Looking to build a portable linux environment that'll run on airplane's USB power I'm playing with a Raspberry Pi, an iPad and a bluetooth keyboard. I run a Bluetooth PAN network on the Pi, ssh into it from the iPad using a terminal app, and connect the keyboard to the iPad so I can actually type.
It works pretty well until I fire up emacs. A number of critical key combinations turn out to be captured by iOS. For example, some genius imagined that ctrl-spacebar ought to pop up an emoji picker no matter what app is in use. So I'm wondering: could I connect the keyboard to the Pi instead of the iPad? I could start screen in my ssh session from the iPad, then (after some keyboard magic) run 'screen -x' in the keyboard's session so that my typing would then go into the same screen the iPad was displaying. I'm quickly realizing I don't understand Linux very well at this level: don't even know how to frame the question! Does this sound possible? What are the parts I'd need to configure? It kinda works if the pi has a monitor connected and virtual consoles are available. I haven't had any luck if it's headless, but then I don't know quite where to look. (Yeah, I could get a new laptop that'd have a chance of lasting a flight or charge off USB. I'm shopping -- but there aren't many small/light 32G laptops with decent battery life and no touchscreen. Meanwhile, this is fun.) Thanks, --Eric
