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Every time I think about buying an iPad, I just find myself wishing there was a legit / better approach to, you know, computing on it.... I don’t do much for f

Every time I think about buying an iPad, I just find myself wishing there was a legit / better approach to, you know, computing on it.... I don’t do much for fun besides work on things that need compilers, debuggers, dynamic analysis, linking, JIT execution, tracing, and suchlike. All such endeavors are firmly impossible on iOS and iPadOS. I think touch computers had enormous potential that has mostly been permanently squandered by making them into entertainment devices for users — not owners, and certainly not operators. The product barely even really belongs to you from that perspective. This is something that Stallman and the Free Software movement got absolutely bang-on: proprietary software seeks to control its users and prevent them from truly owning and operating their computers. It’s almost impossible to overstate how important free computing is, and how much more important it will become in the future if we don’t secure our access to it.

fshbbdssbbgdd 2y ago
Yeah, you could have a device with the same form factor and UI that also has a normal terminal and can compile its own code. It’s ok for my personal use case but it’s a big limitation and rules out the device for many people.
- cyberpunk 2y ago
  With the allowing of emulators, there is now an app called 'a-shell' which you can write/compile (at least) c on.. (the built in clang compiles to wasm, vim/emacs only etc). I expect this to improve, and I've not tried to build any complex software on it (yet).
nijuashi 2y ago
I think this is essentially a portable terminal, just like the phone. Most of my work on laptop for development is to get on high-powered workstation or servers anyway. For occasionally SSH-ing with tmux session, it’s pretty great (although I can’t swap ctrl with caps, which sucks). I do wish iPad had something to push me over to replace my laptop for that use case, but I’m too used to windowed environment.
- cyberpunk 2y ago
  Settings -> general -> keyboard -> hardware keyboard -> modifier keys -> caps lock I have mine bound to esc since I use vim as my main editor, but ctrl is also an option. As for the soft keyboard, at least in termius this is remappable in the settings (I think blink also)
- binary132 2y ago
  Somehow “$1500 portable terminal, with some effort” just doesn’t make me feel burning desire.
natrys 2y ago
There is iSH but it needs to do some insane emulation to offer a linux userspace, and so is quite slow. I have still solved plenty of problems with it, disproving that native iOS is capable on its own, or that ssh/tmux is enough over local environment. I am basically fed up with my iPad, looking to sell it and buy an Android with termux.
coldtea 2y ago
>I don’t do much for fun besides work on things that need compilers, debuggers, dynamic analysis, linking, JIT execution, tracing, and suchlike Why would you need a table for those things? Isn't a dektop/laptop optimized for those kind of things anyway? Or you just want to hook some 11" iPad to a monitor and a keyboard, and just use it as a desktop unit?
- binary132 2y ago
  What difference should it make whether it’s a computer with a built-in touch screen or a computer with a mouse, keyboard, and whatnot? How is one “optimized” for this or that? They’re both just computers. The one running Apple’s software is utterly locked down, is the thing. I would like to be able to compute however I like on my computers, yes. Heck, maybe it would be interesting to work on touchscreen software on a touchscreen computer in a touch oriented IDE or editor, no?
  - coldtea 2y ago
    How is one “optimized” for this or that? They’re both just computers. Well, a sports car and a truck, and a Mini Cooper and an 18-wheeler are all road vehicles too. The difference is tradeoffs, optimization, cost, user experience, and so on. The iPad could indeed get the ability to be used as a Mac (hook cable to hub, perhaps monitor, full macOS etc). It would still not exactly be optimized for that, it would need all the extra stuff, but it would work. A Macbook with a touch screen not so much. It would either have to be detachable (like some PC models), which comes with certain tradeoffs, limits on construction, materials, battery life, thinness (as the screen would need to be able to work autonomously, thus have the CPU and everything), etc. Or it could be a laptop with a touch screen (again, like some other PC laptop models), which would give an unatural, unergonomic experience. >Heck, maybe it would be interesting to work on touchscreen software on a touchscreen computer in a touch oriented IDE or editor, no? Based on our experience with laptops that have that, not that interesting in the end. There's a reason we don't see people using those PC laptops that have that using them for the touch screen in the wild, and that they haven't really caught on.

fshbbdssbbgdd 2y ago

Yeah, you could have a device with the same form factor and UI that also has a normal terminal and can compile its own code. It’s ok for my personal use case but it’s a big limitation and rules out the device for many people.

cyberpunk 2y ago
With the allowing of emulators, there is now an app called 'a-shell' which you can write/compile (at least) c on.. (the built in clang compiles to wasm, vim/emacs only etc). I expect this to improve, and I've not tried to build any complex software on it (yet).

nijuashi 2y ago

I think this is essentially a portable terminal, just like the phone. Most of my work on laptop for development is to get on high-powered workstation or servers anyway. For occasionally SSH-ing with tmux session, it’s pretty great (although I can’t swap ctrl with caps, which sucks). I do wish iPad had something to push me over to replace my laptop for that use case, but I’m too used to windowed environment.

cyberpunk 2y ago
Settings -> general -> keyboard -> hardware keyboard -> modifier keys -> caps lock I have mine bound to esc since I use vim as my main editor, but ctrl is also an option. As for the soft keyboard, at least in termius this is remappable in the settings (I think blink also)
binary132 2y ago
Somehow “$1500 portable terminal, with some effort” just doesn’t make me feel burning desire.

natrys 2y ago

There is iSH but it needs to do some insane emulation to offer a linux userspace, and so is quite slow. I have still solved plenty of problems with it, disproving that native iOS is capable on its own, or that ssh/tmux is enough over local environment. I am basically fed up with my iPad, looking to sell it and buy an Android with termux.

coldtea 2y ago

>I don’t do much for fun besides work on things that need compilers, debuggers, dynamic analysis, linking, JIT execution, tracing, and suchlike Why would you need a table for those things? Isn't a dektop/laptop optimized for those kind of things anyway? Or you just want to hook some 11" iPad to a monitor and a keyboard, and just use it as a desktop unit?

binary132 2y ago
What difference should it make whether it’s a computer with a built-in touch screen or a computer with a mouse, keyboard, and whatnot? How is one “optimized” for this or that? They’re both just computers. The one running Apple’s software is utterly locked down, is the thing. I would like to be able to compute however I like on my computers, yes. Heck, maybe it would be interesting to work on touchscreen software on a touchscreen computer in a touch oriented IDE or editor, no?
- coldtea 2y ago
  How is one “optimized” for this or that? They’re both just computers. Well, a sports car and a truck, and a Mini Cooper and an 18-wheeler are all road vehicles too. The difference is tradeoffs, optimization, cost, user experience, and so on. The iPad could indeed get the ability to be used as a Mac (hook cable to hub, perhaps monitor, full macOS etc). It would still not exactly be optimized for that, it would need all the extra stuff, but it would work. A Macbook with a touch screen not so much. It would either have to be detachable (like some PC models), which comes with certain tradeoffs, limits on construction, materials, battery life, thinness (as the screen would need to be able to work autonomously, thus have the CPU and everything), etc. Or it could be a laptop with a touch screen (again, like some other PC laptop models), which would give an unatural, unergonomic experience. >Heck, maybe it would be interesting to work on touchscreen software on a touchscreen computer in a touch oriented IDE or editor, no? Based on our experience with laptops that have that, not that interesting in the end. There's a reason we don't see people using those PC laptops that have that using them for the touch screen in the wild, and that they haven't really caught on.