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Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

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Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#11

Post by duncan_bayne »

duncan_bayne wrote: post #3

My history: 1995: started using Linux as a hobby dev OS 2000: switched from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux at work (C) 2002: moved to .NET, used Windows at work and Linux at play 2006: mix of Linux and Windows at work 2011: abandoned .NET entirely; mix of Linux and OSX at work, Linux for play 2013: entirely Linux 2014: mix of FreeBSD and Linux for work and play So it's fair to say I've solid experience in both, plus a fair…

Check out my dev environment setup scripts here:

https://github.com/duncan-bayne/mint-setup

Nothing fancy (no Chef or similar, just a few shell scripts) but may give you some ideas. I most recently used them a few days ago to provision an old MacBook Pro as a spare dev machine at work.

I've a similar thing (more of a work in progress than the above Mint stuff) for FreeBSD:

https://github.com/duncan-bayne/freebsd-setup/

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#12

Post by duncan_bayne »

duncan_bayne wrote: post #3

My history: 1995: started using Linux as a hobby dev OS 2000: switched from Windows NT 4.0 to Linux at work (C) 2002: moved to .NET, used Windows at work and Linux at play 2006: mix of Linux and Windows at work 2011: abandoned .NET entirely; mix of Linux and OSX at work, Linux for play 2013: entirely Linux 2014: mix of FreeBSD and Linux for work and play So it's fair to say I've solid experience in both, plus a fair…

Relatedly, I still have my copy of this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61TlqCEt%2BBL._SX300_....

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#16

Post by smt88 »

hasenj wrote: post #15

I use OS X because of the better hardware and nicer GUI/UX. After installing homebrew, MacVim, iTerm, and Chrome, I can't think of anything major I miss from Linux/Ubuntu. I'm mostly doing front-end development. No "Docker" stuff or anything fancy like that.

Nicer GUI/UX is subjective. I find that the OS X GUI kills my productivity, but others may feel the opposite. Linux is highly configurable, at least, so you could get near-perfect OS X UI on a Linux machine.

As for the hardware: I'm running Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro laptop, and it runs great. It boots much faster than my clean Yosemite install. In fact, Yosemite's performance was abysmal compared to Ubuntu.

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#17

Post by smt88 »

jackgolding wrote: post #10

It is interesting that this is the most Linux sided Linux vs OSX discussion I've seen on HN. I personally just got a iMac which has boosted my productivity compared to working on a Macbook. Could have been the effect of cleaning my desk though.

I despise OS X for many reasons, and I have for years. However, I used to be pretty silent on discussions like these. My issues were (mostly) subjective and personal.

With the release of Yosemite, I'm now vocal about my dislike of OS X. It is objectively an inferior OS.

I believe many HN readers are in the same boat now. There have been quite a few threads about the decline in quality control for OS X/iOS in the last few years.

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#18

Post by vladimir-y »

I am also curious what are objective reasons to use OS X (apple laptops) over Linux for code developers?

For code developers Linux is better, it's free and open, all sorts of trendy things more convenient to test and use on Linux, there is everything could be configured (and you will have to configure everything :)) Even for not code developers but picture/3d it's better to use laptops with pro graphic cards (FirePro/Quadro) than apple laptops. Also OS X is proprietary, so if you are conspiracy theorists it's probably not the best choice.

Currently I'm using Dell E7440 (FHD IPS screen (no touch) and SSD is essential) and Arch linux + Gnome shell (there is also win 8 as second system, just for case), and I'm happy so far.

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#19

Post by Someone1234 »

smt88 wrote: post #16
hasenj wrote: post #15

I use OS X because of the better hardware and nicer GUI/UX. After installing homebrew, MacVim, iTerm, and Chrome, I can't think of anything major I miss from Linux/Ubuntu. I'm mostly doing front-end development. No "Docker" stuff or anything fancy like that.

Nicer GUI/UX is subjective. I find that the OS X GUI kills my productivity, but others may feel the opposite. Linux is highly configurable, at least, so you could get near-perfect OS X UI on a Linux machine. As for the hardware: I'm running Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro laptop, and it runs great. It boots much faster than my clean Yosemite install. In fact, Yosemite's performance was abysmal compared to Ubuntu.

This is a little off topic, but how is the battery life on your Macbook Pro when running Ubuntu? Last I looked Ubuntu ran fine, it just cut your battery life in half (actually both Windows and Ubuntu cut your battery life in half, when ran natively/bootcamp, and not via VM).

So has that improved at all. It certainly hasn't on Windows on a Mac (the Apple bootcamp drivers are really unoptimised).

Re: Ask HN: Linux family vs. Mac OS X family for Development?

#20

Post by vladimir-y »

Someone1234 wrote: post #19
smt88 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicer GUI/UX is subjective. I find that the OS X GUI kills my productivity, but others may feel the opposite. Linux is highly configurable, at least, so you could get near-perfect OS X UI on a Linux machine. As for the hardware: I'm running Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro laptop, and it runs great. It boots much faster than my clean Yosemite install. In fact, Yosemite's performance was abysmal compared to Ubuntu.

This is a little off topic, but how is the battery life on your Macbook Pro when running Ubuntu? Last I looked Ubuntu ran fine, it just cut your battery life in half (actually both Windows and Ubuntu cut your battery life in half, when ran natively/bootcamp, and not via VM). So has that improved at all. It certainly hasn't on Windows on a Mac (the Apple bootcamp drivers are really unoptimised).

For linux based laptops to gain battery life it's important to use software as powertop / tlp.

It is logical that the apple laptop has a decent battery life, since apple uses a pre-defined hardware list, according to which operating system drivers are polished.

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