MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - iPad Understanding Multi-tasking on the iPad: What is it really?

mjmcleod · 02-07-2010, 02:42 AM

I have a particular use-case in mind where multitasking would a huge difference, and while I'm sure this specific example won't apply to a large number of possible buyers (relatively speaking) I find it hard to believe there aren't a whole bunch of other niche cases that together might be a bigger deal.

In my case, I'm a UNIX sysadmin. I get calls at all hours to go poke some system or other, often with a need to refer to a web page or email as part of the process. Unfortunately the nature of SSH/VNC/etc is that the network session has to stay open or you're jumping through reconnection hoops every time you switch apps.

A backgrounded SSH app should be very light on resources. Some sort of "I know what I'm doing, please disable the no-multitasking safety" feature would be nice though not really expected.

All this said, I have an iPhone and like it, I just don't use it for this sort of thing. An iPad would be a better fit for these tasks but without being able to switch to the mail client to grab some text then come back to my existing SSH session? Not really viable.

02-07-2010, 02:42 AM	#41
mjmcleod Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 11501 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Australia Device: Galaxy Tab	I have a particular use-case in mind where multitasking would a huge difference, and while I'm sure this specific example won't apply to a large number of possible buyers (relatively speaking) I find it hard to believe there aren't a whole bunch of other niche cases that together might be a bigger deal. In my case, I'm a UNIX sysadmin. I get calls at all hours to go poke some system or other, often with a need to refer to a web page or email as part of the process. Unfortunately the nature of SSH/VNC/etc is that the network session has to stay open or you're jumping through reconnection hoops every time you switch apps. A backgrounded SSH app should be very light on resources. Some sort of "I know what I'm doing, please disable the no-multitasking safety" feature would be nice though not really expected. All this said, I have an iPhone and like it, I just don't use it for this sort of thing. An iPad would be a better fit for these tasks but without being able to switch to the mail client to grab some text then come back to my existing SSH session? Not really viable.