Programming on an Apple Watch with VIM over SSH
A proof of concept that mirrors a VIM session to the watch screen.
- Answers
- Can you write code on an Apple Watch?
- Topics
- SSH · ThinkPad · apple · creating · creativity · experiment · hacking · iOS · iPhone · laptop · linux · minimal · programming · retro · smartphone · vim · watch · work
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2017-02-16_programming-on-apple-watch/
Summary
Yes. In 2017 I built a proof of concept: a small Watch app that showed screenshots of a VIM session running on a Linux machine, while I typed on a Bluetooth keyboard connected to that machine.
Full text
On a Linux machine in my local network I ran a small NodeJS server that took screenshots of a shell session running VIM, my favourite code editor. The Watch app fetched a fresh screenshot every few seconds and displayed it full screen. The Bluetooth keyboard was paired with the laptop, so the typing happened there while the watch acted as the display, much like the built-in Camera app uses the watch as a viewfinder for the iPhone. If you want to build it yourself, look at WKInterfaceImage, UIImage, NSURLSession and dataTaskWithURL. There was noticeable latency between refreshes, so it stayed a proof of concept rather than an App Store product. The real lesson: a terminal setup with VIM and keyboard shortcuts runs on practically any device.