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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

#271

Post by jiggy2011 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #258
jiggy2011 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it , downvoting is intended for comments which are "bad" (irrelevent , rude , incomprehensible , just rehashing what has already been said etc) this makes sense because downvoted comments are made harder to read. Just because most people disagree with a post does not necessarily mean it is not worth reading.. Pherhaps there should be a seperate disagree button but I don't see what purposes it would serv…

I'm also ok with downvoting for comments which you "disagree (factually)", aka you strongly believe the comment is simply objectively incorrect. For example, if I made an unsubstantiated statement that "Water is composed of Hydrogen and Nitrogen", that would be worthy of downvotes. Where that gets tricky is when someone asserts something couter to common wisdom, but attempts to substantiate it. You then need to evalu…

Yes, that is true but in the case of someone asserting something counter to common wisdom then I would err on the side of caution and not downvote. Better to reply directly and point out why they are probably wrong if you have the knowledge to do so.

What really depresses is that they have a similar system on the comments for various UK newspaper websites (Daily Mail I'm looking at you) and you often find that the most uprated comments (which are then displayed at the top of the comments section) are arguments that allot of people may agree with but the arguments (and often the spelling) presented are just terrible and usually consist only of an Ad hominem attack on some person or organisation.

I generally find a thoughtful defense of an unpopular viewpoint a much more interesting read than somebody who thinks they are clever by posting some content free attack on something that is trendy to hate.

Ok, this rant is way off topic now and thankfully this sort of thing seems to be mostly absent from HN :)

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#272

Post by stock_toaster »

wes-exp wrote: post #224
stock_toaster wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like the 13" Air form factor, but the high resolution and smaller physical size results in fonts that are a bit too small for my eyes these days. So, I stick with my couple-gen-back 15" with matte finish and 1440x900.

The new full-screen capabilities in Lion can help with reading on small screens (in fact I think that's why they added it). Combined with bumping up the font size in applications, it can be quite readable.

terminal.app is one of the worst offenders, possibly because I like a good monospace font for it (monaco-with antialias disabled). When adjusting the size away from the 'good default' of 11pt, it looks awful.

Combined with that, bumping up the size in every single app lowers the value proposition for me, especially given the expense of the laptop itself.

I practically live inside my laptop, use it far too much of the day, and anything that makes my eyes hurt more or requires more effort to use instead of less, I consider less than ideal.

Full screen (which I quite enjoy by the way) helps neither or those things.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#273

Post by jmelloy »

RexRollman wrote: post #169

I am still amazed that Apple hasn't come up with a shortcut for app switching when using bluetooth keyboards. By the way, Moconnor, have you given Panic's Prompt a try?

My bluetooth keyboard treats Home as escape, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#274

Post by jmelloy »

RexRollman wrote: post #169

I am still amazed that Apple hasn't come up with a shortcut for app switching when using bluetooth keyboards. By the way, Moconnor, have you given Panic's Prompt a try?

My bluetooth keyboard treats escape as Home, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#275

Post by excoder »

Splines wrote: post #239
jdludlow wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major workflow shift that involves the skies parting and mana floating down from heaven when you switch to a DVCS (git, hg) is the ease and lightweight nature of branching. Having used git for four years, I now feel absolutely filthy if I'm not coding on a branch. If I start coding anything, I make a branch first, because the overhead is nearly zero, if I screw something up I can easily revert, and the downside o…

This. A thousand times this. I use perforce for my daily work, and all too often I'll get to a stopping point and think to myself that my approach isn't working - usually I'll wrap my stuff up in a changelist and save the diff off to a file. Then I need to revert to latest and start my work from there. It's not hard, but it's slightly painful, because if I wanted to try different approaches I end up having dpks lying…

Um ... you might want to try `p4 help shelve` first. Shelved changelists are basically the same as a "git stash" - but they're stored on the server, so other developers on your team can review a changelist before you actually submit it. One of my favorite Perforce features, actually.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#276

Post by ahlatimer »

sliverstorm wrote: post #258
jiggy2011 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it , downvoting is intended for comments which are "bad" (irrelevent , rude , incomprehensible , just rehashing what has already been said etc) this makes sense because downvoted comments are made harder to read. Just because most people disagree with a post does not necessarily mean it is not worth reading.. Pherhaps there should be a seperate disagree button but I don't see what purposes it would serv…

I'm also ok with downvoting for comments which you "disagree (factually)", aka you strongly believe the comment is simply objectively incorrect. For example, if I made an unsubstantiated statement that "Water is composed of Hydrogen and Nitrogen", that would be worthy of downvotes. Where that gets tricky is when someone asserts something couter to common wisdom, but attempts to substantiate it. You then need to evalu…

I'd say it's worse if you make an unsubstantiated statement that goes with the common wisdom than when you go against it. At least when a comment goes against common wisdom, substantiated or otherwise, it can spark interesting discussion. A rehash of commonly held beliefs generally doesn't spark anything that interesting and amounts to little more than noise.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#277

Post by srik »

andrewsardone wrote: post #63
scott_s wrote: post #36

For anyone who spends their day (or most of some days) in a terminal connected to a remote server, I can't recommend using GNU Screen enough (brief tutorial: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935 ). I've worked almost exclusively on remote servers, using the command line and vim, for about eight years now. It's only been in the past year that I started using Screen, and I feel stupid for not using it soo…

Here's a very quick crash course in GNU screen, getting you up to speed with the core components: https://github.com/cdzombak/crashcourse/blob/master/courses/...

Quick, brief and to the point. I like the style. If only it existed when I was learning screen, much better than the man pages for sure.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#278

Post by ConstantineXVI »

swah wrote: post #153
jerf wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would observe that with DVCS, if your hard drive crashes you can still lose several days of un pushed code, too. I recommend and use cron jobs to push and/or rysnc things around on a more frequent basis for my really important stuff.

I'm always doing git push origin develop for this reason, but some environments probably don't allow you to do this easily? I work alone. (EDIT: be nice to people)

We typically work in personal feature branches before merging into develop; if you use a similar workflow there shouldn't be much issue at all from pushing constantly.

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#279

Post by namank »

mitjak wrote: post #217
namank wrote: post #119

What you have done here is an HCI study. On yourself. You could formalize this with related models and write a paper on it if you wanted.

The problem is, IMO, that it is a very narrow use case with a very specific user base that is willing to be very very flexible with this particular user interface (apps timing out when backgrounded, swiping instead of switching via Command+Tab, the low viewing angle etc). It is an interesting preview of what a 'cloud terminal' future could look like but I can't help wondering if the vast majority of viewers on HN are…

Well, yes. But Contextual Design, by definition means building something for a specific user.

As you say, its a first step towards the the pc-free, cloud-enabled, dev environment. The 'cringe' factor will always be there with new things!

Re: I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

#280

Post by ConstantineXVI »

rayiner wrote: post #221
agentultra wrote: post #35

This has to be the most ergonomically inefficient set-up ever! I also cannot fathom how to work with 21" at least). And a tiling window manager. And a decent mechanical keyboard... ok ok.. Interesting setup. I'd be interested in knowing how it works out in the long term.

I used to program with a 24" monitor. Then I switched almost exclusively to my 13" Macbook/Pro and haven't looked back. The screen is just the right size to fit two 80x25 text editor windows side-by-side when full-screened. Swiping back and forth with Mission Control is almost as quick as switching your glance from one big monitor to another. Having your "mouse" right below your keyboard makes clicking something only…

Neat bit I picked up on from Mission Control; if you're using the trackpad swipes (vs ctrl-arrow) to switch, if you don't swipe all the way (roughly 1/3 screen), you can "peek" over at the next space w/o switching and spring back when you let go instead of having to swipe back.
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