I have a lot of fun lil experimental things I want to do but am rarely at a place where I can do so. But I have an Android phone with a terminal and Vim.

All I'd need is a Bluetooth keyboard (or usb c, which would be less susceptible to n-key rollover). Does anybody have any experience with this? Is it actually useful?

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

hollyhoppet wrote on February 6, 2018 at 7:43 PM

sound like a huge pain lol

twovests OP wrote on February 6, 2018 at 8:45 PM

yea prolly

musou wrote on February 6, 2018 at 6:19 PM

i have used a bluetooth keyboard with an ssh client on my phone. it's fine in a pinch but i miss the screen real estate of a laptop or desktop

twovests OP wrote on February 6, 2018 at 8:45 PM

it'll be like the good ol' days of 80x24 character terminals!!

musou wrote on February 6, 2018 at 8:50 PM

that really is what it feels like even down to some of the modifier keys not working right

twovests OP wrote on February 6, 2018 at 8:58 PM

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/5341/how-did-people-use-ed

also makes me think of this post about the editor Ed

musou wrote on February 6, 2018 at 9:11 PM (edited on February 6, 2018 at 9:12 PM)

ed... the standard Unix text editor.

i actually have seen a coworker of mine reach for ed in the context of automating changes to config files with a shell script (which was totally badass and ended up working really well) but even i am too young to have met anyone who ever used ed as a daily driver. this is really interesting.

RoundSparrow wrote on February 15, 2018 at 11:18 PM

I've done some on a tablet with a keyboard while traveling. It depends on your language and your phone. Python would probably be easier than Java. I used Linux Deploy or something similar: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.meefik.linuxdeploy

twovests OP wrote on February 16, 2018 at 12:15 AM

Ooh interesting; I've mostly been using Termux, I'll have to check out Linux Deploy.

May I ask what you used for your keyboard setup?

RoundSparrow wrote on February 16, 2018 at 1:07 AM (edited on February 16, 2018 at 1:08 AM)

May I ask what you used for your keyboard setup?

Sure, I went with several designs because I was traveling for hundreds and hundreds of days. I'm accustomed to Lenovo/Thinkpad laptop keyboards, which are what many traveling reporters and writers prefer.

Nothing was great or bad, it depended on what size I wanted to play with. For $30 and Bluetooth, this is worth a look: https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Foldable-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Smartphone/dp/B00VRCKK1Y - I went through several different Logitech designs, etc. Odd issues can come up such as idle disconnect, but Android 5 and newer Bluetooth stack is different, so it can be device dependent.

I have an older Microsoft bluetooth travel keyboard that's light but is relatively large, but I can cram it in bags without too much trouble. It's a matter of how much typing you are doing (sometimes I do hundreds of pages of writing a week). When it comes to code, control keys are more significant, even basic things like copy/paste...

Note that a lot of Android apps have some troubles with certain keys on Bluetooth, cursor keys and such. Helps if you can modify the app you need to make it work. Although you are mostly talking classic Linux shell, so most of those issues are known and solutions are a search engine away.

twovests OP wrote on February 16, 2018 at 5:07 PM

Thank you for the recommendation! I appreciate it much