[LAU] OT: android for the linux user ...was: legacy equipment for a user who does not "program"

On 03/17/2014 10:44 AM, Simon Wise wrote: I use Connectbot, which is FOSS and offers port forwarding without an in-app purchase, and VNC to control my machines remotely over ssh tunnels. I haven't tried JuiceSSH, but as soon as I see in-app purchases I get concerned about an app. I also have an SSH server installed. I used to use sshdroid, but at some point they got overzealous about detecting ad blockers (any change to your hosts file is treated as an ad blocker and the service will fail to start) so I've switched to SSHelper, which is FOSS. However, my current phone (Galaxy S4 on Sprint) seems to only do IPv6 on the cell network, if there's an option to disable that I haven't been able to find it, and I can't get inbound connections to work with either. But for mounting stuff over sftp, it works reasonably well on wifi. Haven't tried XSDL yet because VNC (x11vnc on the machine being controlled) is so much faster than forwarding X clients in my experience, but I also haven't tried getting a debian chroot -- my old phone couldn't handle it, I only got my current phone a few months ago and haven't had time to root it yet or put on a different ROM, and I thought all the debian chroot methods required root. It is very frustrating that even ping requires root, and that devices we paid for require security exploits to even get root. The excuses even prominent Android bloggers give (can't damage your device if you don't have full control of it) are ridiculous, along the lines of advocating welded-shut car hoods just in case the user gets it in his head to open it up and put windshield washer fluid in the oil pan, though it wouldn't surprise me to hear that argument soon in the age of mandatory GPS tracker legislation. You can install bash without a full debian chroot, but it's still fairly limited without the other GNU software, and of course, you're still limited to doing whatever the phone allows you to. My phone is actually more powerful than the laptop I bought a month after I got it, so I've thought about Ubuntu for Android or something similar, something with a bit of effort put into making it usable without a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (I do have a keyboard case for my phone, but when I use VNC I always have to zoom in to operate menus and the like, and right- or middle-clicking is tedious) but the next thing I do will be to root it and possibly get a better ROM on there, if there is one without too much functionality missing. Android still strikes the best balance between functionality and freedom for me, but it's nowhere near as open as even Ubuntu, and Google has been making more and more pieces of it proprietary of late, letting the original FOSS components languish unchanged in the AOSP repositories. Rob