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Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful. I think Samsung recently added a "desktop Dex" mode that's supposed to be less mobile-ui. I haven't tried it th

by chneu 1y ago

Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful. I think Samsung recently added a "desktop Dex" mode that's supposed to be less mobile-ui. I haven't tried it tho.

asabla 1y ago
I remember when they presented the S10, with the initial implementation of Dex. It felt so close already back then, sluggish, but still usable. But that initial implementation was running some in-house version of Ubuntu with a custom kernel (if I remembered it correctly). I just wish this becomes a reality much sooner then later. Especially if I can have my dev environment on some remote VPS with either tunneling, github code spaces or Azure DevBox
- fenced_load 1y ago
  Just FYI, Dex is really fluid on flagship devices.
  - causality0 1y ago
    Reasonably fluid, but not when it comes to heavy web pages with a lot of 3D. I have an S24U I use in DeX for most of my day but when I do have to switch to my ten inch 6800u laptop it absolutely demolishes the DeX experience. There's still a fractional second of lag that Samsung hasn't done away with yet.
- gothroach 1y ago
  I think it was introduced with at least the S9+, mine has had DeX since I got it originally.
  - lmpdev 1y ago
    I have it on my old S8
    - wkat4242 1y ago
      This is the right answer. DeX itself was introduced with the S8 series. With the S9 they introduced the developer test version of Linux on DeX but it never came to the S8 or S10 and it was already discontinued with the Android 10 update :(
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
vizzier 1y ago
> Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful. I feel this a lot. I use it daily, mostly as a thin client for remote desktop use but there are little niggles that would make it better. Examples: - Let me control how the top bar and taskbar are viewed - Let games capture the mouse in remote desktop (for fps type games) - Fix the small issues that cause the mouse capture to fail on steam link occasionally - Fix rendering issues with firefox while in desktop mode - Let the youtube UI work in a more "desktop" way while in dex mode These might be mostly app responsibilities, but if they could fix some of this stuff dex would be a dream instead of just being mostly useful.
- LeonM 1y ago
  I just wish it would do 4K resolution out of the box. The hardware can do it, it's just that the system settings won't show you the 4K resolution option for some reason. But you can do some hacks to make it appear and then it works just fine. You need to install a nondescript app called 'Samsung Good Lock' from the Samsung store (not available in Play store), and use that to side-load an app called 'Multistar', which is an app to tweak display settings. From that side-loaded app you need to tap the 'I Samsung DeX' which does various setting changes to "Make Dex even more friendly", it doesn't specify what it does exactly, but it'll make the 4K resolution option appear in the system settings. This all feels real sketchy and I don't understand why Samsung doesn't just enable 4K resolution officially, because the hardware is clearly capable of it. With every OneUI update there are rumors that it'll natively support 4K, but so far that hasn't happened AFAIK. Admittedly I haven't used Dex in a while for myself, but judging from recent Reddit posts this hack is still needed.
  - apitman 1y ago
    These instructions sound like a parody sketch about bad UX.
    - vizzier 1y ago
      Aye, to some degree they are, but I'm also glad that android is open/hackable enough that goodlock lets you add these additional preferences. (I also use it, for me it was for ultrawide resolutions)
RajT88 1y ago
Last I used it, I still wouldn't want to write code on Dex. But it was great for everything else. I could definitely complete just about any other tasks I needed with it. It was a little clunky, but doable; teams calls, getting into internal tools for triaging systems issues, the company CRM, all that stuff.
AdmiralAsshat 1y ago
It's not a full laptop replacement, but at least for me it's good enough at what it does that I can just take my phone or tablet with me on short vacations and not be paranoid that I'm gonna have to do something complicated like log into my bank or write some verbose emails that I'm normally afraid to do from my phone. In those instances, plugging one of them into a KVM and Dex mode is sufficient to get over the hump.

by chneu 1y ago

Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful. I think Samsung recently added a "desktop Dex" mode that's supposed to be less mobile-ui. I haven't tried it tho.

asabla 1y ago

I remember when they presented the S10, with the initial implementation of Dex. It felt so close already back then, sluggish, but still usable. But that initial implementation was running some in-house version of Ubuntu with a custom kernel (if I remembered it correctly). I just wish this becomes a reality much sooner then later. Especially if I can have my dev environment on some remote VPS with either tunneling, github code spaces or Azure DevBox

fenced_load 1y ago
Just FYI, Dex is really fluid on flagship devices.
- causality0 1y ago
  Reasonably fluid, but not when it comes to heavy web pages with a lot of 3D. I have an S24U I use in DeX for most of my day but when I do have to switch to my ten inch 6800u laptop it absolutely demolishes the DeX experience. There's still a fractional second of lag that Samsung hasn't done away with yet.
gothroach 1y ago
I think it was introduced with at least the S9+, mine has had DeX since I got it originally.
- lmpdev 1y ago
  I have it on my old S8
  - wkat4242 1y ago
    This is the right answer. DeX itself was introduced with the S8 series. With the S9 they introduced the developer test version of Linux on DeX but it never came to the S8 or S10 and it was already discontinued with the Android 10 update :(

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

vizzier 1y ago

> Dex is annoyingly close to being really useful. I feel this a lot. I use it daily, mostly as a thin client for remote desktop use but there are little niggles that would make it better. Examples: - Let me control how the top bar and taskbar are viewed - Let games capture the mouse in remote desktop (for fps type games) - Fix the small issues that cause the mouse capture to fail on steam link occasionally - Fix rendering issues with firefox while in desktop mode - Let the youtube UI work in a more "desktop" way while in dex mode These might be mostly app responsibilities, but if they could fix some of this stuff dex would be a dream instead of just being mostly useful.

LeonM 1y ago
I just wish it would do 4K resolution out of the box. The hardware can do it, it's just that the system settings won't show you the 4K resolution option for some reason. But you can do some hacks to make it appear and then it works just fine. You need to install a nondescript app called 'Samsung Good Lock' from the Samsung store (not available in Play store), and use that to side-load an app called 'Multistar', which is an app to tweak display settings. From that side-loaded app you need to tap the 'I Samsung DeX' which does various setting changes to "Make Dex even more friendly", it doesn't specify what it does exactly, but it'll make the 4K resolution option appear in the system settings. This all feels real sketchy and I don't understand why Samsung doesn't just enable 4K resolution officially, because the hardware is clearly capable of it. With every OneUI update there are rumors that it'll natively support 4K, but so far that hasn't happened AFAIK. Admittedly I haven't used Dex in a while for myself, but judging from recent Reddit posts this hack is still needed.
- apitman 1y ago
  These instructions sound like a parody sketch about bad UX.
  - vizzier 1y ago
    Aye, to some degree they are, but I'm also glad that android is open/hackable enough that goodlock lets you add these additional preferences. (I also use it, for me it was for ultrawide resolutions)

RajT88 1y ago

Last I used it, I still wouldn't want to write code on Dex. But it was great for everything else. I could definitely complete just about any other tasks I needed with it. It was a little clunky, but doable; teams calls, getting into internal tools for triaging systems issues, the company CRM, all that stuff.

AdmiralAsshat 1y ago

It's not a full laptop replacement, but at least for me it's good enough at what it does that I can just take my phone or tablet with me on short vacations and not be paranoid that I'm gonna have to do something complicated like log into my bank or write some verbose emails that I'm normally afraid to do from my phone. In those instances, plugging one of them into a KVM and Dex mode is sufficient to get over the hump.