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Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

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Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#321

Post by necovek »

rho4 wrote: post #281
johnh-hn wrote: post #96

Does anyone know if these glasses, or any other glasses, can be tried in-person and used on desktop? I'm legally blind, but have just enough vision to use a screen without a screen reader. The problem is I have to be about 6 inches from a 27 inch screen. I'm tall, and I'm almost bent in half to do it. It's been hell on my back and neck. I've only really made it work because I've modified so many things to get around…

I have a colleague at work who also has to get within 6" of the screen. 2 years ago I switched to a 55" 8k TV as my primary monitor. While everyone was giving me the usual crap about it, this guy, when I showed him what it would look like with 400% Zoom, he went and bought one for himself at home. He thanks me every few weeks, but still didn't dare to set one up in the office. (ps I have mine standing on a normal hei…

If one needs to use 55" 8K TV at 400% zoom, I suggest getting a 55" 4K TV and keeping it at 200% zoom — it's much cheaper and easier to drive with any iGPU.

There are also 55" monitors, but they'll likely be more expensive but behave much better.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#322

Post by necovek »

johnh-hn wrote: post #316
alickz wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if this will help you visualize it or not, but here's a photo of someone using a TV as a monitor on a desk https://i.imgur.com/mjcqjfZ.jpeg I use my 4K TV as a monitor (though from ~8ft away) and for me Windows' scaling (found under Display in Control Panel) allow me to easily read text from so far away Maybe it could help you

This actually does help, thanks. It's given me a clearer idea of the scale of what it might look like to sit in front of it. From that picture, you can probably imagine what I mean about the neck movements.

The benefit of a big TV should be that you can move it farther out than the 6" you mentioned (and that the person is roughly sitting at), increase text size, but need fewer neck movements to take it all in — provided you can focus at bigger distances.

You are essentially keeping the same angular size, and by moving an 85" TV to 19" from your eyes, you get text to be sized just like your 27" at 6" (3 x 27" = 81").

Won't help with your neck issues though, since you'll have exactly the same issues.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#323

Post by d_burfoot »

I feel like we are due for a revolution in computer interface design that will free us from our desks. I want to be able to do work while walking on the bike trail or sitting in a lounge chair by the pool. All the core concepts of GUI design - "mouse", "window", "file", "folder", "desktop" - were developed in a previous era with far tighter constraints on what could be done. Now we have voice understanding, wearable computers, AR / VR, LLMs, cellular internet, etc. Even though the tech has advanced by leaps and bounds, the underlying UI concepts haven't changed much.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#324

Post by theodric »

johnh-hn wrote: post #96

Does anyone know if these glasses, or any other glasses, can be tried in-person and used on desktop? I'm legally blind, but have just enough vision to use a screen without a screen reader. The problem is I have to be about 6 inches from a 27 inch screen. I'm tall, and I'm almost bent in half to do it. It's been hell on my back and neck. I've only really made it work because I've modified so many things to get around…

I have a pair of these Xreal (formerly Nreal) glasses, and I find text too unclear from the plastic optics, too full of halo/fringe (think: cheap VR headset, like trying to work on a Quest 2), and the OLED's pixel arrangement too odd for any serious work use. It's just about good enough for light gaming and movie consumption, but even gaming is a strain for me. They also make me sleepy! They do accept some prescription lenses inserted in front of the viewports, and include a blank you can have cut, but I haven't used them. I have good close-up vision with some mild, untreated astigmatism.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#325

Post by transpute »

d_burfoot wrote: post #323

I feel like we are due for a revolution in computer interface design that will free us from our desks. I want to be able to do work while walking on the bike trail or sitting in a lounge chair by the pool. All the core concepts of GUI design - "mouse", "window", "file", "folder", "desktop" - were developed in a previous era with far tighter constraints on what could be done. Now we have voice understanding, wearable…

The division of "operating system" labor across devices and network is an open technical, business and political challenge. Many would-be gatekeepers competing for control, even as prior gatekeepers are being slowly regulated out of their monopoly roles.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#326

Post by Zambyte »

anonzzzies wrote: post #230
transpute wrote: post #225

There's roughly 4 different approaches to Linux on Android: • virtual machine emulating x86_64 • Termux • arm64 binaries running in chroot • proot.. Same idea as chroot, but doesn't use forbidden system calls Fifth option: arm64 pKVM VM from Android 15 on Pixel 7+ phone/tablet hardware using nested h/w virtualization. Shipped in 2025 under the uninformative name of "Linux Terminal" via Development options, Android no…

I use NOMone; works really well. Runs everything I need including vscode/cursor, node and anything else I need without any fiddling, it just all works. Obviously the new linux vm is likely nicer, but this works really well so far. 0] https://desktop.nomone.com/

This seems pretty nice, but fair warning to anyone planning on checking this out, it's actually just a trial version, and the full version is $8. Not too expensive, but doesn't feel great to me that this information is completely omitted until you download and run the app.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#327

Post by orbital-decay »

d_burfoot wrote: post #323

I feel like we are due for a revolution in computer interface design that will free us from our desks. I want to be able to do work while walking on the bike trail or sitting in a lounge chair by the pool. All the core concepts of GUI design - "mouse", "window", "file", "folder", "desktop" - were developed in a previous era with far tighter constraints on what could be done. Now we have voice understanding, wearable…

Desks were invented hundreds of years ago (at least) and are ergonomically ideal for doing prolonged work. It's not related to computing in any way. I don't see them going away any time soon.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#328

Post by harrison_clarke »

i've been doing some hobby programming on a steam deck for the last ~week. (since i got the steam deck). it's got a variant of arch linux pre-installed and it's x86_64, so a lot of those steps are covered

might have to try it with AR glasses. but, the screen is bright enough that it's usable outdoors anyway

i've been using copilot with voice input, with a bit of on-screen keyboard usage when it's not cooperating. i'm mostly giving it fairly simple edit instructions ("write a for loop at line 50"), rather than full on vibe coding, and it's working much better than i expected

i'm not using emacs/vim, because the steam keyboard doesn't have a ctrl key, and i have to use a less ergonomic kde on-screen keyboard to push it (and i'm a heathen that prefers vscode anyway)

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#329

Post by dontTREATonme »

wolfv wrote: post #218
zmmmmm wrote: post #196

I have been eyeing off this setup for ages but I'm stopped by the fact that the glasses only project 1080p displays. They seem to have been stuck at that resolution for years and I'm not sure if it's a technical limitation or something else. I just know I wouldn't use a 1080p screen in real life except in an emergency so I'm super sceptical that I'd be happy with the glasses. Very curious why these have stalled out a…

The phone market is stuck at 1080p bc the screens are small. When the wearable market is large enough, someone will develop glasses with higher resolution.

This confuses me, many phones have 4k screens, the Apple Watch has a 330ppi which is much higher than the 5k 27” display Mac display. So basically you can almost certainly source a high enough pixel density to support 2k on AR lenses.

Re: Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

#330

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

Stuff like this is a glimpse into the future that we were robbed of by the current big tech status quo.

They're running a 3rd party OS on their phone using a 3rd party external keyboard and 3rd party display. Interoperability! Imagine that! Running whatever software you want with whatever accessories you want on hardware that you own! Tech should have made it easier to accomplish this!

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