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The desktop and the developer
21–30 of 304 posts
Re: The desktop and the developer
#22I use OS X since 2 years but only for Skype, Spotify, Browser etc because apps looks much nicer on OS X than Linux. My whole dev environment is on linux based virtual machine. This way I have nice looking laptop but my dev environment is really close to production environment.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#23This 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 codi…
Good computers for development are relatively expensive but once you're used to one you don't want to go home and use a crappy computer. You probably don't want to buy 2 either.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#24If there were a Linux laptop with the same physical characteristics as my rMBP, I'd swap in a heartbeat.
For me, its all about unibody. Screen quality. Trackpad touch and feel. Keyboard comfort. The rMBP fits the bill for all of these things - I'm NOT content with OSX as an operating system, however, this is just something I put up with (and since I run my Linux dev environment in a VM, big deal anyway). I'm certainly not a typical Mac user - I spend 99% of the time in the terminal.
I've looked at the Google Pixel series, and some of those look like they come pretty close - except I have no desire to use a Google operating system, of course .. and they're just not available locally, like the rMBP's are. But if there were a manufacturer who puts together a machine that has the physical characteristics of the rMBP, I'd happily abandon Apple hardware in an instant.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#25I'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 Major issues with GCC after certain updates, outdated GNU software like bash, brew is barely acceptable as a package manager (can't hold a candle to dpkg/apt), and I have to go to websites to get the installers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…
As someone who's been using OSX full-time for the past two years, and using it in conjuction with a Linux-based desktop computer for the previous ~5.
Yes.
Linux is insanely better for development. But OSX is just passable enough that the form-factor of an Apple laptop wins out and I can work. I don't want to go back to using two computers and OSX is _much_ better at everyday non-developer stuff than any Linux I've ever used so I make do with bad package managers and random compilation issues.
Pray god that I never have to wipe my hard drive though. Getting all the random libraries and whatnot that I've accumulated over the years would be a pain in the arse. (I've been dragging the same backups forward ever since I got my first mac)
PS: do start using Oh-My-Zsh. Your life will be better.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#26I'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…
If you are caring about things like specific bash versions, then you probably don't fall into the category of people who don't want to micromanage every aspect of their system.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#27I'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…
What is that 'minimal windows manager' and what is the benefit of it over Unity (which to me is a few icons down the left and a few icons + notifications in the top right)?
Re: The desktop and the developer
#28I use OS X since 2 years but only for Skype, Spotify, Browser etc because apps looks much nicer on OS X than Linux. My whole dev environment is on linux based virtual machine. This way I have nice looking laptop but my dev environment is really close to production environment.
Precisely, Skype, Spotify and the browser (Chrome/Firefox) look practically the same on all operating systems.
Re: The desktop and the developer
#29I'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…
I only used Linux for a short while and that was when Ubuntu Unity was a very new thing, so I assume it got better now, but then it couldn't possibly compare to OSX virtual desktops; it was usable, but very annoying.
Having said that, I need a terminal (iTerm2), a browser, and a packet manager (homebrew), and I'm happy. I assume build issues would happen on Linux too, and they would probably be harder to resolve (more versions of the OS).
Re: The desktop and the developer
#30I'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…
If you are caring about things like specific bash versions, then you probably don't fall into the category of people who don't want to micromanage every aspect of their system.
Sometimes you just care about having up-to-date bug-fixed software.