The $80 web development workstation
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The $80 web development workstation
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Re: The $80 web development workstation
#2Replace the red "trackpoint" with the concave variety on eBay. It becomes incredibly ergonomic (the concave version let's you use a fraction of the pressure with greater accuracy).
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#3Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?"
Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community, it's pretty clear that you have as much control as you desire—Unix has incredible power.
And if you still somehow feel that OS X is actually constricting you (rather than just hiding advanced settings in the command line), you'd never be able to run Linux on a Mac. No, never... https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook
As for the price component, if you're making your living off a computer I surely how you can afford a decent one.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#4Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?" Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community, it's pretty clear that you have as much control as you desire—Unix has incredible power. And if you still somehow feel that OS X is actually constricting you (rather than just hiding advanced settings in the command line), you'd never be able to run Linux on a Mac. No,…
Last time I checked, OS X did not let you replace the main window system or the OS status bar. The theme of the interface is also not as easily changeable as a KDE or GTK+ theme.
If there's a way to completely remove the graphical interface, it's definitely harder than in Linux, and not as usable afterwards.
You might argue that these options are not needed for a typical OS X user, and perhaps you're right. But you cannot say it really gives you "full control of the system".
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#5I recently chose to setup my old Thinkpad X41t with something fairly similar:
-- antiX 13 "base" with the Debian "stable" source list: http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
-- I3-WM as the window manager. Needs to be installed separately. http://i3wm.org/
-- Conkeror as the keyboard-driven browser: http://conkeror.org/FrontPage
The reason for using antiX/Debian rather than Arch is that I have no need to live on the bleeding edge. Once I've set things up I don't want them to break. I3 is at least as good -- probably better -- than ratpoison that I used to use earlier. The ability to quickly switch between "stacked", tabbed and full screen windows works great. Whether Conkeror is superior to Firefox with Pentadactyl I'm not yet sure of -- subjectively everything seems to load faster, but you do need to do some extra customization if you are going with Conkeror. Of course, that is also one of its selling points.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#6The T42 was a really solid pre-Lenovo ThinkPad that had significant mindshare among tech nerds when I arrived at MIT. It was my machine in college and the keyboard was amazing. I'd probably still be using it if one of the fans hadn't died around year 4. Pretty as Macs are, and awesome as the glass touchpad is, I still miss that ThinkPad keyboard.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#7Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?" Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community, it's pretty clear that you have as much control as you desire—Unix has incredible power. And if you still somehow feel that OS X is actually constricting you (rather than just hiding advanced settings in the command line), you'd never be able to run Linux on a Mac. No,…
> Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?"
Well, it doesn't. Hence the reason for your need to put quotes around "full control over the system." Because, in fact, you don't. And problems I've solved in the past on Linux are still problems to this day on OS X.
> As for the price component, if you're making your living off a computer I surely how you can afford a decent one.
That's fallacious at best. This ignores people starting out, or in different locations. Not everyone is being handed a MBA and 27" monitor at their plush new SV job. It's useful to be reminded sometimes that while it's nice to have a high quality laptop, you don't need the latest and greatest Apple device to get stuff done.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#8Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?" Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community, it's pretty clear that you have as much control as you desire—Unix has incredible power. And if you still somehow feel that OS X is actually constricting you (rather than just hiding advanced settings in the command line), you'd never be able to run Linux on a Mac. No,…
>Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community
I haven't noticed this. I've noticed that popularity in the web developer community, but almost every non-web developer I've seen with a Mac has torn out OS X and put Linux or BSD on it.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#9I 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.
Re: The $80 web development workstation
#10Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?" Given the popularity of Macs in the developer community, it's pretty clear that you have as much control as you desire—Unix has incredible power. And if you still somehow feel that OS X is actually constricting you (rather than just hiding advanced settings in the command line), you'd never be able to run Linux on a Mac. No,…
> Really? Are we still talking about how OS X doesn't give you "full control over the system?" Well, it doesn't. Hence the reason for your need to put quotes around "full control over the system." Because, in fact, you don't. And problems I've solved in the past on Linux are still problems to this day on OS X. > As for the price component, if you're making your living off a computer I surely how you can afford a dece…
> Hence the reason for your need to put quotes around "full control over the system."
Or maybe I put quotes around it because I don't agree with that assertion and it's a quote from the article...
> And problems I've solved in the past on Linux are still problems to this day on OS X.
Can you give me an example? I'm genuinely curious...
> This ignores people starting out, or in different locations.
Yet the author certainly could get a MBA, as he specifically references having one.