Hardware Workarounds

To mitigate the interface limitations of smartphones, users discuss hardware additions such as folding phones, external Bluetooth keyboards, and 'thin client' setups using old laptops or tablets. Some mention specific devices like the 'Clicks' keyboard case or using AR glasses, highlighting that while the phone provides the compute or connection, better peripherals are often needed for actual productivity.

Modern users are creatively transforming mobile devices into powerful workstations by treating them as thin clients connected to remote servers through terminal tools like SSH and tmux. These "workaround" setups often prioritize specialized hardware, such as e-ink displays for outdoor readability, folding Bluetooth keyboards for tactile feedback, and AR glasses to escape the physical confines of small screens. While some remain nostalgic for the integrated physical keyboards of legacy slider phones, others find success by repurposing old tablets or utilizing mini PCs as localized data hubs. This diverse hardware ecosystem reflects a shared ambition to achieve a "code anywhere" lifestyle, proving that with the right peripherals, even a smartphone can facilitate professional-grade productivity.

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Yeah thin clients [0] make a lot of sense with this kind of workflow. If you only really need text, living in the terminal and browser, it might make sense to use eink for eye comfiness and outdoor readability, something like this hack: https://maxogden.com/kindleberry-wireless . Or one of those eink android tablets.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client

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Has the refresh rate on eink devices reached like 30-60fps?

It definitely looks cool and I might give it a try, but I do love my dark mode and color syntax. My understanding is that color on eink is pretty limited. It also isn't worth it to me if I'm going to be spending $500+ on a "monitor". But I'd definitely love if things moved in that direction.

Honestly if Apple wasn't so insistent on making the iPad not a general purpose computer I'd use that as my thin client.

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They are still not great for high refresh rate, but I have a boox note air4C that can do fast-enough for video. It gets some ghosting (although it should be minimal for typing as you are fully changing from white to $color, backspaces might be a problem though). You will need a full refresh when scrolling but that is fast enough.

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> ... I encourage people to live in the terminal.

I've done this for decades. screen or tmux (although I still confuse the keybindings between the two).

When coding on the move (mostly when I had a long commute or was away from the office visit clients) I'd use the Linux console (Ctrl+Alt+F1-F6) rather than X.

Even in the office I had an old amber/green terminal that connected to my Linux desktop via a serial port.

Nowadays I have a 14" USB-C monitor (ASUS Zenscreen) that sits beneath my main monitors which runs a terminal full screen.

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Similar, except I use a 10 year old surface pro 3. But I have to have a mechanical keyboard, so it's not exactly portable, but I can work from anywhere

I have no interest in LLM, or vibe code. Even though I miss the capabilities of intellij, nvim can fill the roll in the terminal very nicely, except rust analyzer filling up storage fast,

I also have a spare mobile, which I use to wake the computer up. And I have a python script running on it, to shutdown the computer in case of power failure.

After initial hiccups it working pretty well, except cats turning off the router, well how many can use the excuse that I couldn't finish the work because cat controls your network. LoL

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If you've got a Mac in the mix, you should be aware that it can use an Apple TV as a monitor, so you can have a wireless extended desktop to anything that takes HDMI.

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My thoughts went into a different direction: "Maybe I should buy a small tablet so that I can read code properly without carrying a full laptop?"

(Sure, there might be small laptops of similar dimensions ... But as the name "laptop" suggests these are made for a different UX... and they require more effort to turn on/off)

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I have a mini PC hooked to screens in every room other than the bedroom and bathroom, and remote controls with built in air-mouse and keyboard (pepper jobs remotes). This way anyone can pick up a controller in any room and look something up on a shared communal screen as needed, which discourages use of private screens.

When I leave home for less than a day I pack no electronics of any kind and enjoy the peace in my own head to think about the next problems I want to solve in my universe.

I pay with cash exclusively in public so tap and pay is not an issue. If I ever need to be reachable for emergencies I can carry a pager but so far this has not been worth it.

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Maybe in the future we'll all have a "hub" in our homes that contains our data, but we'll shell out to the local datacenter for AI compute, while our actual interface will be a VR headset or tablet located with us, anywhere in the world.

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I tried this a while back with. NET and Blazor. With split screen I was able to add some code and preview live in the browser and build and 'install' a simple pwa.

Presumably with an external monitor and the desktop mode it would be better.

Code from tiny llms such as Gemma are a waste of time but it "worked". It was neat to generate a working app completely offline.

The main problem was that the VM crashed on my pixel fairly frequently. Might be better by now.

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I wrote C with a compiler running on my Palm Pilot well before smartphones existed yet

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Luckily I think in this day and age it’d be more viable and not as miserable as an experience - dare I say more accessible

You can connect an external keyboard to your phone and if you can swing getting a cheap IPS panel that displays text clearly enough, you’d have a working set up

Anyway, kudos to you, I love reading stories about determination

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Back 15-20 years ago we had many phones with keyboards. They had a purpose but Apple's profits made everyone envious and they started to copy what the leader was doing even thought for some users a keyboard make much more sense.

What make sense for all users would be a swap-able battery. Water-tightness is no longer and excuse with new phones likes foldables that aren't. Fun fact, Apple dumped the swap-able battery before the iPhone was waterproof.

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Huh, makes you wonder if it's actually doing it on his phone or if he has a keyboard and maybe dock and monitor he attaches it to. I suppose my original comment was too broad, there was a point not too long ago when everyone wanted to replace their laptop with their phone. Samsung even let you dual boot linux from your phone with DeX

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I use a bespoke hacker software keyboard (ctrl/meta/custom keys for GNU screen and emacs) and also bespoke SSH client (fork of the original irssiconnectbot) for years.

My phone is the original Pixel Fold. You would think I use it unfolded but the passport form factor lends itself to be almost as productive folded that I use it that way most of the time. Unfolded it's just a bit better experience (bigger keys / more display real estate/ more characters per line/ etc).

With that said I'm looking forward to the Click Communicator: https://clicks.tech/communicator

I've also been meaning to write about my setup and open sourcing my tools.

Oh. Writing clojure helps due to the terseness of the language. Not sure it would be a pleasant experience writing something like Java with the 80 character line limit I try to impose on myself

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We need to take this idea further. Instead of "remote first", I'm waiting for the first company that will bodly declare "you can do all your work on your phone".

I'm tired of lugging my laptop around. Let me work from the beach with my phone and ar glasses.

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"Even code at the club!" haha if you're coding at the club, just go home! but also, I really wish Sony still made their micro Vaio laptops (Sony Vaio P, for instance).

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That phone was taken 5 minutes before departure lol - a micro laptop sounds sweet!

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I have similar setup, one thing to add is map action button to a shortcut for dictate to clipboard since you can’t dictate directly into termius.

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Fixed IPv6 workstation, ssh (pre-shared key) and vim, 4G usb modem, a "big" screen, nice battery life, "code anywhere" on your workstation (the best would be a "backpack" modular system: a RISC-V board in its case slapped to a "big" DP/eDP screen on a stand, an usb dvorak [ortholinear|columnar] keyboard, a 4[5]G usb modem (using the USB modem standard) with a IPv6 enable mobile ISP sim card, and a rather good battery pack.

(I even use a webcam to capture what my monitor does display when I do remote coding of low level GFX oriented software! Actually my wayland compositor for linux and AMD GPUs)

BTW, IPv6 = ZERO NAT to setup, delicious.

"It's magic".

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Termux with a 10-keyless BT keyboard in bed was a comfy way to solve AOC problems considering it released at midnight in my timezone.

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I just use ConnectBot to ssh to my house. It runs tmux and vim well, especially with a little pocket-size folding bluetooth keyboard to go with it.

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I was coding a lot many years ago with a Nokia N900.

The loss of the physical keyboard ruined everything for me. I really need the sense of touch.

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Similarly I used to write Python on my Motorola Droid with the slide-out keyboard. But my touchscreen typing style these days relies heavily on auto-correct and trying to enter code is a real exercise in frustration.

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Not coding on a laptop is actually good advice?! My argument would be that you shouldn't be doing any work without plugging your laptop into a full size keyboard and mouse at least. And, ideally, at least one external display of some form (I recommend 2 or 3, but it depends on exact setup/total resolution/etc.). But it's your body, not mine.

Regarding terminals, how often does this requirement occur in practice? Assuming it does, you can probably use your laptop for it, in which case, see above.

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revived an ipad mini 2 (2013), rooted it and ssh-ed in and let claude handle the tailscale setup, terminal emulator selection, and prep work. perfect form factor and can test web apps via browser.

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