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Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

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Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#12

Post by erikb »

The main problem (imho) with Android is not the interface, but the input. We have a touch display and I have yet to see an interface that I would like to use 8h/day to do work with. The keyboards they blend in are better than anything we had in the past for mobile devices, but they just don't cut it if you want to work. For example a shortcut is likely not "touch ctrl" then "touch a" then "touch k" then "touch y" (exit from screen). A shortcut might be a drawn out pattern (I guess).

Another solution might include sounds, interacting with the microphone. Or using the camera and recognizing gestures. There are many things the traditional computer doesn't have. And in exchange we don't have on a mobile device what we have on a computer: a desk to put a keyboard on.

I already have a terminal for Android, SSH, IDEs, etc. But where are people on making the text (or command) come from my head into the app?

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#13

Post by eggy »

fredrikfornwall wrote: post #10
eggy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this compare to TerminalIDE? I'll try this out and KBOX too for myself. Thanks!

I think TerminalIDE is rather similar, with Termux having more up-to-date packages and terminal emulation. Since Termux requires Lollipop or later, and TerminalIDE only works on Android versions prior to lollipop, TerminalIDE could be an alternative for devices running older Android versions. Thanks for trying it out - let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the app!

I tried 'apt-get install' by mistake. I see your help file uses 'apt install'. I tried 'apt install picolisp', but no luck. Do you have your own package repository? Thanks.

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#15

Post by ilaksh »

erikb wrote: post #12

The main problem (imho) with Android is not the interface, but the input. We have a touch display and I have yet to see an interface that I would like to use 8h/day to do work with. The keyboards they blend in are better than anything we had in the past for mobile devices, but they just don't cut it if you want to work. For example a shortcut is likely not "touch ctrl" then "touch a" then "touch k" then "touch y" (ex…

Try Hacker's Keyboard. Or a real bluetooth keyboard.

I now actually prefer the Hacker's Keyboard on my Nexus 6 in portrait because the regular keyboard takes a lot of energy and generally is a hassle and really loud.

I do all of my programming and everything on Android for the last 4 months.

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#16

Post by [deleted] »

fredrikfornwall wrote: post #6
e12e wrote: post #3

Looks very nice. You should perhaps make the github/source link[1] a bit easier to find, than just pop it on the help-page -- at first I thought you were ignoring the GPL for bash etc. [1] https://github.com/termux/termux-packages

Thanks! I'll think about making the source more obvious in the store listing or the app interface.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#17

Post by sz4kerto »

ilaksh wrote: post #15
erikb wrote: post #12

The main problem (imho) with Android is not the interface, but the input. We have a touch display and I have yet to see an interface that I would like to use 8h/day to do work with. The keyboards they blend in are better than anything we had in the past for mobile devices, but they just don't cut it if you want to work. For example a shortcut is likely not "touch ctrl" then "touch a" then "touch k" then "touch y" (ex…

Try Hacker's Keyboard. Or a real bluetooth keyboard. I now actually prefer the Hacker's Keyboard on my Nexus 6 in portrait because the regular keyboard takes a lot of energy and generally is a hassle and really loud. I do all of my programming and everything on Android for the last 4 months.

> I do all of my programming and everything on Android for the last 4 months.

On a Nexus 6? Or on a 9-inch tablet? Why?

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#18

Post by fredrikfornwall »

eggy wrote: post #13
fredrikfornwall wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think TerminalIDE is rather similar, with Termux having more up-to-date packages and terminal emulation. Since Termux requires Lollipop or later, and TerminalIDE only works on Android versions prior to lollipop, TerminalIDE could be an alternative for devices running older Android versions. Thanks for trying it out - let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the app!

I tried 'apt-get install' by mistake. I see your help file uses 'apt install'. I tried 'apt install picolisp', but no luck. Do you have your own package repository? Thanks.

Yes, the repository is an app-specific one, containing cross compiled (and sometimes patched) packages to run directly without chroot. Just tell me about desired packages (such as picolisp) and I will look into adding them!

Re: Show HN: Termux – Terminal emulator and Unix environment for Android

#20

Post by jekub »

Very good ! Thanks.

There is still some problems, on my nexus 9 "make" complain that it doesn't find "/bin/sh" which is normal, is it possible to change this so it can find the provided shell ? And "ld" from binutils require gcc so it seems that it is not possible to work only with clang ?

Thanks a lot, it is the best solution to develop on my Nexus 9, it really shine again !

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