Access your Android device from your PC with this open source scrCPy app.

In the future, all the information you need will be at your fingertips, all in the air as holograms that you can interact with while driving your car. But that’s the future, and until then, all of us will be left with scattered information on laptops, phones, tablets and smart fridges. Unfortunately, this means that we often have to look at the device when we need information from it.

While not exactly as cool as holographic terminals or flying cars, GuiscrCPy, developed by Srevin Saju, is an app that can consolidate multiple screens in one place to give you a little sense of the future.

Guiscrcpy is an open source project (under the GUN GPLv3 license) based on the award-winning open source engine SCRCPy. Using Guiscrcpy, you can project your Android phone’s screen onto your computer so you can view everything on your phone. Guiscrcpy supports Linux, Windows, and MacOS.

Unlike other scrCPy alternatives, Guiscrcpy is not simply a copy of SCRCPY. The project prioritizes collaboration with other open source projects. Therefore, Guiscrcpy is an extension, or user interface layer, to SCRCPY. Separating the Python 3 GUI from the SCRCPy ensures that nothing interferes with the efficiency of the SCRCPy back end. You can project to a 1080P screen, and because of its super-fast rendering speed and ultra-low CPU usage, it runs smoothly even on low-end computers.

Scrcpy is the cornerstone of the Guiscrcpy project. It’s a command-line application, so it doesn’t have a user interface for handling your gestures. It also doesn’t provide a back button or a home button, and it requires familiarity with Linux terminals. Guiscrcpy adds a graphics panel to SCRCPy. So any user can use it and project and control his device without having to send any information over the network. Guiscrcpy also provides compiled binaries for Windows and Linux users for your convenience.

Install Guiscrcpy

Before you can install Guiscrcpy, you need to install its dependencies. In particular, install SCRCPY. Probably the easiest way to install SCRCPy is to use the SNAP tool that is installed with most Linux distributions. If you have SNAP installed and running on your computer, you can use the following command to install SCRCPy in one step.

$ sudo snap install scrcpy
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Once you have installed scrCPy, you can install other dependency packages. Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL 2.0) is a toolkit for displaying and controlling your device’s screen. The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) command connects your Android phone to your PC.

On Fedora or CentOS:

$ sudo dnf install SDL2 android-tools
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In Ubuntu or Debian:

$ sudo apt install SDL2 android-tools-adb
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In another terminal, install Python dependencies:

$ python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt --user
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Set up your phone

To enable your phone to accept ADB connections. You must have the developer option enabled on your phone. To open developer options, open Settings, then select About Phone, and find version number (which may also be in the Software Information panel). Incredibly, if you click “Version number” seven times in a row, you can open the developer option. (Depending on your brand of Android phone, the developer option may open differently.)

Enabling Developer Mode

For more comprehensive ways to connect to your phone, see the Android developer documentation.

Once you’ve set up your phone, plug it into your computer via a USB cable (or connect it wirelessly to make sure you’ve configured the wireless connection).

Using Guiscrcpy

When you launch GuiscrCPy, you will see a main control window. Click the “Start scrcpy” button in the window. As long as you set up developer mode and connect your phone to your PC via USB or WiFi. Guiscrcpy will connect to your phone.

Guiscrcpy main screen

It also includes a writable configuration system where you can write your configuration files to the ~/.config directory. You can save your preferences before using them.

The panel at the bottom of guiscrCPy is a floating window that helps you perform some basic control actions. It includes a home button, a back button, a power button, and a few other buttons. These buttons are commonly used on Android phones. It is important to note that this module does not interact with THE SDL of SCRCPY. Therefore, it can be executed without delay. In other words, the action window interacts directly with your phone via ADB rather than scrCPy.

guiscrcpy’s bottom panel

The project is currently very active, with new features added all the time. The latest version has a gesture and notification interface.

With guiscrCPy, you can not only see your phone on your computer screen, you can also click on the SDL window as if it were your physical phone, or interact with it using buttons on the floating window.

guiscrcpy running on Fedora 30

Guiscrcpy is an interesting and useful application that provides functionality that should be official on any modern device, especially platforms like Android. Try it for yourself and add a futuristic feel to today’s digital life.

Via: opensource.com/article/19/…

By Seth Kenlon, lujun9972

This article is originally compiled by LCTT and released in Linux China