When comparing Limbo PC Emulator vs GNURoot, the Slant community recommends Limbo PC Emulator for most people. In the question“What are the best ways to run Linux applications on Android?” Limbo PC Emulator is ranked 8th while GNURoot is ranked 11th.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Does not require root
Pro Does not require a rooted phone
GNURoot is a completely self-contained app that cleanly uninstalls and doesn't need root permissions.
Pro Includes a VNC client for GUI apps
Setting it up takes some effort. And 3rd-party VNC client (or X server) apps might have a better user interface than GNURoot's default. These also work, but also take some effort to set up.
Cons
Con Slow
This emulates an x86 chip on your ARM device, instead of using Linux applications compiled for ARM in the first place. It can even run Windows, but it's slow.
Con Wakelocks on by default
It drains the battery pretty quickly when running.
Con Requires a lot of manual configuration
GNURoot doesn't hold your hand and isn't even documented very well. Getting anything graphical to run takes some doing.