Using Samsung Dex as my everyday carry laptop

I mentioned on Mastodon earlier that my favorite everyday carry (EDC) laptop is my phone with Samsung Dex and a lapdock. This blog post is to add some more context to how I use Dex and what I use to fill in the gaps when I need a full desktop.

Dex mode

For the uninitiated, Dex mode is a desktop-like experience on specific Samsung Android devices. I would say it is closer to ChromeOS than a full Linux or Windows desktop, but works extremely well as a light on-the-move laptop replacement.

This is exactly why I picked up a lapdock to pair with my phone. As a contractor, I am in the field most days digging holes, plumbing irrigation systems, and meeting with customers. I don’t have a need for a full laptop. I wanted something that was extremely light and ultra-portable, without being yet another device I need to manage.

The absolute easiest solution was to use my phone, which has all the apps I need and configured.

Rather than go through what Dex can do, I’d like to show how I use it.

• I use Obsidian and the Android version is exactly the same as the desktop app. The keyboard shortcuts even work the same, plus all the plugins I use work.
• Email. We use Google Workspace for our business. Gmail in Dex is, again, just like the desktop experience.
• Vivaldi. For web browsing I use Vivaldi as my preferred browser. Most keyboard shortcuts work the same and many of the features in the desktop version are available on Android (minus extensions). I really, really want to use Firefox. But, Firefox on mobile is absolute garbage.
• Discord. For our business and with friends and family, I primarily use Discord. Nothing is missing from the Android version.
• Termux. I spend a lot of time managing my homelab server and the various things I self-host. Termux is flat out amazing at being a terminal emulator and has a huge list of tools available in the Termux repo. I even have my tmux customizations enabled and fish set as my primary shell.
• Syncthing. To keep notes and various files in sync on my mobile, plus backup my photos, I use Syncthing. I just quietly hums along in the background and makes it easy to move files to and from all my other various devices.
• Kodi. For the times I am sitting on the couch or the rare occasion I am traveling, I have Kodi setup to my nas so I can watch anything in my library. It is much nicer to use/watch Kodi on the lapdock while laying in bed as well.

These are just the primary apps I use and does not include the standard items on a mobile device like 2FA codes, password manager, tasks, calendar, podcasts, YouTube, etc.

Full desktop

For the times I need access to a full desktop, say when I need to use a tool or app that is only available on a desktop, I rdp into a virtual machine running on my homelab.

There are a lot of ways to do this, but I simply created a 4 CPU, 16 GB RAM Debian 12 XFCE desktop virtual machine using QEMU/KVM and the rdp into it when needed.

I could easily have setup a similar experience with my primary desktop. However, I don’t leave my desktop on 24/7. It sits off most of the time and I didn’t want to setup wakeonlan and then wait for it to boot just to do a few tasks from my phone. I also don’t want to waste the electricity turning on the desktop. My homelab is on every day (off at night) and is always available.

The experience is great on my LAN and good enough over Tailscale on mobile data. I can easily forget I’m not using a regular Linux laptop while in the rdp session.

Desktop backup

In addition to the remote desktop virtual machine, I also have a proot environment desktop configured on my phone. This is also running Debian 12 with XFCE, however a lot of stuff doesn’t work. For example, I can’t seem to get a web browser functioning.

I will pop into this desktop for very short work. There are a ton of caveats using a full desktop in a proot environment and is still locked to only using aarch64 applications. Plus, Android limits file access to this desktop through Termux. So, I can access things like the Downloads folder and the various folders inside of the Termux $HOME, but I can’t access the files on my phone’s SD card.

Recently I’ve been using this desktop to access virt-manager for managing my VM’s on my server. I will also use it to open and modify specific files downloaded to my phone, like a srt caption file for a movie I want to watch or a bash script I’ve been working on and I want to use Geany.

Browser-based apps

Since I am an avid self-hoster, I have several services available to me through the browser that makes working from my phone easy.

All my “cloud” files are available through dufs that acts a static file server and allows some light editing. I have LibreOffice in a KASM virtual workspace that is connected to my files via WebDAV so I can manage my business spreadsheets from literally any device. I also host a pastebin, bookmarks manager, Bitwarden instance, and PDF editor/converter.

I can literally get my work done from any machine, as long as it has a web browser.

My phone is my laptop

At this point I can’t imagine going to a full laptop (unless something super portable lands in my hands for free 😉). This is just how I use Dex mode while working from the couch or the tailgate of my truck. I didn’t even touch how I use a Razer Kishi gamepad for game streaming from my Xbox and retro gaming through various apps. I also connect my phone to our TV for movie streaming, instead of using the crap system that is built into our TV. And I haven’t even mentioned how I use this setup in my bug-out kit.

At this point my phone is my best and favorite computer.

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