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

termux.com

71–80 of 148 posts

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

#71
Termux is amazing (not possible to get equivalent on iOS without jailbreak). The number of packages in the repository, as well as the speed of version updates (sometimes in line with Arch Linux - a rolling release) are really amazing.

Bought all the paid add-ons to support the developer. It's one of the most valuable assets I miss on iOS (doesn't matter that much now as I've got Linux x86_64 and ARM with me on the go).

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

#72
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you do vim with Gboard/SwiftKey or do you have a hardware keyboard?

If you're doing much with Termux or SSH to other systems (or roguelikes), you should probably look into Hacker's Keyboard ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork... ). If you miss the autocompletion aspect, there are multiple companion dictionaries that you can load as well for various languages.

Just wish that compact 5 row would get some more love.

Switching it to anything but english to make use of dictionaries makes potential special characters vanish from the long-press popups...

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

#73
post #6

I tried this out a little while ago and I was really impressed. It's worth mentioning that this isn't just a Debian chroot/container, the software is actually compiled to run natively on the Android NDK. It seems like they work around any limitations of Bionic compared to glibc by patching NDK headers and using support libraries. Check out their "ports tree" to see what packages are available: https://github.com/term…

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)

I have a set of scripts that work on my local network, as well as arbitrary useful commands.

E.g. I can control the volume of the radio via a simple ssh command that turns the media center volume down. Termux has an additional extension that lets you map arbitrary scripts to a button / widget on the android home screen.

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

#74
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you do vim with Gboard/SwiftKey or do you have a hardware keyboard?

If you're doing much with Termux or SSH to other systems (or roguelikes), you should probably look into Hacker's Keyboard ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork... ). If you miss the autocompletion aspect, there are multiple companion dictionaries that you can load as well for various languages.

I tried hacker's keyboard but didn't find it as good as the keyboard built in JuiceSSH. All the special keys important during a ssh session like Ctrl, Tab, arrow keys are very conveniently placed. I am yet to find a soft keyboard that good.

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

#75

I was recently surprised to discover folks are using this on old phones or tablets as a "server" in various capacities. You have storage, camera, at least dual network access (wifi + otg usb ethernet + cellular), a battery (ups), autostart capability via a purchase, basic package support. Smaller than a laptop, way more self contained than a Pi, enough for some basic tinkering for sure.

Can I create script which snaps a photo let's say every minute? Basically, is camera available through terminal?

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

#76
I use Termux a lot too, because the Nokia N900 spoiled me and taught me to use Terminal on phone at all times.

Instead of Android + Termux, one can also look at Sailfish OS. You get all that functionality by default. There's also PostMarket OS [1], which should support at least some Android phones

[1] https://postmarketos.org

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

#77

I was recently surprised to discover folks are using this on old phones or tablets as a "server" in various capacities. You have storage, camera, at least dual network access (wifi + otg usb ethernet + cellular), a battery (ups), autostart capability via a purchase, basic package support. Smaller than a laptop, way more self contained than a Pi, enough for some basic tinkering for sure.

Can I create script which snaps a photo let's say every minute? Basically, is camera available through terminal?

Yes. https://termux.com/add-on-api.html#termux-camera-photo

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

#78

Wow. Given that this works with ChromeOS, this appears to give me what I've been looking for for a long time: something that makes a Chromebook a usable developer laptop. Now time to buy a Chromebook and try it out.

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

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

#80
post #22

Wow. Given that this works with ChromeOS, this appears to give me what I've been looking for for a long time: something that makes a Chromebook a usable developer laptop. Now time to buy a Chromebook and try it out.

Having tried it, it's an "almost there" solution. Termux is a proot, not a chroot. This means you can't do certain things. You end up in a state where you can run nodejs and react, but you can't run create-react-app successfully. Rustup doesn't work in Termux, when it does booted into Linux on the same chromebook. You can git clone, but you can't clone a repo from a USB stick. Every single time I tried to do any deve…

I can run create-react-app. just be sure to change npm's global directory.
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