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The $80 web development workstation

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Re: The $80 web development workstation

#111

Post by srfulmer »

zdw wrote: post #9

I think the greater point here is the CLI first philosophy - it's faster, and more flexible, even on "lesser" hardware. For example, I treat my Mac nearly the same way with a few pertinent replacements - Vim for editing, Slate for window management, etc. You could likely do the same in Cygwin on a Windows box.

I had the same thought, and use my Mac similarly. Full screen Chrome w/Vimium, iTerm2 and Vim is basically all I need running most of the time. Even ditched Evernote for a simple setup using Dropbox so my hands almost never leave the keyboard.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#112

Post by zhemao »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #57

I would jump ship immediately to Linux full-time if someone developed a really good alternative to Photoshop. Something that's cross platform compatible. You have a PSD file? You can open it with GIMP (as an example). Oh you have a GIMP file? You can open that with Photoshop. Right now, I have way too many people who deal with Adobe and for some stupid reason, Adobe continues to think Linux users are freeloaders who…

I don't think their reason for not developing a Linux version of Photoshop is "they're all freeloaders who won't buy the software". It's more likely "the number of people exclusively using Linux and want a version of Photoshop for their chosen OS is not high enough to justify the development costs."

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#113

Post by tacticus »

Jormundir wrote: post #55
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…

Maybe I should try it again, but last time I used it, I couldn't get programs to just work. I don't want to hate on ubuntu, I liked a lot about it, but so often you can't just install and use something, you have to do a bunch of fiddling. Last time I used it, I couldn't get Dropbox to install correctly. Sublime text would always open in the default spot and with the default window size rather than where I closed it.…

I think the sublime issue would occur if your ~/.config/sublime-text-$ver folder is borked

additionally there are now packages for it so it installs very easily

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#114

Post by TheLegace »

Jormundir wrote: post #32

This article leaves out a key factor of why I've never committed to Linux full time, and why I wouldn't buy an $80 laptop to run linux. I have 1 laptop, and I don't just use it for development. I've tried over and over to use Linux as my primary OS, but every time the sheer jaggedness of the GUI experience, when I'm doing non-development (I guess normal consumer) things, bugs me non-stop until I switch back. It's lik…

You should try elementary OS, and I mean the beta-transition, it is by far the most clean and beautiful user experience you will ever see.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#115

Post by jseliger »

kunai wrote: post #43
jseliger wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really liked the overall point of the article—that one can get a lot done with a relatively old / under-spec'ed machine—but this: "system that was designed for the casual computer user, with little thought given to power users" is outright idiotic, and I very rarely use terms like "outright idiotic." And while Ostrega is right that a new MacBook costs more than $1000, it's probably not uncommon to use one for years…

How is the statement idiotic? I'm a Mac user, and ever since Snow Leopard, Apple has been continually removing features for power users such as true two-dimensional workspaces support and excellent window management in favor of a Frankensteinian nightmare called Mission Control. Changing the OS' appearance requires hacking and reverse-engineering, and Apple has continued to put in consumer-friendly features that are…

Those are true but minor; see Tinco's comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6270441 .

I also use a utility called Moom, which has been very useful for window management.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#116

Post by sprobertson »

kyzyl wrote: post #83
cytzol wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's thoughts on the matter (and on many other matters) is that the user shouldn't ever have to learn to do anything complicated, and rather than risk them not knowing how to do something, they'd rather remove the feature entirely. This is reflected in their window and file management: you get the bare minimum you need to do the job done. The worst example of where this doesn't help is the Zoom button. Not the max…

This is true, and after much frustration I did finally deduce the intended behavior. However, it still isn't quite consistent (or rather, wasn't the last time I worked on a mac, circa 2008) and still seems to be lacking in functionality that the user actually wants . In all my years of working with text editors, I don't think I've ever found myself thinking "This viewport is too small. I wish I could quickly resize i…

Anyone frustrated with the same should check out Slate [https://github.com/jigish/slate] which lets you bind key commands to window positioning and sizing and even screen layouts.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#117

Post by blairbeckwith »

zhemao wrote: post #103
mosselman wrote: post #28

Yes switching workspaces is such a pain on OSX... come on, you just swipe with your fingers. Sure you can do pretty much the same on any linux distro, but that doesn't mean it is not 'seamless' in OSX. We can all agree that windows is just not suited for Rails development, but whatever floats your boat is fine of course. I like crunchbang linux a lot, it is very fast and makes you feel smart. But when it comes to som…

Workspaces? What workspaces? No, having a bunch of full screen apps does not count.

Am I getting whooshed here? You can definitely have multiple workspaces (with multiple windows in each - not just fullscreen apps) and switch between them by swiping...

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#118

Post by eddieroger »

quaffapint wrote: post #58
leokun wrote: post #18

You shouldn't be looking for bargains for your developer hardware. You should pay for what you want, not just for what you need. You spend a lot of time using this for your daily tasks, and it's worth it.

Why does everyone always have to get what they want and not just what they need? I might want a $50,000 car, but I don't need it - this is just sad that people feel they should just always get what they want every time. I applaud the guy for realizing he didn't need to spend $1000.

Unless you make money driving, then that's a false comparison. While I don't think "want" is completely necessary, there's merit to the point that if you are making money off the machine and use it daily, it's worth spending some extra money to get something you want. That may be an $80 Thinkpad, but it may also be a $1500 MacBook.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#119

Post by bendmorris »

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…

One problem here is that you can't really compare OSX to Ubuntu because Ubuntu is not a desktop environment. It has a default desktop environment, but it isn't itself one, and you can swap in another effortlessly and there are typically a wealth of customization options. I'm using XFCE, and I can drag windows to other workspaces just like you, don't have the focus stealing issue, etc.

Re: The $80 web development workstation

#120

Post by TheLegace »

PommeDeTerre wrote: post #16
morgante wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a counter to my point. Even if they're running Linux, it's more and more on a Mac. (And yes, I do see plenty of those.) And let's be honest here: more and more developers are web/app developers.

I think that you may be vastly overestimating the number of web and mobile app developers. They're still a relatively small proportion of all software developers. While web developers may be more vocal and have more content on the web (this isn't unexpected, since they are web developers, after all), you shouldn't forget about the numerous other developers out there. They're working on systems software, embedded soft…

It's a shame too because it's a complete mess in these other fields. And the open source community has been trying to fill in the gaps(quite well I might add). But again official documentation is still lagging. Which is understandable, these people have lives and they are doing it in their free time.

If you look at ARM and Microcontroller development, it's really a sad state of affairs. There isn't a single option officially ARM gives you to do Linux based application. Ironically the only software that is probably going to run on those embedded devices...Linux.

Honestly I wish they would scrap their horrible pathetic excuse for a development environment, and listen to the community who actually you know buy their devices.

Case in point. Try to compare the horridness of the Official STM32 libraries with libopencm3, which is amazing and incredibly simple.

Sincerely.. Fed up embedded developer.

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