Turn an old Android tablet into a second screen for your Linux desktop without buying new hardware.
Use a phone as a touch-enabled external monitor with touch and stylus input flowing back to your computer.
Extend your Linux desktop to a portable screen that works in any web browser over Wi-Fi or USB.
| shadow-x78/orbiscreen | 132ikl/game | 1lystore/pay-dcp | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Language | Rust | Rust | Rust |
| Last pushed | — | 2020-12-30 | — |
| Maintenance | — | Dormant | — |
| Setup difficulty | hard | moderate | moderate |
| Complexity | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Audience | developer | general | developer |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Requires Linux kernel module evdi and hardware video encoding support via VAAPI or NVENC, plus an Android device with debug APK installed.
Orbiscreen is an open-source project that turns a spare Android tablet or phone into a real second monitor for a Linux desktop. Unlike older workarounds that only work with specific display systems, Orbiscreen creates a kernel-level virtual display using DisplayLink's evdi technology. This virtual display appears as a genuine monitor to both X11 and Wayland, the two main display systems on Linux, and the screen content is streamed to the Android device over WebRTC. The project exists to address limitations in similar tools. Some alternatives refuse to support Linux as a host, or are unmaintained and only work with X11. Orbiscreen supports both X11 and Wayland, discovers the host computer automatically using mDNS networking, and can also connect over USB using adb reverse, which avoids the need for manual IP address configuration or special drivers. Key features include real virtual display support through evdi, streaming that opens in any modern web browser without requiring an app installation, and reverse touch input. This means touch, pointer, keyboard, and stylus events from the Android device flow back to the Linux host. The project uses hardware video encoding when available, via VAAPI or NVENC, with a software fallback using x264. Installation involves cloning the repository and running a single install script. From there, a probe command checks which capture, input, and display backends are available, and a start command creates the virtual display and begins streaming. An Android client app is provided as a debug APK. The project is written in Rust, with its codebase split into separate modules for display creation, screen capture, encoding, input handling, and transport. It also includes a browser-based web client and packaging for Flatpak, AppImage, and Debian. Orbiscreen is currently at version 0.4.3, with its development phases listed as complete through packaging and standalone installation. It is licensed under GPL-3.0.
Turn a spare Android tablet or phone into a real second monitor for a Linux desktop. It creates a virtual display and streams the screen over WebRTC to any browser, with touch input sent back to the computer.
Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, evdi, WebRTC.
You can use, modify, and distribute this freely, but any derivative works must also be released under the same GPL-3.0 license.
Setup difficulty is rated hard, with roughly 1h+ to a first successful run.
Mainly developer.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
Verify against the repo before relying on details.