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The $80 web development workstation

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Re: The $80 web development workstation

#131

Post by SamReidHughes »

edwinnathaniel wrote: post #121
tinco wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Check out http://system76.com , hardware for ubuntu specifically.

No, that's just a Clevo rebrander.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#132

Post by cenhyperion »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #49

Come on, we can do better than that. This is not to besmirch Apple or any silliness like that, my comment here is about this view point. The "de facto standard?" This view is probably common among programming hipsters but its hard to take seriously. There is a world out there besides Apple and RoR that is not just enterprise slog ... As far as the $80 machine ... I mean ok ... If you are on a serious budget but ... I…

>The "de facto standard?" This view is probably common among programming hipsters but its hard to take seriously.

I didn't realize the entire web developer community was comprised of only "hipsters", whatever that word even means now.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#133

Post by millstone »

vjoel wrote: post #127
millstone wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

In XFCE, you can move windows by pressing them against the side of the screen. Go to Settings, WindowManager, Advanced. Click "Wrap workspaces when dragging..." and choose your desired edge resistance. However, I prefer to re-map CapsLock to , and define - -Up to move window to workspace up, and so on. Can't help with the stealing, sorry.

Hmm...I found the setting and it sure looks promising. I can switch between workspaces by moving the mouse cursor, as long as I am not dragging a window. If I am dragging a window then it refuses to switch.

Anyways thanks for the tip.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#134

Post by kevincrane »

dkuntz2 wrote: post #92
kevincrane wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's popular to hate on Ubuntu, but I personally love it and its UI. I've used Ubuntu since 11.04 and run 13.04 on my personal laptop (for development and day-to-day stuff). I'm a sucker for pretty things like translucent title bars and snapping windows to full-screen, but I also love how easy it is to develop with Linux (as opposed to Windows). Everything is usually a single command away on the command line (sudo ap…

The core of Ubuntu is fine, I just don't really like Unity. While you can technically use regular Ubuntu and install Gnome, I've always had some weird stuff happen because Unity's still around. My typical suggestion for other people is Ubuntu Gnome, because it provides them with the "just working" Linux, and most people I've talked to enjoy Gnome more than Unity. As for regular Ubuntu, I'm not really a fan of their r…

Yeah, I'm kind of the same way. I love Unity and want them to succeed heavily, but I wish they'd jive better with the rest of the Linux world.

I haven't used Gnome 3 enough to make a fair comparison, but I loved Gnome 2 and was loathing the transition to Unity with 12.04. After a few days of using it though, I loved most of what it offered me. Realistically, my biggest concerns were screen real estate (13" laptop, minimal vertical pixels) and quick access to my programs (cmd opens the launcher), so i was really happy with Ubuntu for that.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#135

Post by danneu »

I had a low-end travel laptop that turned into my main laptop for three years when my previous laptop died.

This $80 setup sounds cheap until you realize you're paying the real cost with your time.

You'll pay the toll every time you:

- Have more than a few browser tabs open, god forbid you plan on running Youtube in one of them.

- Want to quickly open Firebug.

- `rails server` or `rake test`.

- Run out of 512mb after opening two apps.

- Decide which tabs/apps to close to free up some resources.

But those aren't even the best examples since the reality is that it's nickel and diming your time in a way you won't realize until you finally get a machine that liberates you from all the waiting.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#136

Post by kevincrane »

tjr wrote: post #59
wildster wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the hardcore linux folk all seem to hate on Ubuntu, but it does just work.

One reason that some avoid Ubuntu: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/ubuntu-spyware.html

I agree that it was a shitty default configuration/decision, but uninstalling Amazon was as trivial as you could possibly get, so I'm not really concerned about that.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#137

Post by kevincrane »

millstone wrote: post #108
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,…

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…

Regarding #1 on your list, no other OS I've used requires precise window resizing. For a vast majority of programs I use, I want them to be fullscreen or half the window. Ubuntu allows you to easily drag to a side to full/half-screen things.

#3. When I do ctrl-alt-left/right/up/down, it moves the workspace with me, so you retain focus on the window the whole time, plus it shows a brief display and arrow showing the window moving. It might still be weird to use hotkeys, but I definitely know where the window went at all times.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#138

Post by neoyagami »

I started with a ububtu box (ubuntu 10) in a crappy laptop. And was very usable and fun. Loved vim and gnome 2. But some times the system went a little buggy and with a bit of effort i bought a MB unibody(the first model) since then i use osx. More than once i had to jump to linux and its fine. But every time i had to use eindows i cand stand it. A couple of years ago i was diagnosef with LHON and started to lost my sight .( not completely and now im recivering it) and ctrl+scroll with inertia zoom integrated into te system had keepeeng me still in the game of development. A similar tool also is integrated in the iphone.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#139

Post by neoyagami »

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,…

Because i comes with almost everithin we need to develop out of the box . Also rock solid systrm. And if you got sone problem and inst at a google search of beign solved . Then just go to the apple store and get help. I never needed te second one

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#140

Post by davidhollander »

barrkel wrote: post #100
davidhollander wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Tiling window managers don't maximize the use of small screen area; they ensure you'll almost always be using a fraction of the screen instead of the full screen. Overlapping windows are the thing that maximized the use of a small screen, because they let you dedicate as much or as little of the screen to any given application when its window is on top. What you are after, rather, is an efficient way of having the en…

I have found cascading to be an unhappy medium in the past. In awesome-wm, I'll tap [Win+Space] to toggle between 100% overlapped (fullscreen with unoccluded task bar) and 0% overlapped (multi-column horizontal). [Win+J] and [Win+K] cycle windows. [Win+H] and [Win+L] resize the width of the primary column in a multicolumn layout.

So let's say I have a terminal window with VIM, and a web browser with a tutorial or documentation open up to the left of it. I quickly need to scroll the web page down to continue the example, BUT the VIM window is currently focused. Assuming the web browser can be scrolled using [J] and [K], I'll simply tap [Win-K, J, Win-J] to accomplish this task while avoiding modifying the layout or leaving the home row to use a pointing device. If I don't actually need to display multiple columns at the same time, I just press the change layout key to stop using a multicolumn layout.

So as a VIM user I've been very happy with this setup in awesome-wm for the past 2+ years, but if you wish to recommend an alternative I will definitely give it an install.

edit: I was able to write a new layout function for awesome-wm which implements diagonal cascading in the manner you described and retains my keybindings. I definitely agree that cascading makes it bluntly obvious which window is the currently focused one. I'll have to play around with it more.

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