The desktop and the developer • Hacker News Board

Re: The desktop and the developer

#31

Post by lvillani » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:13 PM UTC

davexunit wrote: post #20

I'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 Major issues with GCC after certain updates, outdated GNU software like bash, brew is barely acceptable as a package manager (can't hold a candle to dpkg/apt), and I have to go to websites to get the installers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 have to go to websites to get the installers for most big programs

There's "brew cask" for that! (http://caskroom.io/)

Re: The desktop and the developer

#32

Post by Snoooze » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:13 PM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #24

If 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 certainl…

Yes, this article really fails to mention the superior build quality of the MPB, which I think is one of the biggest reasons they are popular

Re: The desktop and the developer

#33

Post by harel » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:14 PM UTC

I just don't get how OSX is so popular with a developers. It is essentially a "user's" OS. Not a developer one. Its geared towards, and hides a lot from, the common user. Setting up OSX with all the dev stack is usually a painful experience requiring a few workarounds (I see this with colleagues of mine who wanted a Mac over a Thinkpad with Linux). The keyboard as well is anythign but developer friendly. Where are those damn Page Up/Down keys? Yes the hardware itself looks nice, albeit a bit outdated to my liking, and you pay a silly premium for it. It breaks more often than it should, and those shiny screens just don't fit code (to my matte liking eyes anyway). But hey, its trendy and hip so why not.

Re: The desktop and the developer

#34

Post by fideloper » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:14 PM UTC

"The problem goes deeper"

Virtual machines are now more easy to use than ever. Your host OS matters less and less.

Furthermore, Linux flavored OSes don't support the "secondary" applications we require that Macintoshes do - Microsoft Word/Excel, Photoshop...and working sound card drivers.

Re: The desktop and the developer

#35

Post by harel » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:15 PM UTC

Haul4ss wrote: post #10

I think there are additional reasons MacBooks are more popular. Certainly you can't ignore the bandwagon effect. All the cool kids have MacBooks. I'm not saying that's why everyone owns one, but you can't discount it as a reason. Also, the hardware is really nice. I know I'm making Stallman cringe when I say it, but Apple makes products that are enjoyable to use. And if you're going to use the Apple hardware, OS X is…

I think today you'll be cooler not using a mac... Herd mentality causes the non mac user to be the new 'individual free thinking anarchist'

Re: The desktop and the developer

#36

Post by HeyImAlex » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:16 PM UTC

iaskwhy wrote: post #13

sz4kerto wrote: post #8

I 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.

I have to use a windows machine at work and I've settled on cygwin, console2, sublimetext, and vagrant. Ubuntu at home, but I love the VM workflow so much that I've switched over; it has an obscene number of benefits for a low amount of upfront work. Every morning I pull changes if I need to, cd /to/the/project, vagrant up && vagrant ssh, and I'm in a perfectly configured dev machine. Work on ~2007 Dells and its smooth as silk.

Re: The desktop and the developer

#37

Post by glogla » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:16 PM UTC

> But even if we fixed all those things, why would somebody migrate?

I would. Desktop Linux has many great features, like actual tiling WM, SOTA filesystems, cheap virtualization for development, or that all software is managed the same way, instead of the mess that is OS X and Windows where some software is managed using brew, some using packages, some take care of updates by itself, some doesn't, etc.

Re: The desktop and the developer

#38

Post by cs02rm0 » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:19 PM UTC

davexunit wrote: post #20

I'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 use a macbook, but agree with you.

Unfortunately as a piece of hardware it seems to me virtually unrivalled, the latest internal components are available to new machines promptly, they have great displays with loads of real estate, long battery life, very good manufacturer support and the 13" is a superb, thin form factor for travelling with.

I run a cluster of Linux VMs on it using vagrant so it's just my browser, IDE and compiler to worry about (which being a Java dev isn't the big deal I'm sure GCC is). But I sorely long for a Debian based Linux desktop and package manager on the host. Every new macbook I get I try and install Linux and every time it's unfathomably painful, even when it works the experience is so poor I'm forced to abandon it.

But what other mobile kit is out there, built to the same standards?

Re: The desktop and the developer

#39

Post by pcunite » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:19 PM UTC

I use Windows 7 to write for Linux. The real story here is that even developers don't want to write code in Linux for Linux.

Re: The desktop and the developer

#40

Post by tst » Tue, May 20, 2014, 12:20 PM UTC

davexunit wrote: post #20

I'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 completely agree on the package manager issue. I switched to OS X about 6 years ago. Before that I mainly used Arch Linux with wmii. My switch from Arch to OS X took about 6 months in which I slowly migrated. At first, it was pretty great but when I wanted to upgrade software or install some new one it was horrible. Back then I used macports and I can't remember all the problems. It was a downgrade from pacman (and apt). I gave up coding a bit because it wasn't so much fun anymore.

Lately, I started using a linux vps as my development environment and it's so much better. It's worth switching just for a good package management system.