Android and Linux

[mr__ed]

I just purchased a new tablet from Walmart (Onn Surf 8, 2nd gen), which I’m quite pleased with so far. The OS is android 11. I’ve noticed something interesting; even though the tablet is running android, I’m getting indications that linux is somehow involved. I don’t know much about linux except many people think highly of it.

I can’t go into explaining how I know linux is involved somehow, except I see the word “linux” come up occasionally on the screen, almost as if that’s the OS. So, my question is: is there any sort of relationship between android and Linux? Other than that, there are no issues with my device., so it doesn’t matter. I’m just curious.

[mr__ed]

wa8yxm wrote:
You might wish to investigate that new linux sign in.
As I recall the notices I get say "android" or "Chromebook" or Windows'

thanks for the advice. Ed

[wa8yxm]

You might wish to investigate that new linux sign in.
As I recall the notices I get say "android" or "Chromebook" or Windows'

[mr__ed]

Thanks for the replies. While checking my gmail today, I noticed Google informed me of a new sign in on a linux account. I didn’t know what that’s about? But not to worry, everything is working normally on my device. I just didn’t know how linux was involved.

Both of your replies have answered my question perfectly; thanks for that! 🙂

[Fizz]

Thank you Dutch.
I actually understood that 🙂

[Dutch_12078]

The "kernel" in an operating system is basically the digital interface between the hardware and software, in other words the "heart" of the OS. Android uses the open source Linux kernel, customized for their needs. The most popular OS that's commonly referred to as "Linux" is actually the "GNU" operating system that uses the Linux kernel as well. Point of interest, the Windows WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) runs on a custom version of the Linux kernel. Microsoft is a member of the Linux Foundation and also supports the Linux kernel security mailing list (a rather select community). Microsoft submits patches to the Linux kernel as it works to create a complete virtualization stack with Linux and the Microsoft hypervisor.

[wa8yxm]

Android is kind of related to Linux... Not sure exactly how close and the information is old enough the memory has rusted a bit but Ah. Google knows a lot about the Android operating system (Naturally) and this is what they say:

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.