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I tried Emacs via various hacks on Android... Mostly to have org-mode there... With a touch only UI it's not usable. With a physical keyboard I see ZERO reason

by xte 8y ago

I tried Emacs via various hacks on Android... Mostly to have org-mode there... With a touch only UI it's not usable. With a physical keyboard I see ZERO reason to choose such crappy OS instead of a small ultrabook...

Wildgoose 8y ago
Check out the Gemini PDA. It's an Android mobile phone with a full keyboard. I have (and can recommend) the first version, but there is a new version in the works right now, the "Cosmo Communicator": https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmo-communicator#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmo-communicator#/
- bitwize 8y ago
  Great to see that the dream of the Nokia Internet Tablet lives on.
- xte 8y ago
  Thanks for the link, many try to promise such kind of "portable computer" but always fail so I do not think we will never arrive at such... Also I do not want Android or other crappy OSes, I want a damn real OS, that I can use and manage... Honestly even if I dream such kind of devices I know rational that I will not really need them: I work/live in fixed place, I do not want to be nomad (well, If being nomad means with a starship around the universe maybe but not in the way I can have now), I do not want to "work from a beach" or on top of a mounting after a good climbing trip. I consider such model as modern slavery vested with a dummy shiny dress... I'm a person, not a Ford-model human robot that voluntary tie myself to a device controlled by it's vendor.
bitwize 8y ago
Emacs on Termux with Hacker's Keyboard is pretty usable. I've written (small amounts of) code with it; for Org note taking it will be fine, if not ideal.
- xte 8y ago
  I tried it and give up, simply I slow to a point of feel frustration and hacker's keyboard is not comfortable for the rest of the phone usage. Consider that on desktop I live in Emacs, I live with a keyboard (and struggle to find one modern that can really properly replace my ancient Sun type 6 with backlit as a bonus...). My Android usage is simply: - GPS when I travel - mobile quick mail surveillance, not for writing only just to see incoming messages - make/answer phone calls - casual SMS usage - casual reading of grocery list or similar notes (Orgzly) nothing more. I can't imaging writing a mail, not even code with a touch crappyboard!!!
  - bitwize 8y ago
    Sounds like you have issues with touch keyboards in general. Understandable. Smartphone UIs are in general fucking terrible compared to the keyboard+mouse interfaces, which is why most people still use PCs to do real work. I've found that using Hacker's Keyboard conforms my muscle memory and lets me use a touch keyboard faster than I would otherwise be able to. It seems not everybody benefits from this.
    - xte 8y ago
      Well... Hacker's Keyboard do make Termux usable, other keyboard completely fail, so I like it, I prize it but... It's like to say "jump from a mountain naked is really bad, jump with two open umbrellas, dressed with some kind of life-support inflated jacket and trying to fall in a lake instead on rocks is better"... When you say "most people still use PCs" like PCs was an obsolete thing makes me shiver. For me desktops are the center of our digital life and mobile crap are only an experiment to make anybody slave of few services that's somehow succeed but it's of course doomed to fails like "netbooks" in the past.
      - bitwize 8y ago
        I agree with you. I don't think PCs are obsolete. It just takes more time for the rest of the world to figure out that the much-touted death of the PC isn't happening.

by xte 8y ago

Wildgoose 8y ago

Check out the Gemini PDA. It's an Android mobile phone with a full keyboard. I have (and can recommend) the first version, but there is a new version in the works right now, the "Cosmo Communicator": https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmo-communicator#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cosmo-communicator#/

bitwize 8y ago
Great to see that the dream of the Nokia Internet Tablet lives on.
xte 8y ago
Thanks for the link, many try to promise such kind of "portable computer" but always fail so I do not think we will never arrive at such... Also I do not want Android or other crappy OSes, I want a damn real OS, that I can use and manage... Honestly even if I dream such kind of devices I know rational that I will not really need them: I work/live in fixed place, I do not want to be nomad (well, If being nomad means with a starship around the universe maybe but not in the way I can have now), I do not want to "work from a beach" or on top of a mounting after a good climbing trip. I consider such model as modern slavery vested with a dummy shiny dress... I'm a person, not a Ford-model human robot that voluntary tie myself to a device controlled by it's vendor.

bitwize 8y ago

Emacs on Termux with Hacker's Keyboard is pretty usable. I've written (small amounts of) code with it; for Org note taking it will be fine, if not ideal.

xte 8y ago
I tried it and give up, simply I slow to a point of feel frustration and hacker's keyboard is not comfortable for the rest of the phone usage. Consider that on desktop I live in Emacs, I live with a keyboard (and struggle to find one modern that can really properly replace my ancient Sun type 6 with backlit as a bonus...). My Android usage is simply: - GPS when I travel - mobile quick mail surveillance, not for writing only just to see incoming messages - make/answer phone calls - casual SMS usage - casual reading of grocery list or similar notes (Orgzly) nothing more. I can't imaging writing a mail, not even code with a touch crappyboard!!!
- bitwize 8y ago
  Sounds like you have issues with touch keyboards in general. Understandable. Smartphone UIs are in general fucking terrible compared to the keyboard+mouse interfaces, which is why most people still use PCs to do real work. I've found that using Hacker's Keyboard conforms my muscle memory and lets me use a touch keyboard faster than I would otherwise be able to. It seems not everybody benefits from this.
  - xte 8y ago
    Well... Hacker's Keyboard do make Termux usable, other keyboard completely fail, so I like it, I prize it but... It's like to say "jump from a mountain naked is really bad, jump with two open umbrellas, dressed with some kind of life-support inflated jacket and trying to fall in a lake instead on rocks is better"... When you say "most people still use PCs" like PCs was an obsolete thing makes me shiver. For me desktops are the center of our digital life and mobile crap are only an experiment to make anybody slave of few services that's somehow succeed but it's of course doomed to fails like "netbooks" in the past.
    - bitwize 8y ago
      I agree with you. I don't think PCs are obsolete. It just takes more time for the rest of the world to figure out that the much-touted death of the PC isn't happening.