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Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#171

Post by jonhendry »

trevelyan wrote: post #18
kls wrote: post #6

Yes the MBP is a good machine, and you can get all of the items you listed on OSX. It is a good development platform if you decide to go that route. I have worked exclusively on MBP for the last two generations of my machines. This is coming from a guy that got burnt really bad on the 68-PPC conversion a while back (had basically a brick within 6mo of buying a new 68). That is another story but sufficient to say, I s…

Ubuntu runs hot on the MBP and will chew through your battery power even if you aren't running it in a VM. So MacOS is Unix anyway, you say? Too bad the default libraries are a pain to upgrade, trivial applications like "locate" and "wget" are missing and you'll have to manually configure stuff like page up/page down if you want the terminal to be useful. I've had repeated issues compiling different "cross platform"…

locate isn't missing. The database isn't built by default, but you can do that.

Mouse-Rig-Test:~ jon$ locate usage: locate [-0Scims] [-l limit] [-d database] pattern ...

default database: `/var/db/locate.database' or $LOCATE_PATH

Mouse-Rig-Test:~ jon$ which locate

/usr/bin/locate

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#172

Post by yummyfajitas »

tvon wrote: post #159
yummyfajitas wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some "features" of iTunes: When I import my music folder, iTunes copies all the files to it's own private directories, using the filesystem as an index. Thanks, but my music is already arranged the way I like. iTunes doesn't play flac or ogg. And when I rip a CD, it wants to save it in some proprietary flac-like format (which, as far as I know, does not work on non-macs). I enjoy controlling my music from a phone/tab…

> When I import my music folder, iTunes copies all the files to it's own private directories, This is optional and IIRC, not on by default. I have to add: > Thanks, but my music is already arranged the way I like. This just baffles me. Why would you ever manually arrange your music? I used to do this when I use Linux because I basically had to if I wanted to browse it in any sane way, but I much prefer having some ap…

This just baffles me. Why would you ever manually arrange your music? I used to do this when I use Linux because I basically had to if I wanted to browse it in any sane way, but I much prefer having some app do it for me. It just strikes me as one of the many things that my computer can do well, so it should do it.

It is more or less automatically arranged (by grip). I make the occasional tweak when grip screws up. As far as browsing goes, mpd supports all of that based on file metadata. Having a filesystem arrangement under my control is useful for this purpose:

    $ cp /misc/music/Johnny_Cash/American*/* /media/generic_non_ipod_music_player/
Since I have more music than normally fits on a portable player, this step is unavoidable (I can't just copy everything over).

(Actually there is another step involved since I store music as lossless flac files, which most portables don't play. See http://github.com/stucchio/Mp3FS for details.)

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#173

Post by b1twise »

trevelyan wrote: post #18
kls wrote: post #6

Yes the MBP is a good machine, and you can get all of the items you listed on OSX. It is a good development platform if you decide to go that route. I have worked exclusively on MBP for the last two generations of my machines. This is coming from a guy that got burnt really bad on the 68-PPC conversion a while back (had basically a brick within 6mo of buying a new 68). That is another story but sufficient to say, I s…

Ubuntu runs hot on the MBP and will chew through your battery power even if you aren't running it in a VM. So MacOS is Unix anyway, you say? Too bad the default libraries are a pain to upgrade, trivial applications like "locate" and "wget" are missing and you'll have to manually configure stuff like page up/page down if you want the terminal to be useful. I've had repeated issues compiling different "cross platform"…

The solution to it running warmer with Ubuntu is to run a utility to manage the fan speeds and keep it cooler. It works just fine for me that way.

I've had a few Thinkpads running Ubuntu and now a MBP running Ubuntu.. and I prefer the MBP.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#174

Post by dmm »

bradleyland wrote: post #62
kls wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So MacOS is Unix anyway, you say? I don't recall saying that it is or is not in my post above. Please don't put words in my mouth. but it is not nearly as good a platform for developers as Ubuntu by any means you are painting a pretty broad stroke there. I do web and mobile development, both require application like Photoshop, professional video editing tools while web specifically Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and…

Just a heads up, you can feel perfectly confident saying that OS X is Unix. Snow Leopard is UNIX 03 certified. http://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3581.htm

I don't know what UNIX means to you but where I come from UNIX means an atomic rename(2).

http://www.weirdnet.nl/apple/rename.html

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#175

Post by rafiq »

buro9 wrote: post #76
yummyfajitas wrote: post #69

If you want to do development in a language other than python/ruby, or even want to use python libraries written in c, avoid the macbook. If you are certain you will stick to {svn, git, django, python, vim}, you'll be fine. My mac ownership timeline: Day 1: Ooh, pretty. 2-3 days: I fucking hate iTunes. Luckily ports install mpd works. 1 month: Ooh, the pretty magsafe connector saved me from dropping it when I tripped…

Uncanny. I'm also 4 months in and am running Ubuntu in VMWare. That's now where I spend all of my time and I'm wondering why I haven't just dual-booted already or just over-written the OSX partition.

Unfortunately the dual boot solution does not work if you're writing low-level code as I found out when playing with some gnu assembler code. I mostly do development on a VirtualBox machine. I'm considering switching back to a PC.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#176

Post by c00ki3s »

bitwize wrote: post #81
mironathetin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot go wrong with a Thinkpad, but you can do better, IMHO. I enjoyed my last Thinkpad (t40) a lot. Still have and use it after 6 years. But especially with linux, battery life wasn't very good (now the battery is completely dead of course). The fan never stopped. To answer the question of the OP: yes, it is totally worth to learn Mac OS. First, the effort is small. Second, you will save a lot of admin time. Th…

I just bought a ThinkPad T510. What caused me to convert was the advertised EIGHT HOUR battery life. Yes, it's true. Under moderate load you can expect to get maybe six or seven; under heavy load maybe four. But that's not bad. Better than many netbooks and this is a full-sized laptop.

Just wondering, is this under Linux or Windows? And what version? Thanks in advance.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#177

Post by onedognight »

trevelyan wrote: post #18
kls wrote: post #6

Yes the MBP is a good machine, and you can get all of the items you listed on OSX. It is a good development platform if you decide to go that route. I have worked exclusively on MBP for the last two generations of my machines. This is coming from a guy that got burnt really bad on the 68-PPC conversion a while back (had basically a brick within 6mo of buying a new 68). That is another story but sufficient to say, I s…

Ubuntu runs hot on the MBP and will chew through your battery power even if you aren't running it in a VM. So MacOS is Unix anyway, you say? Too bad the default libraries are a pain to upgrade, trivial applications like "locate" and "wget" are missing and you'll have to manually configure stuff like page up/page down if you want the terminal to be useful. I've had repeated issues compiling different "cross platform"…

Ubuntu runs hot on the MBP and will chew through your battery power

This was the case with my Lenovo as well until I found powertop and followed its suggestions.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#178

Post by simonft1 »

kls wrote: post #138
jaxn wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love multitouch, but keystrokes are so much faster than using the touchpad.

Sure it depends on what task I am trying to accomplish, I should have prefaced that. If I am in the IDE I use the keyboard. But, if I am doing tasks like managing files I tend to use the pad.

Even for copying files, the keyboard is often quite a bit faster. Especially if you take the time to learn bash well.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#179

Post by larsberg »

robgough wrote: post #98
bradleyland wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find the interface requires that I use the mouse way to often, and I have to know all Apple's special key combinations to get anything done If you expect to get anything done without using the mouse, knowing all the "special key combinations" is a pre-requisite for any OS. I hate to be the kool-aid drinker that jumps to Apple's defense, but I hear a lot of complaints about OS X keyboard accessibility that simply…

It took me over two years to find that checkbox, as I didn't know to look for it. Not being able to dismiss a dialog box with the keyboard was driving me mad. System Prefs>Keyboard>Keyboard Shortcuts>"All Controls"

You are my hero.

Seriously.

Re: Ask HN: Best Developer Linux Laptop?

#180

Post by fnl »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #69

If you want to do development in a language other than python/ruby, or even want to use python libraries written in c, avoid the macbook. If you are certain you will stick to {svn, git, django, python, vim}, you'll be fine. My mac ownership timeline: Day 1: Ooh, pretty. 2-3 days: I fucking hate iTunes. Luckily ports install mpd works. 1 month: Ooh, the pretty magsafe connector saved me from dropping it when I tripped…

I use OSX 10.6 for C and Python, at times Cpp and only if forced to I even do Ruby or Java development on my MBPs (got two - boast...). I do not like either fink or MacPorts and install everything myself. So far, I have not encountered a single library or program I needed and was not able to install after some research at worst. This means virtually all essential C and C++ libraries mentioned in these posts (I do not bother with "junk" - and OSX comes with a sensible default selection, too). The only big boo-hoo is that OSX' Python build is a narrow build, but fixes a socket problem that makes using MacPython slightly unattractive. So, if you really only want hardcore development from your beloved shell and vi, get a laptop and run Gentoo. If you want to enjoy digital media (movies, sound, etc.) while working and want to have a consistent and interoperable UI experience, go Mac. Period.
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