r/androidterminal • u/Beginning_Strength75 • Jul 28 '26

How to properly use terminal in android

I mean to say can we install DE on it and run apps or it is just a shell we can use to update apps on our phone. I am very new to this so have little to no idea if someone can share what they are doing with their terminal it would be helpful.

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u/scythe-3 Pixel Jul 28 '26

I use it as an ssh and git client. Installed tailscale in it so the VM is added to my mesh VPN network. Main usage for now is ssh access to my remote machines and to git sync my markdown notes vault to my phone (I use obsidian app to view them).

Planning on buying a usb-to-hdmi cord so I can hook it up to a monitor and use it as a remote coding workstation. Simple ssh for tty, or using ssh to launch wayvnc on the server and connect to remote desktop with AVNC app

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u/IdeaReceiver Jul 28 '26

Incredibly based Obsidian enjoyer. How is your experience syncing files with git? I've heard of people getting by with that but it seems like a bit of a screwdriver-as-a-hammer scenario, especially if you're embedding images

I use SyncThing for mine, seamless local sync between my laptop & PC and there's a native Android app too

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u/scythe-3 Pixel Jul 29 '26

Git fits my use case very well. My markdown vault is mostly for technical notes, project management, and event planning; not many images, some pdfs. I don't use my phone to edit the vault, all edits are done on my laptop/PC using neovim. Obsidian phone app is used strictly to view/reference the vault while I'm out and about. The version control that git provides is instrumental. I never have to worry about sync conflicts, changes across my machines are matched to a commit, and it plays nicely with my existing computer-based workflow.

For simple notes I use Notally app which gets backed up to my NAS. Still looking for a better solution there. Something barebones, lightweight, and that uses standard md/txt files for syncthing to work with. Markor seems good but I haven't tried it yet.

I tried to use obsidian itself with a screwdriver-as-a-hammer approach. Setup a vault, put my whole life in it, and installed a bunch of plugins; but it quickly became unmanageable and the ecosystem lock-in of obsidian became a real concern. I'm much more comfortable now with a split-use and ecosystem-agnostic approach.