4 ms·

Great! I have been wondering why something like this did not already exist, given that you can already run a full Ubuntu from termux (and indeed people have run

by o1y32 3y ago

Great! I have been wondering why something like this did not already exist, given that you can already run a full Ubuntu from termux (and indeed people have run a coder-server from such an environment). Someone must be able to create a more user-friendly version of vscode on Android. Will try this out on my Samsung tablet. My only concern is the memory management -- vscode (and its extensions) is not super friendly in its memory usage, and on a phone/tablet the RAM could easily run out, even if swap is enabled.

raybb 3y ago
Do you have guide on hand about enabling swap on Android devices? I searched a bit but saw some conflicting info and most of it was quite old. It seemed like people don't recommend doing it is possible.
- raybb 3y ago
  So I found this app which seems like it's supposed to create more swap but the review seem mixed. I wonder if it depends on which version of Android. Seems Samsung has this feature built in to their OS at some point. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allakore.swapnoroot https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allakore.s...
- o1y32 3y ago
  Samsung has it built-in under "Memory" - "RAM Plus", so it could be a ROM thing.
archargelod 3y ago
I've been using termux + neovim as my default text editor on my phone. And it is surprisingly comfortable even with a touch screen keyboard.
- diogenes4 3y ago
  Does it come with a modal keyboard or the same static one?
  - taskylizard 3y ago
    It's the same static keyboard, but navigation is easier as you can swipe to navigate around.
  - janAkali 3y ago
    Not sure what you mean by modal keyboard, but there is fully customizable row of keys in termux. I disabled it, because I use special android keyboard app[0] with a custom layout made from scratch[1]: all common symbols, arrows, esc, ctrl, alt, forward delete, paste and enter gestures etc. etc. [0] - https://jbak2.ucoz.net/ https://jbak2.ucoz.net/ (yes it's horrible website, but it's free and easy to maintain for the handicapped developer) [1] - https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins
    - diogenes4 3y ago
      Well, the modal command system is sort of hacked onto the qwerty keyboard. Surely it'd be more natural to just "insert" directly rather than hitting "i".
  - matheusmoreira 3y ago
    Android allows you to swap the virtual keyboard. I use unexpected keyboard which is also free software. It's excellent for programming. Before that I used Hacker's Keyboard which has actual arrow keys. Termux also has a configurable bar at the bottom where you can map any keys you want. I use it for function and arrow keys plus a bunch of common symbols. Here's an example from my dotfiles: https://github.com/matheusmoreira/.files/blob/38565320fefb92e4ee4cac31347f808fada4fda5/~/.termux/termux.properties#L13 https://github.com/matheusmoreira/.files/blob/38565320fefb92...
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Agreed! Termux profoundly changed my life. I do all of my programming inside Termux now. I find it to be pretty comfortable too. Only thing I'm still missing is a way to build Android applications from inside Termux. We can write software for normal computers from inside themselves. Conversely, phones have always been these consumer machines, only running software produced for them and with no ability to program themselves. Feels like it's the only remaining barrier in the way of Android phones becoming truly general purpose computers. I opened an issue on their repository about packaging the Android development tools: https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/17701 https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/17701 Someone linked a discussion where someone got it to work. I haven't had any luck setting this up though.
  - rcarmo 3y ago
    You can do that with Godot, I think - have a look.
userland_tech 3y ago
When we run Ubuntu on Android, we prefer UserLAnd over termux :)
- sebmaynard 3y ago
  I've been a happy UserLAnd user for a long time and it's a wonderful project, thank you! I've have recently started using vmConsole too (which is based on qemu instead) as I needed docker. Also great.
jeroenhd 3y ago
Modern phones come with 8GB of RAM, if you close a bunch of background apps it should deal with VS Code just fine. I wouldn't even try it on a budget device, but high end Androids should run this more than well enough.

by o1y32 3y ago

raybb 3y ago

Do you have guide on hand about enabling swap on Android devices? I searched a bit but saw some conflicting info and most of it was quite old. It seemed like people don't recommend doing it is possible.

raybb 3y ago
So I found this app which seems like it's supposed to create more swap but the review seem mixed. I wonder if it depends on which version of Android. Seems Samsung has this feature built in to their OS at some point. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allakore.swapnoroot https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allakore.s...
o1y32 3y ago
Samsung has it built-in under "Memory" - "RAM Plus", so it could be a ROM thing.

archargelod 3y ago

I've been using termux + neovim as my default text editor on my phone. And it is surprisingly comfortable even with a touch screen keyboard.

diogenes4 3y ago
Does it come with a modal keyboard or the same static one?
- taskylizard 3y ago
  It's the same static keyboard, but navigation is easier as you can swipe to navigate around.
- janAkali 3y ago
  Not sure what you mean by modal keyboard, but there is fully customizable row of keys in termux. I disabled it, because I use special android keyboard app[0] with a custom layout made from scratch[1]: all common symbols, arrows, esc, ctrl, alt, forward delete, paste and enter gestures etc. etc. [0] - https://jbak2.ucoz.net/ https://jbak2.ucoz.net/ (yes it's horrible website, but it's free and easy to maintain for the handicapped developer) [1] - https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins https://github.com/Archargelod/jbak2Templates-Skins
  - diogenes4 3y ago
    Well, the modal command system is sort of hacked onto the qwerty keyboard. Surely it'd be more natural to just "insert" directly rather than hitting "i".
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  Android allows you to swap the virtual keyboard. I use unexpected keyboard which is also free software. It's excellent for programming. Before that I used Hacker's Keyboard which has actual arrow keys. Termux also has a configurable bar at the bottom where you can map any keys you want. I use it for function and arrow keys plus a bunch of common symbols. Here's an example from my dotfiles: https://github.com/matheusmoreira/.files/blob/38565320fefb92e4ee4cac31347f808fada4fda5/~/.termux/termux.properties#L13 https://github.com/matheusmoreira/.files/blob/38565320fefb92...
matheusmoreira 3y ago
Agreed! Termux profoundly changed my life. I do all of my programming inside Termux now. I find it to be pretty comfortable too. Only thing I'm still missing is a way to build Android applications from inside Termux. We can write software for normal computers from inside themselves. Conversely, phones have always been these consumer machines, only running software produced for them and with no ability to program themselves. Feels like it's the only remaining barrier in the way of Android phones becoming truly general purpose computers. I opened an issue on their repository about packaging the Android development tools: https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/17701 https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/issues/17701 Someone linked a discussion where someone got it to work. I haven't had any luck setting this up though.
- rcarmo 3y ago
  You can do that with Godot, I think - have a look.

userland_tech 3y ago

When we run Ubuntu on Android, we prefer UserLAnd over termux :)

sebmaynard 3y ago
I've been a happy UserLAnd user for a long time and it's a wonderful project, thank you! I've have recently started using vmConsole too (which is based on qemu instead) as I needed docker. Also great.

jeroenhd 3y ago

Modern phones come with 8GB of RAM, if you close a bunch of background apps it should deal with VS Code just fine. I wouldn't even try it on a budget device, but high end Androids should run this more than well enough.