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I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

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Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#201
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah! This is excellent! byobu appears to make screen configuration (particularly status lines) easier, while otherwise keeping out of the way. I won't be switching to F-key controls right away (I have a soft spot for the iTunes and volume bindings on Mac keyboards), but since byobu only speaks when spoken to, it is a welcome addition to my workspace!

Great! You can switch between screens using Control-A and the screen number. I hadn't even known about the function keys until now.

Also $ESCAPE-space and $ESCAPE-backspace move sequentially among screens. control-a is screen's default $ESCAPE, but it's a poor choice given the use of control-a for beginning-of-line. I'm pretty happy with backtick (`) with no modifier now that I'm using $(...) for bash sub commands. You can't use byobu to change $ESCAPE to a sequence that doesn't use control, but it is easily set via "escape ``" in ~/.screenrc.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#203
post #61

One fateful day, VMWare and OS/X conspired to trash my shared filesystem, losing several days of uncommitted code in the process. Several days of uncommitted code? We need to have a heart to heart talk about your process.

So, this is something i worry about. I'm using time machine for backups, so i don't think i'll lose much ... but i'm sorta hazy about how i should be using svn for all these little incremental steps. I'm uncomfortable with committing code that's going to break the whole system. Should i be creating a branch for projects longer than an afternoon, and just committing that fairly often? I feel like eclipse's history is…

"I'm using time machine for backups, so i don't think i'll lose much"

Time Machine is great, but as others have mentioned that may not help if the building catches on fire. It's good to also have your stuff backed up at a different location, preferably in a different time zone. :-)

Edit: Like others, I use DropBox for stuff that doesn't really warrant a full-blown source control system. It's very easy to just right-click, compress, then copy the zip to the DropBox folder.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#204

It looks like the goal of the swap was to have a spartan, lightweight, cool (temperature) workspace. It seems like a MacBook Air accomplishes this better than iPad, stand and keyboard. The only difference I can grok from the article is that the MacBook Air is somehow more fragile. But is it?

The title is a bit disingenuous. Before clicking through, I was wondering how he managed to maintain his productivity level with a touchscreen keyboard. I'm disappointed he's using external hardware, because otherwise I'd love to try a similar setup.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or use TimeMachine if you are on a Mac.

No, if TimeMachine screws up a file it stays screwed up for ever after every backup, there's no integrity checking. It also completly barfs on large files that change little by little. The best example of that is the entourage mail store, but any single file db will do. I've seen clients bit bad by these problems. Don't get me started on the time capsule...

What should we use instead?

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#206
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The wireless keyboard is really good; it's not quite as nice as a mechanical one, but it's easily better than a laptop keyboard. If I ever go back to my MacBook, I'll take the keyboard with me. I have a tiling window manager. It has one tile.

I think you may be missing the point about mechanical keyboards, my friend. The appeal of a mechanical keyboard stems from the switches under the keys that offer varied pressure curves, pressure thresholds, and physical feedback (depending on the switch type). Both the apple wireless keyboard and MBP laptop keyboard use scissor switches which are the typical laptop keyboard switch type. Some people like this switch t…

I have a 13" MBP and a USB apple keyboard. The keys really feel different, despite same layout. External keyboard has easier to feel clicks and requires more pressure. Could be the use on my laptop, though (2 years vs 1 year).

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#207
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, but: 11:12:52 up 44 days, 54 min, 63 users The machines I connect to are restarted rarely. I expect this particular machine to be up until Christmass time, at which point there will probably be some scheduled maintenance.

Can you say the same about your workstation? Can you say the same about your power grid? Can you say the same about your internet connection? Screen/tmux/dtach are so trivial to implement and use and make the connection much more bulletproof that if you foresee there ever being a possibility that you might disconnect and lose work, then you should probably be using one of them.

I think you misunderstood me. I'm the person who said how great Screen is at the top of this thread. My uptime comment was in response to someone who said "the only downside is that it cant persist through a machine restart." That's not much of a downside for me because the machines I have my Screen sessions on are down so rarely - literally, less than half a dozen times a year.

In other words, I use Screen when I connect to remote machines. Those machines go down rarely.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#208

One fateful day, VMWare and OS/X conspired to trash my shared filesystem, losing several days of uncommitted code in the process. Several days of uncommitted code? We need to have a heart to heart talk about your process.

Insightful, and so close to a haiku as well... Here's an attempt: Mac lost my data Many days of work gone Cloud to the rescue

  crafting great software
  takes many small commitments
  like playing Jenga

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#209
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insightful, and so close to a haiku as well... Here's an attempt: Mac lost my data Many days of work gone Cloud to the rescue

It's the poor craftsman Who points the blame at his tools Y U NO COMMIT?

winner

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#210

One fateful day, VMWare and OS/X conspired to trash my shared filesystem, losing several days of uncommitted code in the process. Several days of uncommitted code? We need to have a heart to heart talk about your process.

Insightful, and so close to a haiku as well... Here's an attempt: Mac lost my data Many days of work gone Cloud to the rescue

The cloud went down

Cannot get to my work

Twiddling thumbs feeling dumb

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