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I’m in Tucson for the week (with 5g connection) and needed to edit a pdf. Couldn’t even manage to do that without pulling out my partner’s Mac book air. Actual

I’m in Tucson for the week (with 5g connection) and needed to edit a pdf. Couldn’t even manage to do that without pulling out my partner’s Mac book air. Actual software development on an iPad? Forgetaboutit - none of the tooling I used in my programming career runs on an iPad and trying to use it as a thin client sounds horribly suboptimal. Great for watching a movie or reading a book, still not as productive as a laptop for anything else.

ghuntley 5y ago
Typing this on my iPad right now. For things such as editing PDF’s (see https://www.jabmaker.com https://www.jabmaker.com) I RDP to my homelab in the sky (see bottom of blogpost for details about the setup). For day-to-day software development. Use Gitpod or GitHub Codespaces or Mosh+SSH to a Baremetal machine. What’s your technology stack? What’s the tooling you need to do?
ViViDboarder 5y ago
All of mine runs on an iPad when I develop remotely using mosh. Also, iSH allows you to install Alpine Linux along with many packages.
- poulsbohemian 5y ago
  Well, congrats. But none of the tooling I used in my tech career (which I left 2 years ago) ran physically on the ipad then, and none of it does now either. I tried doing the thin term thing and it was just a hassle. Good on you if it works for you, but I’d rather pack a laptop if I’m doing more than editing a few characters- for the screen size if nothing else
- xvilka 5y ago
  iSH is a wasted battery and performance. I don't get why they emulate x86 and not just use Alpine ARMv8 version instead.
djrogers 5y ago
Let’s be honest - you didn’t want to edit the pdf on your iPad. I say that because if you wanted to, or it’s something you need to do even once in a while, there are dozens (hundreds?) of serviceable pdf editors for iPadOS. There are even many really good ones. And they cost the proverbial cup of coffee..
- poulsbohemian 5y ago
  Just let’s be honest: I paid for the pro version of adobe brcause I had business deals depending on the documents I was editing. I failed to successfully split or delete pages on any of the contracts I tried and I resorted to borrowing the laptop. So there you go and I stand by what I wrote.
  - Terretta 5y ago
    I know what you're talking about, and that's on Adobe's UX. The feature is there, but it's not readily discoverable. For that reason, I mentioned PDF Expert, which doesn't have Adobe's lack of UX sensibility baked in.
    - quitit 5y ago
      Sounds more like they just wanted to use something they already know - which is fine, but not for a lack of capability on the iPad. (Was doing that was back with a gen 1 ipad, a pencil from “53” and a cheap pdf editor.)
Terretta 5y ago
Acrobat and PDF Expert are two great bets for editing a PDF on the iPad. As a counter-piece of anecdata: With connectivity, VS Code runs on an iPad, blink mosh terminal client, remote desktops of all kinds, etc. Without connectivity, various code editors with full syntax highlighting and git sync, to the point I've been handling enterprise software dev via iPad Pro for several years now. It used to be hard, now it's trivial. Since circa 2017 I've only taken MacBook Pro on a trip if I'm somewhere more than 3 weeks, and ever since the keyboard with trackpad and now the Xbox controller for Xbox cloud gaming, I'm not even sure I need that. The MBP is probably a crutch. Given the portability, true lap top usability, all-day battery life, built in cellular connectivity, ability to transform into a Kindle or touch device, etc., along with tools needed to code both online and offline, most devs with an iPad Pro 12.9 can ask, "What's a computer?"

ghuntley 5y ago

Typing this on my iPad right now. For things such as editing PDF’s (see https://www.jabmaker.com https://www.jabmaker.com) I RDP to my homelab in the sky (see bottom of blogpost for details about the setup). For day-to-day software development. Use Gitpod or GitHub Codespaces or Mosh+SSH to a Baremetal machine. What’s your technology stack? What’s the tooling you need to do?

ViViDboarder 5y ago

All of mine runs on an iPad when I develop remotely using mosh. Also, iSH allows you to install Alpine Linux along with many packages.

poulsbohemian 5y ago
Well, congrats. But none of the tooling I used in my tech career (which I left 2 years ago) ran physically on the ipad then, and none of it does now either. I tried doing the thin term thing and it was just a hassle. Good on you if it works for you, but I’d rather pack a laptop if I’m doing more than editing a few characters- for the screen size if nothing else
xvilka 5y ago
iSH is a wasted battery and performance. I don't get why they emulate x86 and not just use Alpine ARMv8 version instead.

djrogers 5y ago

Let’s be honest - you didn’t want to edit the pdf on your iPad. I say that because if you wanted to, or it’s something you need to do even once in a while, there are dozens (hundreds?) of serviceable pdf editors for iPadOS. There are even many really good ones. And they cost the proverbial cup of coffee..

poulsbohemian 5y ago
Just let’s be honest: I paid for the pro version of adobe brcause I had business deals depending on the documents I was editing. I failed to successfully split or delete pages on any of the contracts I tried and I resorted to borrowing the laptop. So there you go and I stand by what I wrote.
- Terretta 5y ago
  I know what you're talking about, and that's on Adobe's UX. The feature is there, but it's not readily discoverable. For that reason, I mentioned PDF Expert, which doesn't have Adobe's lack of UX sensibility baked in.
  - quitit 5y ago
    Sounds more like they just wanted to use something they already know - which is fine, but not for a lack of capability on the iPad. (Was doing that was back with a gen 1 ipad, a pencil from “53” and a cheap pdf editor.)

Terretta 5y ago

Acrobat and PDF Expert are two great bets for editing a PDF on the iPad. As a counter-piece of anecdata: With connectivity, VS Code runs on an iPad, blink mosh terminal client, remote desktops of all kinds, etc. Without connectivity, various code editors with full syntax highlighting and git sync, to the point I've been handling enterprise software dev via iPad Pro for several years now. It used to be hard, now it's trivial. Since circa 2017 I've only taken MacBook Pro on a trip if I'm somewhere more than 3 weeks, and ever since the keyboard with trackpad and now the Xbox controller for Xbox cloud gaming, I'm not even sure I need that. The MBP is probably a crutch. Given the portability, true lap top usability, all-day battery life, built in cellular connectivity, ability to transform into a Kindle or touch device, etc., along with tools needed to code both online and offline, most devs with an iPad Pro 12.9 can ask, "What's a computer?"