[Xastir] on Android

[Kurt]

 From: "Curt, WE7U" <curt.we7u at gmail.com>
 To: Xastir - APRS client software discussion <xastir at lists.xastir.org> 
 Sent: Monday, September 18, 2017 1:24 PM
 Subject: Re: [Xastir] on Android
   
On Tue, 12 Sep 2017, VA7OTC John Erskine wrote:

> On 2017-09-12 1136, Kurt wrote:
>> Ok,
>>    I can get the Android taskbar or whatever to come up by flicking my 
>> finger up on the lower border of the screen.  When I have the system 
>> running and I want to close the LXDE windows, exiting outdoes nothing.  The 
>> screen comes up I hit shut down and it doesn't close.  I pull up the 
>> "square" to minimize and kill it there.  I then go to the upper left 
>> Android pulldown and expose it and it showsXSDL running and I kill it there 
>> too.  GNU/Root I pull it up and hit return.  To get out of GNU/Root 
>> completely, one has to click on the X in the upper right of the GNU/Root 
>> upper taskboard to kill it.
> snips
>> Kurt KC9LDH-3
>
> This is all pretty amazing. I'm reading with interest as I recently picked up 
> an 8" LG G Pad III (has LTE/3G & GPS and two USB ports) with the idea of more 
> usable screen space than my Nexus 5x phone.
>
> I'm nowhere near being able to launch in to following this path, however the 
> reading of it is most interesting.
>
> What I can say is, seemingly many Android apps:
>
> don't have a Close function,
> just won't close,
> may still be running even if "closed".
> and so on.
>
> One argument I've read is that there is this skookum power/app management 
> capability in the OS - so, "it doesn't matter." Excuse me?
>
> However nothing of what you're describing there sounds elegant or functional.

I'm not sure that's the point; Or it may be for Kurt but not for me. I'm interested in the possibility of running it and want to document how in case others want to play. As to whether I would choose it over one of the three other Android APRS apps I have loaded on my phone: No, I probably wouldn't. It may be useful to me as an aid if/when I'm giing more talks on APRS or Xastir, but on my tablet in that case.

I'm actually not all that happy with any of the APRS apps I have on my phone. I may soon dump most of them and write my own. I have very specific operational characteristics that I want.


> When desperate I choose Settings (flick the main window down a couple of 
> times to expose the Cog Wheel on the or pull up All Apps on the phone, or 
> swipe to the main window on the tablet), view Apps and chose a Forced 
> Shutdown. Following bitter complaints and warnings I get more or less what I 
> desire.

I imagine I'll get better at starting/exiting the app, or may be able to automate it with Tasker if I play with it a lot more.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.     
Reason I like it is I can run the GNU/Root Debian on top of Android and I don't have to replace Android.  My Android stuff is always there and usable.  Personally, I like Xastir better than APRSDroid.  May just be me but I find A-Droid a kludge if trying to track rockets.  Jason might have other thoughts but for 'Doze stuff on a tablet, APRSISCE/32 gets me APRS and NMEA trackers. Xastir gets me APRS and NMEA trackers (NMEA with Jason's python script)
I have it working great with finger only control.  The back button calls up the onscreen keyboard, recents will call up recents and shrink XSDL if running and can kill from there or the left pull down from above.  I don't find it hard to do after messing with it for awhile.  The setup screen in XSDL takes some used to.  Tap the top and you can setup how the screen behaves while starting to open.  Tap the resolution screen while the 3....2....1 countdown is occurring and diddle with resolution and font size.  I have this working on the N7 2013 and 2012 versions.Still have troubles calling up the keyboard with the Blu Android phone.
The last task is trying to see if peripheral B/T devices can be found on the Debian side once pairing on the Android side.  If that is possible, that will be great.
Again, I don't want to replace Android with LInux as I have many Android apps I find helpful.  Running Debian on top of Android is very workable.
It certainly is much faster than a "Pocket Chip" running Jessie.  I have Xastir running there but that screen is so small and a small B/T keyboard and Rf hand mouse is mandatory. Takes forever to boot and I have to run Xastir as root to connect to peripherals.
Kurt