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Developing from an iPad

slooker on August 22, 2017

When the iPad Pro came out, I was skeptical about it being useful for a developer for much, but I decided to splurge for one when I found out about...
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tbodt

I'm working on an app that would give you a Linux shell that runs directly on your device, so you can do this sort of thing but without a DigitalOcean server or an internet connection. How useful does that sound?

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slooker

I'd definitely be interested in trying it out! I'm mostly curious how powerful such a shell would be on a tablet.

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tbodt

At the moment it's pretty far away from actually running on an iOS device, but I'll keep you posted.

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andym

Another interesting take on this is Giving the iPad a full time job which inspired me to try an iPad for real work.

Once you connect a Smart Keyboard cover to your iPad it just feels much more useful.

I can recommend Working Copy as a surprisingly powerful git client for iOS.

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slooker

Giving the iPad a full time job is a great article, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. Working Copy I enjoyed as a git client, but when it came down to it, for me, I really preferred command line.

But I'm a command line type of guy. :D

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Jim Brayton

This is great, thank you! I'd be curious to see what it looks like switching back and forth to Safari. Do you need to touch the screen for that?

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slooker

Sorry, I probably should have mentioned I'm using the keyboard smart cover! If you're using the keyboard smart cover, you can use command-tab to switch windows, same as if you were doing it on a macbook.

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Oliver Cole

That works with other Bluetooth keyboards as well.

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slooker

It does, I just meant I had a keyboard is all. :D

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Wissam A

Great article, thanks for sharing!

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Juan Manuel • Edited

If you like GNU Screen, I'd recommend trying Byobu. It's more or less the same, uses an underlying screen or tmux, but I find it neater and easier to configure.

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slooker

Nice! I'll take a look. Thanks for the info!