Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 3:31 AM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #69

derefr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Android 13+ includes a crosvm based virtulization setup Interesting; but I feel that their choice of a hypervisor-based design here supports my point of plain container-based isolation (or even containers + gVisor) being insufficient to achieve true sandboxing on Android. > Android's sandboxing is not limited to ART and has multiple layers [0]. Native apps cannot bypass sandboxing, I don't think. Yes, but when I sa…

It is prevented by killing any process that makes API calls not part of the official set of public NDK APIs and file locations. Which is one of the reasons why Termux has issues on modern Android versions. https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Termux-and-An...

> It is prevented by killing any process that makes API calls not part of the official set of public NDK APIs and file locations.

This is not something Android does.

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

#132

Post by saagarjha » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 3:32 AM UTC

drpixie wrote: post #126

solarkraft wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll always have the versions of AOSP Google has released, but they're not forced to do so in the future. And I'm not sure anyone else is interested in maintaining it.

Isn't Fuchsia google's attempt to move phone off open systems, and onto all-google-no-license code? If it becomes a big thing, then only increasingly obsolete open-systems for us :(

Fuchsia is about as open as Android is today.

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

#133

Post by knaik94 » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 4:00 AM UTC

jgtrosh wrote: post #102

knaik94 wrote: 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?

Yt-dlp exposes all of the codecs, I think I remember newpipe hiding some options when I last used it. I struggled to find how to download just the ~140k opus audio (-f251) or maybe the combination audio+video I wanted wasn't there. I'm sure things have changed since the last time I checked.

But Yt-dlp is still more powerful, it has extractors for way more sites. If I download a video, I usually care to archive it for a longer term, so I add things like subtitles and metadata. For opus files, I don't like the webm container, so I would end up installing ffmpeg for that anyway. I also make heavy use of the regular youtube app, I appreciate the interface. Although I haven't had the need, Termux + yt-dlp also allows using aria2c for downloading. And yt-dlp has also been useful in bandwidth starved situations, because the url and format flags are enough to get the video, it doesn't hang while waiting to download related/recommended video metadata.

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

#134

Post by retrocryptid » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 4:19 AM UTC

JamesonNetworks wrote: post #3

retrocryptid wrote: post #2

I sometimes run org mode in emacs under termux on my phone. After getting fed up with crap in simple list apps, my grocery list is a file in termux.

The Home Assistant built in grocery store list maker is amazing

Hmm... looked for it on melpa, but couldn't find it.

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

#135

Post by knaik94 » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 4:39 AM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #100

knaik94 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the sentiment, but I disagree. From the last time I checked, the big compromise with GNU/Linux phones is still the lack of social media and messaging apps and appstore ecosystem. Android, with root, is every bit as much a computer as a Pinephone and Librem 5, but the opposite isn't true. Termux has PRoot, a user-space implementation of chroot allowing a full distro install. I personally don't have any pr…

> Android, with root, is every bit as much a computer Can you install a completely different OS on your Android phone? AFAIK no, whereas on Pinephone you can choose among 15+ systems and on Librem 5 currently among 4 or more. What about installing a mainline kernel? > lack of social media and messaging apps You can use Waydroid for Android apps, or install one of a few Matrix and Mastodon clients. Telegram works, too…

I think we fundamentally value different things from our mobile devices. Waydroid is a low level compatiblity layer, but that's still not native and not guaranteed compatibility. I want all social media apps to work, I don't want to ask others to change apps.

If you want full freedom from google, GrapheneOS feels like the best de-googled solution. In some ways, PRoot is to android what waydroid is to linux, except PRoot is way more capable. Google free AOSP, like GrapheneOS exists so it's not fair to say it's the same problem. I appreciate having access to things like Kali NetHunter and value that over being able to install and run a mainline kernel on bare hardware. I don't see a difference in installing a completely different OS vs PRoot, because I am focused on the functionality. I wouldn't be able to tell you a meaningful difference in function between iperf3 running on a Librem phone vs native termux vs PRoot.

Here's someone that's installed Termux on waydroid, installed on manjaro installed in Termux on an android phone. https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/y0kupg/termux_on_ma...

https://github.com/termux/proot-distro

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

#136

Post by timeinput » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 4:40 AM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #113

freedomben wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> vexed that it's enabling a platform I despise. Do you despise Android? How come? What's your preferred alternative?

Answering your first: absolutely, and suprised anyone need ask. It's a Trojan horse serving manipulation, advertising, surveillance, and propaganda. It's also intentionally crippled in numerous ways. The applications-store model is horrendously broken from not only this perspective, but in terms of utility, quality, and trust. Alternatives: For mobile compute: a Linux laptop. An ultralight sacrifices some features, b…

That's a lot of words to say there's no real alternative if one wants a pocket sized device with an ssh client and a good cellular data connection.

I get your point. It sucks that these are our options, but you didn't present any viable alternatives.

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

#137

Post by knaik94 » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 4:52 AM UTC

noman-land wrote: post #98

knaik94 wrote: 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,…

You should check out GrapheneOS as an alternative to regular Android.

I hadn't checked out GrapheneOS in a while. Based on the current trajectory, in a few years it might become more practical to add play services back into GrapheneOS rather than continue to fight Google's android releases. I have been doing the worst alternative possible, refusing to upgrade. I was even considering of upgrading to an older flagship. I require a phone with a microsd card and headphone jack on my phone, so that rules out a new GrapheneOS device for now, but I hope that changes.

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

#138

Post by matheusmoreira » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 5:02 AM UTC

Termux basically replaced my laptop. Can't live without it anymore. I've written thousands of lines of code from within it. Many of my projects were born inside it. Nothing beats programming while lying down comfortably in bed. It's also a great way to pass the time during long flights.

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

#139

Post by knaik94 » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 5:04 AM UTC

rootw0rm wrote: post #106

knaik94 wrote: 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

The Nokia n900 still seems almost mythical to me, because it has an fm transmitter. The galaxy note with an ir transmitter is a close second.

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

#140

Post by rektide » Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 5:34 AM UTC

drpixie wrote: post #125

rektide wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I am concerned about the direction Android is headed, Over securing systems seems to be the modern trend, and mercy, it's such suffocating paternalism. We have incredible phones and Android/Google just keeps making them less and less capable.

I'm sure security is part of the reason for the ever increasing locking-down of android ... but I'm more sure it's an excuse and that security FROM the user is a huge factor in google's thinking.

I agree & I don't.

I'm sure that being an app store owner exposes you to the absolute worst just most constant stream of really really awful people doing the worst things, like, forever & ever.

There are some warped incentives too, for sure. But I do think Occam's razor explains why app stores get to be worse & worse & worse: because they are responding to horrors.

I'd love to see some better mechanisms for trust emerge. Software as it is is basically unobservable. You grant or don't grant some permissions & otherwise have no idea what's actually happening. So app stores are the only arbiters of trust.