Atazhaia's iPad, part 2


  • Java Dev

    Continuing from Atazhaia gets an iPad it's time to try and get some more use out of my iPad.

    Now, Apple has really been liking to push the iPad as a laptop replacement, by comparing it to a proper laptop. I have a couple problems right now. I have a longer commute (45 minutes by bus), my old nice-sized laptop has a broken keyboard and is therefore shit for using for portable working and my work laptop is too big for comfortable usage on the bus. A nice way of using my commute would be if I could use it for working when needed, as that would be an extra 1.5 hours/day where I wouldn't have to be present at work or do work from home. Also, due to being in talks about buying a house, I don't really have the money to spend on a new good laptop right now.

    Now, I'm probably :doing_it_wrong: according to Apple, but I am going to use my standard iPad for doing work. As far as I can tell, Apple wants me to use the iPad Pro, as that's the one being pushed as a laptop replacement. But one of those starts at about ~€900 for the cheapest model with 4G, as well as having to add another €180 for the Smart Keyboard. Fuck that shit, I could as well buy a MacBook for that price and get a proper desktop OS. So, normal iPad it is, along with the €40 Logitech Bluetooth keyboard I got as a replacement keyboard for my old laptop. Just need to get a Smart Cover, for the combined screen protection and stand functionality. So, this evening I will spend on getting it all set up and working. And replace the default nausea-inducing background, unless it will run the same screen effect on any background. And then it's just to put Apple's claims to the test (as well as trying to use a tablet for work in general).


  • Dupa

    @atazhaia I hear Visual Studio works great on the new iPad.


  • Java Dev

    @kt_ Don't you mean Xcode? 🚎

    Although Apple thinks coding on the iPad works perfectly! Judging by the Swift tutorials being an iPad-exclusive app. And they were not at all a chore to use once I got to the more advanced bits where I finally dug out the bluetooth keyboard to use for those lessons.

    But yeah, I wont use the iPad to do coding. But I do write a lot of documents, which it should be able to handle fine as long as I got a keyboard connected.


  • area_deu

    @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    And replace the default nausea-inducing background, unless it will run the same screen effect on any background.

    It will, if you leave the option activated ;). IIRC the option is somewhere in the Accessibility settings, "Reduce Motion" or something like that. It doesn't depend on the actual image you set.


  • Java Dev

    @akko Yeah, I was suspecting that. I'm not too impressed by motion sensor triggered backgrounds tbh. I understand the effect they're going for, but it's not for me.

    I wonder if there is a way to get the effect I had on my Nexus 7, where I set a large background image and it would do a parallax scrolling effect when I switched "pages" on the home screen.


  • area_can

    @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    I wonder if there is a way to get the effect I had on my Nexus 7

    Should be coming in iOS 12 🚎

    From my experience, the iPad is nice as long as you don't want to share the files on it (without uploading everything to someone else's computers).


  • area_deu

    @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    I'm not too impressed by motion sensor triggered backgrounds tbh. I understand the effect they're going for, but it's not for me.

    Neither am I. I left it on, but I wouldn't miss it.

    @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    I wonder if there is a way to get the effect I had on my Nexus 7, where I set a large background image and it would do a parallax scrolling effect when I switched "pages" on the home screen.

    That would be nice. I had that on my last Android phone too, and found it quite nice.

    @bb36e said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    as long as you don't want to share the files on it

    Meh depends on your usage scenarios I guess. For me, the documents I use on my iPad are almost all between Email attachments, Dropbox and OneDrive, and those can share files on the ipad quite easily.


  • Dupa

    @atazhaia I hear OpenOffice works well on iPad.


  • Java Dev

    @bb36e said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    the iPad is nice as long as you don't want to share the files on it

    Well, as my job uses Google Drive for putting work documents on I should be able to just download the appropriate Google apps and edit them directly on Google Drive. If not I suppose I'll have to resort to the Apple office "suite" and iCloud or Microsoft Office with OneDrive, if I can get the mobile apps to recognize the work license I apparently got.


  • BINNED

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Visual Studio

    Did you try Visual Basic for Supercomputers?


  • Dupa

    @luhmann said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Visual Studio

    Did you try Visual Basic for Supercomputers?

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.


  • kills Dumbledore

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature


  • BINNED

    @kt_
    So it is booted just as the Nescafe is ready?


  • Dupa

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.



  • @kt_ Microsoft should officially port Windows to the iPad. Seriously, it's doable, and imagine how pissed Apple would be.


  • Dupa

    @anonymous234 said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ Microsoft should officially port Windows to the iPad. Seriously, it's doable, and imagine how pissed Apple would be.

    I bet that would also break like thousands of EULAs and licenses and stuff. But I hear when being sued for doing something that costed a lot and you’re sure you won’t be able to make any money on that, then reading the court documents works really well on the new iPad!


  • Dupa

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔


  • area_deu

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP


  • kills Dumbledore

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Now I hate you XP

    Hey now. I know he's an iDiot, but he's no Windows XP


  • Dupa

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Then again, since you’re a @boomzilla’s sock puppet…



  • @kt_ Hey, more jobs for the poor starving lawyers 🤷.


  • area_deu

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Then again, since you’re a @boomzilla’s sock puppet…

    Hey forcing me to do something is quite the achievement ;).

    Talking about achievements, I feel like I should get one. Haven't been accused of being a sock puppet before XD


  • Dupa

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Then again, since you’re a @boomzilla’s sock puppet…

    Hey forcing me to do something is quite the achievement ;).

    Talking about achievements, I feel like I should get one. Haven't been accused of being a sock puppet before XD

    I bet you have, you just didn’t know you were. Plus, it’s quite obvious. You’re saying it’s you that downvoted my post, but it’s clear as a day, when you look at the list of the downvoters, that it was in fact @boomzilla.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Oh, we hate you XP, too.


  • Dupa

    @boomzilla said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Oh, we hate you XP, too.

    Me XP is honored, sire.


  • area_deu

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @akko said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @jaloopa said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    Nah, but I hear Windows works really well on he new iPad.

    Please tell me that's what they've called the multi window feature

    I hear the Doors sound really cool on the new iPad. You can get the Beatles get stuck in the doors. I know these are just small little kinks of mine, but I really like to know Who (the) fuck gets stuck in my Doors. Is it the Trashmen? Is it just a bunch of BeeGeesus Monkees? Is it the clash between The Beach Boys and the zombies? Dunno. But I hear you can find that our really nifty on the new iPad.

    Huh? I got downvoted for this? I mean, this isn’t a good joke, sure, but such open hate?

    That’s interesting 🤔

    Hate? Nah, I just didn't find it funny and was too lazy to write something. Now you made me write something. Now I hate you XP

    Yeah! I forced you to do something. I mean, considering this is WTDWTF, I did an amazing thing. If only it worked on the mods…

    Then again, since you’re a @boomzilla’s sock puppet…

    Hey forcing me to do something is quite the achievement ;).

    Talking about achievements, I feel like I should get one. Haven't been accused of being a sock puppet before XD

    I bet you have, you just didn’t know you were. Plus, it’s quite obvious. You’re saying it’s you that downvoted my post, but it’s clear as a day, when you look at the list of the downvoters, that it was in fact @boomzilla.

    Ah yes, the famous "list of downvoters". How could I forget that. Hat off to you, for foiling my fiendish plot.



  • @kt_ said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @anonymous234 said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @kt_ Microsoft should officially port Windows to the iPad. Seriously, it's doable, and imagine how pissed Apple would be.

    I bet that would also break like thousands of EULAs and licenses and stuff.

    Looking through the iOS 11 EULA just now, I don’t think it would. There’s nothing in there (that I could find on a quick browse-through) that says you can’t un-install it and/or put something else on the device.

    But I doubt a Windows port to iPad would sell well. Sure, there are people who buy an iMac or MacBook and then install Windows on it as the sole OS, but those are rather a minority — and that’s on a computer on which it’s easy to put a new OS, not a device on which you’d likely have to go to a fair amount of trouble to even get the Windows installer onto it.


  • Java Dev

    @gurth Yeah, Even installing a different OS on an Android device with explicit support for it (Nexus and similar) takes a bit of tinkering and magic incantations in the terminal to complete the process. On a device that actively is preventing any custom mods I'd say the barrier is a lot higher. While I'm sure an "easy installer" could be made for either Android or iOS devices, I think it'd be a higher chance of seeing a Windows port for non-Apple devices if that would happen.


  • Java Dev

    Today I set out to test the setup, and it did work surprisingly well! I could finish up the documentation for today before arriving at work and give it some nice styling to the extent that the Google Documents app allowed, just needing a minor touchup before sending it out. I also could listen to the appropriately-titled album "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" by the pillows on Apple Music while working. I even think my combination of iPad with Smart Cover and wireless bluetooth keyboard worked better than an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard would have, considering the trays in the bus were not big and only have enough space for the standing iPad itself.

    Poor Apple. The "cheap" simple model seems to be turning out to be working better for my professional work than the intended setup with the Pro would have. :doing_it_wrong: 1 - 0



  • @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    @gurth Yeah, Even installing a different OS on an Android device with explicit support for it (Nexus and similar) takes a bit of tinkering and magic incantations in the terminal to complete the process. On a device that actively is preventing any custom mods I'd say the barrier is a lot higher. While I'm sure an "easy installer" could be made for either Android or iOS devices, I think it'd be a higher chance of seeing a Windows port for non-Apple devices if that would happen.

    Actually, since the iPad usually has only one or two models (+/- storage space and cellular connection) per generation, it might be easier to create an easy installer for it than doing so for any of the 987928739587610 Android devices released every minute.


  • Java Dev

    @hungrier Hm. Depends. I would guess the Apple devices would be harder to break into, but as they're fewer and kinda samey a generic installer would be easier to get to work with all devices. But it would be easier to make an Android installer to work with some devices, although getting it to work with all of them would be more of an effort.



  • @atazhaia said in Atazhaia's iPad, part 2:

    But it would be easier to make an Android installer to work with some devices, although getting it to work with all of them would be more of an effort.

    It may even be difficult getting things to work on the same device. For example, this recent story about rooting the Note 8 without tripping KNOX that only works on some models of the Note 8, because they have at least two versions that use completely different chipsets (Snapdragon and Exynos). And this is one of the flagship models from the biggest Android manufacturer.


  • Java Dev

    @hungrier Yeah, but Samsung also thinks they're Apple and need to prevent people to replace their broken version of Android with something better.


  • Java Dev

    I have today discovered more amazing iOS features. So, I was wondering about the weird ordering of my apps until I noticed something peculiar and it dawned on me.

    Now, I have been annoyed at iOS ordering apps in chronological order because I prefer alphabetical. Makes it easier to find. Although it seems Apple also figured that, so they changed it in iOS 11 to automatically order apps alphabetically. Only that didn’t extend to apps installed before 11.0, so they were listed chronologically but apps installed after got ordered alphabetically. So I wondered if there was a way and turned to the manual for answers. Lo and behold, the settings have an option to reset the homescreen! Let’s try that out.

    And my homescreen got all ordered! Almost. The preinstalled apps always comes first. Those are 20 apps. One screen can hold 20 apps. You’d think Apple would stick all those apps on the first screen, right? Nope! 15 on the first screen, 5 on the second. Well, I can just move those over to the first screen manually, right? Because I can live with them being special snowflakes and the rest being automaticlly sorted. Well... Because I have moved apps manually it means the current set of apps are now considered manually positioned and are therefore exempt from automatic ordering. So any new apps will be placed after them because the current ones are locked in.

    Several headdesks later I, once again, conclude that Apple designers are utter morons and wonder how difficult there would be to just have one option in the settings to keep the homescreen always automatically sorted by whatever parameter. Like alphabetically. They have it implemented, so why can’t it just work in a sane way! Gah!

    I, in the way of typing this post, also found a bunch of keyboard-related WTFs. Because why not? May as well. So, because I knew I would type a wall of text, got my bluetooth keyboard out. Now, for some reason the keyboard was using english layout rather than swedish. So after some back and forth and changing around I discovered that the layout used for the physical keyboard will be whatever layout the on-screen keyboard is currently set to. Now, in what fucking universe does that make any kind of sense? The settings even have a special section for physical keyboard which has no way of setting what layout the currently connected physical keyboard has and neither has the bluetooth menu.

    So, if I want to type english on my swedish keyboard I have to set the on-screen keyboard to swedish and also disable autocorrect or it will helpfully ”correct” everything I type. And I guess typing this post will also add a bunch of english words to my swedish dictionary. Yay.

    It does end up kinda amazing where a company manages to go so far in the ease-of-use direction that they end up causing the exact opposite. Thanks, Apple. Now, is the bar at this hotel still open? Because I could use something...


  • Java Dev

    @atazhaia Found an addendum to the keyboard fun. For Facebook Messenger, the keyboard language is set individually for each contact. Which is a nice feature I guess. Apply that to the physical keyboard issues and you know where it’s going. Yep, the physical keyboard layout used will change depending on what language the contact you’re talking to is set to. :facepalm:


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