[HN Gopher] Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device
___________________________________________________________________
Run VSCode and terminal on any iOS device
Author : ericciarla
Score : 138 points
Date : 2024-05-28 01:44 UTC (21 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (docs.blink.sh)
(TXT) w3m dump (docs.blink.sh)
| harleyli wrote:
| Okay. I feel like the generative power of the iPad has improved
| again.
| lxgr wrote:
| It's a clever scheme, really:
|
| Ship a device that is technically more powerful than many
| laptops, but artificially limit the OS's capabilities in pretty
| drastic ways, then lift the limitations bit by bit.
|
| Is there a name for the inverse of boiling the frog?
| dvgz0 wrote:
| Yes, it's called "Defrosting the Penguin." Slowly thawing out
| that Linux potential!
| emericaonline wrote:
| Just bought an iPad today and I'm excited to try this out.
| nasretdinov wrote:
| Blink is also a mosh client, so IMO the combo makes it the best
| iOS app for a dev/ops :)
| theshrike79 wrote:
| Mosh is an essential requirement for any kind of mobile work
| over ssh, combine it with tmux and iTerm2 tmux integration and
| you can work on a remote server without even knowing it :D
| codetrotter wrote:
| Another alternative is running ssh over Wireguard. It gives
| you some of the same benefits, like roaming between different
| internet connections while transparently maintaining
| connections that are going through the Wireguard VPN
| connection.
|
| https://www.wireguard.com/
|
| I used to use mosh, but the lack of support for scrollback in
| mosh eventually made me give up on it.
|
| https://github.com/mobile-shell/mosh/issues/122
|
| I've been happy running ssh over Wireguard instead. Not just
| as a replacement for mosh but also because I wanted my own
| VPN in the first place. I use the VPN for connections between
| my own computers. I don't bother routing traffic for the
| wider internet through my VPN although Wireguard can do that
| too if you want.
| lxgr wrote:
| Doesn't that ruin standby battery life and/or fail when
| traveling between Wi-Fi networks due to TCP or SSH
| timeouts?
| palad1n wrote:
| I want to believe! Anyone tried this yet?
| devjab wrote:
| I haven't tried it but their approach seems very promising. VS
| code has some excellent support for working on remote code, and
| if they somehow manage to make that bridge with an iPad that
| will be a game changer of sorts for iPad development.
|
| It will of course require you to have an environment to
| actually run your "cloud" vs code. So it's still different from
| developing on a Mac, especially if you want to utilise
| containers as your default way to run your code "locally".
| Which I'm not sure things like GitHub code spaces support.
| rcarmo wrote:
| I use it regularly (from the very beginning) and it works
| great, except that the VS Code instance is a "web" one, and as
| such quite restricted in terms of what extensions it can run.
| You also need to install a (free) file system extension for it
| to actually access any files (local or remote).
|
| The terminal by itself is pretty great, and supports SSH agent
| forwarding (a key thing for me, that sadly mosh doesn't handle
| well).
| watermelon0 wrote:
| Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we live
| in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have comparable
| performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run a general
| purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them.
|
| Tablets are surely capable of running VSCode, Docker, VMs, etc.
| locally, and from UX standpoint, VSCode is basically Chromium, so
| experience would be the same if these tools ran directly on
| device.
| infotainment wrote:
| Agreed; Apple's restrictions on the iPad should be illegal,
| IMO.
|
| It's ridiculous how crippled they are, and all in the name of
| making sure people feel compelled to also buy a laptop.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| I agree, but we should also make restrictions on smart TVs
| and gaming consoles illegal too.
|
| Both the Xbox and PS5 are 100% commodity hardware, not being
| able to run our own software on it is a really weird
| limitation. One that people even on HN have accepted while
| simultaneously ragging on Apple's "walled garden".
| pjmlp wrote:
| Actually that is not the case with XBox, you can have your
| own applications there without rooting it.
|
| https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/xbox-
| apps/devk...
| codetrotter wrote:
| But can you use the Xbox itself to locally develop and
| run your own software? Or do you still need to use
| another computer or an online service via web browser?
| ach9l wrote:
| And you can say "Actually that is not the case with iPad,
| you can have your own applications there without rooting
| it." have you heard of Xcode? still... you are missing
| the point, you can't even use an iPad to properly code
| for iPad
| BaculumMeumEst wrote:
| That is the exactly the same weak, crippled, sandboxed
| bullshit that Apple gives you for your iPad. OP wants to
| run an OS on these devices, not that.
| rezonant wrote:
| If you just changed "but" to "and" you'd get your point
| across with less a sense of whataboutism.
|
| Yes, all platforms should be free. Personally it feels like
| devices that are marketed as general purpose have a higher
| expectation that people can use them for general purposes,
| but it is definitely true that any device you purchase
| should allow you to run whatever software you want on it.
| rfoo wrote:
| Yeah, that's why I refuse to buy PS5, iPhone and iPad.
|
| I have a Switch though, thanks to Nintendo's incompetency
| on locking it down.
| zakki wrote:
| Are you going to bring your Smart TV and PS5 for VSCoding
| anywhere and anytime?
| codetrotter wrote:
| There are many people who can't afford to buy both a
| computer and a PS5 and some of them choose to buy PS5.
| Would be nice to let those people use the PS5 hardware
| for what it is really capable of, including being able to
| run a desktop OS on it.
| vundercind wrote:
| The number of people who can so _barely_ afford a PS5
| that they can't also afford a computer (these are a hell
| of a lot cheaper than a PS5), but are willing to screw
| with their PS5 in ways likely to mess it up in one way or
| another (if only making gaming impossible without further
| tinkering) is approximately zero.
| steve1977 wrote:
| But you know these restrictions when you buy the device.
| Same with the Apple ecosystem. So why make it illegal?
| franga2000 wrote:
| Because it's an artificial limitation to make the company
| more money, at the expense of customer experience and the
| environment (yes, locked-down hardware is also a
| sustainability issue!).
|
| Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public and so
| such selfish anti-consumer behaviour would be illegal.
| Unfortunately, they don't and current law seems to affirm
| that.
| mosselman wrote:
| I'd also like to be able to run anything on an iPad. But
| I know I can't so I don't buy it.
|
| I find this notion that companies should do what we want
| ridiculous. You know the features and capabilities
| upfront or you can at least and then you can decide to
| buy or not.
| franga2000 wrote:
| There are many problems with the "just don't buy it"
| argument. Mainly, that often times, the alternatives have
| huge unrelated down-sides. Apple makes the best tablet
| hardware by a large margin, but it's totally locked down.
| If I want a good tablet, I have bo real alternatives.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| So even though as a user you have alternatives, you don't
| want to buy one of those alternatives so Apple should
| make exactly what you personally want?
| franga2000 wrote:
| No, I'm saying that Apple is so far ahead of the
| competition and this market is so hard to enter, that
| they essentially have a monopoly in the category "tablet
| computer that isn't shit".
|
| And no, it's not that they should make what I want, it's
| that they should not prevent me from using their device
| in a way that I want.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| Microsoft and Google are not tiny little companies. They
| have their own operating systems and the resources to
| make a good tablet.
|
| Microsoft has just announced a tablet running full blown
| Windows running Qualcomm chips that from all indications
| is competitive with what Apple makes.
|
| The latest Qualcomm ARM chips were designed by a bunch of
| ex-Apple folks.
|
| But every hybrid solution sucks in one way or the other.
| I would much rather _work_ on my MacBook Air M3 with a
| 2TB SSD and 24GB RAM with a 20+ hour battery life than an
| iPad Air /Pro with a keyboard and mouse attachment that
| hypothetically runs MacOS.
|
| What problem are you trying to solve by not having both a
| MacBook and an iPad?
|
| Cost? Give me a fully decked out MacBook Air + a cheap
| $349 low end iPad any day over an iPad Pro. Just the
| specs of the MacBook Air makes it better. As a bonus I
| can use my iPad as a second monitor.
|
| The M4 in the iPad may be just as capable as an M4 in a
| future Mac. But the MacBook Air has better battery life
| and the iPad still makes trade offs between portability
| and power like less RAM (RAM takes battery), OS
| optimizations, sustained performance tradeoffs, etc.
|
| Portability? The iPad is so light you don't even feel it
| in a backpack. I literally traveled with both the entire
| year last year.
|
| Short version: my wife and I took one way trips last year
| across the country visiting over a dozen cities while I
| worked remotely...
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36306966
| steve1977 wrote:
| > I find this notion that companies should do what we
| want ridiculous.
|
| The thing is, we actually have a vote in this by buying
| or not buying their products. So apparently, too many
| people are content enough with what Apple (for example)
| is doing.
| matwood wrote:
| > Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public and
| so such selfish anti-consumer behaviour would be illegal.
|
| Given that iPads _are_ the most sold tablets in the
| market, I would argue that Apple did serve the public.
| _factor wrote:
| Temporarily at best. If I invent fire and lock it down so
| that only my grill can use it, while also releasing feel
| good propaganda to convince people that it is the only
| way fire works, yes it's more beneficial than not for a
| time. As society grows around the concept, the artificial
| limitations begin hindering the elevated stage more than
| helping.
|
| These companies have convinced unwitting masses that this
| is in their long-term best interests. I assure you it is
| not. It is about being controlled, and the invisible
| limitations placed on an individual when they grow to
| love their chains.
| threeseed wrote:
| But the problem is that Apple doesn't want the iPad to be
| a regular computer.
|
| That's the entire value proposition of the device.
|
| And every advanced, niche feature they add dilutes this.
| euroderf wrote:
| > Because it's an artificial limitation to make the
| company more money
|
| Market Segmentation 101.
|
| Even back in VCR days the el-cheapos would let you set
| (say) 4 recordings, the mid-range 8, and the high-end 16.
| All the manufacturers did was tie down pins.
|
| Hobbled hardware is a (dis)honorable tradition in tech.
| steve1977 wrote:
| > Ideally, companies would exist to serve the public
|
| That would not be "companies" in the common sense
| anymore, but rather something like the East German
| "Volkseigener Betrieb" or the Russian "design bureaus".
| Which is something worth considering probably, but then
| you'd need larger changes, not just some laws that
| prohibit companies artificial limitations like this.
| fragmede wrote:
| Because we want to. Of course the political capital of
| bunch of nerds isn't enough to make it happen but while
| the reasoning is different, I can't buy a new car that I
| can register without seatbelts, so the concept of making
| things illegal to buy is not entirely foreign. Of course,
| those are for safety, but I also can't buy a car that
| won't do at least 55 for the freeway unless I want a golf
| cart, so suitability for purpose is another concept. We'd
| just have to define computer in a legal sense, and then
| categorize the iPad as a computer, and finally make it a
| requirement that you can run your own code on computers.
| Of course, carrots are better than sticks, so maybe put a
| tax on all non-computer electronics, and a rebate for
| computers. All just to be able to run my own code on an
| ipad. Which, you can actually do with Pythonista. There's
| a small ecosystem of apps using that, as well as the
| official Shortcuts app, which I'd call programming. it's
| not Xcode on an iPad (though I'm sure there's a lucky
| engineer at Apple that has one that can do that, but then
| doesn't get to have any fun with it), and it's not really
| close either.
| steve1977 wrote:
| > Because we want to.
|
| Who is "we"? Apparently not enough people want this.
|
| > I can't buy a new car that I can register without
| seatbelts, so the concept of making things illegal to buy
| is not entirely foreign.
|
| That's a strawman argument. Not having cars without
| seatbelts has safety implications. A better analogy would
| be cars which don't allow you to replace the built-in car
| stereo for example.
|
| > so maybe put a tax on all non-computer electronics, and
| a rebate for computers. All just to be able to run my own
| code on an ipad. Which, you can actually do with
| Pythonista.
|
| Then maybe we should also have a tax for computers that
| run Python, because it's so energy inefficient. Only make
| the ones tax-free that only allow C++ and assembly
| language.
| nox101 wrote:
| Because it's slowing killing the the environment for kids
| to learn. Parents give kids an iPad, they don't give them
| a notebook. Kid has hands tied for really exploring
| programming.
|
| I'd be willing to bet if the same restrictions were in
| place in the 80s and 90s that 30-50% of the people who
| are programmers today wouldn't be programmers because
| they'd never have gotten started.
| matwood wrote:
| There is Swift Playgrounds, but if you're talking more
| about general purpose programming - sure. But, I don't
| think it changes anything. As devices have entered all
| aspects of our life, the vast majority want to use them
| as an appliance to take and edit pictures/video, draw,
| communicate, and play games. To say it's killing the
| environment for kids to learn feels a bit myopic by
| implying programming is the only way to learn.
| threeseed wrote:
| There are many excellent web based programming
| environments that cater for beginners.
|
| As someone who was learning how to develop in the 80s
| your comment is hilariously ridiculous. It is 1000x
| easier to learn now with the wealth of tooling, content,
| AI assistants etc than it was for me trying to learn C++
| on a Mac Plus with no internet.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| In the 80s and 90s there were locked down devices - game
| consoles - and computers.
| steve1977 wrote:
| > Because it's slowing killing the the environment for
| kids to learn. Parents give kids an iPad, they don't give
| them a notebook.
|
| That's a fair point. I think we need a law which makes it
| illegal for parents to give kids an iPad and not a
| notebook.
| jimbokun wrote:
| Depends on your views about anti-trust applied to the
| phone and tablet markets.
|
| The Biden administration opened a wide ranging anti-trust
| suit against Apple. Will see what comes of it.
| arijun wrote:
| My fear is that such a regulation would end up being a net
| negative for the consumer. Apple would protect MacBook sales
| in other ways, e.g. crippling iPad hardware. Genuine
| question: if it was a net negative, would that still be worth
| it in your eyes?
| unsupp0rted wrote:
| Companies should be able to make whatever device they want. I
| use iPhone/iPad when I want to be fairly confident that
| nobody's actively screenshotting my every move.
| DaSHacka wrote:
| Being able to install any OS onto your hardware would let
| you avoid running an OS that screenshots your every move in
| the first place
| unsupp0rted wrote:
| The more doors you open intentionally, the more doors
| become open unintentionally.
|
| If I wanted a device that allows installation of any OS,
| I would buy one.
|
| Companies like "Honor" are already doing a good job of
| cloning Apple's UX. Go right ahead... nobody's stopping
| manufacturers from making fully hackable phones.
| can16358p wrote:
| I get your point, especially given the enormous power of the
| hardware and capabilities, but there is no surprise here:
| their hardware, their software, and you know what you are
| buying (it's not like it was open then it was remotely locked
| down) so everyone agreed at the time of purchase.
|
| What part of this can be made illegal?
| nicoburns wrote:
| Anything _can_ be made illegal. I agree it 's tricky to
| create a general rule here. My suggestion would be to
| require bootloaders to be unlocked such that custom
| operating systems can be installed on it (and yes this
| could apply to smart TVs, games consoles, etc too).
|
| That wouldn't get it us macOS, but it would get us Linux
| and incentivise Apple to provide macOS too.
| scarface_74 wrote:
| So should it also be illegal for game consoles not to run a
| general purpose OS? The Apple displays also run a version of
| iOS, should it also be illegal for them not to run full
| versions of iOS?
|
| I have some sympathy for the argument about side loading, the
| inability to have alternate app stores etc and the things
| that the EU is addressing haphardly.
|
| But saying the government should mandate that Apple must
| support MacOS on iPads is a bridge too far.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Many devs are also to blame, there are enough hybrid laptops
| around to pick from, so basically they are voting with their
| wallet validating that this kind of workarounds are acceptable.
| sebtron wrote:
| Or even smartphone-sized devices (not saying "smartphone"
| because of the expectations for those in terms of battery life
| and telephony). With keyboard in my backpack I could have a
| legit pocket-size general purpose computer.
|
| I am keeping an eye on Starlabs new intel-based linux tablet
| [1], I am curious what the reviews will be like once it finally
| ships.
|
| [1] https://starlabs.systems/pages/starlite
| enceladus06 wrote:
| The iPhone 15 pro could be a general purpose computer, but
| Apple doesn't want that.
|
| Imagine plugging your phone into a Lightning dock and then it
| is running full macOS or Ubuntu in a vm, with Bluetooth
| keyboard and mouse support.
|
| This is possible from a hardware perspective (look at Samsung
| dex), and would actually bring innovation to the smartphone
| market, but we allow Apple/google/friends to lock down our
| hardware bc of profits.
| steve1977 wrote:
| > Every time I see something like this, I'm a bit sad, that we
| live in a world where tablets (especially iPad M4) have
| comparable performance to most laptops, but we still cannot run
| a general purpose OS (macOS/Linux/Windows) on them.
|
| Sad Surface Pro noises...
| madeofpalk wrote:
| The M4 iPad Pro is the fastest computer Apple sells right now.
| black3r wrote:
| Only if all you care about is single core performance.
| Macbooks with M3 Pro and M3 Max beat M4 in multi-core
| performance because they have more cores.
| More-nitors wrote:
| this
|
| people will definitely pay a big premium to get:
|
| a surfacebook with M4 chip with macOS
| bartekrutkowski wrote:
| While not exactly the same, it will be close enough for Apple
| not to do it - it's called MacBook Air and it will be out
| with M4 soon enough (I guess).
|
| Back in they day they had 11" MacBook line and I loved it,
| wish they'd bring it back.
| diffeomorphism wrote:
| I guess with the dell xps 13 having tandem oled now, this
| might arrive eventually. However, right now the screens are
| big differentiators between the ipad pro and macbook air.
| alexpc201 wrote:
| Apple sees the iPads as art creation devices. You may well
| argue coding is an art, but not for Apple.
| goosedragons wrote:
| This is baloney. Here's a literal quote from their iPad Air
| "Why iPad" [0] page, "iPad is so versatile, it's more than up
| to any task." They market them as do anything devices with
| art as a option. Hell that same page even talks about
| building your coding skills in Swift Playground although who
| knows what you're supposed to do when you advance beyond that
| level? I guess in Apple's mind buy a Mac?
|
| https://www.apple.com/ipad-air/why-ipad/
|
| And of course, they call out the iconic, but complete
| bullshit, "there's an app for that" with many tasks not in
| fact having an app for that.
| kkapelon wrote:
| I use a Surface Pro with VScode and it works the same as a
| desktop.
|
| Since it is so light, I now take it with me at
| conferences/vacation instead of a full laptop.
|
| I have given full presentations on stage that include a live
| demo with VScode and a local K8s cluster.
|
| It just works.
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| I'm praying the next generation of arm laptops running windows
| arm won't have locked own bootloaders preventing me from
| installing linux.
| nicoburns wrote:
| It boggles my mind that Apple don't release an iPad that runs
| macOS. It would sell like hotcakes. And with the M series chips
| they have already developed the technology to have multiple
| securely segregated OS's on the same device (so they could have
| it run iPad OS too if they wanted to).
| xnyan wrote:
| The answer seems obvious to me, ipad running macos would then
| compete with the mac. It's the same reason apple does not
| release a laptop with a touch screen.
| skydhash wrote:
| MacOS on touchscreen is not that great (think graphics
| tablet). So you'll still have to bring a keyboard and a
| mouse/trackpad everywhere.
|
| I'd rather see they make it more convenient to run your own
| software. It's either 99 usd a year or 7 days installation.
| nicoburns wrote:
| They already sell a case with a keyboard/touchpad
| prmoustache wrote:
| Can't UTM allow you to do just that albeit in a VM?
| lxgr wrote:
| Not in the App Store, and I believe on recent iOS versions
| not even with reasonable performance (due to a lack of JIT
| and/or hardware virtualization support, I believe).
|
| Even if it's possible, the point is that iPad OS really feels
| like it's intentionally holding back the power user
| experience for the sake of being more accessible to new users
| in a way that e.g. macOS doesn't.
| prmoustache wrote:
| From what I understand it is in AltStore which is
| installable without another device in UE and still
| installable running AltServer on a separate computer.
|
| Annoying I understand. But fairly easy to anyone motivated
| to get it.
|
| As for the performance they say:
|
| "The lack of hardware virtualization on Apple A-chips means
| that even for ARM code we must re-compile it with JIT.
| Therefore performance would never reach the levels possible
| with KVM. There is also no support for GPU virtualization
| so that means no DirectX or OpenGL. This makes most modern
| games non-playable."
|
| I guess it would be at least good enough to run an IDE, git
| and have terminal access provided any serious compilation
| is done remotely and not locally. And might even be good
| enough to run some lightweight containers.
|
| EDIT: seeing that on ios 14 devices it needs to be
| jailbroken, so I guess it is best used on "obsolete"
| models.
| tannerellen wrote:
| The Altstore they are referring to is the sideload
| version, not the EU store that was just released. This
| requires a computer to install the IPA file. Once you
| install UTM using this sideloading method the only way to
| activate JIT to make UTM useable in any meaningful way is
| to be on the same local network as a computer with
| SideJitServer installed and running. Then you can use an
| emulated OS and drain your battery super fast.
|
| Long story short UTM is not currently a solution. Apple
| either needs to allow JIT for all apps or SideJitServer
| needs to do the impossible and figure out a way to
| activate over a remote connection.
| FredPret wrote:
| Blink doesn't have a lifetime license, which prevents me getting
| it. I just don't like working with rented tools.
|
| There's an excellent app called iSH which runs Alpine Linux on
| iOS. I wish it were possible to boot into iSH on the iPad
| theshrike79 wrote:
| It's also 100% open source and GPLv3 Licensed:
| https://github.com/blinksh/blink
|
| You can just clone the repo, build it yourself and use it 100%
| free as in beer and speech.
| rcarmo wrote:
| iSH is a restricted x86 emulator, so booting to it will never
| happen. But one can hope...
| tannerellen wrote:
| But it's not a rented tool. The subscription is to give a
| developer the ability to work on a project in a sustainable
| way. It's open source. You can compile it yourself. How is that
| rented? This is a fairly niche product in the iOS ecosystem, it
| is also by far the best terminal for iOS. $20 per year is a
| pittance in the grand scheme of my tech purchases and well
| worth transforming my iPad into something more than just a
| youtube machine. I get that we are all sick of subscriptions
| but I would rather budget for $20 a year and get nice
| consistent updates and great support on discord over a product
| that has paid updates where you have to buy a completely new
| version just so the dev can continued to get paid.
| nottorp wrote:
| What does this do in plain english?
|
| It seems to either run vscode in a browser tab on ios or start an
| instance on a desktop that edits files on ios or run something in
| a 'cloud'...
|
| I suppose it makes sense at a first glance if you know what all
| the other stuff referred to in the article is, but otherwise ...
| not really.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| Blink.sh is a terminal/ssh client for iOS
|
| They have integrated VSCode APIs so that you can run VSCode web
| locally while editing files either on the iPad filesystem or on
| a remote server.
|
| You can get a similar experience by running a web version of
| VSCode, like with Github Codespaces or Amazon's similar
| offering, but this can be run 100% locally if you want to.
| nottorp wrote:
| Thanks!
|
| Another 300 years and ipads will be usable as developer
| systems :)
|
| In the mean time, I think I'll keep my mbpro around...
| 1oooqooq wrote:
| now that apple have to allow other sources for software,
| what is preventing Mozilla, chrome, vscode from actually
| running in ios?
| stetrain wrote:
| If you're in the EU that should be possible, although the
| software is still limited to using Apple's public
| approved APIs since Apple still has a security
| notarization process software can be installed from
| third-party sources.
| AJRF wrote:
| Hate to be that guy, but Samsung DeX is a much closer vision to a
| "Mobile device that doubles as a usable computer" than an iPad
| has proven to be since it launched 14 years ago.
|
| Especially if you get one of the Z Fold devices. It's a phone, a
| small tablet and a pluggable computer - all in one.
|
| Has had great terminal support for the past decade through Termux
| and can even run Emacs!
| theshrike79 wrote:
| > Especially if you get one of the Z Fold devices. It's a
| phone, a small tablet and a pluggable computer - all in one.
|
| It also costs as much as a phone, small tablet and a pluggable
| computer...
| pquki4 wrote:
| I tried the Termux -> Ubuntu -> code-server approach to get
| vscode running locally on a Galaxy Tab tablet. Since it is a
| somewhat "real" Ubuntu installation, it is as close as it gets,
| runs your debugger and compiler and doesn't have many of the
| limitations found in other terminals (e.g. go compiler does not
| run on iSH).
|
| But I don't travel much and still prefer laptops with large
| screens. I do think many people will benefit from this
| approach. Too sad there are very Samsung tablets around.
|
| (As a side note: I have Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ and an iPad Pro
| 12.9, and use the galaxy tab way more than iPad for browsing
| and watching YouTube videos. The screen is gorgeous and
| speakers are great, and I rarely find something that iPad has
| but not on Samsung.)
| dlivingston wrote:
| Do people use DeX as an all-in-one (esp. for development)? I
| played with it for a bit on my wife's phone and it seemed very
| cool, but I couldn't tell how useful it would be as a daily
| driver.
| rubslopes wrote:
| I've seen Youtube videos where a dev take his phone, a
| keyboard and a portable monitor to a cafe. While my nerd self
| love the idea, I also think that if you're carrying a monitor
| and a keyboard you might as well carry a M1 Macbook Air.
| throw5345346 wrote:
| Blink is a valiant effort -- serious, quality work, that makes an
| enormous difference to people who need to do ad hoc work from a
| tablet...
|
| ... and really shouldn't be needed.
|
| (It's not the only useful tool on the iPad -- I adore the rather
| idiosyncratic GoCoEdit -- but I am a VSC-Remote person now)
| Euphorbium wrote:
| What is the actual price?
| als0 wrote:
| $20 a year https://blink.sh/#choose-package
| moondev wrote:
| When you work locally with this, what happens when you open a
| terminal from vscode? Or is it disabled like in
| https://vscode.dev
| EtienneK wrote:
| Ah, the iPad Pro: One of the most compact and powerful computing
| devices of all time. But trying to use even a small fraction of
| that power requires workarounds like this.
|
| I bought into the idea of the iPad Pro as a coding device 4 years
| ago; only to have been left very disappointed. And it seems
| nothing has really changed (although the M series iPads do at
| least support full screen external monitors now - mine still has
| black bars).
|
| I won't consider an iPad Pro until I can actually use it as a
| development laptop replacement. I still see use for the non-pro
| iPads in my life; but not the Pro.
| irusensei wrote:
| How does Blink compares to a-shell or iSh?
| miohtama wrote:
| Related: I tried to use Github Codespaces (Visual Studio in
| cloud) on iPad with a keyboard, using a browser.
|
| It works very well, in theory. There is only a slight deal
| breaker bug. Safari does not properly support clipboard. So copy-
| paste does not work. It should be very simple to fix as Chrome,
| Firefox, do on desktop if Safari would care more about web
| standards. Also you cannot install any other browser in iPad that
| would have the required support to use copy-paste.
| panzerboiler wrote:
| Can you describe the issue with copy/pasting in Safari? What is
| not supported exactly?
| miohtama wrote:
| - Terminal copy-paste
|
| - File tree copy-paste
|
| Other issues include
|
| - Scrolling Jupyter notebooks
|
| It does not help to install as a Progressive Web App, as bugs
| are still present.
| reactordev wrote:
| I just tested copy-paste in terminal and file tree, on an
| iPad, using Github Code spaces, in safari, and it worked
| fine.
| panzerboiler wrote:
| I am not interested in the issues you have with those
| webapps. I am asking what are the bugs of Safari's
| implementation of the Clipboard API, since in my experience
| there are none (except maybe
| https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=222262 if you want
| to consider it a bug and not a different interpretation of
| the specs).
| eyelidlessness wrote:
| Safari does properly support the clipboard. I used it, right
| here on my phone to copy and paste:
|
| > if Safari would care more about web standards
|
| Which web standard or standards are you referring to exactly?
| DrammBA wrote:
| > Which web standard or standards are you referring to
| exactly?
|
| To the standard of Safari being considered the new Internet
| Explorer by the general public, so anything that goes wrong
| online is automatically Safari's fault
| shepherdjerred wrote:
| Isn't Chrome closer to IE considering it nearly has
| unilateral control over web standards?
|
| The last hope for web standards is WebKit on iOS. Or, it
| was. Now that, for better or worse, Apple is being forced
| to allow other engines on iOS I expect that'll change
| quickly.
| hamandcheese wrote:
| There was a long period of the where IE was far from
| dominant, but was used in enough places that supporting
| it was non-optional for many businesses. It was holding
| the web back.
|
| I think it's that period of IE that people are referring
| to when they say Safari is the new IE.
| arytoriop wrote:
| Going to try this out on my iPad. I can't think of many times you
| would need to tho tbh.
| plutoh28 wrote:
| Been using this for a while on my 2018 iPad Pro for college.
|
| I just SSH into my pc at home and am able to work on all my
| assignments with neovim. Works well enough to save me from having
| to buy a laptop since I was able to get this iPad for ~$300
| locally on Facebook marketplace. Would recommend to non-power
| users on a budget (e.g. college students)
| ein0p wrote:
| Why do people like to suffer? Just get a used Lenovo Carbon
| that's a few years old, plop Ubuntu on it and do all of that
| with a proper computer with a larger screen, good keyboard, and
| no "tricks" whatsoever. And if the internet connection conks
| out, you can still do whatever you need to do
| mbonnet wrote:
| You're fundamentally misunderstanding the use case. Using an
| iPad Pro with a small keyboard is a small form factor, often
| doesn't add to the load in a student's backpack (most of them
| have iPads for note taking anyway), etc
| ein0p wrote:
| I specifically mentioned X1 Carbon because it is very
| light. Not a problem to carry at all, unlike eg a MacBook.
| chipotle_coyote wrote:
| They're not comparing it to a MacBook, though, they're
| comparing it to an iPad Pro.
|
| We could go through the whole dance of figuring out which
| weighs more and what does what with whom and where, but I
| think it's probably easier to say "different people have
| different priorities". If what you want is a lightweight
| Linux laptop, the iPad is never going to give that to
| you. If what you want is a tablet that you can connect a
| keyboard to when you want, an X1 Carbon is never going to
| give you _that._ And if that _is_ what you want, it 's
| nice that the iPad can run a great ssh/mosh client that's
| capable of running Visual Studio Code in the cloud.
| tannerellen wrote:
| Because I use a custom ergonomic 3D printed keyboard due to
| RSI and do the vast majority of my work at my desktop
| computer. I love the iPad for being able to do touch focused
| tasks and the extreme portability. Every once in a while I
| like to code remotely or even outside. Blink shell connected
| to my dev server over ssh and neovim allow me to work on the
| ipad pretty seamlessly. I don't have to buy yet another
| device that I will only use once or twice a month, and I
| don't have to put my custom keyboard on top of an existing
| keyboard built into the device.
|
| It may seem like a weird setup but it really works for me. I
| put my ipad on a folding stand to boost the height closer to
| eye level and it's so much more ergonomic than what I used to
| have with my 15" Macbook Pro.
| orhmeh09 wrote:
| Not iPad but on iPhone, I SSH into a Linux machine to edit
| scripts from bed and submit jobs to AWS or cluster with a
| sleeping partner beside me. Vim works surprisingly well for
| editing text in this scenario.
|
| In theory one could even do this from the bathroom without
| the awkward appearance of walking in there with laptop in
| arm. Hypothetically. I certainly have not tried this, no sir.
| dieselgate wrote:
| I use both iSh and iVim on my iPhone 8 and they both work well.
| Would not be interested in vscode on a mobile device but vi/vim
| work well. Have been casually trying to figure out/install ssh on
| iSh recently but it's not configured out of the box and low
| priority.
|
| iVim and repl.it apps have the best mobile keyboard configuration
| I've used - have lost interest in replit since they were pushing
| ai so much though.
|
| Ultimately coding on a mobile device is just a toy and I just use
| a computer for real things
| kylehotchkiss wrote:
| How viable is this for getting a day of work done, against
| projects hosted on Github?
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