Re: A mobile clocking solution?

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2021-11-26, at 22:16, Samuel Banya <sbanya@fastmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Marcin,
>
> There are a few options that exist, so I'm going to drop a few ideas in this 
> email.
>
> *"Buy A Rooted Phone" Option:*
> Why not just get a rooted Android phone with Replicant on it from eBay in the 
> first place?
>
> Then, you can use Termux to ssh into a local or cloud VPS file server where 
> you're hosting your .org files. Most people even use Dropbox (or SyncThing, 
> whatever floats your boat).
>
> Worst case scenario, you can maybe just run a terminal version of Emacs on 
> the rooted Android phone (or even your current non-rooted phone), and clock 
> in like that.

Well, doesn't that have the same security issue I mentioned?

> If you're on iOS though... well... maybe its time to get out of the walled 
> garden?

Of course not.

> *"Just Use A Laptop" Option:*
> I'd say maybe just get a laptop, put some decent Linux distro on it, and use 
> Emacs on that instead.

Out of question.  I need this exactly for the times when I cannot use my laptop.

> Worst case scenario, you can maybe just run a terminal version of Emacs on 
> the rooted Android phone, and clock in like that.
>
> *Bash Script Approach:*
> The only other thing I could think of is to do this via an easy Bash prompt 
> to find the same files on the ssh machine. This might be preposterous to 
> those on the list that might want to use Elisp for everything, but maybe its 
> on a device where a Linux Bash terminal just is present by default.

That /could/ be a solution.

> *"Just Log The Time Later" Approach:*
> You could always even just make org capture templates to estimate time later 
> too.

And I think this is the way to go.  Probably also use/write some very
simple time tracking app on the phone.

> *Summed Up:*
> The most sane approach in my opinion, is just use a computer that can 
> normally just use Emacs as-is. 
>
> Then again, this is coming from someone who respects the "Getting Things 
> Done" method a ton, but doesn't clock in every single personal task, because 
> I think its really unnecessary and tedious. I think this kind of clocking 
> ideas are better suited for work based todo lists if you're trying to get 
> things done for work or something.

I don't clock everything either, but there are some things that I do,
and that's why I want a reasonable mobile solution.

> I've seen the Android apps for Emacs Org Mode demo'd on YouTube, and it looks 
> clunky. Its nice for what it is, but yeah, I think Emacs overall is just 
> better suited for a laptop or desktop computer since you really need to just 
> use a keyboard to pull off most of the magic.

Of course.  I don't need Org editing etc. (well, maybe capture), just
the clocking.  That seems easy enough on mobile (UI-wise)..

> Good luck with this though,

Thanks!

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl