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Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

termux.dev

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Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#101
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish Android would properly enable containers like they've done for Chrome OS. It's silly we run little Linux machines and can't pop a fully isolated container shell on them!

I think it hasn't happened because much of the sandboxing of Android is part of the Android runtime, thereby only sandboxing code compiled for the Android runtime. If you could spawn a native Linux executable (that hasn't been compiled for Android the way the Termux executables have) from an Android application, then that process can escape the application's sandbox and do stuff it shouldn't be able to do given the p…

If it works like crosvm on ChromeOS, you can launch a KVM virtual machine and then run containers inside that. It even supports nested virtualization (at least it does on my framework Chromebook) so you can then run vms inside the VM for stuff like multipass or gnome-boxes. It actually works really. Would be amazing if this same pattern is enabled for Android devices with proper vmx/vt extensions on the CPU.

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#102
post #9

Termux singlehandedly makes me feel like I'm living my childhood dream of having a full computer in my pocket. I use git to blog from my phone, I have ffmpeg and yt-dlp installed to download videos for when I am going to be away from internet access for a while, and I even have some home automation scripts setup that control the lights over the local network. But I am concerned about the direction Android is headed,…

> I have ffmpeg and yt-dlp installed to download videos for when I am going to be away from internet access for a while

Have you tried NewPipe for that use case?

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#103
post #9

Termux singlehandedly makes me feel like I'm living my childhood dream of having a full computer in my pocket. I use git to blog from my phone, I have ffmpeg and yt-dlp installed to download videos for when I am going to be away from internet access for a while, and I even have some home automation scripts setup that control the lights over the local network. But I am concerned about the direction Android is headed,…

> Termux singlehandedly makes me feel like I'm living my childhood dream of having a full computer in my pocket

I still remember the first time I successfully SSHed to something from my Handspring Treo 180 over GPRS data, and felt like I was living in some kind of cyberpunk future.

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#104
Is there any sort of reputable, non-subscription (and open source, while I’m listing wishes) SSH client for iOS/iPhone?

I ran across Blink (which is subscription-only) and Prompt ($15—-not unreasonable if you’re sure you’ll use it often), but I’m curious to hear recommendations from here.

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#106
post #9

Termux singlehandedly makes me feel like I'm living my childhood dream of having a full computer in my pocket. I use git to blog from my phone, I have ffmpeg and yt-dlp installed to download videos for when I am going to be away from internet access for a while, and I even have some home automation scripts setup that control the lights over the local network. But I am concerned about the direction Android is headed,…

I felt the same way when I got my Nokia N900 back in the day

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#108

Termux sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out the cheapest computer that I could legitimately recommend to someone as a learning computer. I found $18 Android phones on clearance at Walmart, like the TracFone - Alcatel One Touch Pixi Unite with 8GB Memory Prepaid Cell Phone - Black. I mean, look at the specs: * 1500 mAh Battery, 800x480 screen * Quad-core 1.3GHz processor with 1GB of RAM * Android 6.0 Mar…

IMO it’s never worth buying these “cheap” devices new when you can find used devices with much better specs for similar prices on eBay, Swappa, Craigslist, Reddit, etc.

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#109
post #107

I loved using termux to run bits of my R code in it. With git and my text editor/IDE, it actually felt pretty good. Sadly I can't seem to get R to work on it these days.

There's a fork of Termux that uses Nix for package management on F-Droid, and the R environment on it seems to work fine. Just tested it by booting up the REPL.

https://github.com/t184256/nix-on-droid

Re: Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app

#110

I don't use android, but why not just install a custom android ROM (with root privileges)? Is it a hardware driver issue? Is it too much work to keep an android distribution up to date? ...like, does Samsung do any work to make sure it's difficult to use anything other than their pre-installed android?

I could do that but I don't want to lose full compatibility granted by official ROM. I'm really happy with the stock one and want to just use my phone without screwing it up. So installing termux is pretty much the non-invasive option compared to a ROM switch.
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