The $80 web development workstation

Post by edwinnathaniel » Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 5:08 AM UTC

tinco wrote: post #39

quaunaut wrote: post #21

Honest question here: Why would anyone ever think OS X has "world-class interface design"? It's missing basic interface features that have been bog standard in Ubuntu/Windows for years, like any sort of proper window management. Hell, the maximize button actually doesn't work - it has such inconsistent use that you have almost no hope of actually getting what you want out of it. To get even decent window management,…

It is Unix with no driver problems. It is unix with both all free software and all proprietary software (except games). It is unix with a consistent pretty unobtrusive desktop environment that is easy to use and has sane defaults. It is unix with an accelerated window compositor that's always responsive and has no bugs. Anyway, that was what it was in 10.6. Nowadays Ubuntu does all those things too to a certain exten…

Post by duaneb » Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 5:21 AM UTC

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #15

I ran Linux on the desktop for almost 20 years, till recently taking a Rails job where EVERYONE used Macs, and finally bought a MBP. This refrain, "OSX is Unix," seems to be very common, but I'm not feeling it. As I just tweeted today: "How much 'Unix' is in OS X when I can't use CTRL-s to freeze the terminal? Pfft." For something that's supposedly got all the power of Unix, it sure doesn't seem to expose much of it…

Post by millstone » Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 5:24 AM UTC

bendmorris wrote: post #119

millstone wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a long time Mac user, I never use the zoom button. It rarely does anything useful. And Finder really needs a Go Up button, as you say. So those are two valid points you raise. I'll try to explain what I like about the Mac and what bothers me when I use Linux. Since you mentioned window management, I'll focus on that, comparing it to Ubuntu 12. 1. Window resizing in OS X is way nicer. It's actually possible to resi…

One problem here is that you can't really compare OSX to Ubuntu because Ubuntu is not a desktop environment. It has a default desktop environment, but it isn't itself one, and you can swap in another effortlessly and there are typically a wealth of customization options. I'm using XFCE, and I can drag windows to other workspaces just like you, don't have the focus stealing issue, etc.

Post by vjoel » Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 5:50 AM UTC

millstone wrote: post #125

bendmorris wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem here is that you can't really compare OSX to Ubuntu because Ubuntu is not a desktop environment. It has a default desktop environment, but it isn't itself one, and you can swap in another effortlessly and there are typically a wealth of customization options. I'm using XFCE, and I can drag windows to other workspaces just like you, don't have the focus stealing issue, etc.

I've also tried Xubuntu (= Ubuntu + xfce) and I preferred it to Ubuntu, although Xubuntu's window resizing is even more busted. Your post prompted me to give it another try. I found that you can drag windows between workspaces in the "mini workspace viewer" in the upper right, which is definitely an improvement over Ubuntu. However, you can't move them by simply pressing the windows against the side of the screen. Th…

Post by danneu » Sun, Aug 25, 2013, 5:58 AM UTC

davidhollander wrote: post #48

zdw wrote: post #9

I think the greater point here is the CLI first philosophy - it's faster, and more flexible, even on "lesser" hardware. For example, I treat my Mac nearly the same way with a few pertinent replacements - Vim for editing, Slate for window management, etc. You could likely do the same in Cygwin on a Windows box.

To me the most important factor for developing on a laptop mentioned in the article is the use of a tiling window manager. For me an incredibly common task in web development is to have a web browser and 1 or more terminal windows tiled horizontally, side by side, in an [ A | B ] or [ A | [ B | C ]] configuration, where A is a web browser, and B and C are terminals. In order for this to work for me on a screen resolu…