diff --git a/local-cli/run-android.js b/local-cli/run-android.js
index f5333cab3..26da1e1a4 100644
--- a/local-cli/run-android.js
+++ b/local-cli/run-android.js
@@ -31,9 +31,10 @@ function buildAndRun() {
   }
   try {
     var packageName = fs.readFileSync('app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml', 'utf8').match(/package="(.+?)"/)[1];
+    var adbPath = process.env.ANDROID_HOME ? process.env.ANDROID_HOME + '/platform-tools/adb' : 'adb';
     var adbArgs = ['shell', 'am', 'start', '-n', packageName + '/.MainActivity'];
-    console.log(chalk.bold('Starting the app (adb ' + adbArgs.join(' ') + ')...'));
-    child_process.spawnSync('adb', adbArgs, {
+    console.log(chalk.bold('Starting the app (' + adbPath + ' ' + adbArgs.join(' ') + ')...'));
+    child_process.spawnSync(adbPath, adbArgs, {
       stdio: [process.stdin, process.stdout, process.stderr]
     });
   } catch (e) {
@@ -62,6 +63,8 @@ module.exports = function() {
         console.log(chalk.yellow('[warn] JS server not recognized, continuing with build...'));
       }
       buildAndRun();
+      // make sure we don't wait around for the packager process
+      process.exit();
     });
   });
   statusReq.on('error', function() {
@@ -70,4 +73,4 @@ module.exports = function() {
     runPackager(true);
     buildAndRun();
   });
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
diff --git a/local-cli/run-packager.js b/local-cli/run-packager.js
index 80b06f70e..111c15b02 100644
--- a/local-cli/run-packager.js
+++ b/local-cli/run-packager.js
@@ -5,9 +5,16 @@ var child_process = require('child_process');
 
 module.exports = function(newWindow) {
   if (newWindow) {
-    child_process.spawnSync('open', [
-      path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'packager', 'launchPackager.command')
-    ]);
+    var launchPackagerScript =
+      path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'packager', 'launchPackager.command');
+    if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
+      child_process.spawnSync('open', [launchPackagerScript]);
+    } else if (process.platform === 'linux') {
+      child_process.spawn(
+        'xterm',
+        ['-e', 'sh', launchPackagerScript],
+        {detached: true});
+    }
   } else {
     child_process.spawn('sh', [
         path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'packager', 'packager.sh'),
@@ -15,4 +22,4 @@ module.exports = function(newWindow) {
         process.cwd(),
       ], {stdio: 'inherit'});
   }
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};