8 ms·

Tablet companies really need to realize that a decent tablet with a decent dev experience is going to lead to an explosion of developers on their platform and r

by tmpz22 6y ago

Tablet companies really need to realize that a decent tablet with a decent dev experience is going to lead to an explosion of developers on their platform and result directly in way higher quality apps and therefore way better sales and brand. Imagine if websites couldn’t be developed on normal desktop computers and you had to run an extremely inefficient emulator every time you wanted to make a small notification.

AgloeDreams 6y ago
That would be ChromeOS tablets. Full linux terminal in container and all. Hasn't really made any difference.
- toohotatopic 6y ago
  >Android 10 Is killing Termux terminal app Remember who owns Android. It's not worth investing time into a platform that will be further restricted sooner or later. Why should they treat the tablet differently?
  - ta17711771 6y ago
    Yes, but who owns AOSP?
- Legogris 6y ago
  Also Microsoft Surface.
  - barbecue_sauce 6y ago
    Aren't Surfaces just Windows laptops?
    - jbay808 6y ago
      Aren't tablets just laptops without keyboards?
      - mkl 6y ago
        And Surface Pro keyboards are bought separately.
        ta17711771 6y ago
        Surface Pro 1-3 w/ keyboard is $120-$200 on eBay...
    - tenebrisalietum 6y ago
      With touchscreens and Microsoft branded/built UEFI. Except the RT - that was an ARM tablet.
  - neogodless 6y ago
    For clarification... Surface Pro - full Windows tablet with separate keyboard Surface Laptop - normal Windows laptop Surface Book - Windows laptop with beefy detachable keyboard/battery (may have dGPU!) Surface Pro X - (almost full) Windows tablet on ARM Surface RT - Ran Windows RT (no desktop x86) on ARM Surface Studio - Windows All-in-one PC with very nice big screen
    - jefftk 6y ago
      And even earlier: Surface - interactive table (now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense)
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  As a Linux user, the last thing I want to do is use a computer controlled by Google. I am however typing this on a Mirosoft Surface Pro 7 running Linux.
- MereInterest 6y ago
  About once every 2-3 months, something would be changed in ChromeOS that would break the crouton installation. The solution could be as simple as updating crouton, only 15-30 minutes of lost time, to switching to/from a later development version of ChromeOS, 3-4 hours of lost time as the entire hard drive is wiped and you need to rebuild the environment. The use of a Linux environment in ChromeOS should only be viewed as a toy, because the ChromeOS developers are willing to break it at any time.
  - hsitz 6y ago
    I'm not sure what you're talking about. Crouton is different from Crostini, and it's Crostini that is the default/built-in Linux container on Chromeos (on a Pixelbook). I've been using Crostini on Chromeos since November 2018 and I've never had "the hard drive wiped" or had to rebuild the environment. I'm trying hard to recall anything that's actually been a bug. I'm sure there've been some. Mostly they've been rolling out increased features on a pretty regular basis, with few hiccups. It's not a great solution for everything, but, to me, it's been surprisingly robust and useful. It certainly is not "a toy". The Pixelbook is a beautiful piece of hardware, but I wouldn't be using it (at least not as a contented Chromeos user) if it didn't have the built-in Linux container. I do follow Chromeos/Crostini/Pixelbook forums somewhat online. I know I've seen some people griping about problems caused by updates. From what I can tell, a very large percent of these people are ones who were using Chromeos/Crostini with the 'dev' or 'beta' branch, so they could get new features on their device sooner. I've been on 'Stable' and have had few complaints.
    - MereInterest 6y ago
      Looks like Crostini is the official tool that duplicated the functionality of the the more homebrew Crouton. Crostini came out in early 2018, which was about half a year after I gave up on using linux on chromebooks out of frustration. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md#How-is-Crostini-related-to-Crouton https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c...
    - michaelmrose 6y ago
jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
Why would anyone want a tablet if a laptop is an option?
- mst 6y ago
  I carry an 8" android tablet and a 10" bluetooth keyboard w/trackpoint in my jacket basically any time I leave the house. The tablet functions as a messaging device and phone, and then if I want to sit in a coffee shop and code I break out the keyboard. Admittedly so long as I could get mosh as an app I'd probably survive without termux, but it wouldn't be nearly as nice a setup.
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  This never made any sense to me -> going from a multi-monitor setup to a laptop feels like i am handicapped man suffering from tunnel vision. I can't imagine what coding on a tablet feels like.
RandallBrown 6y ago
I'm not sure that an explosion of developers would lead to higher quality apps.
- choeger 6y ago
  I certainly know about some developers that would increase software quality by exploding...
chx 6y ago
> Tablet companies really need to realize that a decent tablet with a decent dev experience is going to lead to an explosion of developers on their platform What do you base this statement on?
jlarocco 6y ago
I don't buy that argument. Game console developers don't develop on the device they're targeting, and it hasn't really hindered them. So why do mobile devs need to develop on those devices? Mobile form factor and UI just isn't suitable for software development, and the companies making them realize it. There's a lot wrong with Android development (IMO), but the lack of an on-device dev environment isn't one of them...
distantaidenn 6y ago
About 3 years ago my 2012 MBP finally gave up the ghost. I was traveling frequently at the time and still had my trusty Mac Mini. So I decided to get a tablet. I did tons of research and it came down to a spec’d iPad Pro with all the bells and whistles vs. a mid range MS Surface. I’m an engineer so I need to code. I got caught up in the Apple fanfare, and shame on me for not doing better research, but the thing was near impossible to use for coding. It’s a beautiful tool, but not one that fit my development needs. I ended up using it as a 2 monitor for my Mac Mini and a media consumption device. In hindsight, I shoulda went with the Surface. All I wanna do is be able to code on an iPad. Yeah I know it’s currently possible, but have you tried it!? Is that asking too much?

by tmpz22 6y ago

AgloeDreams 6y ago

That would be ChromeOS tablets. Full linux terminal in container and all. Hasn't really made any difference.

toohotatopic 6y ago
>Android 10 Is killing Termux terminal app Remember who owns Android. It's not worth investing time into a platform that will be further restricted sooner or later. Why should they treat the tablet differently?
- ta17711771 6y ago
  Yes, but who owns AOSP?
Legogris 6y ago
Also Microsoft Surface.
- barbecue_sauce 6y ago
  Aren't Surfaces just Windows laptops?
  - jbay808 6y ago
    Aren't tablets just laptops without keyboards?
    - mkl 6y ago
      And Surface Pro keyboards are bought separately.
      - ta17711771 6y ago
        Surface Pro 1-3 w/ keyboard is $120-$200 on eBay...
  - tenebrisalietum 6y ago
    With touchscreens and Microsoft branded/built UEFI. Except the RT - that was an ARM tablet.
- neogodless 6y ago
  For clarification... Surface Pro - full Windows tablet with separate keyboard Surface Laptop - normal Windows laptop Surface Book - Windows laptop with beefy detachable keyboard/battery (may have dGPU!) Surface Pro X - (almost full) Windows tablet on ARM Surface RT - Ran Windows RT (no desktop x86) on ARM Surface Studio - Windows All-in-one PC with very nice big screen
  - jefftk 6y ago
    And even earlier: Surface - interactive table (now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PixelSense)
AsyncAwait 6y ago
As a Linux user, the last thing I want to do is use a computer controlled by Google. I am however typing this on a Mirosoft Surface Pro 7 running Linux.
MereInterest 6y ago
About once every 2-3 months, something would be changed in ChromeOS that would break the crouton installation. The solution could be as simple as updating crouton, only 15-30 minutes of lost time, to switching to/from a later development version of ChromeOS, 3-4 hours of lost time as the entire hard drive is wiped and you need to rebuild the environment. The use of a Linux environment in ChromeOS should only be viewed as a toy, because the ChromeOS developers are willing to break it at any time.
- hsitz 6y ago
  I'm not sure what you're talking about. Crouton is different from Crostini, and it's Crostini that is the default/built-in Linux container on Chromeos (on a Pixelbook). I've been using Crostini on Chromeos since November 2018 and I've never had "the hard drive wiped" or had to rebuild the environment. I'm trying hard to recall anything that's actually been a bug. I'm sure there've been some. Mostly they've been rolling out increased features on a pretty regular basis, with few hiccups. It's not a great solution for everything, but, to me, it's been surprisingly robust and useful. It certainly is not "a toy". The Pixelbook is a beautiful piece of hardware, but I wouldn't be using it (at least not as a contented Chromeos user) if it didn't have the built-in Linux container. I do follow Chromeos/Crostini/Pixelbook forums somewhat online. I know I've seen some people griping about problems caused by updates. From what I can tell, a very large percent of these people are ones who were using Chromeos/Crostini with the 'dev' or 'beta' branch, so they could get new features on their device sooner. I've been on 'Stable' and have had few complaints.
  - MereInterest 6y ago
    Looks like Crostini is the official tool that duplicated the functionality of the the more homebrew Crouton. Crostini came out in early 2018, which was about half a year after I gave up on using linux on chromebooks out of frustration. https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/containers_and_vms.md#How-is-Crostini-related-to-Crouton https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/c...
  - michaelmrose 6y ago

jfkebwjsbx 6y ago

Why would anyone want a tablet if a laptop is an option?

mst 6y ago
I carry an 8" android tablet and a 10" bluetooth keyboard w/trackpoint in my jacket basically any time I leave the house. The tablet functions as a messaging device and phone, and then if I want to sit in a coffee shop and code I break out the keyboard. Admittedly so long as I could get mosh as an app I'd probably survive without termux, but it wouldn't be nearly as nice a setup.
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
This never made any sense to me -> going from a multi-monitor setup to a laptop feels like i am handicapped man suffering from tunnel vision. I can't imagine what coding on a tablet feels like.

RandallBrown 6y ago

I'm not sure that an explosion of developers would lead to higher quality apps.

choeger 6y ago
I certainly know about some developers that would increase software quality by exploding...

chx 6y ago

> Tablet companies really need to realize that a decent tablet with a decent dev experience is going to lead to an explosion of developers on their platform What do you base this statement on?

jlarocco 6y ago

I don't buy that argument. Game console developers don't develop on the device they're targeting, and it hasn't really hindered them. So why do mobile devs need to develop on those devices? Mobile form factor and UI just isn't suitable for software development, and the companies making them realize it. There's a lot wrong with Android development (IMO), but the lack of an on-device dev environment isn't one of them...

distantaidenn 6y ago

About 3 years ago my 2012 MBP finally gave up the ghost. I was traveling frequently at the time and still had my trusty Mac Mini. So I decided to get a tablet. I did tons of research and it came down to a spec’d iPad Pro with all the bells and whistles vs. a mid range MS Surface. I’m an engineer so I need to code. I got caught up in the Apple fanfare, and shame on me for not doing better research, but the thing was near impossible to use for coding. It’s a beautiful tool, but not one that fit my development needs. I ended up using it as a 2 monitor for my Mac Mini and a media consumption device. In hindsight, I shoulda went with the Surface. All I wanna do is be able to code on an iPad. Yeah I know it’s currently possible, but have you tried it!? Is that asking too much?