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Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

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Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#121
Genuinely curious but why would people put 2 displays side by side so that your neck would always be bent to a side?

That totally looks like a tiring solution. I never do that but put the main display (which is an external monitor of my laptop) parallel to the keyboard and my laptop to the side so I will be facing forward naturally.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#122

Genuinely curious but why would people put 2 displays side by side so that your neck would always be bent to a side? That totally looks like a tiring solution. I never do that but put the main display (which is an external monitor of my laptop) parallel to the keyboard and my laptop to the side so I will be facing forward naturally.

In France, my OSHA auditor actually requests that if there are two screens, they be put with the centerline in the middle (I bet it’s a clerical error, but it’s funny to see clerical errors that recommends the opposite of the healthy solution).

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#123
post #24

Got to mention that you can use your tablet on Linux GNOME DE not only for terminal: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/06/use-ipad-as-second-monit... . Still waiting for even better solution, like streaming games to such second tablet "monitor".

Just tried this but got "this device needs iOS 15 or later" when trying to install Microsoft rdp client, which isn't available for my old iPad. So I guess you can't actually use an old iPad for this. But maybe I can find another rdp client that will work.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#124

Genuinely curious but why would people put 2 displays side by side so that your neck would always be bent to a side? That totally looks like a tiring solution. I never do that but put the main display (which is an external monitor of my laptop) parallel to the keyboard and my laptop to the side so I will be facing forward naturally.

I had side-by-sides at an old job. I found I switched back and forth often enough that I wasn't really hurting my neck.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#125

Genuinely curious but why would people put 2 displays side by side so that your neck would always be bent to a side? That totally looks like a tiring solution. I never do that but put the main display (which is an external monitor of my laptop) parallel to the keyboard and my laptop to the side so I will be facing forward naturally.

I put multiple displays in portrait mode maybe 10 years ago and have never looked back.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#126
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Readme, their eventual plan for the project is to be able to serve the client through the web browser which would mean that almost all tablets would be supported.

Didn't Apple drop support for old iOS devices so they can't access the web anymore. Safari is useless even for local sites I believe.

If you're referring to the outdated certificates, I installed Let's Encrypt's ISRG Root X1 Certificate onto my old iPad 4 and that seems to have taken care of it. Local sites served over HTTP never had any issues.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#127

On a similar note, you can use your old phone as a Streamdeck alternative using TouchPortal [1]. It's not free, but it won't cost you much and it works surprisingly well. [1] https://www.touch-portal.com/

This seems to be a free, open source software that does something similar: https://stream-pi.com/

According to the video I'm currently listening to, it only has a Linux client currently, but has Windows and Linux hosts.

Edit: I've played with this a bit with a surface pro running Linux as a client and Windows as host and the thing holding it back at this moment is lack of plugins. I use Stream Deck to manage my gaming sessions (Steam, Discord, Voicemod soundboard and voices, occassionally OBS, game launches, etc.) and as-is for my purposes this can really only manage OBS and things that have configured hotkeys.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can plug a USB HDMI capture dongle into tablets and do this. Any webcam viewer would probably work to view it, though there's dedicated apps intended for this like https://orion.tube/ on iPad. I know there's options on Android but don't have a modern android tablet to test them.

Do you know how come that app doesn’t work on the IPhone 15 Pro? I don’t have the iPad, but just recently got the 15 Pro, and it’s able to do a bunch of things via the usbc port (wired Ethernet, SD card reading, driving a Pro Display XDR etc), but I wasn’t able to do something like that Orion app is showing. Was thinking of pretty much same use case as shown in the app, where I could plug in an external camera and us…

I know, I'd love to use my phone as a display via capture card so I don't have to carry a portable monitor to troubleshoot headless boxes.

The developer says the 15 and 15 Pro are only missing software, the hardware is capable:

> I’m sad to say that we’ve confirmed with Apple that it will not be working with the iPhone 15. But this can be fixed in software, so feel free to file a feedback request for UVC support on iOS!

https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/16qzdtx/hi_reddit_we...

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#129
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know how come that app doesn’t work on the IPhone 15 Pro? I don’t have the iPad, but just recently got the 15 Pro, and it’s able to do a bunch of things via the usbc port (wired Ethernet, SD card reading, driving a Pro Display XDR etc), but I wasn’t able to do something like that Orion app is showing. Was thinking of pretty much same use case as shown in the app, where I could plug in an external camera and us…

I know, I'd love to use my phone as a display via capture card so I don't have to carry a portable monitor to troubleshoot headless boxes. The developer says the 15 and 15 Pro are only missing software, the hardware is capable: > I’m sad to say that we’ve confirmed with Apple that it will not be working with the iPhone 15. But this can be fixed in software, so feel free to file a feedback request for UVC support on i…

Ahh, that sucks, hopefully future iOS will also have uvc support.

Re: Show HN: Use an old tablet as an extra monitor

#130
post #110

Macos has the built in with sidecar. Just attach an ipad and select it as the external display

Sidecar is very glitchy for anything but casual use.

It seems to be pretty stable now. I've been using an iPad Pro as a 2nd monitor for a MBP while working remotely over the last year without any issues (8+ hours of daily use).
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