5 ms·

what sort of coding do you do on the spro? I'm going to be buying a new laptop / ultraportable / tablet in the near future, and I'm curious about this. Can you

by pfooti 9y ago

what sort of coding do you do on the spro? I'm going to be buying a new laptop / ultraportable / tablet in the near future, and I'm curious about this. Can you comfortably run some kind of linux VM on it? What kind of external keyboard does it support? How does the display hold up in moderate lighting conditions? For a lot of work, I've got a desktop, but I use my 2013 mbp at cafes and such. I mostly do node and frontend work, so while a strict windows dev env is feasible, I prefer linux.

passive 9y ago
Most of what I do is python, but I've done a fair amount of JS, some PHP, Java and others, as needed. I have run VMs on this, but 8GB RAM gets tight, so it's not something I do regularly. I do use Microsofts version of Bash on Ubuntu for things where I am more comfortable with standard linux tools. I use the type cover for almost everything, but I've got a more traditional keyboard hooked up to my dock. The display is excellent. It's glossy, so direct sunlight is problematic, but otherwise it gets plenty bright and looks very good to me, though I suspect my tolerance for colour inaccuracy is pretty high.
- wtvanhest 9y ago
  I am going to start learning Python, then eventually Django in a few weeks on a Surface. What is your overall setup for making it as painless as possible on Windows? I'd say my number 1 frustration in PC devops and I'm trying to figure out the install with the least amount of headaches.
  - passive 9y ago
    I would recommend Python 3 for sure. I just use the installers from https://www.python.org/ https://www.python.org/ and don't tend to have any problems. I prefer lightweight tools, so I use Visual Studio Code. It won't hold your hand, but neither will it get in your way. When working on projects, get in the habit of using virtualenvs. It's a small amount of overhead, but will save you a ton of frustration in the long run. A primer on windows: From project directory, initialize it: > python -m venv .env (I put my virtualenvs in .env out of habit. Virtualenvwrapper, itself a useful addition for managing virtualenvs, puts them in your home directory, which can be fine too.) Activate it: > .env\Scripts\activate.bat Use "pip" to install your dependencies. Also use "pip freeze" to record those dependencies for installations elsewhere. I'm currently following this for dependency management: https://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/a-better-pip-workflow https://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/a-better-pip-workflow
doublerebel 9y ago
Coding? All of it. C++, Node, frontend... The dense screen is great and flipping to portrait can be nice. Keyboard? Anything USB or Bluetooth. Only one USB port, though. Display? Pretty bright, the spec is posted if you look. Glossy, but everything is these days. VM? Sure, it's a 2 core 4 thread processor, just order enough RAM. My i7 has Hyper-V but I don't know if that extends across all procs.
- csixty4 9y ago
  A Surface with i5 does Hyper-V nicely. The current incarnation of Docker keeps a Hyper-V VM running for Linux containers, but my understanding is it'll soon just use the kernal's Linux support.
  - akavel 9y ago
    I have a Core m3 SP4 (because fanless), and am running Hyper-V on it too, with NixOS. That said, I wasn't able to give it more than 1.5 GB RAM, and even this only after I temporarily close Firefox on the host. (Firefox starts a-OK afterwards, even with numerous tabs open.) Some details on running NixOS in Hyper-V, in case anyone's interested: https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/microsoft/hyper-v-guest.md https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/microsof... EDIT: ah, yes: worth to note, the first specimen I bought had some kind of hardware issue; the GPU driver was crashing somewhat frequently, and the whole machine was crashing from time to time too (like, a couple times a week). Was super disheartening. Fortunately, I was able to replace it in the shop where I got it (they had a limited time offer where you could replace during the first month, no questions asked; http://x-kom.pl http://x-kom.pl, just to thank them through some lip service). The replacement doesn't show such problems, fortunately (over a year already).
bluedino 9y ago
Is the i7 a quad-core or dual-core? Java development + a VM really needs a more power than the 13" competition can provide.
- neogodless 9y ago
  Dual-core U series. Really barely higher performance compared to the i5.
komali2 9y ago
I'm a web dev front/back, I just use the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Works like a charm. Check out this huge comment chain from a couple weeks back on styling it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14317932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14317932

by pfooti 9y ago

passive 9y ago

Most of what I do is python, but I've done a fair amount of JS, some PHP, Java and others, as needed. I have run VMs on this, but 8GB RAM gets tight, so it's not something I do regularly. I do use Microsofts version of Bash on Ubuntu for things where I am more comfortable with standard linux tools. I use the type cover for almost everything, but I've got a more traditional keyboard hooked up to my dock. The display is excellent. It's glossy, so direct sunlight is problematic, but otherwise it gets plenty bright and looks very good to me, though I suspect my tolerance for colour inaccuracy is pretty high.

wtvanhest 9y ago
I am going to start learning Python, then eventually Django in a few weeks on a Surface. What is your overall setup for making it as painless as possible on Windows? I'd say my number 1 frustration in PC devops and I'm trying to figure out the install with the least amount of headaches.
- passive 9y ago
  I would recommend Python 3 for sure. I just use the installers from https://www.python.org/ https://www.python.org/ and don't tend to have any problems. I prefer lightweight tools, so I use Visual Studio Code. It won't hold your hand, but neither will it get in your way. When working on projects, get in the habit of using virtualenvs. It's a small amount of overhead, but will save you a ton of frustration in the long run. A primer on windows: From project directory, initialize it: > python -m venv .env (I put my virtualenvs in .env out of habit. Virtualenvwrapper, itself a useful addition for managing virtualenvs, puts them in your home directory, which can be fine too.) Activate it: > .env\Scripts\activate.bat Use "pip" to install your dependencies. Also use "pip freeze" to record those dependencies for installations elsewhere. I'm currently following this for dependency management: https://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/a-better-pip-workflow https://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/a-better-pip-workflow

doublerebel 9y ago

Coding? All of it. C++, Node, frontend... The dense screen is great and flipping to portrait can be nice. Keyboard? Anything USB or Bluetooth. Only one USB port, though. Display? Pretty bright, the spec is posted if you look. Glossy, but everything is these days. VM? Sure, it's a 2 core 4 thread processor, just order enough RAM. My i7 has Hyper-V but I don't know if that extends across all procs.

csixty4 9y ago
A Surface with i5 does Hyper-V nicely. The current incarnation of Docker keeps a Hyper-V VM running for Linux containers, but my understanding is it'll soon just use the kernal's Linux support.
- akavel 9y ago
  I have a Core m3 SP4 (because fanless), and am running Hyper-V on it too, with NixOS. That said, I wasn't able to give it more than 1.5 GB RAM, and even this only after I temporarily close Firefox on the host. (Firefox starts a-OK afterwards, even with numerous tabs open.) Some details on running NixOS in Hyper-V, in case anyone's interested: https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/microsoft/hyper-v-guest.md https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/microsof... EDIT: ah, yes: worth to note, the first specimen I bought had some kind of hardware issue; the GPU driver was crashing somewhat frequently, and the whole machine was crashing from time to time too (like, a couple times a week). Was super disheartening. Fortunately, I was able to replace it in the shop where I got it (they had a limited time offer where you could replace during the first month, no questions asked; http://x-kom.pl http://x-kom.pl, just to thank them through some lip service). The replacement doesn't show such problems, fortunately (over a year already).

bluedino 9y ago

Is the i7 a quad-core or dual-core? Java development + a VM really needs a more power than the 13" competition can provide.

neogodless 9y ago
Dual-core U series. Really barely higher performance compared to the i5.

komali2 9y ago

I'm a web dev front/back, I just use the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Works like a charm. Check out this huge comment chain from a couple weeks back on styling it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14317932 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14317932