MobileTerminal alpha version! One of the first functional native apps!

[CCB0x45]

Hey, these digg links talk more about it, check them out and please digg them!
http://digg.com/apple/MobileTerminal_Alpha_Version_for_iPhone_One_of_the _first_native_apps

http://digg.com/videos/educational/MobileTerminal_Alpha_Version_for_iPhone_One_of_the _first_real_apps

Thanks to everyone in #iphone-uikit especially pin,kroo,natetrue,lednerk,darkten,NerveGas and many more.

[thecompkid]

Yeah, and you install it how? What, do you want us to pat you on the back for a job well done when you can't even put in the time to write up a decent install page?

It looks like great work (except for the vid :confused: ), but i'd like to see it for myself.

[CCB0x45]

Umm its an app, with the app bundle... there are plenty of tutorials on the dev wiki on how to install apps on your phone...
I can give a quick rundown I guess...
Jailbreak
Put the app bundle in your applications directory...
Add the app under whatever name to your springboard display preferences...
Make the app executable(you need ssh or some sort of shell access to do this.)

[theviolator]

not sure if you have to copy that to /Applications.app/
then add it to the springboard list, i.e. add the appropriate entry to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/DisplayOrder.plist, it'll show up on the main menu.
then change the permissions on the file to make it executable "chmod 777" (or 555)

I hope that works.

[JaS]

Great Job. I like to see new devs on the scene :) Keep it up.

I have made this sticky so people can find it,and so you will be able to update this one thread with future releases.

[r00t4rd3d]

This work with the 1.0.1 update ?

[Joe.lipinski]

Yeah, and you install it how? What, do you want us to pat you on the back for a job well done when you can't even put in the time to write up a decent install page?

It looks like great work (except for the vid :confused: ), but i'd like to see it for myself.

umm well if you don't know how to put it on your iPhone then maybe you don't deserve to use it because of such arrogance. These people took the time to write this amazing app and you insult them because they didn't tell you how to install it. Sorry but that is just utter disrespect. Also the video makes perfect to me. I hate to be so negative but when people slave over a hot computer to produce such a nice app, they don't need people insulting them because they didn't write an install guide.

[CCB0x45]

Thanks for the reply...
I posted it more to get the word out, not to get a pat on the back... and the reason for the lack of proper install is we started the project 3 days ago, so as I said its an alpha release... should be used by experienced users since it basically relies on having the unix binaries on your phone to be useful at least... and it still might be buggy(well is buggy) because it has some logging being posted to the terminal, and we just got it working the other day... I posted the alpha to digg and here because:
A) We want more contributors to the project...
B) We wanted the laymen to see what is possible with the iphone by showing you could create a native app, put it nicely on the spring board, and have it have a functional UI for powerful applications(a terminal is pretty low level and powerful) hence the crappy youtube video, so that more developers will realize the potential of the phone, and people will stop saying "iPhone sux, treo rulz, you cant even put appz on it"

Anyways future things we would like to add:

1) Command history list, command saving for quick access
2) Full vt100 support for interactive apps like vi, pico, etc
3) Ability to send control chars, and correct viewing support of characters.
4) Landscape mode by turning the phone(that would be sweeeet)
5)Copy and paste
6)Multiple instances
7) Preferences for things like different colors, etc

If anyone feels like helping out ask me in #iphone-uikit for access to checking into svn.
Thanks

[sam]

There is a special site for this. No need for stick :P

[kurro]

mad props and congratulations! :D

[jkenzo]

Now it feels true :) keep up the good work, wondering what's next... :D

[thecompkid]

Ok, sweet. Sorry, I wasn't aware that installing apps was common knowledge. I just looked at the install page on your site and was kinda like WTF, mostly 'cause I really wanted to try it :p .

[CCB0x45]

For those of you interested... some new features went in last night:
Its now green on black like terminal, and it functions more like a real terminal sending 1 char at a time and formats the output better(just looks a lot nicer). Single tapping the top window now hides the keyboard with a nice animation, so you can have a much bigger view of the terminal.
I didn't add these new features, it was all done through open source additions, thanks guys!
-CCB0x45

[theviolator]

nice work dude, keep it up! :) I'll try it tonite, btw how about some orange on dark brown? (like the shell in the good old SGI days) ;)

[MaLer]

Great, it will be first thing on my new iphone :). I hope that you will handle somehow emulation of usual helpfull keystrokes...

[theviolator]

Hey man, I followed your instructions (put it in the /Applications/) but after reboot the terminal icon did not appear on my phone :(

[Joe.lipinski]

You must add an entry to the DisplayOrder.plist which is in /System/Library/CoreServices/Springboard.app/ .

[theviolator]

Thanks Joe, I think he just overlooked that in the installation instructions ;)
Thats what I thought too, but he said "thats it, just reboot" :D

[ebika]

I didn't update DisplayOrder.plist and the terminal app shows up just fine for me.

[thecompkid]

Well, I did both, but nothing happened.

What value are you supposed to put in the DisplayOrder.plist? I know the format and how to edit it, I just am unsure of the applications internal name.

[theviolator]

How did you put it in your phone? did you do it on PC or a Mac ? Because on a Mac doesnt show the Terminal.app folder (I think forbids it from viewing, so I had to take out the .app, and then I just made that folder under /Applications and copied the files one by one inside that folder)

[kurro]

What value are you supposed to put in the DisplayOrder.plist? I know the format and how to edit it, I just am unsure of the applications internal name.

Just put this block after Preferences (or wherever you want it to show up):

<dict>
<key>displayIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.Terminal</string>
</dict>

[CCB0x45]

Hey, you should edit the display preferences, and also if you used putfile through iphoneinterface it resets the permissions so you need to set chmod +x /Applications/Terminal.app/Terminal
to make it executable from ssh, hope that helps...
we are now on the front page of digg and slashdot and gizmodo, nice! great work guys!
-CCB

[pakkman781]

Anyone get this installed without ssh? I can't get ssh to work, thus, this doesn't either...

[theviolator]

without SSH only the icon appears but application doesnt work.
Plus for that dropbear you have to have C++ compiler to compile the damn thing!!!
I cant find compiler for Mac :(

[kurro]

without SSH only the icon appears but application doesnt work.

You have to give the binary execute permissions. And to do that, you'll need chmod on the iPhone. And to use chmod, you'll need a shell. You mind as well install ssh if you REALLY want to use the Terminal app on the phone.

http://iphone.fiveforty.net/wiki/index.php/Dropbear-ssh

Once you've got that set up, you can run "chmod +x /Applications/Terminal.app/Terminal" and be able to run the app.

Plus for that dropbear you have to have C++ compiler to compile the damn thing!!! I cant find compiler for Mac :(
You should download XCode. It's free and will install everything you need to compile dropbear. It's a big download (924MB) since it's a full programming environment.

http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/

You'll need to sign up for ADC too, but that's free. I admit, this is a hefty way to get dropbearkey compiled, but it will work.

[theviolator]

Thanks kurro, very helpful indeed :) A little off topic, where do I put screenshot in order to work /usr/sbin ??? :confused:

[kurro]

Thanks kurro, very helpful indeed :) A little off topic, where do I put screenshot in order to work /usr/sbin ??? :confused:

I dunno. I'd try /bin