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Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

maruos.com

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Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#41

Post by bee_rider »

bsimpson wrote: post #23

It's interesting that in the early 2010s, both halves of the ecosystem were talking about "convergence:" Ubuntu wanted to make its Linux render a single column on a handset and with floating windows on a larger screen. Motorola had a similar project based on Android. A dozen years later, nobody has done that well. Ubuntu gave up. Mobile-targeted Linux distributions aren't good (missing functionality, mobile UX, or bo…

You can get like 65% of the way there by just using i3wm with an onscreen keyboard and really big window borders (so you have somewhere to poke to change windows). But you have to contend with the fact that it is a basically fine touch window manager showing you… applications that were designed without touch in mind at all.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#43

Post by n8cpdx »

profsummergig wrote: post #20

The mouse right-click on a PC. What's the equivalent of that for a phone? Is it press-and-hold?

Yes, and that’s what windows does on touch screens going back a long while.

iOS makes pretty heavy use of right click menus (e.g. on the Home Screen, in Mail). It used to be Force Touch/3D Touch, which is superior, but has more learning curve and doesn’t scale to iPad.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#44

Post by dcminter »

doebler wrote: post #3

> Simply plug your phone into an HDMI screen, connect up a keyboard and mouse, and you’ve got a lightweight desktop experience you can take anywhere. No, I can't take it anywhere, because few places I go to have a HDMI screen and keyboard ready for me. And to the ones they do, I carry my laptop.

The use case for me is mostly hotel stays. When travelling for fun I don't particularly want the weight (and risk) of packing my laptop, but I would like to be able to play movies and music on the hotel TV. With a cheap light keyboard I could also do email and similar light admin things with the benefit of the bigger screen.

Until recently I was also travelling frequently for work with a heavy MacBook running a variety of Enterprise malware that would prevent me from doing any personal stuff with it - being able to use my own phone for light leisure activities that I normally do on the personal laptop would have been very useful for the boring hotel evenings. Adding another kg+ of laptop to the already heavy backpack was too annoying to put up with - my cheapo bluetooth keyboard and mouse weigh in at a much more acceptable 280 grams.

In short, there's a use case - but most phones are too locked down to take full advantage of the possibility.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#45

Post by fsflover »

bsimpson wrote: post #23

It's interesting that in the early 2010s, both halves of the ecosystem were talking about "convergence:" Ubuntu wanted to make its Linux render a single column on a handset and with floating windows on a larger screen. Motorola had a similar project based on Android. A dozen years later, nobody has done that well. Ubuntu gave up. Mobile-targeted Linux distributions aren't good (missing functionality, mobile UX, or bo…

> A dozen years later, nobody has done that well.

I'm writing this from Librem 5 phone running PureOS based on Debian. No Android dependencies and possibility of full desktop mode. How is this not a success?

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#46

Post by jklinger410 »

bsimpson wrote: post #23

It's interesting that in the early 2010s, both halves of the ecosystem were talking about "convergence:" Ubuntu wanted to make its Linux render a single column on a handset and with floating windows on a larger screen. Motorola had a similar project based on Android. A dozen years later, nobody has done that well. Ubuntu gave up. Mobile-targeted Linux distributions aren't good (missing functionality, mobile UX, or bo…

GNOME is still plugging away at this, making sure their entire OS is usable on mobile. Even without a market or audience.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#47

Post by szszrk »

eldaisfish wrote: post #27
szszrk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why you neatpick that. I feel the complete opposite. HDMI screens are everywhere. Usb-c ones less but still present. I have a screen at work, with keyboard and USB hub. Same at home. And at most of my friend's homes. I have a screen (tv) in a hotel and flats to rent. I even had one in a cabin recently (use them with tv stick for my kid's shows). I also have an external USB/HDMI screen that is lighter tha…

i struggle to see your point. Your suggestion is that people should carry around four devices with them, poorly integrated, clunky, all for the experience of plugging to their phone? At that point, what advantage is there over a laptop?

No. I'm just saying that "there are no HDMI devices near me" is weird and hard to achieve.

To use my phone as a desktop all I need is the phone itself. USB cable I most often already have to charge it. Phone works as a keyboard and mouse and I have large screen to browse web, play, watch videos. ZERO new devices, only things I already carry and a screen that is already there.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#48

Post by fsflover »

pydry wrote: post #38
bsimpson wrote: post #23

It's interesting that in the early 2010s, both halves of the ecosystem were talking about "convergence:" Ubuntu wanted to make its Linux render a single column on a handset and with floating windows on a larger screen. Motorola had a similar project based on Android. A dozen years later, nobody has done that well. Ubuntu gave up. Mobile-targeted Linux distributions aren't good (missing functionality, mobile UX, or bo…

It sounds like a nice idea in theory but I dont think demand is that high.

Except all those people who don't own a computer and are stuck on old Android phones. Debian can allow lifetime updates btw.

Re: Maru OS – Use your phone as your PC

#50

Post by m463 »

doebler wrote: post #3

> Simply plug your phone into an HDMI screen, connect up a keyboard and mouse, and you’ve got a lightweight desktop experience you can take anywhere. No, I can't take it anywhere, because few places I go to have a HDMI screen and keyboard ready for me. And to the ones they do, I carry my laptop.

There are now ar glasses that do HDMI, and there are lots of portable keyboard solutions, with a trackpad or trackpoint or just a mouse.

haven't tried it, but I see glasses as an almost practical future.

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