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Counterpoint -- while I am middle-age, I can program a wide variety of languages and can function as CTO and architect in a very technical space. Unless I am co

Counterpoint -- while I am middle-age, I can program a wide variety of languages and can function as CTO and architect in a very technical space. Unless I am coding (and even then 30% of the time), I prefer my ipad Pro to my desktop. The screen is truly beautiful; you can sync up a real keyboard on bluetooth if you need cherry MX keys to feel productive... The stylus is amazing. I'm on a trip right now, and I left the macbook air at home, (and also my moleskine and my books). If i could get a linux VM on this somehow, I would have no hesitations dumping the rest of my computers. That said, like the review mentioned, the app support is spotty, especially for 5k display support. I am sure that will continue to improve with time. My ipad pro is my favorite computer I've purchased since the original Macbook Air 11.

m52go 11y ago
Of course, I was being stereotypical, but it's interesting to hear your experience! Have you considered a web IDE? Like Cloud9, Nitrous.io, etc?
- vessenes 11y ago
  I own almost all the ssh clients for iOS, and occasionally use cloud9. The browser isn't performant enough to really feel good coding in c9, and I prefer vi keybindings, so it's a no go for me. I'm really pretty happy with ssh and vi, although there is no ssh client with mosh support extant. And getting something like solarized into your ios ssh terminal is pretty painful. I would expect at some point this year, an enterprising ssh on iOS developer will get all that sorted with high res fonts, though. The combo is pretty compelling. My typical setup is tmux on ssh on the main pane of the ipad and the right hand window has slack or a browser or messaging, depending. It's great, very low distraction, really a nice setup.
- mark_l_watson 11y ago
  I use nitrous.io. The web based IDE works great on a Chromebook but not so great on my iPad Pro. I expect improved support. One option is to use the web based IDE for editing and have a separate SSH+terminal app open to a nitrous.io account. You can swipe between apps in a second for editing or command line stuff. That said, it is more convenient working all in emacs with SSH. It is important to use a SSH app that has a reasonable virtual keyboard.
nextos 11y ago
Why not a Surface instead? It can even run Linux natively.
- vessenes 11y ago
  I thought the same thing! I even spent a good hour with a surface book on launch. I also own a chromebook pixel 2015. On the surface, the stylus experience and typing experience wasn't there. And the weight / feel wasn't as appealing. Even if equal, it would have been a tough call because I penalize windows heavily for small annoyances, security updates, notifications, difficult-to-understand security hierarchy. It may seem counterintuitive to prefer either total or nearly zero OS control, but iOS just gets out of my way. When I'm in linux, I can have things precisely how I like, which means much (not all) of the OS question can be reduced to "is there a quality ssh client?" Finally, I'm typing this over an LTE network, something that the book didn't offer as far as I know.
  - nextos 11y ago
    I see. I was referring to the Surface Pro 4 or the Surface 3, which might be more comparable to the iPad Pro than the Surface Book. I've tried several, and I think that with a decent Linux setup they can be very enjoyable. I agree Linux can get on your way, but I've found that a very minimal Arch setup, or a declarative Nix/Guix setup can be fantastic. I cannot say the same about heavyweight distros.
    - vessenes 11y ago
      Yep, I've had developers who use them as a primary computer and love them. The ipad pro screen beats surface pro screen IMO.
jpmattia 11y ago
> If i could get a linux VM on this somehow, Hell, I'd even take sensible keyboard behavior so I could ssh and use emacs. I don't know why apple has torpedoed the emacs+ipad combination so hard.
- vessenes 11y ago
  I'm a vi user, and the inability to remap something to esc is grindingly frustrating. On the road i use 'jj' and at the office I have a variety of nice keyboards. Seems like there's a niche app for keyboard remapping. I'm not sure if that would be possible unjailbroken or not.
edko 11y ago
I am also a middle-age who can program a wide variety of languages, and agree with all your points. I think an interesting alternative to running a Linux VM on iOS would be to access one hosted on an affordable cloud (like a Digital Ocean $5/month instance) via some VNC app. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it should work.
- vessenes 11y ago
  I haven't tried VNC, but I use a number of different ssh apps every day, they work well. Mosh support would be great, though.
- e28eta 11y ago
  I started with a free/cheap VNC app, but once I bought Screens I never looked back (and gladly bought the 3.0 update when it came out). My needs are basic, but I've been impressed with their updates and support for iOS features. I should mention I haven't tried Screens to VNC into Linux, I use it with my Macs.
mark_l_watson 11y ago
As someone else also commented, use a remote Linux server for casual development on the iPad Pro. Using Prompt for SSH+terminal, I find it convenient enough to code if I can do everything in emacs (e.g., small Haskell or Ruby projects). Fortunately, I have huge hands (I am 6'4" tall) so using the onscreen virtual keyboard while holding the iPad Pro works well for me. I find doing development on remote servers to be peaceful in an odd way. For example, if I need to do a fresh Haskell stack build on a large project: if I do this build on my local laptop I get impatient but on a remote server, I fire off a build and swipe to another application on the iPad.
- vessenes 11y ago
  Yep. I think it's the lack of widgets and stuff. I'm partial to cmd-tab on the ipad myself. :)

m52go 11y ago

Of course, I was being stereotypical, but it's interesting to hear your experience! Have you considered a web IDE? Like Cloud9, Nitrous.io, etc?

vessenes 11y ago
I own almost all the ssh clients for iOS, and occasionally use cloud9. The browser isn't performant enough to really feel good coding in c9, and I prefer vi keybindings, so it's a no go for me. I'm really pretty happy with ssh and vi, although there is no ssh client with mosh support extant. And getting something like solarized into your ios ssh terminal is pretty painful. I would expect at some point this year, an enterprising ssh on iOS developer will get all that sorted with high res fonts, though. The combo is pretty compelling. My typical setup is tmux on ssh on the main pane of the ipad and the right hand window has slack or a browser or messaging, depending. It's great, very low distraction, really a nice setup.
mark_l_watson 11y ago
I use nitrous.io. The web based IDE works great on a Chromebook but not so great on my iPad Pro. I expect improved support. One option is to use the web based IDE for editing and have a separate SSH+terminal app open to a nitrous.io account. You can swipe between apps in a second for editing or command line stuff. That said, it is more convenient working all in emacs with SSH. It is important to use a SSH app that has a reasonable virtual keyboard.

nextos 11y ago

Why not a Surface instead? It can even run Linux natively.

vessenes 11y ago
I thought the same thing! I even spent a good hour with a surface book on launch. I also own a chromebook pixel 2015. On the surface, the stylus experience and typing experience wasn't there. And the weight / feel wasn't as appealing. Even if equal, it would have been a tough call because I penalize windows heavily for small annoyances, security updates, notifications, difficult-to-understand security hierarchy. It may seem counterintuitive to prefer either total or nearly zero OS control, but iOS just gets out of my way. When I'm in linux, I can have things precisely how I like, which means much (not all) of the OS question can be reduced to "is there a quality ssh client?" Finally, I'm typing this over an LTE network, something that the book didn't offer as far as I know.
- nextos 11y ago
  I see. I was referring to the Surface Pro 4 or the Surface 3, which might be more comparable to the iPad Pro than the Surface Book. I've tried several, and I think that with a decent Linux setup they can be very enjoyable. I agree Linux can get on your way, but I've found that a very minimal Arch setup, or a declarative Nix/Guix setup can be fantastic. I cannot say the same about heavyweight distros.
  - vessenes 11y ago
    Yep, I've had developers who use them as a primary computer and love them. The ipad pro screen beats surface pro screen IMO.

jpmattia 11y ago

> If i could get a linux VM on this somehow, Hell, I'd even take sensible keyboard behavior so I could ssh and use emacs. I don't know why apple has torpedoed the emacs+ipad combination so hard.

vessenes 11y ago
I'm a vi user, and the inability to remap something to esc is grindingly frustrating. On the road i use 'jj' and at the office I have a variety of nice keyboards. Seems like there's a niche app for keyboard remapping. I'm not sure if that would be possible unjailbroken or not.

edko 11y ago

I am also a middle-age who can program a wide variety of languages, and agree with all your points. I think an interesting alternative to running a Linux VM on iOS would be to access one hosted on an affordable cloud (like a Digital Ocean $5/month instance) via some VNC app. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it should work.

vessenes 11y ago
I haven't tried VNC, but I use a number of different ssh apps every day, they work well. Mosh support would be great, though.
e28eta 11y ago
I started with a free/cheap VNC app, but once I bought Screens I never looked back (and gladly bought the 3.0 update when it came out). My needs are basic, but I've been impressed with their updates and support for iOS features. I should mention I haven't tried Screens to VNC into Linux, I use it with my Macs.

mark_l_watson 11y ago

As someone else also commented, use a remote Linux server for casual development on the iPad Pro. Using Prompt for SSH+terminal, I find it convenient enough to code if I can do everything in emacs (e.g., small Haskell or Ruby projects). Fortunately, I have huge hands (I am 6'4" tall) so using the onscreen virtual keyboard while holding the iPad Pro works well for me. I find doing development on remote servers to be peaceful in an odd way. For example, if I need to do a fresh Haskell stack build on a large project: if I do this build on my local laptop I get impatient but on a remote server, I fire off a build and swipe to another application on the iPad.

vessenes 11y ago
Yep. I think it's the lack of widgets and stuff. I'm partial to cmd-tab on the ipad myself. :)