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Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

nolanlawson.com

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Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#41

Post by Darkstryder »

jonathanoliver wrote: post #29

I'm a backend developer but after switching for Windows to Mac (and from C# to Go) about 8 years ago, I recently (in the last 6 months) adopted an almost exclusive Linux-only approach. My MBP has been great but ever since the Touch Bar and finicky keyboards that kept needing repairs from authorized retailers, I started looking more and more at Linux. All the production code runs in Linux and, while Docker on Mac is p…

If like me you have a browser opened at all time, on Linux you could consider using the 1Password browser extension even needing a password not web-related.

I use 1Password for Firefox on Linux and it works flawlessly.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#42

Post by httpsterio »

sourcaustic wrote: post #39

I've worked as a web dev on Linux for nearly 15 years (most of it Ubuntu). My day job requires that I work on Windows 10 and I'm sorry to say this, but from a developer's perspective it does feel like an inferior user experience. To cope I've tried the WLS, but it didn't really do it, then I was able to somewhat cope a bit with Cygwin. Still it's not the same. I miss the extra desktops. I miss the ability to install…

Have you tried AquaSnap or bug.n? There's also the possibility to run i3 on Windows these days.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#43

Post by httpsterio »

httpsterio wrote: post #42
sourcaustic wrote: post #39

I've worked as a web dev on Linux for nearly 15 years (most of it Ubuntu). My day job requires that I work on Windows 10 and I'm sorry to say this, but from a developer's perspective it does feel like an inferior user experience. To cope I've tried the WLS, but it didn't really do it, then I was able to somewhat cope a bit with Cygwin. Still it's not the same. I miss the extra desktops. I miss the ability to install…

Have you tried AquaSnap or bug.n? There's also the possibility to run i3 on Windows these days.

Forgot to mention, there are also several AHK scripts that mimic i3 that are quite nifty and then of course Windows has had virtual desktops for years.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#44

Post by Mikeb85 »

esotericn wrote: post #21

Does anyone else find these sort of articles strange? "Windows on the Desktop as a Developer" feels like the unique/odd case to me. Perhaps I'm just getting old, or I'm stuck in a specific social group? I don't mean to belittle the author at all, Linux just feels like an absolute default to me nowadays for a developer, in the late 90s that may not have been the case, sure.

There's a large amount of developers making shitty enterprise tools on Windows. Usually done with the whole VS/C# stack. Anyone making anything for the web or doing anything cross platform is likely using MacOS or Linux.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#45

Post by walshemj »

esotericn wrote: post #21

Does anyone else find these sort of articles strange? "Windows on the Desktop as a Developer" feels like the unique/odd case to me. Perhaps I'm just getting old, or I'm stuck in a specific social group? I don't mean to belittle the author at all, Linux just feels like an absolute default to me nowadays for a developer, in the late 90s that may not have been the case, sure.

Realistically your "PC" is just a way to get a terminal on which ever system your developing - the only downside is you wont have easy access to office/outlook. Wat MS should do is just ship a proper x server with widows

If your a singleton developer is not so much of a problem going 100% Linux - working in the enterprise a lot of your actual work is going to be wrighting text documents and not code.

And dude do your self a favor and get a proper mech key board - your asking for RSI in later life

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#46

Post by 29athrowaway »

bengalister wrote: post #33

I run Linux (Arch) on my personal Dell XPS13. I run Ubuntu 20.04 in a VM at work to do NodeJs/Springboot (backend) development and even in a VM, especially for node, the experience is better than colleagues running bare metal Windows. Going back to the XPS13 the Linux experience is not perfect. * the mess with the HiDpi support and font systems. I often go from the laptop docked to a Usb-C hub to using my laptop on m…

I use bluetooth audio on Linux and I don't have problems with it, but I do not use a laptop. I do not often suspend, resume my system.

I guess most of your problems may be coming from ACPI (power management).

Linux software under WSL would consume even more battery life.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#47

Post by 29athrowaway »

dsamlkadslmksda wrote: post #27
dugmartin wrote: post #3

I've been using a Dell 13" Ubuntu 4K laptop hooked to a 43" monitor as my main work web development system for a year and a half. All of my co-workers use Macs. Pros: compared to Macs using Docker is very performant especially when sharing the host file system for development and once I found Regolith ( https://regolith-linux.org/ ) I don't think I could go back to a normal windowing system. Cons: non-Electron cross-…

Do you mind to share the model of your 43" monitor? I'm looking for a setup like yours, but I'm not really sure which monitor fits the purpose. Thank you!

A 4K TV does the trick too.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#48

Post by jrumbut »

After years of Linux and a little OSX I have had to switch to Windows for the last few years.

Web development on Windows is much improved since 10-15 years ago when it was a total nightmare. Most of the open source languages along with Git Bash leaves me with a lot of the best of both worlds.

What I really miss is the way a Linux desktop wholly adapted to your workflow, nothing extra, everything working in harmony and enabling very high efficiency once you have momentum built up on a project. Tools like vim, gdb, and ssh all complement each other and fit neatly with the rest of the system.

After three years on a Windows desktop, it feels no better optimized to my workflow than it did week 3. There are still surprise shutdowns and interruptions by different notifications. A default Ubuntu install does some of that stuff but the level of configurability and transparency is much better on Linux.

The need for GUI applications is also more of a problem for web development since it often involves running multiple VMs and very different languages.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#49

Post by sandworm101 »

sourcaustic wrote: post #39

I've worked as a web dev on Linux for nearly 15 years (most of it Ubuntu). My day job requires that I work on Windows 10 and I'm sorry to say this, but from a developer's perspective it does feel like an inferior user experience. To cope I've tried the WLS, but it didn't really do it, then I was able to somewhat cope a bit with Cygwin. Still it's not the same. I miss the extra desktops. I miss the ability to install…

"Always on Top"

The world would be a better place if people could do this on their work machines.

Re: Linux on the Desktop as a Web Developer

#50

Post by wwee »

My frustration with Linux (Ubuntu in particular, maybe a distribution with ZFS solves this issue) is that upgrades tend to be like Russian roulette. You have no idea if something will go wrong and reverting tends to be a pain.

Worse still, fixes tend to take a long time to land.

As an example, fractional scaling from NVIDIA cards is broken in 20.04 (what's new): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/187340... and there is no fix in sight.

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