Please do Linux a favor and buy a preinstalled: ZaReason, System76.
Their machines work great with Ubuntu - unlike many laptops from other vendors.
And yes, you get all the software you'll need - it's Debian at least.
Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
181–190 of 279 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure it depends on what task I am trying to accomplish, I should have prefaced that. If I am in the IDE I use the keyboard. But, if I am doing tasks like managing files I tend to use the pad.
Even for copying files, the keyboard is often quite a bit faster. Especially if you take the time to learn bash well.
I prefer the finder to the shell for file management.
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#183If you want to do development in a language other than python/ruby, or even want to use python libraries written in c, avoid the macbook. If you are certain you will stick to {svn, git, django, python, vim}, you'll be fine. My mac ownership timeline: Day 1: Ooh, pretty. 2-3 days: I fucking hate iTunes. Luckily ports install mpd works. 1 month: Ooh, the pretty magsafe connector saved me from dropping it when I tripped…
I must say that while I am not a huge fan of OSX, Macs have amazingly well designed hardware. I remembering staring and marvelling at the magsafe power cord the first time I saw it, and every piece of the hardware is well made too.
Having just had to replace a magsafe power cord (fortunately Apple does it free now, even out-of-warranty), I think the design needed a bit of tweaking, which later models have received.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1713 issue #6 , "strain relief issues"
kb
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
You cannot go wrong with a Thinkpad, but you can do better, IMHO. I enjoyed my last Thinkpad (t40) a lot. Still have and use it after 6 years. But especially with linux, battery life wasn't very good (now the battery is completely dead of course). The fan never stopped. To answer the question of the OP: yes, it is totally worth to learn Mac OS. First, the effort is small. Second, you will save a lot of admin time. Th…
Earlier power-saving technologies were pretty proprietary from what I recall; there was "pre-ACPI" and also a fairly substantial period of "ACPI that still only worked through Windows because Windows could tolerate a lot of errors in the ACPI tables where Linux actually believed the tables". Now most of them are through standardized interfaces and work in Linux just fine.
Unfortunately "just fine" isn't nearly as fine as Windows or OS X. It just gets hotter and drains the battery faster. That's my only gripe left with Linux hardware support on my current laptops.
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#185If you want to do development in a language other than python/ruby, or even want to use python libraries written in c, avoid the macbook. If you are certain you will stick to {svn, git, django, python, vim}, you'll be fine. My mac ownership timeline: Day 1: Ooh, pretty. 2-3 days: I fucking hate iTunes. Luckily ports install mpd works. 1 month: Ooh, the pretty magsafe connector saved me from dropping it when I tripped…
I agree, but you forgot to mention the killer issue (for me): there's no '#' key. Having to press Alt+3 for a '#' gets annoying pretty quickly when you're coding.
It's even worse if you're running Linux on the MacBook. You have to fiddle with a mysteriously named keyboard preference ("Key to choose 3rd level") to get even the Alt+3 combination to work - and once it does, you can no longer Alt+Tab to switch between windows. Fortunately you can choose a different key; the best compromise I've found so far is to the right Alt key. That way you can enter '#' symbols and Alt+Tab back and forth, but it turns what should be a single keystroke into a two handed combination.
That and the lagging OpenGL support are why my next computer won't be a Mac.
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find the interface requires that I use the mouse way to often, and I have to know all Apple's special key combinations to get anything done If you expect to get anything done without using the mouse, knowing all the "special key combinations" is a pre-requisite for any OS. I hate to be the kool-aid drinker that jumps to Apple's defense, but I hear a lot of complaints about OS X keyboard accessibility that simply…
It took me over two years to find that checkbox, as I didn't know to look for it. Not being able to dismiss a dialog box with the keyboard was driving me mad. System Prefs>Keyboard>Keyboard Shortcuts>"All Controls"
I had two find this twice - once when I got the mac, and a year later on a new install.
It was hard to find both times.
kb
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to toss this question in, because I've seen lots of people make a similar comment, but never have really seen an explanation as to why: what is the problem with iTunes? For me, I don't do much in the way of using iTunes; I set up a play list, press play, minimize it, and enjoy listening to music while I do other things. Maybe I'm not a music player power user?
Some "features" of iTunes: When I import my music folder, iTunes copies all the files to it's own private directories, using the filesystem as an index. Thanks, but my music is already arranged the way I like. iTunes doesn't play flac or ogg. And when I rip a CD, it wants to save it in some proprietary flac-like format (which, as far as I know, does not work on non-macs). I enjoy controlling my music from a phone/tab…
You forgot the part where it takes two hours to properly import 30GB of music on a fresh install of the OS. And then it forgets the index if you use a non standard location. And then it forgets it again. And then you delete iTunes and use Doubletwist.
Then you find out it sucks too and you wish for rhythmbox or amarok.
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find the interface requires that I use the mouse way to often, and I have to know all Apple's special key combinations to get anything done If you expect to get anything done without using the mouse, knowing all the "special key combinations" is a pre-requisite for any OS. I hate to be the kool-aid drinker that jumps to Apple's defense, but I hear a lot of complaints about OS X keyboard accessibility that simply…
It took me over two years to find that checkbox, as I didn't know to look for it. Not being able to dismiss a dialog box with the keyboard was driving me mad. System Prefs>Keyboard>Keyboard Shortcuts>"All Controls"
You can dismiss dialogs without enabling that.
Enter = Ok, Escape = Cancel, Command-D is "Don't Save" in "Would you like to save?" dialogs, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I import my music folder, iTunes copies all the files to it's own private directories, This is optional and IIRC, not on by default. I have to add: > Thanks, but my music is already arranged the way I like. This just baffles me. Why would you ever manually arrange your music? I used to do this when I use Linux because I basically had to if I wanted to browse it in any sane way, but I much prefer having some ap…
This just baffles me. Why would you ever manually arrange your music? I used to do this when I use Linux because I basically had to if I wanted to browse it in any sane way, but I much prefer having some app do it for me. It just strikes me as one of the many things that my computer can do well, so it should do it. It is more or less automatically arranged (by grip). I make the occasional tweak when grip screws up. A…
> Having a filesystem arrangement under my control is useful for this purpose:
> $ cp /misc/music/Johnny_Cash/American/ /media/generic_non_ipod_music_player/
Why can't you do this with iTunes' automatic arrangement? What am I missing?
I've found that iTunes organizes music in a very reasonable way > 90% of the time. Added benefit: When I add title/album/artist metadata (say it was missing or incorrect when I imported it into iTunes), the hierarchy and filenames automatically rearrange and rename themselves, no intervention on my part required.