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Linux on Dex

linuxondex.com

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Re: Linux on Dex

#151

Post by esotericn »

elipsey wrote: post #121

I have pretty much given up on the prospect of running a full fledged FOSS OS on devices that don’t give access to the bootloader’s root of trust, or give you a userland that works with a kernel you can’t control (eg Crouton). It all sounds great until you start trying to do actuall work. As soon as you need anything that’s not provided by the manufacturer software image you start to notice all the foundational thing…

Indeed.

I'm on the lookout for a solid system that can boot a vanilla Linux kernel (something like an x86 laptop or ARM laptop, sub 10 inches preferably) that can make phone calls, receive SMS, and has a built in 4G modem.

Does such a thing exist? I'd rather have a crap phone attached to a powerful computer, than a powerful phone that locks itself down so much that it's a crap computer.

Re: Linux on Dex

#152

Post by 52-6F-62 »

icebraining wrote: post #95
52-6F-62 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very cool as a concept. I'd like to see Apple get all over something like this as well. Is it just me or would something like that sell like wild?

I very much doubt it. It doesn't run Windows stuff, so it's more of a competitor to Chromebooks, and those haven't sold like wild (less than 5% of new sales in 2016). Coupled with the fact that it restricts you in the choice of phone, and I think it's basically DOA.

I figure that’s a good opening for accessory sales (from a product design perspective). It wouldn’t have to lock you into a phone if the connector was universal (ie, the switch to USB C) and adapters to fit snugly into the slot—they could even be cases. Also has the advantage of modularizing the machine.

And most phones swing above chromebooks for price and power, no? This would be an improvement on the format if you ask me. Especially if it could eventually deliver a proper Linux distro or Mac OS.

Re: Linux on Dex

#154

Post by nedp »

esotericn wrote: post #151
elipsey wrote: post #121

I have pretty much given up on the prospect of running a full fledged FOSS OS on devices that don’t give access to the bootloader’s root of trust, or give you a userland that works with a kernel you can’t control (eg Crouton). It all sounds great until you start trying to do actuall work. As soon as you need anything that’s not provided by the manufacturer software image you start to notice all the foundational thing…

Indeed. I'm on the lookout for a solid system that can boot a vanilla Linux kernel (something like an x86 laptop or ARM laptop, sub 10 inches preferably) that can make phone calls, receive SMS, and has a built in 4G modem. Does such a thing exist? I'd rather have a crap phone attached to a powerful computer, than a powerful phone that locks itself down so much that it's a crap computer.

Seems like what you describe is Purism's upcoming phone, the Librem 5.

Re: Linux on Dex

#155

Post by voltagex_ »

adl wrote: post #127
camelNotation wrote: post #31

I want a laptop with a hole where the mouse pad should be. I want to be able to put my phone into that slot, dock it, and use the screen of my phone as the mouse pad for the laptop. I want my phone to do all the processing and work. I want the laptop dock to be an extension of my phone, running something like DEX to make the laptop experience work. The only thing I want this laptop dock to do is give me a screen, a k…

An HP Elite Lapdock and a Note 9 will get you 90% of the setup you want. I have that setup, it doesn't dock into a slot, it hangs on the side with a USB C cable, but the rest is just as you describe.

$300AUD+ used! Ouch. I've also been looking at https://www.asus.com/au/Monitors/MB169C-plus/ but it's not clear if I can charge my phone at the same time.

Re: Linux on Dex

#156

Post by voltagex_ »

colobas wrote: post #48
rsync wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I was hoping this would allow me to ssh into my phone to make/take calls and send/receive texts. Does anyone knows if that's possible?" I send SMS from the command line by curl'ing twilio ... curl -X POST -d "Body=Hi" -d "From=3032221111" -d "To=4151112222" "https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/${account_sid}/Messages" -u "${account_sid}:${auth_token}" I do at least half of my testing this way, from inside my…

Yeah I'm aware of this, but my use case is different. I'm often abroad, but I also often need to contact numbers from my home country, so I wanted to have a phone I could ssh into from abroad and serve as a gateway

You used to be able to do this with chan_bluetooth on Asterisk, but I would not recommend it.

Re: Linux on Dex

#157

Post by voltagex_ »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #117
j45 wrote: post #93

Owning the Note 1, 2 and 4, I ultimately left because Samsung is very poor at updating phones regularly with current patch levels. I was forced to get a Pixel 2 which, minus the stylus I've been happy with. It still wouldn't hold a candle to a Note with bare Android. If Samsung could adopt native android installation, like some LG devices are, this is an exciting possibility.

Why not just put bare Android on a Note then?

I'm pretty sure a QFuse gets blown when you OEM-unlock a recent Samsung. Also, I don't think "bare Android" (AOSP or Lineage) supports the S-Pen.

Re: Linux on Dex

#158

Post by paavoova »

camelNotation wrote: post #31

I want a laptop with a hole where the mouse pad should be. I want to be able to put my phone into that slot, dock it, and use the screen of my phone as the mouse pad for the laptop. I want my phone to do all the processing and work. I want the laptop dock to be an extension of my phone, running something like DEX to make the laptop experience work. The only thing I want this laptop dock to do is give me a screen, a k…

Why would you want to delegate all your computing needs to the point of complete and utter dependency to the closed-source, restrictive hardware/software ecosystem that is the modern smartphone? You can't even disable the baseband on any flagship model, so just there you're enthusiastically advocating for 24/7 cellular tracking as a feature.

Re: Linux on Dex

#159

Post by mark_l_watson »

As other people here mentioned, something like this for iOS would be nice: an Apple app that ran Linux in a secure sandbox. I find using Prompt for multiple SSH shells to remote servers, Raskell (Haskell) and Pythonista (Python) IDEs to be very cool and somewhat useful - but, having an option for a sandboxed Linux would be better.

Re: Linux on Dex

#160

Post by mousecorkkey »

I just use an external SSD and take that with me.

It's rare that I'll find a monitor and keyboard, but no PC.

I do look forward to the day when we all have phones that we can dock into terminals, but until that day comes my portable drive does the job pretty well.

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