3 ms·

It's funny how iPads are marketed as laptop replacements, but everyone with an iPad has a laptop too. Especially the Apple fans who tell you it's a laptop repla

It's funny how iPads are marketed as laptop replacements, but everyone with an iPad has a laptop too. Especially the Apple fans who tell you it's a laptop replacement.

walterbell 2y ago
Now that Mac Mini is smaller, it's almost viable as iPad sidecar to run MacOS and Linux VMs. The ultimate dongle, with "I should be a hypervisor" graffiti. Pixel Tablet with GrapheneOS has less limitations and will soon have Linux VMs, but lacks a keyboard travel case, and has been discontinued.
- hot_gril 2y ago
  Can also emulate a PC in WASM to run Linux with a huge performance hit. But I'm not even talking about Linux stuff, just basic use cases. Like a website somehow doesn't work with the iPad/iPhone, even if you forcibly request the desktop version. (YouTube creator studio live streaming is one example, or random airliners' in-flight video sites.) You need to unzip, manipulate, re-zip, and email something. Putting stuff on a USB stick for a print shop. Doing taxes. Running some Mac/Windows-only software.
- tempaccount420 2y ago
  > Now that Mac Mini is smaller, it's almost viable as iPad sidecar How I wish Apple would work to make this better than the current state. Currently it's very ugly (bad scaling, weird res, weird bars around screen), high latency, needs some configuration... Just let me plug in a cable and it should immediately become a display. (with video over DP?)
  - hot_gril 2y ago
    I legitimately don't remember if iPads have USB-C or Lightning or both at this point, but theoretically either should've worked for wired video
  - walterbell 2y ago
    Cheap HDMI to USB-c adapter was relatively painless with Orion app for video display on iPad Air/Pro.
    - tempaccount420 2y ago
      The cheap ones have high latency and only 1080p, no?
      - walterbell 2y ago
        It was adequate for CLI/terminal/console usage, i.e. there was no issue between iPad and the capture card, any limitations were intrinsic to the card itself and would be the same on a PC laptop with Windows/Linux. Non-Pro iPads are limited to USB2 speeds. Capturing 4K content for display on iPad would need a Pro device with USB3/Thunderbolt USB-c input.
        hot_gril 2y ago
        Maybe it's my eyes, but I really like having a high res display for terminal or anything else where I'm reading a lot of text. It can be low framerate or high input delay, though. 1080p on a small screen isn't bad, though.

It's funny how iPads are marketed as laptop replacements, but everyone with an iPad has a laptop too. Especially the Apple fans who tell you it's a laptop replacement.

walterbell 2y ago

Now that Mac Mini is smaller, it's almost viable as iPad sidecar to run MacOS and Linux VMs. The ultimate dongle, with "I should be a hypervisor" graffiti. Pixel Tablet with GrapheneOS has less limitations and will soon have Linux VMs, but lacks a keyboard travel case, and has been discontinued.

hot_gril 2y ago
Can also emulate a PC in WASM to run Linux with a huge performance hit. But I'm not even talking about Linux stuff, just basic use cases. Like a website somehow doesn't work with the iPad/iPhone, even if you forcibly request the desktop version. (YouTube creator studio live streaming is one example, or random airliners' in-flight video sites.) You need to unzip, manipulate, re-zip, and email something. Putting stuff on a USB stick for a print shop. Doing taxes. Running some Mac/Windows-only software.
tempaccount420 2y ago
> Now that Mac Mini is smaller, it's almost viable as iPad sidecar How I wish Apple would work to make this better than the current state. Currently it's very ugly (bad scaling, weird res, weird bars around screen), high latency, needs some configuration... Just let me plug in a cable and it should immediately become a display. (with video over DP?)
- hot_gril 2y ago
  I legitimately don't remember if iPads have USB-C or Lightning or both at this point, but theoretically either should've worked for wired video
- walterbell 2y ago
  Cheap HDMI to USB-c adapter was relatively painless with Orion app for video display on iPad Air/Pro.
  - tempaccount420 2y ago
    The cheap ones have high latency and only 1080p, no?
    - walterbell 2y ago
      It was adequate for CLI/terminal/console usage, i.e. there was no issue between iPad and the capture card, any limitations were intrinsic to the card itself and would be the same on a PC laptop with Windows/Linux. Non-Pro iPads are limited to USB2 speeds. Capturing 4K content for display on iPad would need a Pro device with USB3/Thunderbolt USB-c input.
      - hot_gril 2y ago
        Maybe it's my eyes, but I really like having a high res display for terminal or anything else where I'm reading a lot of text. It can be low framerate or high input delay, though. 1080p on a small screen isn't bad, though.