From Newsgroup: comp.editors

I'm looking for a version of VIM (*) for Android (tablets/phones).

There are actually two threads to this:

1) A text version of it that I can use from a shell prompt. This is my
primary goal. I currently have an sshd running on the tablet and can
get to a shell prompt via ssh, but the only editor available is the
"toybox" version of vi, which basically is so crippled that it doesn't
work at all. I'd like something better.

2) A real GUI version of VIM that runs on the tablet GUI would be nice,
but not nearly as important as the previous point.

(*) Or, actually any reasonably full-featured version of vi.

Note: I searched the web and it turned up something called "DroidVIM",
which is supposed to be available in the Play Store, but I could not find
it (or anything similar) there.
--
Many people in the American South think that DJT is, and will be remembered
as, one of the best presidents in US history. They are absolutely correct.

He is currently at number 46 on the list. High praise, indeed!
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

In comp.editors, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

I'm looking for a version of VIM (*) for Android (tablets/phones).

There are actually two threads to this:

1) A text version of it that I can use from a shell prompt. This is my
primary goal. I currently have an sshd running on the tablet and can
get to a shell prompt via ssh, but the only editor available is the
"toybox" version of vi, which basically is so crippled that it doesn't
work at all. I'd like something better.

I have Termux installed from F-Droid and vim installed in that. Works
fine. Termux provides soft-buttons for things like <esc> and <ctrl>.
What soft-buttons you want will vary with your installed keyboard and preferences. The Termux vim is usually pretty close to most recent.
I checked today and had 9.1.1750 installed, then did a "pkg up" and
now I have 9.2.18, which is five days old:

https://github.com/vim/vim/releases/tag/v9.2.0018

Here's the $HOME/.termux/termux.properties from one of my systems:

extra-keys = [['ESC','/','-','~','*','UP',':','_','CTRL'], \
['TAB','<','=','>','LEFT','DOWN','RIGHT','|','INS']]


I use <ins> for 'pastetoggle' in vim, making it pretty useful to me.

2) A real GUI version of VIM that runs on the tablet GUI would be nice,
but not nearly as important as the previous point.

I can't help with this. I know X11 packages exist in Termux, but I'm not
sure how well they work.

Elijah
------
has not used Termux specifically on a tablet in some years
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From Newsgroup: comp.editors

In article <eli$2602231539@qaz.wtf>,
Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

In comp.editors, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

I'm looking for a version of VIM (*) for Android (tablets/phones).

There are actually two threads to this:

1) A text version of it that I can use from a shell prompt. This is my >> primary goal. I currently have an sshd running on the tablet and can
get to a shell prompt via ssh, but the only editor available is the
"toybox" version of vi, which basically is so crippled that it doesn't >> work at all. I'd like something better.

I have Termux installed from F-Droid and vim installed in that. Works
fine. Termux provides soft-buttons for things like <esc> and <ctrl>.
What soft-buttons you want will vary with your installed keyboard and >preferences. The Termux vim is usually pretty close to most recent.
I checked today and had 9.1.1750 installed, then did a "pkg up" and
now I have 9.2.18, which is five days old:

This sounds more like it is addressing point 2. I.e., something to run
sitting on the phone/tablet itself. I'm mostly interested in something I
can run remotely; that is, while ssh'd into the phone/tablet. I say all
this because if I am ssh'd in, I am coming from a real computer, with a
real keyboard, so I wouldn't have to worry about "soft keys" and such
things.

2) A real GUI version of VIM that runs on the tablet GUI would be nice, >> but not nearly as important as the previous point.

I can't help with this. I know X11 packages exist in Termux, but I'm not
sure how well they work.

I'd have to look into installing Termux and get familiar with it in order
to comment further on this aspect. But as I said, I'm mostly interested in something I can run from an ssh connection.

Anyway, thanks for the response.
--
They say compassion is a virtue, but I don't have the time!

- David Byrne -

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

In comp.editors, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

This sounds more like it is addressing point 2. I.e., something to run sitting on the phone/tablet itself. I'm mostly interested in something I
can run remotely; that is, while ssh'd into the phone/tablet. I say all
this because if I am ssh'd in, I am coming from a real computer, with a
real keyboard, so I wouldn't have to worry about "soft keys" and such
things.

I misunderstood your ssh to about ssh'ing from the tablet. (I ssh from
Termux and use vim with the Termux softkeys.)

I'd have to look into installing Termux and get familiar with it in order
to comment further on this aspect. But as I said, I'm mostly interested in something I can run from an ssh connection.

Seems then this a question for you to figure out yourself. How do you install software? How do you use that method to install a real version of vim?

Elijah
------
sympathizes that busybox vi is very bad
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

In article <eli$2602231850@qaz.wtf>,
Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

In comp.editors, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

This sounds more like it is addressing point 2. I.e., something to run
sitting on the phone/tablet itself. I'm mostly interested in something I
can run remotely; that is, while ssh'd into the phone/tablet. I say all
this because if I am ssh'd in, I am coming from a real computer, with a
real keyboard, so I wouldn't have to worry about "soft keys" and such
things.

I misunderstood your ssh to about ssh'ing from the tablet. (I ssh from
Termux and use vim with the Termux softkeys.)

Understood. No worries.

I'd have to look into installing Termux and get familiar with it in order
to comment further on this aspect. But as I said, I'm mostly interested in >> something I can run from an ssh connection.

Seems then this a question for you to figure out yourself.

Well, yes, but one always hopes that someone else has already solved this problem. Seems like it should be do-able.

How do you install software?

Not sure what you are asking here.
For the most part, I just use the Google Play Store.

How do you use that method to install a real version of vim?

Well, it might not be possible. But if someone else has already solved
this problem, then it might be necessary to download an .apk file from
their own website rather than using the Play Store. I've already been down this road a time or two: The Android OS tries very hard to discourage you
from doing this - that is, installing anything that didn't come from their
Play Store - but you can do it if you really want to.

Sympathizes that busybox vi is very bad

Actually, on my phones/tablets, it is toybox, which is even worse than busybox. --
Note that Oprah actually is all the things that The Donald only wishes he were. For one thing, she actually *is* a billionaire. She's also actually self-made, came from nothing, knows how to run businesses, never went bankrupt, is smart and is mentally stable.
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On 2026-02-24 13:37, Kenny McCormack wrote:

In article <eli$2602231850@qaz.wtf>,

How do you use that method to install a real version of vim?

Well, it might not be possible. But if someone else has already solved
this problem, then it might be necessary to download an .apk file from
their own website rather than using the Play Store. I've already been down this road a time or two: The Android OS tries very hard to discourage you from doing this - that is, installing anything that didn't come from their Play Store - but you can do it if you really want to.

I'm a comparably new Android/smartphone/tablet-user and meanwhile
I've abandoned all hope. I'd have a lot questions like yours (and
including yours) concerning that platform and how to fix all its
inherent issues. - Is there any newsgroup to address such things?

Janis

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

Kenny McCormack wrote:

In article <eli$2602231539@qaz.wtf>,
Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

I have Termux installed from F-Droid and vim installed in that. Works
fine. Termux provides soft-buttons for things like <esc> and <ctrl>.

This sounds more like it is addressing point 2. I.e., something to run sitting on the phone/tablet itself. I'm mostly interested in something I
can run remotely; that is, while ssh'd into the phone/tablet.

You could run sshd in Termux and ssh into that instead.

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Remote_Access#Using_the_SSH_server

Whether you could then do the things you currently do in your existing
ssh solution would depend on what those things are.
--
Geoff Clare <netnews@gclare.org.uk>
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

with <10nhjam$2hjk6$1@news.xmission.com> Kenny McCormack wrote:

I'm looking for a version of VIM (*) for Android (tablets/phones).

*SKIP* [ 9 lines 1 level deep]

Note: I searched the web and it turned up something called "DroidVIM",
which is supposed to be available in the Play Store, but I could not
find it (or anything similar) there.

Is side-loading problematic or plain impossible?
--
Torvalds' goal for Linux is very simple: World Domination
Stallman's goal for GNU is even simpler: Freedom
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

Janis Papanagnou wrote:

On 2026-02-24 13:37, Kenny McCormack wrote:

In article <eli$2602231850@qaz.wtf>,

How do you use that method to install a real version of vim?

Well, it might not be possible. But if someone else has already solved
this problem, then it might be necessary to download an .apk file from
their own website rather than using the Play Store. I've already been down >> this road a time or two: The Android OS tries very hard to discourage you
from doing this - that is, installing anything that didn't come from their >> Play Store - but you can do it if you really want to.

I'm a comparably new Android/smartphone/tablet-user and meanwhile
I've abandoned all hope. I'd have a lot questions like yours (and
including yours) concerning that platform and how to fix all its
inherent issues. - Is there any newsgroup to address such things?

There's comp.mobile.android but be warned it has a resident nymshifting
troll.
--
Geoff Clare <netnews@gclare.org.uk>
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 22:16:27 Kenny McCormack wrote:

In article <eli$2602231539@qaz.wtf>,
Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

In comp.editors, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:

I'm looking for a version of VIM (*) for Android (tablets/phones).

There are actually two threads to this:

1) A text version of it that I can use from a shell prompt. This is my >>> primary goal. I currently have an sshd running on the tablet and can >>> get to a shell prompt via ssh, but the only editor available is the
"toybox" version of vi, which basically is so crippled that it doesn't >>> work at all. I'd like something better.

I have Termux installed from F-Droid and vim installed in that. Works
fine. Termux provides soft-buttons for things like <esc> and <ctrl>.
What soft-buttons you want will vary with your installed keyboard and >>preferences. The Termux vim is usually pretty close to most recent.
I checked today and had 9.1.1750 installed, then did a "pkg up" and
now I have 9.2.18, which is five days old:

This sounds more like it is addressing point 2. I.e., something to run sitting on the phone/tablet itself. I'm mostly interested in something I
can run remotely; that is, while ssh'd into the phone/tablet. I say all
this because if I am ssh'd in, I am coming from a real computer, with a
real keyboard, so I wouldn't have to worry about "soft keys" and such
things.

Both is possible. TermUX on the Android tablet/phone provides a
Linux shell wherein you can also install and use vim (and other
software). In particular it has sshd, so that you can connect
from the computer to the phone.

Since I did not root my phone, I am an ordinary user within TermUX,
so I use a higher port (e.g. sshd -p 8022) and passphrase/key-exchange
instead of passwords, but that is not really a problem.

Some time ago I have also tried a VIM app, but I do not remember the
name and it did not really work well.
--
M.O.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Sun, 1 Mar 2026 20:52:34 -0000 (UTC), Marc Olschok wrote:

TermUX on the Android tablet/phone provides a Linux shell wherein
you can also install and use vim (and other software). In particular
it has sshd, so that you can connect from the computer to the phone.

Note that only works because, unlike some competing platforms, Android
*is* a real computer.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

In comp.editors, Lawrence DOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Note that only works because, unlike some competing platforms, Android
*is* a real computer.

Pretty sure Google is working on "fixing" that.

Elijah
------
tech company shit has gotten so depressing
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.editors

On Sun, 1 Mar 2026 23:40:25 -0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded wrote:

In comp.editors, Lawrence DOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Note that only works because, unlike some competing platforms, Android
*is* a real computer.

Pretty sure Google is working on "fixing" that.

In an interesting way, as it happens: <https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-linux-terminal-app-for-native-android-development-heres-why-im-bullish/>.

Also, this: <https://www.theverge.com/news/869142/google-leak-aluminium-os-android-pc-bug-report-video>.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2