PLUG Meeting review, Jan 20

[ssfc72]

There was good attendance at last night's meeting with 9 people coming to hear Mike's talk on the Dex program on the Samsung S8 and S9 smart phone.

This program allows you to output the phone's display to HDMI ( with the use of an adapter or dock) to a large screen monitor or in Mike's demo, to a video projector.  The hdmi ouput using the Dex program gives you a full screen display, just like you would get from your hdmi from your computer.

Mike had a bit of a struggle initially in getting the projector to show the phone display but finally it was resolved and the full screen projector display from Mike's Samsung S9 was fantastic!

In hindsight, it was too bad we didn't think to promote/advertise Mike's demo of the Dex program in the Peterborough area, because I am sure there would have been lots of people interested in seeing the demo, if they had seen it posted somewhere.

On a different topic, Harry had a Linux question to ask of the group, about cloning a part of a Distro partiton to another hard drive. This particular Distro, was all customised the way Harry wanted and he didn't want to lose this Distro when he moved it to another hdd/ssd.   Besides using Clonzilla for cloning someone suggested to use Gparted and found a YouTube video of someone using Gparted for cloning.

Edit - thanks for the great demo, Mike!  As usual, you did a very nice presentation.

[fox]

Just an addition to Bill's post about gparted, here is an article with easy to follow instructions on how to clone a partition with this program. I'm really glad that Harry brought up this partition question because until last night, I had no idea that gparted could clone partitions. This looks like an easier solution than clonezilla, especially if you want to do this through a nice graphical interface.

[fox]

I have posted my notes here. They are not a how-to, but rather an overview of what DeX does and why someone with a DeX-enabled Samsung phone (S8-S10 or Note 8-10) or tablet (S4, S5e, S6) would want to use it. If you have setup questions, there are a number of YouTube videos that will walk you through it, including the type of connector that you need. As I showed when we hooked up Laurie's S8 phone, DeX is pretty automatic, as long as your phone (or tablet) is supported by Samsung for DeX operation.

DeX is supposed to work, not only on a display, but also on PC and Mac operating systems when you download the DeX application for these. I tried this on both a Mac and a PC and was not able to get it to work on either. I believe that the reason is, for this type of operation, it only works with an S10 phone or Note 10, or it requires Android 10, or both. But you need only Android 9 to run DeX on a display that isn't running Windows or MacOS.

[buster]

"someone suggested to use Gparted"

Harry suggested Gparted because of the gui.  But I wasn't sure and needed wiser minds to say it would work.Many helpful suggestions. Thanks.

[buster]

From the Dex page:

The Samsung DeX service is currently available on the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S8 Active, Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, Galaxy Note9, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy Tab S4, Galaxy Tab S5e, Galaxy Note10, Galaxy Note10+, Galaxy Note10 5G, Galaxy Note10+ 5G, and Galaxy Tab S6.

? The features that are available may vary slightly by model. We are planning to provide software updates to expand the availability of the service.

[fox]

From the Dex page:
....
? The features that are available may vary slightly by model. We are planning to provide software updates to expand the availability of the service.

I'm hoping that the asterisk refers to the use of DeX on Windows and MacOS, with availability expanded to S8, S9 and Note 8-9 phones. In the case of the S8 and the Note 8, Samsung will not be making Android 10 available. This may mean that these devices won't be able to run DeX on a PC or Mac.

For those interested in upgrading to Android 10 when it is made available, bear in mind that Linux on DeX will not work in Android 10.

[Jason]

It sounds like it was a good presentation. I wish that I wasn't ill and could have made it. I'm glad it worked out and I hope members weren't too disappointed that I didn't make it.

[fox]

For those with a Samsung Galaxy S9, Android 10 is now available. I upgraded my phone to Android 10, and I can now report that the DeX application on a PC works with my phone. So when DeX application is running on my PC, connecting the phone causes DeX to start up and run on the PC monitor. You don't need a power source to run it, just a usb to usb connection. Android applications run pretty well on my xps laptop, and the extra screen real estate is nice. The one bad thing: as noted previously, Linux on DeX doesn't work in Android 10. Given its state in DeX it was more interesting as a concept than something which is actually useful.

The DeX app also works on the MacOS. Initially I had trouble with it, but it worked once I used a different cable. That cable worked with my laptop, so the MacOS must be more sensitive to cable quality. I'm posting this message from DeX on my Mac.

[Jason]

Thanks for the update, Fox! That's too bad that Linux on DeX doesn't work on Android 10. I hope the developers remedy that. I assume the Windows version (that's what you mean by PC, right?) is developed by Samsung and the Linux version by other developers. Or would I be wrong in that?

Another question:

You don't need a power source to run it, just a usb to usb connection.

What about the connection to the monitor? Is there a USB-HDMI connector used?

[ssfc72]

Can you post a picture of the connections of the phone to the computer, Fox?

[fox]

....
What about the connection to the monitor? Is there a USB-HDMI connector used?

If you are talking about just a monitor, i.e., not a monitor connected to a PC or Mac, then yes, all you need is a USB-HDMI connector. That was what I demonstrated at the January PLUG meeting. But if you are referring to the running of DeX on a PC running Windows 10 or a Mac running the MacOS, then the connection is USB on the phone to USB on the computer, not through an HDMI connector on the computer. I hope that clarifies things.

[fox]

Can you post a picture of the connections of the phone to the computer, Fox?

I don't think it's really necessary. All you need, once the DeX software is installed on your computer, is the cable that you use to charge your phone. One end is USB-C (the one that goes into the phone), the other is USB-A. That was literally all I needed to connect to my 2011 iMac running the MacOS. However, my xps 13 only has USB-C ports, not USB-A, so for that one, I put in the USB-C to USB-A dongle that came with my laptop and plugged the USB-A end of my phone charging cable into that dongle.

[fox]

Thanks for the update, Fox! That's too bad that Linux on DeX doesn't work on Android 10. I hope the developers remedy that. I assume the Windows version (that's what you mean by PC, right?) is developed by Samsung and the Linux version by other developers. Or would I be wrong in that?
....

Samsung developed DeX itself and the apps for Windows and Mac. I believe that Samsung also developed Linux on DeX, but I'm not sure whether it was them or another developer who created the Ubuntu 16.04 beta image that ran on Linux on DeX. It is doubtful that there will ever be a Linux on DeX again; at least that's what I got from various internet articles. It wasn't well supported anyway; there was only the Ubuntu 16.04 beta image, and no one did anything beyond that. I don't know if the Linux on DeX ever worked with the DeX application running on Windows or MacOS; my Galaxy S9 wouldn't work with either DeX app until it received the Android 10 upgrade and Linux on DeX doesn't run on Android 10. Incidentally, DeX was not developed to run on Linux, i.e. there is no DeX app for Linux (at least none that I know of). What I demoed at the PLUG meeting was DeX running on a monitor not connected to any computer, so the OS running it was Android on my phone. (Android 9 at the time.)

I can see why DeX could be useful running it on a monitor; it turns your phone into a computer. The advantages of running DeX on a Mac or a PC running Windows are less obvious. Perhaps if there is a particular application or game that runs only on Android? But even then, why bother to run it on a computer instead of straight through your monitor?

[Jason]

If you are talking about just a monitor, i.e., not a monitor connected to a PC or Mac, then yes, all you need is a USB-HDMI connector. That was what I demonstrated at the January PLUG meeting. But if you are referring to the running of DeX on a PC running Windows 10 or a Mac running the MacOS, then the connection is USB on the phone to USB on the computer, not through an HDMI connector on the computer. I hope that clarifies things.

That does. Thanks.