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Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

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Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#131

Post by lunchables »

eltoozero wrote: post #78
mattnewton wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a stupid question but why not just run Debian on a chrome book, or any cheap laptop? Or spend a bit more for a thinkpad or dell XPS

> Debian on a chrome book Easier said than done, Chromebooks aren't "computers" in the sense that you could easily or natively install Windows/Linux. ChromeBooks run ChromeOS and often don't even have a BIOS, thus to shoehorn a different OS requires installing SeaBIOS when it isn't present. They're more like an appliance, though GalliumOS[0] works on (most?) x86 Chromebooks. [0]: https://galliumos.org

Why is the definition of a computer suddenly dependent on whether or not you can "easily" install Linux or Windows on it?

Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#132

Post by vidarh »

vidarh wrote: post #83
frostwhale wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly would you use it for? Not trying to be negative, I'm just not sure what would be worth typing out on a phone keyboard on the go, instead of waiting until I have access to an actual keyboard. I guess if you have a keyboard for your phone that's also different. (so for android tablets etc this is great)

Mostly for tablets, I suspect, though I do occasionally restart servers etc. from my phone but that tends to be via an ssh connection so I don't need a "local" userland... But the replacement for my recently-dead Chromebook is an Android tablet/notebook hybrid (detachable keyboard), and while it's not comfortable, it does provide a tolerable alternative for when I don't want to drag my 17" laptop around.

Going to reply to myself as it's too long so I can't edit: Installed Termux and the API package and widget, and the API package (paid) has me tremendously excited. Not because it's all that advanced, but between the ability to open quick little dialog boxes to collect text, and the widgets ability to spawn them from a button, it just looks amazingly useful to automate quick little tasks without going down the particularly hellish route that is full app development for mobile...

Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#133

Post by jjrh »

willyjoe wrote: post #129
dredmorbius wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Termux + full keyboard is a game-changer. That's how I run my 9" tablet, and whilst not quite the laptop-replacement I'd like it to be, it's closer than anything else I've seen. The fact that I don't have the critical weak point of the laptop hinge to deal with, and the portrait/landscape flexibility of a tablet (I read a lot of formatted docs) is tremendously useful. TL;DR: Your Android device really is a fully-capa…

what keyboard do you recommend?

You can pretty much use any keyboard you want with USB. I used to use my tablet with one of those usb thinkpad keyboards - thin and easy to carry around.

For my phone - I looked at some folding Bluetooth keyboards on aliexpress which /look/ nice but at ~$30 it's a little steep for something that might be crap and end up never used/trashed. Maybe on Nov 11th i'll bite the bullet if there is a good sale.

Just search "folding keyboard" on ali.

Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#137

Post by gcoda »

jstimpfle wrote: post #122
hsivonen wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a good tutorial for restricting sftp access to a particular directory? (Assuming the same host supports ssh login, too.)

Assuming openssh-server, look for "internal-sftp" in sshd_config(5). And of course, also google a bit around that. It's worth pointing out that this will preclude use of rsync and similar tools that require running a server on the remote machine. I'm not aware of robust alternatives so if anyone else knows one please tell me! (and I consider rsync-restricted shells and similar approaches a hack)

how about running OpenSSH inside docker with bind mounts?

Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#138

Post by dredmorbius »

willyjoe wrote: post #129
dredmorbius wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Termux + full keyboard is a game-changer. That's how I run my 9" tablet, and whilst not quite the laptop-replacement I'd like it to be, it's closer than anything else I've seen. The fact that I don't have the critical weak point of the laptop hinge to deal with, and the portrait/landscape flexibility of a tablet (I read a lot of formatted docs) is tremendously useful. TL;DR: Your Android device really is a fully-capa…

what keyboard do you recommend?

None.

This is a major frustration point for me, as I'm working with a keyboard that's missing one physical key and has two others which only intermittently generate the requested character(s). I have ... workarounds, but they're frustrating.

I've written about this at more length than is good for either my sanity or its reputation here:

https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq

Upshot: industry standardisation on device sizes, case attachments, and keyboard layouts would be an exceedingly good thing. The pictured keyboard/case (a Logitech device) seems to be among the better general options, though I question its attachment hardware.

Again, given the near-ideal nature of the form-factor, the industry fuckwittedness here is pretty staggering. I've spent more time than I care to think combing through Amazon, Newegg, and other shopping sites (product descriptions themselves make this tedious), and through various online forums and discussions.

The ability to pretty-much instantly, and without concern, switch between keyboarded/landscape and touchscreen/portrait modes is exceptionally useful. "Kickstand" type cases, and loose keyboards, don't offer this, or the ability to use the device in my lap (as I am now) as well as on a table or desk, or (in tablet mode) freestanding.

http://archive.is/FYE7D

Much as I don't care for iOS devices, the standardisation and sales volume Apple have attained make for a far superior accessories market than Android. The killer there is the lack of a true compute environment (shell, dev tools) on iOS.

Other options include laptops (including hybrids), though for my use case (many, many, many formatted documents), landscape-mode-only is a tremendous negative, and I am exceedingly averse to all-in-one, hinge-based designs. (For all its faults, Bluetooth doesn't physically wear.)

Mostly I play Old Man Yells At Clouds.

Re: Termux: terminal emulator and Debian-style userland as an Android app

#140

Post by darklajid »

rkeene2 wrote: post #116
kybernetikos wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android phones have been able to connect to bluetooth or usb mouse and keyboards since nearly the very beginning. The only thing 'missing' is the screen. Samsung (and other) phones have supported external screens for many years now, often via MHL (although, as you say the Dex dock now packages it all together). I don't believe that the OnePlus5 supports external screens, but I may be wrong. You might be able to get s…

"Sentio" is selling the SuperBook which is a sort of universal dock for smartphones. It works by adding a video card over USB (DisplayLink).

That sounded nice, their website looks cool.

Unfortunately that is unreleased/only available for pre-order. And in a very limited subset of the world: "Available for pre-order in the US, Canada, and Mexico"

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