The dream of a smartphone that also functions as a PC has been hampered largely by the unavailability of desktop software. There have been a few attempts to address this limitation, with most of them revolving around Linux. Before Samsung released Samsung DeX, there was the open source Maru OS project, and after a long period of silence, it has returned to lay the foundation for future expansion to more Android.
Samsung may have imitated Maru to some extent when it developed DeX. Unlike other Linux on Android, Maru OS required users to connect an external display to the phone before a Debian GNU/Linux environment would be released. However, this significantly limited the devices that could be supported. Essentially, only the Nexus 5 tablet and Nexus 7 (2013) were able to do so.
Maru 0.6 “Okinawa” could also be considered version 1.0, as it radically changes the entire installation to be more future-proof. Maru is now based on LineageOS and not just AOSP, which opens the door to more devices, as long as they are supported by the popular Android ROM.
Equally important, Maru now supports wireless desktop streaming via Chromecast and Miracast, as some users report. This means the operating system no longer requires an external HDMI connection, which also increases the number of devices Maru can work on.
As a testament to these changes, Maru OS welcomes the Nexus 5X as the first new device to be supported after the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013). It may take some time and some effort from the community to bring it to other phones. In addition to these changes, Maru OS 0.6 also updates the Debian distribution to the latest version 9 Stretch, Android to Android 8.1 Oreo, and brings a whole host of fixes that will make this particular Android ROM useful and interesting again.
