[X2Go-User] X2 Go Client Android Project?

[Robert Dinse]

      I have an RDP client on my Android tablet and remote desktop server on
Linux machines, and with that I am able to see an X-display remotely, and I
can use the on-screen keyboard with it.  Taping on a field focuses input to
that field as if I had moved the mouse there and double clicked.

      I also have a VNC client like this but it is difficult with it to tap on
an input field and then you have to do something seperate to bring the keyboard
up but once you get it up you can type into a field.

      I have an X-server for android but haven't played with it much.

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On Mon, 20 Mar 2017, Stefan Baur wrote:

> Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 12:11:34 +0100
> From: Stefan Baur <X2Go-ML-1 at baur-itcs.de>
> To: x2go-user at lists.x2go.org
> Subject: Re: [X2Go-User] X2 Go Client Android Project?
> 
> Am 09.03.2017 um 12:01 schrieb Bernard Free:
>> Hello,
>> I have a question, is there a development planned for an X2go Android
>> client?
>>
>> thank you for your attention
>
> No, for several reasons.
> 1) Android's on-screen keyboard doesn't work with X for Android or
>   VNCclient for Android.
>   Also, an on-screen keyboard takes up valuable screen real estate on
>   the already smaller-than-usual Android screen.
> 2) Regular X applications aren't touch-aware: Buttons are too small to
>   properly hit them with a finger
>
> This means that you would have to use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard for
> your session - not exactly what you'd want to lug around along with your
> smartphone.
>
> Also, according to one of our developers, there's the following two
> extra reasons speaking against it:
>
> 3) Due to certain workarounds which would be required on Android, there
>   wouldn't really be a speed advantage compared to VNC.
>
> 4) There is at least one library that we couldn't ship - I'm not sure
>   if it was due to licensing issues (we're all GPL, which is also the
>   reason why there's no iOS version of X2GoClient - the Apple App
>   Store is incompatible with the GPL - the only way around it is a
>   dual license model, which only works if you hold copyright over the
>   entire code you upload - and we don't), or because it would require
>   rooting the device.
>
> That said, there is a way to run X2GoClient on Android, using a Debian
> Changeroot on a device that has a real hardware keyboard attached.
> You can watch a short demo video here, but it will also explain why you
> don't want to use this in production:
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h_kiY78Ks4>
>
> If you're looking for a more or less portable device that you can
> already run X2GoClient on, check out the Raspberry Pi 3 with the 7"
> touchscreen interface offered by the RPi foundation, and a small
> hardware keyboard, as shown in the bottom left of this picture:
> <http://wiki.x2go.org/lib/exe/detail.php/events:pdrm0031.jpg?id=events%3Astart>
> You could run such a contraption off of a USB power bank for a few
> hours. The advantages of that approach:
> - Everything works out of the box, binary packages available in Repo
> - Native X2Go speed
> - At least semi-portable
> - HDMI port remains unused by the 7" screen, so you can even hook it up
>  to a large flatscreen to demo stuff.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Stefan Baur
>
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