Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The RPi 4 is also wrong, as it bridges two connectors that shouldn't be Do you have a link or some more info on that?
https://www.scorpia.co.uk/2019/06/28/pi4-not-working-with-so...
Nice. Thanks a lot!
Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?
231–233 of 233 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or, you know, a shell environment rather than app one-offs for everything. The tablet has a display and speakers. Or I can plug in -- yes, it has a jack, iOS fans -- headphones. Why not just use those? Because that's what I want. Rather more practicable than lugging around a a TV and generator. And yes, the tablet's got Bluetooth and can stream to other devices. Or from an DLNA server. It's not as if Termux suddenly…
My point has not been to dissuade you from what you prefer to use, merely to highlight the alternatives. And with how you're describing Termux it sounds like it doesn't need a package manager (app store), anything more advanced to describe files than ascii/binary pipes (share sheets), doesn't need to natively interact with the cloud (fopen vs Files app APIs), definitely doesn't need a GUI outside of ascii art or what…
Termux can use Android intents (termux-open), and interact with the system in multiple ways, see pastebin of commands:
https://pastebin.com/raw/4e7UwM57
Primary app-to-termux interaction is via the filesystem and saved content -- downloads and the like. For obvious reasons, arbitrary command access to Termux from apps would be hazardous, much as it is on any desktop OS. Android filesystem access restricts this somewhat, though the system Downloads and "My Documents" directories are globally accessible.
There is also clipboard integration (termux-clipboard-get and -set), which I've aliased to xc and xp, respectively, much as I do similar OSX and Linux commands. So "xp | vim -" is a thing.
Very handy use is a titlecase script which converts strings, especially all-caps, for HN submission:
xp | titlecase > tmpfile && xc As for Google accessing Termux: Why would I want that? Google already has its (badly crippled) Android userland, as well as OS APIs and features. Termux is principally a userland -- a shell and utilities for user-initiated and directed interactions.
See by comparison Debian's Social Contract, Policy, and other guiding documents. Key among their principles is that the project's focus is its users, and that its policies serve to constrain the developers as to what they must provide, and must not do. Though Termux lacks such specific language its spirit (and Debian heritage) strongly suggest a similar orientation and philosophy.
As for "it's an app", that's both solipsistic and utterly fails to recognise that this app is singularly powerful and expansive in the spirit of the original Unix,[1] in ways that effectively no other single Android app (save other user command shells) can even hope to be.
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Notes:
1. See K&P's The UNIX Programming Environment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unix_Programming_Environme...). My 'Tyranny of the Minimum Viable User" addresses the distiction as well: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/69wk8y/the_tyr...
Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. Apple makes such tools far too hard to find. Does seem quite preliminary though, yet.
That’s just because it’s not released/stable yet. Its developers have made the decision to make it only available as a TestFlight beta, not Apple.
Sure, and I get that.
Point remains that availability of similar capabilities to Termux does not really yet exist on iOS.
I do appreciate knowing about the tool thogh, thanks.