[Feature] We need some standard popular detailed usage examples.

[red7nikotin]

Problem Statement

The documentation contains an example of using nested containers PiHole, Gitea, VS Code, but this is not enough!
We need to expand the list of complete and as detailed examples as possible.
All users can be divided into certain categories of people who, in principle, will use this program and, based on this, prepare a set of standard complete and detailed examples for them in advance, then your program will be more popular in principle.

Proposed Solution

1. The main dream of any user is to have a full-fledged working Linux GUI on his smartphone, so that he is always and everywhere at hand, so it is necessary to give a complete and as detailed example as possible (there may be 2 such options, i.e. either in a separate internal container via docker type webtop or, more obvious and as efficient as possible - deploy a GUI full-fledged desktop on the most basic default virtual machine of Podroid itself). Install the Linux GUI - this is only half the job, because the main thing is to show users exactly how to use them, those. locally and remotely. If we are talking about a remote connection, then it is necessary to show the connection options via VNC/RDP/WEB.
2. Most often, everyone is faced with primitive tasks, such as sharing data on the network using various protocols, so you need to give a complete and detailed ready-made example for FTP, SAMBA, NFS.
3. Installation, configuration and connection to nested containers, which in fact is already available in the documentation as an example (PiHole, Gitea, VS Code), but you need to add the simplest example of creating an elementary container with nginx and running a simple start page on it so that it is easier for beginners to get to the bottom of it.
4. DNS+PXE is necessary for administrators, in fact, it is like a universal tool, like Reanimator

Use Case

Here are the real-life usage examples:

1. There is an old ancient PC that has very few resources, but it supports VNC/RDP/WEB and it would be great to connect my smartphone to it, which would have a modern Linux GUI on my powerful smartphone to use it as the main PC. Thus, my old PC turns into a thin client, and my main PC becomes my powerful smartphone.
   It would also be possible to connect to my smartphone to its Linux GUI via any browser installed on a SmartTV.
2. You need to download something quickly or upload it over the network, so you need to have a network card on your smartphone with everything you need and simply and quickly connect to it using all the basic protocols FTP, SAMBA, NFS, DLNA
3. When you need to quickly install the OS on another PC, you need to carry a USB drive with you and flash it every time, and there are a lot of other problems with this, but if you could just connect your smartphone to the network and distribute an ISO file for download through it, it would greatly help administrators in the first place. and for all advanced users. In fact, the smartphone itself already has a standard DHCP via WiFi or via Ethernet-USB when you distribute the network, and only DNS and PXE are missing

Additional Context

We need not just the most complete and detailed examples of each case that I have indicated, but even better, a video review, then this program will definitely be even more popular.

[ExTV]

This is a good list, and the framing is right: installing something is only half the job, and the docs mostly stopped at the install. Let me go through your four points honestly, including the one I do not think I can deliver, so you are not left waiting on it.

1. A full Linux GUI, locally and remotely

Agreed, and this is now done. The desktop page has a start-to-finish Xfce example (install, launch, view) and a new section on reaching that desktop from another computer.

The important part that was missing entirely: VNC port 5900 is bound to the phone's loopback on purpose, because the X session has no password. That is why remote connections failed for everyone who tried, and it was documented nowhere. The recommended route is an SSH tunnel:

ssh -p 9922 -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5900 root@<phone-address>

Then point a VNC client at localhost:5900. See #52, which was the same problem reported as a bug.

On your thin-client scenario: that works today. The old PC runs a VNC client, the phone does the computing. Browser-based access (noVNC in a container, pointed at the guest's X display) is a reasonable addition and I will look at it.

RDP is a separate question. Nothing today speaks RDP; it would mean running xrdp in the guest. That is tracked in #38.

3. A beginner container example

Also done. The container examples now open with nginx serving a single page: three commands, plus a check from inside the VM before any port forwarding is involved. That separation is deliberate, so when something does not work you can tell which half broke.

2. FTP, Samba, NFS

I want to be precise here, because the answer differs per protocol and the difference is not obvious. An unprivileged Android app cannot bind host ports below 1024, which is exactly where these protocols live.

• NFSv4 is the most workable. It needs only port 2049, which is above the limit, so it can be forwarded normally.
• FTP can work on a non-standard port, since most FTP clients let you set one. Passive mode needs its data port range forwarded too, which is the part people usually miss.
• SMB/Samba is the difficult one. It wants port 445, which the phone cannot bind, and unlike FTP clients, most SMB clients (Windows Explorer especially) will not let you specify a port. So the guest can run Samba perfectly well while remaining awkward to reach from a typical client.

Worth documenting exactly as above, with working examples for the two that are practical and a straight explanation of why the third is not. I will add that.

4. DNS and PXE

DNS is straightforward: run dnsmasq or Pi-hole in a container, forward port 53 on a high host port, done.

PXE I do not think I can deliver, and I would rather say so than leave it on a roadmap. PXE booting needs two things Podroid cannot currently provide. The client must receive DHCP options pointing at a boot server, and Android's tethering DHCP server belongs to the system, not to the app, so those options cannot be injected. Proxy-DHCP normally solves that, but it depends on broadcast traffic reaching the boot server, and the VM sits behind NAT rather than on your LAN, so those broadcasts never arrive.

This is the same root limitation behind the macvlan request in #53: giving the VM a real presence on your network needs a bridge or TAP interface on the host, which an app without root cannot create. If that ever becomes possible, PXE becomes possible with it.

Serving the ISO itself is easy, and useful on its own. A container with nginx over the ISO gives you an HTTP source that any already-booted installer can pull from. It just cannot be the thing that boots the machine.

On video

Fair point, and I cannot promise one. Written examples I can keep accurate as the app changes; a video goes stale silently.

Of the remaining work, the file sharing examples are what I will pick up next unless you would rather I prioritise differently. Leaving this open to track that.

[red7nikotin]

On video

The video will only partially become outdated, due to the change in the external interface, I believe for the most part, but inside nothing should change dramatically for the basic examples.
Also, when recording a video, the date and version of the podroid used should be indicated, and then this will solve all the problems.

DNS and PXE

Yes, I understand that the key role is played by DHCP, which you cannot control because it is under the control of Android itself, but I was interested in the question of using DNS not only inside this virtual machine, but so that other PCs that will be on the same network with my smartphone could use it. I.e. In fact, it is necessary in the documentation to clearly and unambiguously specify the limitations of everything for certain work scenarios, so that the user understands in advance that this is not a mistake, so that he does not waste time on it, and simply by reading the documentation and looking at the example, he understands that this is technically impossible to implement without full root access rights. to Android itself on a smartphone, or a clear example was shown of how to achieve what is desired for a particular scenario.

I'm not asking you to read the minds and guess the desires of users in advance for the future, but there are a limited number of basic scenarios for using this software and a smartphone in combination with the available networks to which the smartphone connects and interactions in different Linux and Windows PCs.

FTP, Samba, NFS

Yes, that's right, but it needs to be explicitly stated in the documentation. In addition, we need exactly these basic examples of setting up and interacting a smartphone with other PCs on a particular network (and there can be many networks, as I said earlier: WiFi, USB, SIM,...). I will create a ticket about SFTP separately, but you also need to specify it in the documentation and give an example.

A beginner container example

It's a terribly inconvenient way. And again, yesterday I studied the documentation and there is no all this, there is no complete and detailed example of how it should work. Yes, my desktop started on my smartphone itself (yes, it works slowly in qemo mode, but for the first trial run it was enough for me to enjoy it). The main goal and problem is to access the desktop GUI of this basic container on an old PC connected to a smartphone over the network, and this should be done as simply as possible, otherwise the meaning of everything is lost!

Here you either need to show an option with RDP that will work right away, or with VNC, but definitely not through all sorts of complicated things like SSH tunnels, etc. - this will immediately alienate newcomers, and in real life, an SSH client is not always at hand on an old PC at work, unlike RDP or VNC, as it were it didn't seem strange in the modern world (WinXP and Win7 don't have regular SSH), but I can install only one program on such PCs, not several different ones, so that they complement each other, unfortunately, but RDP is always there, VNC I could install, but SSH, alas, is not.

As I said earlier, the most ideal solution would be to use a regular browser on any old PC to simply connect to my desktop GUI on this basic virtual machine, so that everything works quickly and simply, without unnecessary problems.

The purpose of all these actions is to attract inexperienced users and promote them to the masses, because the less you need to do at the very beginning, the better, you need a quick and effective start with simple examples, but then let everyone figure out all the subtleties and customize specific things for themselves.

"Also done" - what does it mean? Right now I see only (PiHole, Gitea, VS Code) in the documentation, but I need exactly the basic examples that everyone will use one way or another: FTP, SFTP, SAMBA, NFS, DLNA, ISCSI. This is not in the documentation right now, and I want to get an unambiguous answer to this either here in the chat or in the documentation, indicating at least an approximate time frame for when to expect the next release for the documentation or for the program, too.