Ask Slashdot: Scripting-Friendly Smartphones? 197
An anonymous reader writes "I am choosing a smartphone for work, moving up from a long history of just-a-phone phones. This coincides with moving into an environment where I will have a desktop machine in my office, rather using my laptop — so I'll VPN in from home, and am looking forward to not trucking my laptop around everywhere. BUT ... this means I now won't have my laptop all the time. I have gotten used to scripting various little things that make my life easier, and would like to carry that over to the phone. For example, periodically check that a certain machine is online and backing things up the way it is supposed to; if the lab monitoring system sends me an email that the -80 freezer is up to -50, play a sound and run the vibrate system in a specific, arbitrarily chosen pattern; when I press this button, record an MP3, when I release it prep an email with it attached, that sort of thing. Does such a beast exist? Has anyone used one and if so what do you think? Bonus points if you know if I can use it with Rogers (Canadian wireless provider used by my workplace)." I've heard good things about (but never used) the payware Android app called Tasker; what other recommendations do you have for running the world from a smartphone?
Another server + SMS + Tasker (Score:4, Interesting)
My suggestion is Tasker, but unless there's a mail parser plugin I haven't come across (or unless you write one), it won't take actions based on the content of e-mail messages. It will, however, react to SMS message content. So one way to handle your custom notifications is to write a script that runs on another always-on, always-connected machine. Have it receive and parse the e-mails and when one of them meets your criteria, have it send you a text message with relevant content, then have Tasker do whatever is appropriate when that message arrives.
To make sure your script-running server is up, use something like Ping HostMonitor. You can also use that to monitor the status of any Internet-accessible hosts.
The biggest downside of this approach is that it relies on SMS to reliably notify you. You might also want to have Tasker send an e-mail acknowledgement when you get the SMS, and have your script keep re-sending the texts periodically until it receives the ACK.
Analyze elsewhere and send texts (Score:5, Interesting)
I've done similar things, where I want my phone to tell me if some external activity has happened or has changed beyond certain parameters.
I do the analysis elsewhere, such as on that desktop PC, and the alert consists of sending a text message to the phone (or multiple phone numbers). Google for the how, it's a common practice and easy (and free) to do. Depends on the carrier, altho some sites claim to figure that out for you, but I just figure each one out and avoid them. this does mean that if a phone number changes carrier, I have to change the script, but since so far I have only sent texts to my own phone, it's no biggie. Just have one central script to send the actual alert.
Against the flow (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:An inherent limitation of the form factor? (Score:5, Interesting)
My brother uses a Milestone 2, and now and then he get himself doing some server administration over SSH while commuting on public transportation.
Of course it sucks, but it sucks less than trying to use a Pad or Notebook on that shitty bus seats. :-)
IFTTT is your friend. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd recommend a two-pronged approach, if you're looking for something user friendly and not requiring building an intermediate server.
First, check out the unbridled awesomeness that is If This Then That: http://ifttt.com/ [ifttt.com] It allows you to create simple (or complex) triggers based on all manner of inputs with all manner of outputs. Email, SMS, Social Networking, etc. I use it with a "private"(read: used only for this, and nothing actually private is tweeted) twitter account to pass data about. I originally used SMS, but I moved to twitter later as it's remarkably convenient and can be adapted easily to a number of different devices, whereas SMS is limited to phones (for the most part).
Then, on your sexy Android phone - I'm using a Note, personally, it's the closest I can get to a tablet but still be able to comfortably put it in a pocket - use Tasker to intercept and act.
Really, though, the first thing I'd do in your shoes is seriously investigate IFTTT. It's very easy to use and flat out awesome.
Re:Android Scriptin (Score:2, Interesting)
While sl4a can do some things you can't do otherwise, don't forget it is an alpha quality software -- that is, it is quite unreliable. It crashes often, it uses archaic APIs, runs slowly and uses megatons of memory.
This is also true of Tasker -- while versatile, it is a resource and battery hog. There is a trial version on the website, so you should get it and give it a try. Maybe it isn't useful enough for you.
There is also a cheaper Takser - AutomateIt (nagware) and Automateit Pro. This overlaps somewhat with Tasker, but can do some things tasker can't. It is, however, more lightweight that Tasker and does not crash my phone so often.
Finally, you can use shell for some things, but it isn't very useful. Android Terminal is a must.
Overall, prepare for a lot of frustration -- nothing works reliably or well. Still, better with them than without.
My solutions: (Score:3, Interesting)
I suggest:
Prowl: For push notifications. It's free and you will find the perl script handy. There are some powershell ones floating around somewhere too. http://www.prowlapp.com/ [prowlapp.com]
Prompt: CLI. If you jailbreak (highly recommended) you can ssh to localhost, it's better than any Terminal app in cydia. http://itun.es/i624Jj [itun.es]
There are others but I never use them. My coworker and i opted for a home brewed app that handled a lot of our needs by phone in the event we had to be called about something off-hours.
Re:An inherent limitation of the form factor? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not an inherent limitation of the device.
It's that the keyboards almost universally are horrible for it, because they are designed for things like natural speaking. Their processing of symbols is subpar.
The same is true of most small bluetooth keyboards, or built in keyboards. Frankly, my Zaurus SL-5500 from 2003 has a better keyboard on a mobile than almost anything that's come since. (And in fact, the only things I can think of that rival it that I have encountered, are also Zaurus devices.)
I have found one that I don't think sucks so far, it's "hacker's keyboard" on android. (Most important things it has that seemingly every other keyboard lacks are tab and arrow keys... easily accessible. It has some limitations though, and you'll almost certainly want to enable portrait 5-line keyboard) Though I usually use it more with my table as opposed to with my phone, though it does work there just fine, I use the phone more for email/texting/etc, so having a keyboard (swype) which is better for those things as default means the other isn't used as much.
Re:An inherent limitation of the form factor? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe you missed the part where they said "looking forward to not trucking my laptop around everywhere"
A cell phone fits in the pocket. A tablet does not. He'd just be lugging around something lighter. I believe his goal is to not be lugging anything extra around.
Re:An inherent limitation of the form factor? (Score:2, Interesting)
I didn't miss it, I just think it's an idiotic suggestion when an ultraportable laptop or tablet fit in just about any bag you could possibly be carrying around, let alone trunk or glove box space in a car.
We're talking about being on call for work here... there's no reason he can't leave the device in the car and fetch it if he needs access to it. When you're talking about carrying an extra device that's virtually unnoticeable in your bag, why would you want to force yourself to use a device that's the wrong tool for the job?
The person asking the question either didn't do any research at all (seriously, how can you not know that SSH and VNC clients exist for every smart phone platform out there without needing to root the device), or he's planning on doing something more complex than SSH'ing into a system and executing something that's already set up to go. Either way, he's going about it wrong. I mean, if he had some special requirement that's not generally available, like being able to use NX Client on his cell phone (last I checked, there's no NX client on Android because it relies on X, which Android doesn't have), maybe I could see the point in asking on Slashdot, but there's nothing in the question asked that requires any special voodoo at all. Just get a phone with a decent slider keyboard and a hi res screen and be done with it. (and even that's mitigated if you get one of the *many* after-market keyboards that're available in the app marketplace for your respective device).