targets the Mobile Internet Devices |
Desktop Linux supports a wide range of architectures. |
| Android depends on the power management module that stands close to Linux Power Extensions | In a desktop Linux, power management is mainly done by using APM |
| Android uses a C library | Linux uses the GNU library |
| Android Systems uses flash memory for storage and other purposes. To run applications Android uses Dalvik virtual machine Some developers also uses JVM for execution |
Linux system uses magnetic drives. Some of the standard Linux systems use the EXT journaling file system. To provide a solid file system Linux uses solid-state memory devices like NOR for code execution and NAND for storage purpose. Linux does not need any kind of VMs to run application or execution. |
Conclusion:
So throughout the blog, we can conclude the fact that Linux delivers enough capable operating system platforms for both mobile devices and desktop.
We have discussed some major points which make them different from each other and have elaborated on each point so that you get a better understanding. I hope that this blog has helped several readers who were looking for this type of topic.
