I don’t use iOS. But I have used Android, and what I found that a larger irritation for me than the client – I use ConnectBot, and do local Linux stuff in Termux – is the on-screen keyboard. While there are various people who have taken a stab at the situation, the basic problem is that nearly all Android users are using on-screen keyboards for stuff like sending SMSes to their friends. Maybe the more verbose are doing things like posting text to the Threadiverse. Few of them need things like some of the more-exotic keys – control, alt, modifier keys, etc.
Even on onscreen keyboards that have support, if you want to hit something like “control alt shift 5” in emacs on a remote Linux machine, it’s just awkward on many onscreen keyboards, need to toggle between multiple keyboard layouts just to hit that combination. Then you’ve got things like brackets and pipes and curly braces and such that are used by shell environments. Yes, it’s…usable in a pinch, but it’s an irritation if you’re going to be doing much in the environment.
And even if you’re just mostly sticking with alphanumerics, it’s still a bit exasperating to use an onscreen keyboard to operate a primarily-text-based environment.
A tablet like yours might actually have the space for a larger onscreen keyboard, but IME, keyboards tend to be designed for the more-commonly-used phones than tablets.
If you are willing to carry one and don’t presently have one, and you expect this to be the primary route to use the Linux machine, use it via the terminal, I’d consider getting a physical Bluetooth keyboard with at least all of the keys that a “60%” keyboard has, and preferably more like a “TKL”/“tenkeyless” keyboard.
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I don’t use iOS. But I have used Android, and what I found that a larger irritation for me than the client – I use ConnectBot, and do local Linux stuff in Termux – is the on-screen keyboard. While there are various people who have taken a stab at the situation, the basic problem is that nearly all Android users are using on-screen keyboards for stuff like sending SMSes to their friends. Maybe the more verbose are doing things like posting text to the Threadiverse. Few of them need things like some of the more-exotic keys – control, alt, modifier keys, etc.
Even on onscreen keyboards that have support, if you want to hit something like “control alt shift 5” in emacs on a remote Linux machine, it’s just awkward on many onscreen keyboards, need to toggle between multiple keyboard layouts just to hit that combination. Then you’ve got things like brackets and pipes and curly braces and such that are used by shell environments. Yes, it’s…usable in a pinch, but it’s an irritation if you’re going to be doing much in the environment.
And even if you’re just mostly sticking with alphanumerics, it’s still a bit exasperating to use an onscreen keyboard to operate a primarily-text-based environment.
A tablet like yours might actually have the space for a larger onscreen keyboard, but IME, keyboards tend to be designed for the more-commonly-used phones than tablets.
If you are willing to carry one and don’t presently have one, and you expect this to be the primary route to use the Linux machine, use it via the terminal, I’d consider getting a physical Bluetooth keyboard with at least all of the keys that a “60%” keyboard has, and preferably more like a “TKL”/“tenkeyless” keyboard.
https://www.keyboard.university/100-courses/keyboard-sizes-layouts-gdeby
Just makes the experience a lot more pleasant.