Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows is out of the question for a lot of devs that live in the Unix shell. Sure, I could run a Linux VM or dual boot, but those aren't very pleasant experience.
FYI, Windows 10 also has WSL https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
91–100 of 190 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#92I don't understand the authors choice to limit himself to Apple or Google. You've been able to do development on Linux notebooks (and Windows notebooks, of course) since decades. I can absolutely recommend Dell (and ThinkPad, though not from personal experience) notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled/officially supported. Or is the question if a Chromebook is en vogue to use this season at Starbucks?
Ad an XPS owner (9350), I will never own a dell again.
Could you provide more information why?
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#93I don't understand the authors choice to limit himself to Apple or Google. You've been able to do development on Linux notebooks (and Windows notebooks, of course) since decades. I can absolutely recommend Dell (and ThinkPad, though not from personal experience) notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled/officially supported. Or is the question if a Chromebook is en vogue to use this season at Starbucks?
There's one Dell model that all of the hardcore Linux devs in the office use that I've heard called the rough equivalent of the MacBook Pro. XPS 15, I believe.
It's not XPS 15, It's called Precision. Basically, it's a business version of XPS 15 with slightly different hardware and similar appearance.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#94Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#95I've been doing that for years: http://kmkeen.com/c100p-tweaks/ Development doesn't require any more CPU than word processing. You're type stuff up, and there is a pretty strict grammar check. I don't get why people why people want to run huge things on a laptop. It is way more economical to shell into a beefy server when you need big iron instead of carrying it with you.
Some people still write code that is compiled.
And the people who do that tend to use super bloated Dev environments.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#96Support for Linux will enable you to create, test and run Android and web app for phones, tablets and laptops all on one Chromebook. Run popular editors, code in your favorite language and launch projects to Google Cloud with the command-line. Everything works directly on a Chromebook.
Linux runs inside a virtual machine that was designed from scratch for Chromebooks. That means it starts in seconds and integrates completely with Chromebook features. Linux apps can start with a click of an icon, windows can be moved around, and files can be opened directly from apps
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#97"if we can comfortably do development without a MacBook"? What kind of premise is that for a question? You think this forum consists only of devs using Macbooks?
Windows is out of the question for a lot of devs that live in the Unix shell. Sure, I could run a Linux VM or dual boot, but those aren't very pleasant experience.
I use MacBook at work and Windows at home.
> Unix Shell
Cmder[0] is what I use, it supports all commands that I use on my work MacBook. If I need something Linux-specific like imagemagick, I just use WSL[1]. Some say it's slow but it runs fine. Maybe it's the fact that my PC is like 10x more powerful than my MacBook Pro because it's standard desktop computer with water cooling.
Bottom line, as someone who is using both every day - Windows is fine, it's not 2010 anymore.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
In reality those environments are not "the same". You have all sorts of libraries that are compiled and set up specifically for your system, and those differences add up. With Cloud 9 everything is on an EC2 instance with Linux, exactly the same platform as I will deploy in production.
But why not just use VMWare with Linux locally?
In context of this thread, because aws works with Chromebooks and VMware doesn't.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#99I've been using my Samsung Chromebook Plus for about a year now, and the answer is a fairly clear: no. Everything about it is just sluggish and laggy. The opposite of snappy. This is compounded by the fact that the AWS and GCP web interfaces I spend a lot of time in aren't exactly lightweight, but that's the work. The SSH client is similarly just ever so slightly off. In terms of just compatibility pains, don't even…
That's not a fault of Chromebooks themselves but the ARM CPU. Except for Apple, no one can pull off desktop class ARM right now.
The Pixelbook and the Chromebook Pixels before that have excellent performance for developers.
I'm sure a Chromebook Pro would have been a good choice for a workhorse as well.
Re: Ask HN: Are Chromebooks ready for serious development?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
FYI, Windows 10 also has WSL https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
Yeah, but it is insanely slow https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wsl-febr... https://www.reddit.com/r/bashonubuntuonwindows/comments/7knl...
Strange. I’ve never noticed that.