Linux desktop is great, most devs probably want the option to do iOS and Windows work if needed. I think OSX is ok but a Mac is the only option if you want to cover it all. The track pad is nice as far as track pads go but all track pads become painful after extended use.
The desktop and the developer
11–20 of 304 posts
Re: The desktop and the developer
#12> A desktop environment that made it easier to perform generic development would be a unique selling point.
The power of modern hardware and lightweight VM-centric workflows (vagrant) has made it so that we can enjoy the Mac hardware and interface while working in a lightweight, no-compromises Linux environment.
With my MBP I can spin up a cluster of machines for a project, edit locally (via shared folders) in vim, emacs or IntelliJ, deploy/test on the VMs and turn them off again when I'm done. No need to even mess with much in Homebrew - the tools are all installed on the VMs using Linux package managers.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#13I had been using Linux for years before finally buying a rMBP -- and it took another four months to install Windows 8.1 on it. Any OS has it's problems, and the question is how easy it is to overcome them. Windows does not have a nice console interface, but everything else is fast and frictionless, there are practically no driver problems, etc. I can more ore less work around the lack of proper console (learning Powe…
As a Windows user that needs to hack around every now and then, I can't recommend enough having something like cmder (or just Conemu) plus Vagrant (and a Ubuntu VM, for example) or a playground on a cheap VPS like DigitalOcean. You get to use Windows and Linux at the same time without any major cons.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#14I'm not sure what to think of this blog post. Do anyone really recognize himself or herself in the described developers? It's not even about Mac OS X vs GNU/Linux, I'm not using any desktop environment on my computers (no Gnome, KDE, XFCE, …), my graphical environment is composed of a minimal windows manager and a small taskbar. I don't need anything else. I just checked and I don't even have a graphical file browser…
My usage is very simiilar to yours and it feels very natural and "right" to me.
I see people who are very productive on Mac OS or Windows, know all the shortcuts, etc. yet when I use my MacBook or a Windows machine I feel disoriented. It's all a matter of being familiar with your tools; nothing really magical here.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#15At the beginning of the article, the author is too quick to dismiss the aesthetic and functional merits of a modern Linux installation. My < $300 chromebook can currently run two variations of Linux, both with aesthetically pleasing desktops and a comfortable trackpad with great multitouch support. This also didn't require much (if any) messing around with settings to achieve.
A HTML5 based graphical shell based on ChromiumOS/FirefoxOS could be the solution for Linux desktop.
KDE 1-3 and Gnome 1 were a good desktop environment. I don't get why some devs prefer to rewrite good things. KDE 4 and Gnome 3 hurt the Linux desktop and users are searching for alternatives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE_4#Reception , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_2#GNOME_3 )
Re: The desktop and the developer
#16I had been using Linux for years before finally buying a rMBP -- and it took another four months to install Windows 8.1 on it. Any OS has it's problems, and the question is how easy it is to overcome them. Windows does not have a nice console interface, but everything else is fast and frictionless, there are practically no driver problems, etc. I can more ore less work around the lack of proper console (learning Powe…
But Mac Books have no power management for Windows or Linux.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#17Sometimes, the choice of OS comes down to the availability of tools to do your work. I work in an embedded environment with esoteric compilers and debuggers. Trying to get the vendors to support them in an OS other than Windows in impossible. So I am living in Windows land for my daily work. I use OSX at home, and I cannot really say if my productivity level would go up if the embedded tools were available under OSX.
Having said that, I have migrated to Win7 (on a Lenovo T430 with a SSD) towards the end of last year. For a office workhorse, this setup is one of most productive setup I have used in years!
Re: The desktop and the developer
#18Linux desktop is great, most devs probably want the option to do iOS and Windows work if needed. I think OSX is ok but a Mac is the only option if you want to cover it all. The track pad is nice as far as track pads go but all track pads become painful after extended use.
If someone wants to work on iOS and Android you either buy one laptop (OSX) or you have to buy a mac mini. Wish there were another solution.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#19This line stood out for me:
"They use an Apple because they don't want to use different hardware for work and pleasure."
I'm not a coder, and I don't find the idea of a single machine for work and pleasure particularly appealing. Is there something about software developers that means they like to blur the line between home and work?
Most of the developers I know enjoy coding, and have side projects that involve coding. So code is a skill they use both for work and pleasure.
Is this true for most developers? What other developer behaviours and choices come from that overlap between what they do for work, and what they enjoy doing?
Re: The desktop and the developer
#20I've used OS X at work for the past 2 years and I completely disagree that OS X is nice for developers. I've had a lot of issues that I wouldn't have had if I was using a GNU/Linux distro like Debian. Major issues with GCC after certain updates, outdated GNU software like bash, brew is barely acceptable as a package manager (can't hold a candle to dpkg/apt), and I have to go to websites to get the installers for most big programs (Emacs, Firefox, others) like I'm using Windows anyway. I don't like like the desktop environment, either. The window manager is subpar and the virtual desktops are lacking compared to what you get with most GNU/Linux DEs.
I know that a lot of people disagree with me because I see developers with macbooks all the time, but imo OS X is not a good environment for hackers on a purely technical level (ignoring the issues of proprietary software).