Get the top HN stories in your inbox every day.
butz
Got to mention that you can use your tablet on Linux GNOME DE not only for terminal: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/06/use-ipad-as-second-monit... . Still waiting for even better solution, like streaming games to such second tablet "monitor".
seiferteric
Just tried this but got "this device needs iOS 15 or later" when trying to install Microsoft rdp client, which isn't available for my old iPad. So I guess you can't actually use an old iPad for this. But maybe I can find another rdp client that will work.
bluearchon
Do you have the RD Client app installed on an iOS 15+ device? If you ‘own’ the app (and the developer allows it, I think) the App Store will let you install the latest supported version on an older iOS. I was able to install RD Client on my iOS 10 iPad that way a little while ago, but maybe something’s changed in the meantime.
bogdart
It doesn’t work on X11, and the cursor is not showing. But if don’t need it, works pretty well.
elkos
does this work in KDE too or is there a similar solution?
butz
Here's what I found for KDE, but did not test it myself: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=454645#c5
bogdart
It works for me, but quite unstable.
trevcanhuman
I've used Weylus [0]. It works over LAN, lets you control the mouse from your tablet. Sometimes it's laggy, but you can configure the resolution so it's not using too much bandwidth. I'm not sure if it's stable at all. Haven't used it on a regular basis.
DakotaR
In the same vein, Remote Touchpad [0] is fantastic if you don't need an extra screen.
[0] https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.unrud.RemoteTouchpad
gourneau
If you are on Windows and have extra laptops of devices hanging around SpaceDesk https://www.spacedesk.net/ to a great free app (not open source). I use it with on my Windows Dev machine (WSL2 FTW) and use old laptops as external displays. It works well even on WiFI.
PickledJesus
Thanks, I just got SpaceDesk working on a cheap Amazon tablet over USB-C (after realising I had to set PTP mode on the tablet...) Should work really nicely as a second monitor when travelling, I have it on 60fps and high settings and the latency is barely perceptible.
duffyjp
I was excited seeing iOS 9.3+ on their requirements listing, but after digging my useless but 100% functional iPad 2 out of storage it won't install the app. :(
I do use the built-in iPad as a second screen thing in MacOS with a still supported iPad on occasion and that works quite well.
CYR1X
Would be better if the LVDS ribbon cable connectors for all of these devices was more standardized, and you could just buy an adapter to HDMI/Display Port. These actually exist but AFAIK there isn't just one LVDS ribbon cable standard or even close to one.
undefined
mixmastamyk
Unfortunately, I find systemctl hard to type. If you start/stop services somewhat frequently, I recommend this alias:
alias sc='sudo systemctl'
I have these others also when doing service development, because many of the subcommands start with 'st*' and also having to change the second parameter each time is annoying. These work in fish, but are easily ported:
function sce --description 'systemctl stop # end'
sc stop $argv;
end
function sci --description 'systemctl status # info'
sc status $argv;
end
function scs --description 'systemctl start # start'
sc start $argv;
endsfink
I agree, though I find journalctl to be even worse to type.
sakopov
On a similar note, you can use your old phone as a Streamdeck alternative using TouchPortal [1]. It's not free, but it won't cost you much and it works surprisingly well.
cgriswald
This seems to be a free, open source software that does something similar: https://stream-pi.com/
According to the video I'm currently listening to, it only has a Linux client currently, but has Windows and Linux hosts.
Edit: I've played with this a bit with a surface pro running Linux as a client and Windows as host and the thing holding it back at this moment is lack of plugins. I use Stream Deck to manage my gaming sessions (Steam, Discord, Voicemod soundboard and voices, occassionally OBS, game launches, etc.) and as-is for my purposes this can really only manage OBS and things that have configured hotkeys.
boredemployee
Thats a cool idea, I have a Fire tablet (and a Kindle) that I still don't know why I bought it.
cracauer
Tablets should have a HDMI/Displayport in so that you can directly use them as displays.
zackmorris
I'd even go one step further: we should have had a standard communications protocol like TCP for all devices. So a display would show up as just another device that we could use to read/write bytes. All devices would have a standard queryable HTTP/HATEOAS self-documenting interface. And HDMI/DisplayPort or USB A/B/C/.../Z would all use the same protocol as gigabit ethernet or Thunderbolt or anything else, so the bandwidth would determine maximum frame rate at an arbitrary resolution. We could query a device's interface metadata and get/send an array of bytes to a display or a printer or a storage device, the only difference would be the header's front matter. And we could download image and video files directly from cameras and scanners as if they were a folder of documents on a web server, no vendor drivers needed.
There was never a technical reason why we couldn't have this. Mostly Microsoft and Apple blocked this sort of generalization at every turn. And web standards fell to design-by-committee so there was never any hope of unifying these things.
Is it a conspiracy theory when we live under these unfortunate eventualities? I don't know, but I see it everywhere. Nearly every device in existence irks the engineer in me. Smartphones and tablets are just the ultimate expression of commodified proprietary consumerist thinking.
takluyver
In fairness, there are standardised protocols for a lot of these things already, even if they're not all part of one giant meta-protocol. Cameras in particular have mostly appeared as a folder full of files, with no need for special drivers, for something like 20 years.
There's definitely no need to invoke a conspiracy for the lack of 'one protocol to rule them all'. It's often hard agreeing on a standard even for a relatively limited topic - trying to agree on one for all electronic communications for all devices is probably impossible.
lexlash
The meta protocol exists! Sort of. Check out the USB-C specs, which tried to answer a ton of this. It’s taken years for power delivery to reach the point where I don’t feel compelled to carry a USB-C power meter to check cables and chargers in the wild. My Switch still requires some out of spec signaling to charge/dock properly.
Meanwhile, half of the stuff I get off AliExpress only charges from A to C cables due to a missing resistor.
I don’t think the markets (yet) incentivize implementations. Like how when my mortgage gets resold, autopay will only transfer over if it’s once a month; anything more complex and I have to endure a new account setup and a ton of phone trees. Same with paperless settings. The result? I just live with the MVP.
marwis
> There was never a technical reason why we couldn't have this. Mostly Microsoft and Apple blocked this sort of generalization at every turn.
On the contrary, Microsoft tried really hard with UPnP/PnP-X/DPWS/Rally/Miracast*/etc but nobody was interested.
*BTW any Windows 10+ device can act as a Miracast sink (screen) so you can link Windows laptops/tablets as extra screens without any additional software.
lexlash
Extending your simile, some devices need the equivalent of UDP in order to function within the size/power envelopes that make them useful. Bluetooth vs the nRF24L01+.
There are standards like this in highly interoperable systems, but there’s a cost paid. USB-C power delivery negotiation (beyond the very basic 5V3A resistor that people omit) is roughly as complicated as gigabit ethernet. That compute has to come from somewhere and it turns out customers won’t even pay for that 5V3A resistor - they’ll just use A to C cables and replace it when it “won’t charge” from a compliant charger. :) Average person probably only cares that USB-C can be flipped and that the connector feels less brittle than microUSB.
UPnP exists. Lots of what you describe exists. Between bugs in implementations becoming canon and a lack of consumer interest, no real conspiracy required. At least smartphones and tablets are trending in a good direction - Apple’s latest supports basic off the shelf USB-C Ethernet, displays, hubs, and so on.
mixmastamyk
Agreed in general. However, I wouldn't stop anyone but having my monitor traffic go over the network would lead to a lot of congestion, especially wireless. Prefer a separate cable as the grandparent alluded.
mcpherrinm
You can plug a USB HDMI capture dongle into tablets and do this.
Any webcam viewer would probably work to view it, though there's dedicated apps intended for this like https://orion.tube/ on iPad. I know there's options on Android but don't have a modern android tablet to test them.
radicality
Do you know how come that app doesn’t work on the IPhone 15 Pro?
I don’t have the iPad, but just recently got the 15 Pro, and it’s able to do a bunch of things via the usbc port (wired Ethernet, SD card reading, driving a Pro Display XDR etc), but I wasn’t able to do something like that Orion app is showing.
Was thinking of pretty much same use case as shown in the app, where I could plug in an external camera and use the phone as a high resolution / high-nit viewer display. Are these apis only for iPadOS because the iPhones are missing some required hardware for it?
Gosper
I know, I'd love to use my phone as a display via capture card so I don't have to carry a portable monitor to troubleshoot headless boxes.
The developer says the 15 and 15 Pro are only missing software, the hardware is capable:
> I’m sad to say that we’ve confirmed with Apple that it will not be working with the iPhone 15. But this can be fixed in software, so feel free to file a feedback request for UVC support on iOS!
https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/16qzdtx/hi_reddit_we...
citiguy
I've used Duet for this in the past. Works great by allowing me to extend my laptop screen with my ipad screen. https://www.duetdisplay.com/
thanatos519
Good idea. I did this with bash and awk and xev and xdotool instead of a custom program.
You can always use screen's cut-and-paste for stuff within screen, and screen's copy buffer and xclipboard for the rest.
seltzered_
Worth mentioning this discussion that honed on latency specific when using Linux (Wayland) as a host os : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31409010 -> https://tuxphones.com/howto-linux-as-second-wireless-display... (2022)
FrustratedPers
Tried doing this for years, only got more and more frustrated with whatever wacky software I had to install to make this work.
Get the top HN stories in your inbox every day.
but only for terminal and curses apps