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Comment by imiric | Hacker News Reader

You're right, that ends up being the main workflow.

Though instead of connecting to a remote VM, I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi. As long as it has a NIC, with a USB-C adapter hooked to the iPad you can just use an Ethernet cable, and have an entirely local setup.

It defeats the purpose of carrying two devices around, but I find the iPad's screen and Folio keyboard to be very comfortable for long sessions, so this is my go-to setup for plane and train rides.

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> I've found it better to carry with me a small Linux device running an SSH server. This can even be a Raspberry Pi.

What a beautiful demonstration of the utter failure of both parts: The iPad is so useless that people end up carrying around an entire second computer just to remote into locally so they can run useful work. And the hardware ecosystem outside of Apple and parts of the software ecosystem on Linux are so bad that people are willing to carry around an entire separate device just to be the user interface to all that power.

Touché. But I don't see it as failure of either side; rather as using the strengths of both systems in unison.

The iPad(OS) is optimized for content consumption, is very portable, but has a restrictive environment that doesn't allow some of the low-level features required by _some_ professionals and hobbyists. While Linux is optimized for the latter, and though there are obviously good quality hardware and software that runs it, I like the iPad form factor.

Do I wish the iPad or Linux was more usable for my particular use case, so that I could just use one or the other? Sure. But I think that would satisfy a very niche intersection of users, so neither side has much incentive to build such a product. I'm more hopeful of a Linux tablet being good than Apple ever budging though. Some future iteration of the PineTab might be such a device. The JingPad also looks interesting.

You don't even need the ethernet cable. A single USB-C cable (assuming your Pi has a port) is sufficient.

A buddy of mine has a Pi velcro'd to the back of his iPad Pro and just ssh's in to/from the USB-C network ports. It's honestly pretty elegant, as long as you never look at the back of the iPad :p

Ah, neat! That's good to know, thanks.

Does your friend also have a Battery pack for the raspberry pi?

It’s powered over USB-C :)

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