Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device • Hacker News Board

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#51

Post by pquki4 » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:21 AM UTC

AJRF wrote: post #10

Hate to be that guy, but Samsung DeX is a much closer vision to a "Mobile device that doubles as a usable computer" than an iPad has proven to be since it launched 14 years ago. Especially if you get one of the Z Fold devices. It's a phone, a small tablet and a pluggable computer - all in one. Has had great terminal support for the past decade through Termux and can even run Emacs!

I tried the Termux -> Ubuntu -> code-server approach to get vscode running locally on a Galaxy Tab tablet. Since it is a somewhat "real" Ubuntu installation, it is as close as it gets, runs your debugger and compiler and doesn't have many of the limitations found in other terminals (e.g. go compiler does not run on iSH).

But I don't travel much and still prefer laptops with large screens. I do think many people will benefit from this approach. Too sad there are very Samsung tablets around.

(As a side note: I have Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ and an iPad Pro 12.9, and use the galaxy tab way more than iPad for browsing and watching YouTube videos. The screen is gorgeous and speakers are great, and I rarely find something that iPad has but not on Samsung.)

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#52

Post by BaculumMeumEst » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:22 AM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #18

theshrike79 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but we should also make restrictions on smart TVs and gaming consoles illegal too. Both the Xbox and PS5 are 100% commodity hardware, not being able to run our own software on it is a really weird limitation. One that people even on HN have accepted while simultaneously ragging on Apple's "walled garden".

Actually that is not the case with XBox, you can have your own applications there without rooting it. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/xbox-apps/devk...

That is the exactly the same weak, crippled, sandboxed bullshit that Apple gives you for your iPad. OP wants to run an OS on these devices, not that.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#53

Post by goosedragons » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:44 AM UTC

alexpc201 wrote: post #37

watermelon0 wrote: post #6

Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we live in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have comparable performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run a general purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them. Tablets are surely capable of running VSCode, Docker, VMs, etc. locally, and from UX standpoint, VSCode is basically Chromium, so experience would be the same if these tools ran directly…

Apple sees the iPads as art creation devices. You may well argue coding is an art, but not for Apple.

This is baloney. Here's a literal quote from their iPad Air "Why iPad" [0] page, "iPad is so versatile, it’s more than up to any task." They market them as do anything devices with art as a option. Hell that same page even talks about building your coding skills in Swift Playground although who knows what you're supposed to do when you advance beyond that level? I guess in Apple's mind buy a Mac?

https://www.apple.com/ipad-air/why-ipad/

And of course, they call out the iconic, but complete bullshit, "there's an app for that" with many tasks not in fact having an app for that.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#54

Post by bartekrutkowski » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:49 AM UTC

More-nitors wrote: post #35

watermelon0 wrote: post #6

Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we live in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have comparable performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run a general purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them. Tablets are surely capable of running VSCode, Docker, VMs, etc. locally, and from UX standpoint, VSCode is basically Chromium, so experience would be the same if these tools ran directly…

this people will definitely pay a big premium to get: a surfacebook with M4 chip with macOS

While not exactly the same, it will be close enough for Apple not to do it - it's called MacBook Air and it will be out with M4 soon enough (I guess).

Back in they day they had 11" MacBook line and I loved it, wish they'd bring it back.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#55

Post by miohtama » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:50 AM UTC

Related: I tried to use Github Codespaces (Visual Studio in cloud) on iPad with a keyboard, using a browser.

It works very well, in theory. There is only a slight deal breaker bug. Safari does not properly support clipboard. So copy-paste does not work. It should be very simple to fix as Chrome, Firefox, do on desktop if Safari would care more about web standards. Also you cannot install any other browser in iPad that would have the required support to use copy-paste.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#56

Post by matwood » Tue, May 28, 2024, 10:54 AM UTC

franga2000 wrote: post #31

steve1977 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you know these restrictions when you buy the device. Same with the Apple ecosystem. So why make it illegal?

Because it's an artificial limitation to make the company more money, at the expense of customer experience and the environment (yes, locked-down hardware is also a sustainability issue!). Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public and so such selfish anti-consumer behaviour would be illegal. Unfortunately, they don't and current law seems to affirm that.

> Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public and so such selfish anti-consumer behaviour would be illegal.

Given that iPads are the most sold tablets in the market, I would argue that Apple did serve the public.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#57

Post by matwood » Tue, May 28, 2024, 11:02 AM UTC

nox101 wrote: post #49

steve1977 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you know these restrictions when you buy the device. Same with the Apple ecosystem. So why make it illegal?

Because it's slowing killing the the environment for kids to learn. Parents give kids an iPad, they don't give them a notebook. Kid has hands tied for really exploring programming. I'd be willing to bet if the same restrictions were in place in the 80s and 90s that 30-50% of the people who are programmers today wouldn't be programmers because they'd never have gotten started.

There is Swift Playgrounds, but if you're talking more about general purpose programming - sure. But, I don't think it changes anything. As devices have entered all aspects of our life, the vast majority want to use them as an appliance to take and edit pictures/video, draw, communicate, and play games. To say it's killing the environment for kids to learn feels a bit myopic by implying programming is the only way to learn.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#58

Post by black3r » Tue, May 28, 2024, 11:10 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #32

watermelon0 wrote: post #6

Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we live in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have comparable performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run a general purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them. Tablets are surely capable of running VSCode, Docker, VMs, etc. locally, and from UX standpoint, VSCode is basically Chromium, so experience would be the same if these tools ran directly…

The M4 iPad Pro is the fastest computer Apple sells right now.

Only if all you care about is single core performance. Macbooks with M3 Pro and M3 Max beat M4 in multi-core performance because they have more cores.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#59

Post by cultofmetatron » Tue, May 28, 2024, 11:12 AM UTC

watermelon0 wrote: post #6

Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we live in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have comparable performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run a general purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them. Tablets are surely capable of running VSCode, Docker, VMs, etc. locally, and from UX standpoint, VSCode is basically Chromium, so experience would be the same if these tools ran directly…

I'm praying the next generation of arm laptops running windows arm won't have locked own bootloaders preventing me from installing linux.

Re: Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device

#60

Post by franga2000 » Tue, May 28, 2024, 11:19 AM UTC

mosselman wrote: post #45

franga2000 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's an artificial limitation to make the company more money, at the expense of customer experience and the environment (yes, locked-down hardware is also a sustainability issue!). Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public and so such selfish anti-consumer behaviour would be illegal. Unfortunately, they don't and current law seems to affirm that.

I’d also like to be able to run anything on an iPad. But I know I can’t so I don’t buy it. I find this notion that companies should do what we want ridiculous. You know the features and capabilities upfront or you can at least and then you can decide to buy or not.

There are many problems with the "just don't buy it" argument. Mainly, that often times, the alternatives have huge unrelated down-sides. Apple makes the best tablet hardware by a large margin, but it's totally locked down. If I want a good tablet, I have bo real alternatives.