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iPad Pro as Development Machine

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Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#81

Post by computerex »

a-saleh wrote: post #36
laurentdc wrote: post #8

This topic comes up every month or so, and there's always this catch: > we need to first create a remote workstation which we can start using as our main development machine. A dumb terminal isn't a development machine. That's like saying "Using my DEC VT100 terminal to develop in Go", let me just hook it up to an actual computer

For me, it 80% is. But I am the kind of a person, who edits his .git/config in VS Code through vim in the embedded terminal :)

Are you referring to the vim emulation plugin in VS Code?

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#82

Post by navs »

I've done this before, just not with an iPad Pro.

I used Blink (because of Mosh support), a Digitalocean droplet running docker and Dropbox for syncing local and remote files. Very similar approach to what's been mentioned in this article.

Some of my experiences as a full-stack web developer:

- Front-end development sucks. You can use Coda for iOS but it doesn't help much. What I was missing was Chrome's inspector. You can do some basic DOM manipulation and console logging via apps and firebug but it's not productive.

- Manipulating image assets. I didn't use the official Dropbox client (I think at the time Linux support wasn't very good) I instead opted for a small script written in bash that talked to the Dropbox api. If there was an image that needed manipulating, I would push that image to a folder in Dropbox, which I could then open in Pixelmator in iOS. Pixelmator would update and sync to Dropbox and I'd run the bash script on the server to pull the updated file.

- Browserstack didn't work on mobile Safari. I don't know if it does now but at the time, I couldn't get it working.

- Lack of multi-tasking. Granted, iOS now supports split screen so maybe this isn't a big deal anymore. I'm ok with looking at one app at a time but app switching in iOS was horribly slow.

This was over 2 years ago and things may be better now but overall as a full-stack web dev, I wouldn't recommend it. It was a frustrating experiment.

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#83

Post by the_pwner224 »

cyberpunk wrote: post #66
satysin wrote: post #61

Tried this a few weeks ago. The iPad Pro has the power but iOS is just too limiting still. You still need a remote system to do any real work on so it is just a £1000+ dumb terminal with a really dodgy keyboard (if using the Apple Smart Folio one anyway). I am hoping Apple will update the 12" MacBook this year so I can try that out for an ultra-portable dev machine. I like the current model but the CPU options are po…

I use a proper desktop when working from home, and an iPad Pro with blink+mosh+tmux to a chunky server when I'm on the move and to be honest I have no problem at all with the keyboard (only nit -- after a day or three heavy use it sometimes takes me a while to stop hitting capslock for escape on my regular keyboard when I'm home) -- What's your problem with it? Edit: Hitting the little... "world" key is sometimes qui…

> (only nit -- after a day or three heavy use it sometimes takes me a while to stop hitting capslock for escape on my regular keyboard when I'm home)

Why don't you rebind your Caps Lock to Esc? For Windows there's uncap ;" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/susam/uncap>; on Linux you can find it in your KDE/Gnome settings or look at the uncap Github page for other methods.

Or if you do use the Caps Lock key frequently, what for?

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#84

Post by elagost »

These articles are always hilarious.

The way most people use iPads as 'dev machines' could be just as easily configured using a $199 netbook from Best Buy and a copy of PuTTY. (Or, buying any not-broken laptop from Craigslist for $50 and saving yourself $1100.)

Granted, as a sysadmin, most of my job could be done on an iPad too (SSH, RDP, web browser, and messaging applications), but every few days I need USB, Serial, VGA, or Ethernet (along with manual config of the adapter), among other things.

So, with these iPad there are always caveats: you end up needing to keep a "real computer" around for all the cases the iPad can't cover, which is most of them.

A few days ago there was a discussion about Termux (https://termux.com/) on Android here, and with things like USB OTG and removable storage that are commonly featured in Android, a Kindle Fire tablet (which cost about $50-150, regularly on sale) would be more usable, even, than an iPad.

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#85

Post by freehunter »

vlunkr wrote: post #23

Everyone is so defensive about laptops here that you’d think they feel threatened by this post. Isn’t it in the spirit of the hacker community to be open to new modes of using computers? This is an experiment, that’s why they documented it and stated clearly that it’s an experiment. It’s something to think about and discuss, not a statement that you should throw your laptop out.

People who work in tech can be surprisingly resistant to change. Anything that threatens to alter someone's workflow will see a huge backlash from people who will always equate "different" with "worse". It's what happens when a cargo cult forms around Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#86

Post by freehunter »

i_cant_speel wrote: post #17
rocky1138 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you wish that? It sounds horrible. Why not just use a laptop (the right tool for the job).

Agreed. I don't know why anyone would want that. It's almost the equivalent of getting DOOM running on random devices.

You say that like it's a bad thing. You do know the title of the forum you're on right now, right?

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#87

Post by opportune »

blinkingled wrote: post #7

This falls under fetish category. Steve Jobs' Post PC world analogy was off in that PCs are the cars, trucks, convertibles etc. and tablets are the scooter. Yes you can do all your grocery shopping on the scooter given the groceries fit, the shop isn't too far away, it's not raining, the mileage will be good etc - you making that one successful grocery trip doesn't mean scooter is a car replacement.

I'd say your own analogy is a little off too. PCs are more of the commercial vehicles: semi trucks, tractors, and industrial equipment. They're mostly used by professionals doing work in some way (also in education and gaming). Mobile phones are the cars - for the average person, most of their interaction with technology is through their smartphone, and for most people, other computing devices aren't really necessary to do what they want to do. I think it's getting pretty common now for people to forgo desktops and laptops not because they can't afford them, but because they don't need them.

Re: iPad Pro as Development Machine

#90

Post by satysin »

cyberpunk wrote: post #66
satysin wrote: post #61

Tried this a few weeks ago. The iPad Pro has the power but iOS is just too limiting still. You still need a remote system to do any real work on so it is just a £1000+ dumb terminal with a really dodgy keyboard (if using the Apple Smart Folio one anyway). I am hoping Apple will update the 12" MacBook this year so I can try that out for an ultra-portable dev machine. I like the current model but the CPU options are po…

I use a proper desktop when working from home, and an iPad Pro with blink+mosh+tmux to a chunky server when I'm on the move and to be honest I have no problem at all with the keyboard (only nit -- after a day or three heavy use it sometimes takes me a while to stop hitting capslock for escape on my regular keyboard when I'm home) -- What's your problem with it? Edit: Hitting the little... "world" key is sometimes qui…

Mostly I didn't like the keyboard and key design. I am fine with the butterfly switches as I have them on my MBP but the rubber texture that introduces a slight wobble/tilt on the keys I found very hard to adapt too. Also lack of backlight option seems a missed opportunity considering it is powered from the iPad. Would be a nice addition.

Also as mentioned in this post the lack of Escape key is frustrating.

Finally the lack of angles for the iPad makes it feel old compared to the Surface Pro and ThinkPad X1 Tablet with their many angle kick stands.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 6 type cover is a far superior keyboard cover than Apple's Folio one. Probably the X1 Tablet one is as well although I have not used it enough to state that for sure.

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