Coding without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on Android

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

AR glasses as a laptop replacement

  • Many are excited by the “one device” life: phone + AR glasses + small keyboard as a truly portable dev setup.
  • Xreal/VITURE-style glasses are praised as comfortable “big floating screens” in bright environments where laptops struggle (sunlight, tight spaces, planes, small café bars).
  • Others report practical issues: heat shutdown in sunlight, annoying cable, flaky USB‑C / DP Alt‑mode compatibility, and dependence on proprietary adapters.

Display quality, FOV, and eye strain

  • Text readability is contentious. Some say 1080p per eye is fine for coding; others find it worse than Quest Pro, with blurry edges, halos, jitter, and too low FOV for serious work.
  • Large virtual screens force more head movement vs. a high‑PPD curved ultrawide monitor; some find ultrawide modes on Vision Pro/Xreal uncomfortable.
  • Several mention headaches and eye strain, tying this to vergence–accommodation conflict and fixed focal planes; others argue that for “flat distant screen” use, it’s manageable.

Linux on Android and platform limits

  • Thread dives deep into options: Termux, proot, chroot with native arm64, full VMs (UTM on iOS), and now Android’s official Debian “Linux Terminal” via pKVM.
  • Non‑JIT VMs on iOS are widely described as “cool but unusable” for graphical workloads; CLI only is borderline acceptable.
  • New Android Debian VM is seen as a big step: native packages, potential GPU acceleration in future, and cleaner than rooting + chroot hacks.

Rooting, security, and ecosystem control

  • Root is seen as both empowering and risky (anti‑rollback bricking, loss of banking/NFC).
  • Some defend restrictions as necessary against malware; others see Google/Apple as prioritizing lock‑in and store control over user ownership.

Keyboards, input, and café etiquette

  • Huge subthread on portable input: foldables, ultra‑compact custom mechanicals, wearable/torsomounted boards, mouse‑via‑keyboard, and using the phone as trackpad.
  • Tradeoff between truly pocketable designs, lap usability, and noise in public spaces; quiet low‑profile mechanical switches are proposed as a sweet spot.
  • Several argue that input, not display, is now the main unsolved UX problem for nomadic computing.

Work environment, ergonomics, and accessibility

  • People split on working outdoors: some find parks/cafés focusing and mood‑boosting; others prefer controlled, windowless rooms for comfort and concentration.
  • AR glasses are discussed as potential game‑changers for low‑vision users who must sit inches from a monitor, but current devices’ focal distances (≈1–3 m), limited prescriptions, and blur make benefits unclear. Many practical alternatives (long‑reach monitor arms, large TVs, wall‑mounts) are suggested.