16 ms·

I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode

634 points by moconnor 15y ago

drivebyacct2 15y ago
Random observation: Who uses an iPad + "the Cloud" + vim, and rips low quality DVDs?
- moconnor 15y ago
  A UK expat who can't (legally) get UK series like Outnumbered digitally, yet still wants to take them with him on his iPad.
  - smallegan 15y ago
    Even if you own the dvd I think it would be faster/easier to get a "backup" copy via torrent.
casca 15y ago
I'm a big fan of tmux* and vim but there's a limit to the complexity of system that you can develop efficiently with vim. A good graphical IDE used by a skilled operator will be more likely to generate correct, consistent code faster. If you're using vim and think you're developing as well and as fast as you can, you're probably wrong. * 17 years of screen and I've finally switched over to tmux. None of the features were sufficiently compelling for me to change, but it's so much faster
- moconnor 15y ago
  If you're using vim without all the features of a graphical IDE, you're missing the right plugins. I used Delphi for years, then Visual Studio for years, then Eclipse for a while, then QtCreator for years. I've haven't found anything in any graphical IDE that can't be succinctly reproduced in a text-only environment like vim. I can imagine a whole load of awesome features that would require a truly graphical output. They just haven't been written yet.
- Sindisil 15y ago
  I respectfully disagree, or partially, anyway. I've been developing software in Vim, Netbeans, and Visual Studio (with about a year or so of Eclipse thrown in for good measure). I've worked on projects in all three ranging from tiny 1kloc one-offs to several million line systems, using C, C++, Java, Bash, and a smattering of Perl and Python. For Java and C++ code bases beyond a few thousand lines, I certainly agree that language aware tools are invaluable. It's sad that C++'s nature makes such tools so difficult to build. Going from Netbeans/Java to Netbeans or VS C++ is like going back in time - not quite laser scalpel to flint knife, but sometimes it feels like it! Fortunately, I spend the bulk of my time in C, where I find myself at least as effective in Vim as in either Netbeans or VS. Granted, I obviously do use a few additional tools - primarily ctags and make. If vim only had fully language aware navigation and search, I think I'd be just as effective in it as in any IDE. Exuberant ctags comes close, but just isn't quite there, and cscope is just too clumsy and slow.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    For code navigation / completion, you could try eclim / clang_complete.
    - Sindisil 15y ago
      Yup, it's at the top of my pile of things to try when I need to take a break. Though there's something that feels ... wrong with eclim in particular. Not that it'll stop me from using it if it works well!
  - qdog 15y ago
    I haven't noticed cscope being all the slow, other than having to rebuild the database. I use all the C-Spacebar-<letter> commands, it's second nature to find all the callers of a function for me now.
- moconnor 15y ago
  tmux: is it faster because it's more efficient about sending updates to the terminal, or are you talking about server-side resource usage? I certainly wouldn't say no to a more responsive terminal.
  - casca 15y ago
    I'm talking about the time between keystrokes and visual response. To make the switch-over even easier, rebind to C-a instead of the (sensible) tmux default of C-b. Put this into your ~/.tmux.conf: set -g prefix C-a unbind C-b bind C-a send-prefix bind-key C-a last-window
    - yangyang 15y ago
      Neither are sensible for anyone who uses Emacs keybindings (at the shell or in Emacs). I have my prefix key set to C-t, which is tolerable.
      - Ogre 15y ago
        Being an emacs user, C-a was never practical. I always set mine to ` (backtick). Except when writing shell scripts, it's surprising how little it actually comes up, and learning to type it twice when you actually want one is not hard. It reduces by 1/3rd the number of keys involved in switching "tabs" or doing other stuff. Unlearning typing it twice for when you're not in screen is the hard part.
      - jrockway 15y ago
        But C-t is a useful Emacs keybinding. I use C-z. Pressing C-z z when you want to suspend the running app is not particularly disruptive.
- orthecreedence 15y ago
  I have to disagree here. I've been programming for about 17 years now (since I was 8) and I've used a lot of different types of editors across different languages. I have to say that my LEAST favorite of all editors are the ones that try to do anything for me. Code completion, auto-closing quotes or tags, etc etc... it frustrates and distracts me to no end. After spending a little under a year learning vim, I've found that while I make the occasional error in command mode, nothing has helped me "think in code" quite as well. I'd say most of my time is spent thinking while programming anyway, but when I am typing, nothing has made me faster than vim. "Small" things like "hmm, I don't like what's in this block" can be as slow as reaching over to the mouse and selecting a bunch of code by hand, trying very hard to be precise, or typing "ci{". Which is easier? Perhaps I've been missing out on all these years on the true power of IDEs and not using them to their full potential, but when it comes to programming, I like to be the one typing, not some fool machine. Do I occasionally make mistakes? Of course. Is my overall output better because I have fewer distractions? Absolutely. Of course, that's just me. I know plenty of people who are a lot faster with autocomplete and auto-quote closing and everything else.
- qdog 15y ago
  I use vim+cscope+screen. I used to operate solely out of a putty window (The company I work for uses windows on the desktop and really, all I need is that one putty window). I might look into tmux, screen is kind of buggy under cygwin. There are plenty of code-completion plugins, and I used to have tab-completion enabled, but I never got around to adding it on my latest environment and don't miss it. Of course, cscope is mostly useful for c/c++/java, but I've used the ruby vim map just fine. I operate on a codebase that's probably past a million lines of code. Maybe not all useful lines, I haven't seen them all ;)
dpapathanasiou 15y ago
Can you really write code efficiently on such a small (9.7") screen?
- moconnor 15y ago
  I wondered about that, too, but I haven't noticed a feeling of being constrained or blinkered. I'm editing 85 rows and 35 columns with a pleasantly-large font. Check your editing space inside an IDE - is it really that much larger? My guess is that (1) any function I'm writing is generally entirely within view anyway, and (2) with Vim I never scroll around looking for something, I jump directly to it with a search command.
- Sindisil 15y ago
  I've written many tens of thousands of lines of C on my netbook, which has a 10.1" screen, also using Vim, so I believe it's possible. Still, I'd really like just a smidge more space, especially in the vertical. At least 168 pixels, to be specific. That's one advantage he has with the iPad - he can easily switch between portrait and landscape, depending upon his needs. I'd love to be able to occasionally turn my netbook screen to portrait!
  - Meai 15y ago
    http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/ http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/
- jakeonthemove 15y ago
  I think it's the resolution that matters, and 1024x768 is pretty comfortable for work (I know higher resolutions are even better, but I've been using 1024x768 for half a decade on old CRT and LCD monitors - it never failed to deliver). When I switched to a new smartphone, the resolution was the most important change - with 854x480 pixels I can read forums and sites easily, as opposed to a 320x480 display...
idspispopd 15y ago
It's interesting to see that other people are noticing how poor the google web experience has become on iOS. It seems especially deliberate when I note that android & chrome use webkit. I've even swapped the default search engine to bing because it provides a better layout, especially so for image searching which in my view is broken on iOS. This from the company that just released tools to aid the transition to mobile web. (and yes, I'm aware that they hate each other, but why should I be punished? reminds me of the MS from yesteryear.) Also: there is general feedback that google's optional services are generally quite good, which makes it curious that the originally very good google search/image search was replaced with versions that aren't up to scratch.
- gujk 15y ago
  No need to ascribe malice; the Google web experience is bad on Android too.
- Kylekramer 15y ago
  Anyone who thinks Google Docs is better on Android due to anti-Apple conspiracy clearly has never used Google Docs on Android. Also, outside of Google Docs, Google has first rate support for iOS on the web. Gmail, Voice, Reader, everything runs brilliantly on iOS. In fact, usually better than Android, as they clearly see web as their primary in to iOS compared to Android (example: Voice is the snazzy HTML5 newness on iOS, while Android has the spartan 1995 grad student webpage styling).
  - rhubarbquid 15y ago
    I wouldn't call the mobile support in Reader "frist rate". Some of the UI elements (especially the "mark as read", "email", etc. links at the bottom of each post) are too small, I constantly expand the next post when trying to email one. A small detail, but one that drives me crazy.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- guelo 15y ago
suivix 15y ago
You can also use SSH + screen with your MacBook... that's what I do with my MacBook Air since it's much more pleasant to deal with than the company IBM laptop.
raganwald 15y ago
One fateful day, VMWare and OS/X conspired to trash my shared filesystem, losing several days of uncommitted code in the process. Several days of uncommitted code? We need to have a heart to heart talk about your process.
- moconnor 15y ago
  This is really true. Back then we were still using CVS, and I was writing a feature that I thought wasn't quite big enough to branch and remerge for, but turned out to be a bit more involved to get right than I'd thought. Now we're on Mercurial and life is better. Edit: A nice win with the Linode is that they back it up for me for $5 a month. Sure, there are solutions for the desktop too, but somehow I never got around to using one of those.
  - raganwald 15y ago
    There are two kinds of programmers: Those who’ve earned their experience the hard way, and insufferable know-it-alls who parrot whatever was in the last witty blog post they read. There’s zero shame in being the first kind :-)
    - marxidad 15y ago
      And one shame in being the other : P
    - zachleat 15y ago
      What's the URL to the blog post where you read this? :)
      - raganwald 15y ago
        http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 :-P
        15y ago
prolepunk 15y ago
Why can't just install linux on his macboc and sync everything using ssh/rsync/git without being such a hipster.
powerslave12r 15y ago
I think the way of the future is a smaller powerful notebook, like a Thinkpad X220, and then using larger monitors and whatever cloud service you want.
comm_it 15y ago
Looking at the setup of the iPad on your table with the keyboard gave me neck ache. I can't imagine what that does to you on a daily basis. Interesting experiment, I don't think I could ever move to doing something like that permanently.
TamDenholm 15y ago
Anyone tried to do this as a web developer? I know theres an app or two geared towards being a web dev environment, the one good one i found (its called Gusto on the app store) i didnt get to test properly because it didnt support SFTP yet (due to apple requiring some permission from the gov or something, not technical limitation).
- moconnor 15y ago
  I do some web development in my spare time but I think I'd really miss the developer tools in the browser if I did more client-side javascript. There's always firefox-in-vnc, but that's a pretty awful solution.
- rsl7 15y ago
  It's almost impossible if you need to do anything related to graphics. Even picking a color. Maybe you have such things already laid out in proper sass files, and you've mastered zen-coding, know most of the various parameters, have templates for everything, don't need to look up sample code all the time, and you don't need to copy and paste random things from the web (text selection in safari is still awfully dodgy). And you don't need the various standards and documentation open right next to you. Still.. even plain HTML is a lot more visual than code. so much switching can suck. .. now, two or three iPads, that's the ticket.
- csixty4 15y ago
  I was just using Gusto for web development at lunch yesterday. It's a pretty good way to work if you don't want to drag a full laptop around everywhere. It's like that famous saying about the best camera -- the best coding tool is the one you have with you.
- ricardobeat 15y ago
  I tried to, but a few things make it impossible: - Most editors suck in one way or another - You have to work on a terminal if you want version control, builds or setup local servers - Mobile Safari is not fast enough. You spend a lot of time reloading pages - No inspector for the DOM, javascript, debugging, profiling - Zero ability to handle graphics
billpatrianakos 15y ago
I can't deny that this is a cool setup but I can't see it being useful for long. I personally need to see multiples windows simultaneously as I work. Swiping over can't cut it for very long. But good for you, man. To each his own I suppose.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I must confess, I did wonder about adding a second iPad for browsing documentation, or maybe one of the new kindles... I went through a phase of using multiple monitors all the time. After a year or so I came to the conclusion that alt-tab is quicker and easier than looking at another physical screen. Swiping isn't; I wish alt-tab worked in iOS. Still, it's close and it stops me checking my mail too often.
  - Splines 15y ago
    I think this is one of the places where Win8's tablet interface will gain fans. I've seen the developer preview and being able to snap windows to the side and get a "mini mode" (or whatever it's called) is really cool.
    - moconnor 15y ago
      This. I'm sure a "mini mode" will be a part of every tablet interface in a couple of years' time.
  - prophetjohn 15y ago
    I seriously doubt that you're alt-tab'ing faster than you're making a saccade to another monitor. We're talking tens of milliseconds to glance over. What if you have to hit tab 2/3/4 times to get to the application you want? And you have to stop and see how many tabs you need? Looking over at a different monitor is significantly faster.
- DrHankPym 15y ago
  You can use GNU screen to have more than one bash shell running, and you can use tabs and screen splits with Vim. I use to do this on my G2 phone; it's easier to play with Vim over ssh with a physical keyboard. Unfortunately, my phone lacks some critical characters like '|', '>' and '<', but it's really nice to be able to make edits wherever, whenever.
moonboots 15y ago
For anyone still using gnu screen, tmux.
- vidarh 15y ago
  Looked at it; didn't see any compelling reasons to switch; went back to screen. Screen is for the most part "good enough" that any replacement that aims to supplant it completely needs to either be vastly and obviously superior or enough of a drop in replacement that it doesn't require any effort to switch (I'm most definitively not investing time updating config files or changing key presses unless the improvements are dramatic). As far as I can see, while tmux might be "better" in some nebulous way, the value proposition is way to weak to invest time in switching for me.
  - mbq 15y ago
    tmux is 4 letters, screen is 6 =) And splitting view sucks less.
    - vidarh 15y ago
      I rarely split views, so that makes no difference to me - all my splitting tends to occur in Emacs. And I never type anything to connect to my screen sessions. How primitive ;) I have shortcuts for the main machines I use that opens a terminal window, ssh's to it using my key, and attaches to my running screen or starts a fresh one if none is running (rarely - most of my screen sessions are 1+ years old) My sessions on less important machines run in screen windows.
  - revscat 15y ago
    shrug Maybe. It's all about what's valuable to you. I switched to tmux because it is better maintained and it has better screen splitting functionality. I also mapped screens commands over to tmux, so the switch was basically painless. Took all of 15 minutes. If you're cool with screen, you're cool with screen. No worries.
    - 15y ago
trebor 15y ago
My first thought was, "Oh! no you didn't!" Kudos for thinking of it. I think that it's a very viable solution for those who don't have a great need for a graphical IDE. But as a web developer I have to test across all major browsers, so I can't switch everything to an iPad. (Not that I wouldn't be interested in trying it.)
davidjhall 15y ago
I heartily agree -- once you add a wireless keyboard to an iPad, it stops being a toy. I use the keyboard and an iPad 1 to write my first drafts (both locally and google docs, if need be) and with VNC, I code on my remote servers as well.
- nodata 15y ago
  How do you keep the iPad's screen comfortably facing you if you're not holding it?
  - davidjhall 15y ago
    I have a protector case (Incase) which has ridges to keep it open at an angle, landscape. Very low-tech but it keeps it at the correct angle for me. Back when Border's were still around, I just needed keyboard and iPad (power lasts a long time) to work on my writing at one of their tables or even their Big Comfy Chairs(tm).
  - moconnor 15y ago
    With case that double as an adjustable stand. I can't figure out how anybody uses an iPad without one. The smart cover's one fixed angle doesn't cut it.
kayoone 15y ago
You could actually do the same thing WITH a Macbook Air/Pro. The beauty of a cloud linux instance + gnu screen isnt limited to the ipad and so you could still have a bigger screen and the possibility to go back to GUI apps if you need them. I like this for travelling on the go, but spending my normal workday in 1024 resolution ? Naaa.
- moconnor 15y ago
  This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. 102x768 isn't for everyone, but in text-mode it's all the same. I've no idea how many hours I've spent on a huge high-res monitor staring at a relatively tiny terminal window surrounded by a pretty desktop picture.
  - swombat 15y ago
    The battery life of a Macbook Air is pretty damn good. You can get a good 6+ hours of work out of them before needing to plug in. Not quite iPad-scale, but close enough in many cases. Also, the iPad does tend to run out of battery a bit more quickly when using 3G and bluetooth heavily, I believe...
    - moconnor 15y ago
      For me, 6 hours is the difference between needing to take a charger to work and never thinking about it. If I'm going to take a charger, I might as well have 1 hour battery life. I didn't buy the 3G version, but I do use bluetooth for the keyboard all day and still get around 9 hours out of it.
    - mgcross 15y ago
      Maybe with the 13" MBA or MBP, but my 11" gets around half the battery life of an iPad. On a different note, an iPad also makes for a decent external display for a cramped 11" MBA.
    - ynniv 15y ago
      It's useful to note that the Air's battery life is fleeting if you actually use the processor. Intensive game development has left me thinking that it's life is closer to two hours.
lean 15y ago
* iPad 2 (16Gb, WiFi) * Apple wireless keyboard * Stilgut adjustable angle stand/case Hopefully someday they'll sell portable computers with an integrated keyboard, and some type of mechanism to hold the screen up.
drivingmenuts 15y ago
What's the solution for when "the cloud" loses your files and the ToS says "so sorry, we'll try harder next time - here's next month's bill"? When I keep my files locally, the only person I have to blame for losing them is myself. Out in "the cloud", there's quite literally nothing that can be done to recover my data.
- moconnor 15y ago
  Linode offer monthly backups for $5. All my real work is pushed to the office repository. All my personal projects are done in a Dropbox folder. I'm pretty confident the data will be ok this time.
  - njharman 15y ago
    Backups with same vender aren't backups.
- nemoniac 15y ago
  You can "quite literally" keep your data in two places in the cloud at once.
agentultra 15y ago
This has to be the most ergonomically inefficient set-up ever! I also cannot fathom how to work with < 2 big monitors (> 21" at least). And a tiling window manager. And a decent mechanical keyboard... ok ok.. Interesting setup. I'd be interested in knowing how it works out in the long term.
- moconnor 15y ago
  The wireless keyboard is really good; it's not quite as nice as a mechanical one, but it's easily better than a laptop keyboard. If I ever go back to my MacBook, I'll take the keyboard with me. I have a tiling window manager. It has one tile.
  - jpdoctor 15y ago
    There is only one time that my batteries die on the wireless: When I don't have fresh ones nearby. Also, some server firedrill also increases the probability exponentially. I'm sure it's a consequence of thermodynamics, but I can't explain it.
  - brider 15y ago
    I think you may be missing the point about mechanical keyboards, my friend. The appeal of a mechanical keyboard stems from the switches under the keys that offer varied pressure curves, pressure thresholds, and physical feedback (depending on the switch type). Both the apple wireless keyboard and MBP laptop keyboard use scissor switches which are the typical laptop keyboard switch type. Some people like this switch type, some people do not. But if you're to say something like "it's easily better than a laptop keyboard" you can only make such a claim based on size or number/position of keys, since both use the same switch type. I'd wager a guess that the nature of the key switches is probably what your parent is interested in.
    - grk 15y ago
      I have a 13" MBP and a USB apple keyboard. The keys really feel different, despite same layout. External keyboard has easier to feel clicks and requires more pressure. Could be the use on my laptop, though (2 years vs 1 year).
scott_s 15y ago
For anyone who spends their day (or most of some days) in a terminal connected to a remote server, I can't recommend using GNU Screen enough (brief tutorial: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935). I've worked almost exclusively on remote servers, using the command line and vim, for about eight years now. It's only been in the past year that I started using Screen, and I feel stupid for not using it sooner.
- pyrhho 15y ago
  Since we're pimping terminal multiplexers, I quite enjoy tmux (http://tmux.sourceforge.net/ http://tmux.sourceforge.net/). I used to use screen, but found tmux to be faster, smoother, and have more logical key-combos (your mileage may vary).
  - scott_s 15y ago
    I saw two people below who say they prefer tmux over Screen, so I just looked it up. What I care about most is persistence; I use multiple terminal sessions if I want to have multiple windows. Did you find any difference for that feature?
    - scottschulthess 15y ago
      Can you explain your question better? I don't understand it enough to take a shot at an answer
      - scott_s 15y ago
        The only feature I care about is persistence. Is there a difference between Screen and tmux regarding persistence?
        djcapelis 15y ago
        No.
cmwright 15y ago
Incredible that we seem to be moving back to powerful mainframe computers in a timesharing system. A 40 year cycle?
- moconnor 15y ago
  Yes, I was really happy that so many open source tools born on such equipment were still around and perfectly tailored for this kind of setup.
- toddh 15y ago
  We also used to use diskless sun terminals that worked completely over the network.
- markkanof 15y ago
  It is a bit better than that though because you can have a complete server environment to yourself, and don't have to deal with timesharing.
  - p0ckets 15y ago
    Unless you shell out for a dedicated server, you are sharing the physical machine with other people. The cpu is probably scheduled according to the size of the instance you bought, but you might get the whole thing if your neighbors aren't running anything.
mscrivo 15y ago
If this guys thinks having a single 10" screen with no ability to switch between tasks easily and quickly is the wave of the future for developers, I don't want any part of that future. You can pry my dual 24" monitors + high performance desktop from cold dead body.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I don't think it's the future for developers, I think it's the future for pretty much everybody else though. I plug the iPad into large monitors sometimes. When an iPad with double the resolution comes out, this won't seem nearly so silly.
  - ricardobeat 15y ago
    The iPad 2 can output FullHD resolution, the app just needs to support it.
dramaticus3 15y ago
OMG computers
bergie 15y ago
Sounds very interesting. I think the major downside would be that you can't really do any development while offline. I've done some of my most productive programming during flights and train rides, so that would be a downside for me. Maybe Android could give a little more of the "local productivity" option?
- randomdata 15y ago
  While I haven't replaced my laptop, I also do some coding on my iPad under certain circumstances. Instead of using an editor over SSH, I purchased Textastic. It supports SFTP and a host of other protocols, allowing you to edit offline and then sync with the remote host when connectivity is available. I'm pretty happy with that setup. [1] http://www.textasticapp.com/ http://www.textasticapp.com/
RyanCumley 15y ago
That's good stuff! I just did the business version of this post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3186237 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3186237 I haven't attempted anything for my normal Objective-C XCode work yet on an iPad. Anyone out there have any hacks to do iPhone/iPad dev from the iPad?
- navs 15y ago
  I guess you could use a service like MacinCloud. http://www.macincloud.com/ http://www.macincloud.com/
- robterrell 15y ago
  1. Keep your project in a Dropbox folder or sftp site. 2. Edit your code with one of the many Dropbox-enabled text editors. (Or use Textastic with its sftp support.) 3. Use Hudson's web interface to kick off an Xcode build. Configure Hudson to send built IPAs back to you via email or TestFlight. 4. Download and test your new build on the same device. It sort of works, even! As long as you don't need to edit your XIB files, and you avoid typos. I'm not switching over to it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
awolf 15y ago
There are a lot of comments here from people acting as if not having two 24" monitors and a full mechanical keyboard would drastically diminish their productivity. This year I spent 4 months out of the country with only my 15" laptop while still working 8 hour days. I was surprised to find no change at all in how long it took to get shit done. I think we tend to kid ourselves about how much of a difference expensive equipment makes.
- moconnor 15y ago
  Yes, this is something I wanted to say and somehow didn't: one personal take-away from the experience for me has been that programming, ultimately, is thinking. All the technology in the world doesn't make me think faster. The most I can ask from it is that it gets out of my way and lets me search, explore and express myself efficiently.
  - awolf 15y ago
    Exactly. A subtle change to our workflows where we force ourselves to think about the problem for a minimum of ten minutes prior to coding will provide more benefit than any piece of equipment ever could. Not as sexy as a new cinema display though.
  - For_Iconoclasm 15y ago
    > programming, ultimately, is thinking. I very rarely feel slowed down by my environment. It's possible for it to happen, but most of my time is spent thinking about a problem, not typing.
- scott_s 15y ago
  For the past 10 months, I have only used a 15" MacBook Pro, and I've been wonderfully productive. Before that, I did most of my dissertation (coding and writing) on a 13" MacBook Pro.
- vidarh 15y ago
  I don't know - I find that smaller screens tends to mean more context switching. I often need to move back and forth between more terminal windows / virtual desktop / screen sessions where I'd just split my emacs session horizontally and/or vertically when I'm on a larger screen. The latter makes direct comparisons, cut and paste and working on things that cross files easier (e.g. writing a test and filling in code that correspond to them side by side) I'm not sure how much a small screen would or wouldn't actually slow me down, but it feels more tiresome to work on a smaller screen.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Ogre 15y ago
This is partly a testament to what a great app iSSH is. I haven't used it as a daily work environment, but I've gotten some pretty great things done with it, even the iPhone version. My favorite was sitting in a crappy motel room with barely Edge, and still managing to build a GPX converter (not build as in write, build as in download and compile), convert some map routes to a format I needed for another phone app, and get them on my website where I could then get the app that needed them to download them. It was not fast, and I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but it worked, and iSSH made it about as painless as I can imagine that process being.
- moconnor 15y ago
  This is really true, although depending entirely on a low-price, commercial app makes me uneasy. I'd be happier if I knew iSSH made enough to support a small company. I'd be happiest with an open source version I could contribute to.
  - guan 15y ago
    iSSH is not the only SSH client for iOS. I prefer Screens, even if there are a few features missing, and I believe there are other good ones too.
  - spicyj 15y ago
    Panic's Prompt (http://www.panic.com/blog/2011/04/introducing-prompt-ssh-for-ios/ http://www.panic.com/blog/2011/04/introducing-prompt-ssh-for...) probably doesn't make them enough to support their company, but they've been around for a long time and I don't expect they'll go anywhere. I'm not sure whether it supports 256 colors.
    - moconnor 15y ago
      At least when I last checked, Prompt doesn't support VNC. If I had to switch apps, one would time out in the background. I think that'd be get frustrating pretty quickly.
    - conradev 15y ago
pavel_lishin 15y ago
> Frustrated by the inconsistent usage of ctrl/alt/option/arrow keys to jump words and screens and lines, I'd really like to know what editor he was using.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I tried Textmate. But I was also using a web browser, an email client, a terminal, a VM running Linux with gnome-terminal and a few other linux-only utilities, including our product. I don't recall exactly what was inconsistent with what, but the overall effect was to make me unhappy.
  - pavel_lishin 15y ago
    I got used to it, especially with a little help in .inputrc: https://github.com/pavellishin/dotfiles/blob/master/.inputrc https://github.com/pavellishin/dotfiles/blob/master/.inputrc But moot point, now :)
sktrdie 15y ago
I don't see the difference compared to owning a MacBook Air. Is it that the screen and keyboard are separated?
- orthecreedence 15y ago
  The screen and the keyboard are separate, the Macbook Air isn't completely useless, and the Macbook Air can develop locally when, Jah forbid, the internet goes out or you have to work on a train or something. A Macbook Air can also, as far as I know, also work in the cloud perfectly well.
jsight 15y ago
> Maybe it works better on an Android - no, wait, that’d be anti-competitive behavior and Google would never do something evil, right? I don't see how releasing a full Android version would be anti-competitive in any meaningful sense. Especially since the Android app and webapp support for Google Docs is unbelievably horrible. It amazes me that something as simple as editing a document (or simple spreadsheet) is almost completely impractical on Android tablets.
namank 15y ago
What you have done here is an HCI study. On yourself. You could formalize this with related models and write a paper on it if you wanted.
- mitjak 15y ago
  The problem is, IMO, that it is a very narrow use case with a very specific user base that is willing to be very very flexible with this particular user interface (apps timing out when backgrounded, swiping instead of switching via Command+Tab, the low viewing angle etc). It is an interesting preview of what a 'cloud terminal' future could look like but I can't help wondering if the vast majority of viewers on HN are cringing at the thought of just how many backwards steps in UI evolution they would have to take from the familiar desktop and laptop PCs.
  - namank 15y ago
    Well, yes. But Contextual Design, by definition means building something for a specific user. As you say, its a first step towards the the pc-free, cloud-enabled, dev environment. The 'cringe' factor will always be there with new things!
navs 15y ago
I actually attempted the same thing once but gave up after a day. I borrowed the iPad from work (clients absolutely love demos on this thing) and used iSSH to connect to my netbook running ubuntu. First, I tried to create a simple mobile website with vim. I'm not a hardcore vim user so the frustration I felt using it on the iPad were mostly due to my level of inexperience with vim. Additionally, I didn't have an external keyboard. Using the software keyboard with my neck hunched forward gave me some serious cramps. The second activity was writing a document. I used markdown and pandoc to create an rtf. googlecl for uploading to the google cloud. Small screens bug some people but after using a 15" macbook pro and a 10" netbook, it normally doesn't bother me. In this case, using a software keyboard meant I had even less screen real estate which did bother me. Overall, it was workable. If I ever took vacations, I could see myself taking an iPad (with keyboard) instead of a regular laptop and doing some emergency bug fixing but I wouldn't choose it over my netbook.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I feel your pain, I can't imagine doing any serious text-related work on the iPad without an external keyboard. As you say, alone the typing position is horrendous.
jamesu 15y ago
Sounds great if you do work which can be done in the terminal or a slow 256-color vnc session. Otherwise i'll be sticking with my Macbook.
VikingCoder 15y ago
Do other people have this much trouble with Google Docs? I sure don't, and I consider myself a heavy user.
nileshk 15y ago
The last time I tried to use SSH under iOS with the Apple bluetooth keyboard (trying different SSH apps including iSSH and TouchTerm) I found that I could not comfortably use Emacs due to various key combinations not being transmitted (I guess Vim isn't as much of a problem). One of the SSH app developers said that they were not able to trap certain keystrokes that were iOS keyboard shortcuts. Looks like this may still be an issue, as moconnor says this: > Ctrl-X is my screen’s ‘hotkey’; it defaults to Ctrl-A but on a wireless keyboard that leaves unicode characters in the terminal - I assume this is related to Apple’s support for some common Emacs key bindings in iOS. Is the situation any better now? Any workarounds to make this work better (e.g. configure the shell on the remote end)? How is this on Android? I was trying this on an iPhone, but I'd imagine it handles bluetooth keyboards the same as the iPad. Another issue I had was latency of the cellular connection (AT&T 3G); there was a very noticeable delay between keystrokes and the server receiving them and transmitting back. I imagine if you're on wifi most of the time this isn't as much of a problem, though. Or maybe you just get used to the latency.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I'm on wifi, there's rarely noticeable latency, even on full screen updates. Ctrl-a and friends still don't work properly. However, iSSH has an option that lets you use the option key instead, and for me that did work just fine, but escape didn't. Now in version 5.x escape and ctrl work for everything except the most common emacs key bindings, and option-A doesn't any more.
- rsl7 15y ago
  In my experience, Prompt is much better app for straightforward terminal use than iSSH. It handles meta keys very well includig the hardware ESC key on the wireless keyboard that iSSH could not, last time I tried it.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    iSSH supports escape and most ctrl key combinations now.
  - nileshk 15y ago
mbq 15y ago
In other words, yet another frustrated Mac user converted to Linux.
- moconnor 15y ago
  I used Linux for 10 years before my first MacBook, so it was really more of a return than a conversion.
jrockway 15y ago
$800 gets you a pretty nice laptop. I don't see the advantage of this approach at all.
- sjs 15y ago
  We have very different definitions of "pretty nice".
  - jarek 15y ago
    Only until Apple releases an $800 laptop
    - sjs 15y ago
      I like the Sony Vaio-Z, it's a good notebook. Sony has $800 notebooks too but they are shit. It has nothing to do with the logo on the machine and I resent your thinly veiled attempt at dismissing me as a fanboy. Got any links to all of these mythical, amazing $800 notebooks?
- orthecreedence 15y ago
  $800 gets you a LOT more than an iPad. I can see the advantage of working in the cloud, but working off of an iPad to smells of "hey! hey everyone!! look at me! look what I'm doing!" Not to mention there is now a monthly fee to program. That's not economical.
  - ricardobeat 15y ago
    I don't recall the article being "Programming on the cheap". You can get a used 12-core station for that money. Or a bike.
  - pseudonym 15y ago
    Just to toss this out here, but $20/mo for a linode, is not a huge investment, and it's something that I have even without doing everything "in the cloud". It's handy for those quick file transfers, a small portfolio site, and since you have root access, you can quickly set up or take down any odd services without the hassle of finding a distinct hosting service (Mumble, Mercurial, Subversion, or what have you). But that's just my two cents.
zrgiu_ 15y ago
I dream of the day when I would be able to work completely remote. Much like using a VNC now to connect to server and do the work. Unfortunately.. the internet connection is not good enough for anything like that, and VNC is sub-optimal for this kind of things. Imagine being able to work remotely, being able to "rent" a couple of more virtual processor when you need to compile something bigger, having as much RAM available as you need and paying only for what you use, and most of all, having the security that all your data is safely backed up with a 1-second delay at most. Virtually unlimited bandwidth (again, pay for what you use), as all the other resources. Just imagine ...
wes-exp 15y ago
Imagine an "iPad Pro" that had similar battery life and even an integrated keyboard. In addition to supporting the SSH workflow, it can run traditional GUI applications if you really need them. You don't have to wait: it's called the MacBook Air.
- hoverkraft 15y ago
  Hahaha... was just about to post the same thing. It amazes me the number of people who lug around an iPad, an iPad stand, and an external keyboard to avoid the burden of carrying around a "real laptop". The MBA is probably half the weight of that setup.
- stock_toaster 15y ago
  I really like the 13" Air form factor, but the high resolution and smaller physical size results in fonts that are a bit too small for my eyes these days. So, I stick with my couple-gen-back 15" with matte finish and 1440x900.
  - wes-exp 15y ago
    The new full-screen capabilities in Lion can help with reading on small screens (in fact I think that's why they added it). Combined with bumping up the font size in applications, it can be quite readable.
    - stock_toaster 15y ago
      terminal.app is one of the worst offenders, possibly because I like a good monospace font for it (monaco-with antialias disabled). When adjusting the size away from the 'good default' of 11pt, it looks awful. Combined with that, bumping up the size in every single app lowers the value proposition for me, especially given the expense of the laptop itself. I practically live inside my laptop, use it far too much of the day, and anything that makes my eyes hurt more or requires more effort to use instead of less, I consider less than ideal. Full screen (which I quite enjoy by the way) helps neither or those things.
  - 15y ago
RexRollman 15y ago
I am still amazed that Apple hasn't come up with a shortcut for app switching when using bluetooth keyboards. By the way, Moconnor, have you given Panic's Prompt a try?
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  They don't really need to come up with one as much as just implement it. Gold standard's always been [Alt|Clover]-Tab; or even F3 (Apple's mapping for Exposé/Mission Control, even marked as such). I understand there's no easy way to dismiss the on-screen keyboard when you're using a hard keyboard either.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    The on screen keyboard vanishes when a Bluetooth one is connected; the eject button toggles it in and out again.
    - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
      I'm guessing this changed in iOS 5 then (AFAIK; it didn't in iOS 4). I stand corrected.
  - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
    Since I can't edit after this long: I'm wrong, iOS 5 lets you dismiss the soft keyboard if you have a keyboard attached.
- jmelloy 15y ago
  My bluetooth keyboard treats Home as escape, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.
- jmelloy 15y ago
  My bluetooth keyboard treats escape as Home, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.
pdenya 15y ago
I'm surprised he didn't think it was worth going for a 3G ipad. I spend a decent amount of time working outside of my office on my laptop with a local environment. Impossible with this setup and no 3G. Maybe there's a tethering plan on his iphone to account for that. Either way, this setup would be significantly less painful using a MBP to connect to linode instead of an ipad.
jwallaceparker 15y ago
It looks like the goal of the swap was to have a spartan, lightweight, cool (temperature) workspace. It seems like a MacBook Air accomplishes this better than iPad, stand and keyboard. The only difference I can grok from the article is that the MacBook Air is somehow more fragile. But is it?
- peng 15y ago
  The title is a bit disingenuous. Before clicking through, I was wondering how he managed to maintain his productivity level with a touchscreen keyboard. I'm disappointed he's using external hardware, because otherwise I'd love to try a similar setup.
rapind 15y ago
Very interesting. Did you ever consider the same setup but using a Chromebook? I've been thinking about doing that for a while now (I'm on an MBP currently). http://www.google.com/chromebook/ http://www.google.com/chromebook/
chrisjsmithuk 15y ago
I absolutely hate iPads with a passion. So much so that I writhe around in agony thinking about the things usually. However, that is actually a pretty neat idea. I'm not sure I'd swap it for my 1920x1080 terminal emulator (Sony VPCJ1+windows7+putty) though :)
prg318 15y ago
I find myself using SSH on my Google CR-48 netbook to develop and do work much more than my shiny Dell XPS laptop. SSH+Linode+VIM+screen is such a great combination as you can literally pick up exactly where you left off from any machine with SSH access. Gotta love it.
zyfo 15y ago
I use a Chromebook and its crosh to ssh into a Linode instance with tmux for web development. Works like a charm, apart from the lack of UTF-8 in chrosh.
tomkinstinch 15y ago
I tried to code on an iPad, but just couldn't get used to it. I'm glad it is working for you. It should be interesting when there are versatile graphical programming languages for touch devices (LabVIEW, etc.).
- william42 15y ago
  To be fair, he attached a keyboard to it and worked mostly through ssh.
deanproxy 15y ago
The lack of ability to look at documentation/stackoverflow/code examples in a browser while simultaneously coding out said example and making the changes I need would severely limit my productivity. "Just copy and paste!" you may say... Sure, that'll work. Only, wait, I forgot what that one line meant, is it needed? What did they say about changing this piece of code that was "really important?" Crap, back to the browser. Let's switch apps again. Crap, the page in the browser is having to reload because I had too many tabs open and memory got low, now I have to wait for it to reload. Where was I on the page? Cause when it reloaded the page, it put me back at the top. Wait, that wasn't the tab I wanted, it's that other tab. Great! It has to reload now too! I typically work with a single external monitor connected to my Macbook and use the Macbook for holding my mail client, chat and a browser while my Terminal's and IDE are on the external monitor. This works best for me. Now that spaces and expose are so tied together, working with even just one screen is much nicer. I have toyed with the idea of just using a single external monitor and use spaces extensively. Just a swipe and I'm at a new space. This is much faster and nicer than changing apps on iOS. I think it's a neat trial idea, but for long term productivity, it certainly is more of a "hipster factor" than useful.
SoftwareMaven 15y ago
I'm in the process of deciding on a laptop upgrade. I can't decide between an 11" MacBook Air or a 15" MacBook Pro. If I could get a nice Thunderbolt 3D accelerator, the Air would win hands-down. I'm really close to moving to remote work for almost everything development related, but I photoshop enough to worry about the Air being underpowered. Any good cloud answers for that?
- vaughan 15y ago
  Thunderbolt 3D accelerator will be out early next year. ViDock G4 Micro (http://www.facebook.com/VillageViDock?sk=app_202980683107053&app_data=69f57681-2b83-45a5-b695-1ba5cd87ff48:0 http://www.facebook.com/VillageViDock?sk=app_202980683107053...)
jiggy2011 15y ago
Ouch, each to his own but not for me! Combination of tiny screen , having to reach out and touch the screen rather than just put a hand on the mouse and the latency involved in using a remote machine would make this a nightmare for me! Judging by the photo of the setup on the desk I would assume you have to lean quite far forward in order to see the screen (unless you have very good eyesight) and I have enough backpain as it is. Using any graphical tools at all (unless there is an ipad version) must be a major pain on this setup! I find working on a laptop bad enough but when I really need to be portable and can't take my dual monitors with me the combination of internet hosted source control + IMAP email + dropbox means that I can grab my laptop and just walk out the door without worrying about where my files are so I'm not really sure what advantages you get from this setup. Of course if your happy with your setup then that's totally cool, what worries me more is if the desktop market dissapears and it becomes necessary for everyone to use a setup like this, it would feel like a massive step backwards to me. I'm just too used to being able to lie back on my chair, have my keyboard within easy reach and clearly see everything I need to see right in front of me in big readable text. As an aside I also don't really like widescreen monitors for doing work , especially programming as vertical screen estate is much more useful than horizontal when trying to look at allot of code and figure out where the bug is. But it seems almost impossible now to get a large square monitor that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
- moconnor 15y ago
  At work we have large widescreen dell monitors that can be rotated into a portrait mode, you might like those.
rayhano 15y ago
If only a viable version of Office could be found for the iPad
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
diamondhead 15y ago
I put my throughout development environment on my linode for couple of years and think that it's a good for availability. As an example, I developed MultiplayerChess.com is on my Linode server. I don't have an IPhone or IPad yet but I see that it's great to access a full utilized development environment from anywhere... Let's turn this topic to a usesthis.com for CLI lovers. CLI apps that I use are tmux (In addition to the previous comments not recommending Screen, I highly recommend Tmux), Emacs, VIM (I use Emacs as an IRC and Twitter client, an IDE and a self-organizer, VIM as a file editor), newsbeuter for RSS and links for browsing. My choice of distribution is Arch Linux. if you wonder about my Emacs configuration, it's in my Github; github.com/azer/emacsfiles
reustle 15y ago
I would do this, except for most of the day hook up the iPad to a 24" monitor with the HDMI cable. The only roadblock I see is not having chrome inspector.
noveltyaccount 15y ago
> More recently I’ve been scanning mails over IMAP with a python script instead. Natch.
ypcxz 15y ago
Sorry man, but I like to code from my sofa. I also have no problem keeping my Snow Leopard running perfectly. iPad is just way too limited and you will discover that very soon.
- ypcxz 15y ago
  Oh, just now I noticed all the affiliate links in your post. Yep, we're on the same page now. Keep going!
dinedal 15y ago
iSSH maps either alt to option or control to option, how do you have it set up to do both? Prompt lets you use the control key for control, but the alt key is borked on apple's wireless keyboard. Is there a set up with both these keys working at the same time, preferably on the keys labeled as such?
deepGem 15y ago
On a rather different note, a very comfortable setup can be achieved. Setup a neat iPad mount on a wall with a comfortable viewing distance and say goodbye to neck strain :).
anthonyb 15y ago
> The iPhone keyboard is somewhat painful to use, but for rm -rf /tmp/build-2011-* it suffices. Is it just me, or does the thought of typing rm -rf on an iPhone keyboard sound a little... dangerous?
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- moconnor 15y ago
  The best part is, I was root.
bbwharris 15y ago
I tried doing this, but it felt like I wanted to make this setup happen. It just wasn't there for me. The idea is elegant and simple, but the reality is that having a laptop is just more efficient. One day, this might be the nomadic developers toolbox.
6ren 15y ago
Isn't the latency of vim on a remote server distracting? Or is your ping low enough to not be noticeable? I've thought about this kind of setup, but I think I'd need vim to be running locally (but working on files from a remote filesystem - vim can do this).
- anjc 15y ago
  Can you or somebody expand on that last bit...run vim locally on remote files? How? How does this improve lag? Any downsides to it? This would save me so much bother.
  - 6ren 15y ago
    I haven't done it in ages, but a quick google shows gives an example (BTW google beats vim :help if you don't know the command name) http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Edit_remote_files_locally_via_SCP/RCP/FTP http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Edit_remote_files_locally_via_SCP/... vim scp://konimi@vim.org//var/www/html/rtc_functions.php i.e. you just start vim with the address preceded by the protocol name (here it's scp, but also works for ftp and rcp). The "konimi@" is the syntax for username. You might need to set up SSH passwords for scp on the remote (that's a whole other thing to research)
    - anjc 15y ago
      Thanks a million
  - ubercore 15y ago
    Expandrive works well for this.
doki_pen 15y ago
So Mac/VMWare/Linux failed and the solution was to move to iPad/Linode? Did you consider just installing a Linux distro? Why do people who develop on Linux all day need OSX? I don't get it. What is the killer app? It's more expensive and harder to use for Linux development. Is it really just because it's prettier?
bitwize 15y ago
Hey, 1024x768, 8bpp is how I rolled back in 1995 rocking my first Linux box. Thanks for bringing that feeling of freedom back to my memory.
jebblue 15y ago
If you're going to try something like this, you couldn't ask for a better VPS provider than Linode. I think the choice of VPS provider is at least as important as the choice of client access tools.
borism 15y ago
what is VGA adapter used for?

634 points by moconnor 15y ago

drivebyacct2 15y ago

Random observation: Who uses an iPad + "the Cloud" + vim, and rips low quality DVDs?

moconnor 15y ago
A UK expat who can't (legally) get UK series like Outnumbered digitally, yet still wants to take them with him on his iPad.
- smallegan 15y ago
  Even if you own the dvd I think it would be faster/easier to get a "backup" copy via torrent.

casca 15y ago

I'm a big fan of tmux* and vim but there's a limit to the complexity of system that you can develop efficiently with vim. A good graphical IDE used by a skilled operator will be more likely to generate correct, consistent code faster. If you're using vim and think you're developing as well and as fast as you can, you're probably wrong. * 17 years of screen and I've finally switched over to tmux. None of the features were sufficiently compelling for me to change, but it's so much faster

moconnor 15y ago
If you're using vim without all the features of a graphical IDE, you're missing the right plugins. I used Delphi for years, then Visual Studio for years, then Eclipse for a while, then QtCreator for years. I've haven't found anything in any graphical IDE that can't be succinctly reproduced in a text-only environment like vim. I can imagine a whole load of awesome features that would require a truly graphical output. They just haven't been written yet.
Sindisil 15y ago
I respectfully disagree, or partially, anyway. I've been developing software in Vim, Netbeans, and Visual Studio (with about a year or so of Eclipse thrown in for good measure). I've worked on projects in all three ranging from tiny 1kloc one-offs to several million line systems, using C, C++, Java, Bash, and a smattering of Perl and Python. For Java and C++ code bases beyond a few thousand lines, I certainly agree that language aware tools are invaluable. It's sad that C++'s nature makes such tools so difficult to build. Going from Netbeans/Java to Netbeans or VS C++ is like going back in time - not quite laser scalpel to flint knife, but sometimes it feels like it! Fortunately, I spend the bulk of my time in C, where I find myself at least as effective in Vim as in either Netbeans or VS. Granted, I obviously do use a few additional tools - primarily ctags and make. If vim only had fully language aware navigation and search, I think I'd be just as effective in it as in any IDE. Exuberant ctags comes close, but just isn't quite there, and cscope is just too clumsy and slow.
- moconnor 15y ago
  For code navigation / completion, you could try eclim / clang_complete.
  - Sindisil 15y ago
    Yup, it's at the top of my pile of things to try when I need to take a break. Though there's something that feels ... wrong with eclim in particular. Not that it'll stop me from using it if it works well!
- qdog 15y ago
  I haven't noticed cscope being all the slow, other than having to rebuild the database. I use all the C-Spacebar-<letter> commands, it's second nature to find all the callers of a function for me now.
moconnor 15y ago
tmux: is it faster because it's more efficient about sending updates to the terminal, or are you talking about server-side resource usage? I certainly wouldn't say no to a more responsive terminal.
- casca 15y ago
  I'm talking about the time between keystrokes and visual response. To make the switch-over even easier, rebind to C-a instead of the (sensible) tmux default of C-b. Put this into your ~/.tmux.conf: set -g prefix C-a unbind C-b bind C-a send-prefix bind-key C-a last-window
  - yangyang 15y ago
    Neither are sensible for anyone who uses Emacs keybindings (at the shell or in Emacs). I have my prefix key set to C-t, which is tolerable.
    - Ogre 15y ago
      Being an emacs user, C-a was never practical. I always set mine to ` (backtick). Except when writing shell scripts, it's surprising how little it actually comes up, and learning to type it twice when you actually want one is not hard. It reduces by 1/3rd the number of keys involved in switching "tabs" or doing other stuff. Unlearning typing it twice for when you're not in screen is the hard part.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      But C-t is a useful Emacs keybinding. I use C-z. Pressing C-z z when you want to suspend the running app is not particularly disruptive.
orthecreedence 15y ago
I have to disagree here. I've been programming for about 17 years now (since I was 8) and I've used a lot of different types of editors across different languages. I have to say that my LEAST favorite of all editors are the ones that try to do anything for me. Code completion, auto-closing quotes or tags, etc etc... it frustrates and distracts me to no end. After spending a little under a year learning vim, I've found that while I make the occasional error in command mode, nothing has helped me "think in code" quite as well. I'd say most of my time is spent thinking while programming anyway, but when I am typing, nothing has made me faster than vim. "Small" things like "hmm, I don't like what's in this block" can be as slow as reaching over to the mouse and selecting a bunch of code by hand, trying very hard to be precise, or typing "ci{". Which is easier? Perhaps I've been missing out on all these years on the true power of IDEs and not using them to their full potential, but when it comes to programming, I like to be the one typing, not some fool machine. Do I occasionally make mistakes? Of course. Is my overall output better because I have fewer distractions? Absolutely. Of course, that's just me. I know plenty of people who are a lot faster with autocomplete and auto-quote closing and everything else.
qdog 15y ago
I use vim+cscope+screen. I used to operate solely out of a putty window (The company I work for uses windows on the desktop and really, all I need is that one putty window). I might look into tmux, screen is kind of buggy under cygwin. There are plenty of code-completion plugins, and I used to have tab-completion enabled, but I never got around to adding it on my latest environment and don't miss it. Of course, cscope is mostly useful for c/c++/java, but I've used the ruby vim map just fine. I operate on a codebase that's probably past a million lines of code. Maybe not all useful lines, I haven't seen them all ;)

dpapathanasiou 15y ago

Can you really write code efficiently on such a small (9.7") screen?

moconnor 15y ago
I wondered about that, too, but I haven't noticed a feeling of being constrained or blinkered. I'm editing 85 rows and 35 columns with a pleasantly-large font. Check your editing space inside an IDE - is it really that much larger? My guess is that (1) any function I'm writing is generally entirely within view anyway, and (2) with Vim I never scroll around looking for something, I jump directly to it with a search command.
Sindisil 15y ago
I've written many tens of thousands of lines of C on my netbook, which has a 10.1" screen, also using Vim, so I believe it's possible. Still, I'd really like just a smidge more space, especially in the vertical. At least 168 pixels, to be specific. That's one advantage he has with the iPad - he can easily switch between portrait and landscape, depending upon his needs. I'd love to be able to occasionally turn my netbook screen to portrait!
- Meai 15y ago
  http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/ http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_Pad/Eee_Pad_Transformer_TF101/
jakeonthemove 15y ago
I think it's the resolution that matters, and 1024x768 is pretty comfortable for work (I know higher resolutions are even better, but I've been using 1024x768 for half a decade on old CRT and LCD monitors - it never failed to deliver). When I switched to a new smartphone, the resolution was the most important change - with 854x480 pixels I can read forums and sites easily, as opposed to a 320x480 display...

idspispopd 15y ago

It's interesting to see that other people are noticing how poor the google web experience has become on iOS. It seems especially deliberate when I note that android & chrome use webkit. I've even swapped the default search engine to bing because it provides a better layout, especially so for image searching which in my view is broken on iOS. This from the company that just released tools to aid the transition to mobile web. (and yes, I'm aware that they hate each other, but why should I be punished? reminds me of the MS from yesteryear.) Also: there is general feedback that google's optional services are generally quite good, which makes it curious that the originally very good google search/image search was replaced with versions that aren't up to scratch.

gujk 15y ago
No need to ascribe malice; the Google web experience is bad on Android too.
Kylekramer 15y ago
Anyone who thinks Google Docs is better on Android due to anti-Apple conspiracy clearly has never used Google Docs on Android. Also, outside of Google Docs, Google has first rate support for iOS on the web. Gmail, Voice, Reader, everything runs brilliantly on iOS. In fact, usually better than Android, as they clearly see web as their primary in to iOS compared to Android (example: Voice is the snazzy HTML5 newness on iOS, while Android has the spartan 1995 grad student webpage styling).
- rhubarbquid 15y ago
  I wouldn't call the mobile support in Reader "frist rate". Some of the UI elements (especially the "mark as read", "email", etc. links at the bottom of each post) are too small, I constantly expand the next post when trying to email one. A small detail, but one that drives me crazy.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
guelo 15y ago

suivix 15y ago

You can also use SSH + screen with your MacBook... that's what I do with my MacBook Air since it's much more pleasant to deal with than the company IBM laptop.

raganwald 15y ago

One fateful day, VMWare and OS/X conspired to trash my shared filesystem, losing several days of uncommitted code in the process. Several days of uncommitted code? We need to have a heart to heart talk about your process.

moconnor 15y ago
This is really true. Back then we were still using CVS, and I was writing a feature that I thought wasn't quite big enough to branch and remerge for, but turned out to be a bit more involved to get right than I'd thought. Now we're on Mercurial and life is better. Edit: A nice win with the Linode is that they back it up for me for $5 a month. Sure, there are solutions for the desktop too, but somehow I never got around to using one of those.
- raganwald 15y ago
  There are two kinds of programmers: Those who’ve earned their experience the hard way, and insufferable know-it-alls who parrot whatever was in the last witty blog post they read. There’s zero shame in being the first kind :-)
  - marxidad 15y ago
    And one shame in being the other : P
  - zachleat 15y ago
    What's the URL to the blog post where you read this? :)
    - raganwald 15y ago
      http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 http://twitter.com/#!/raganwald/status/131738600931995648 :-P
      - 15y ago

prolepunk 15y ago

Why can't just install linux on his macboc and sync everything using ssh/rsync/git without being such a hipster.

powerslave12r 15y ago

I think the way of the future is a smaller powerful notebook, like a Thinkpad X220, and then using larger monitors and whatever cloud service you want.

comm_it 15y ago

Looking at the setup of the iPad on your table with the keyboard gave me neck ache. I can't imagine what that does to you on a daily basis. Interesting experiment, I don't think I could ever move to doing something like that permanently.

TamDenholm 15y ago

Anyone tried to do this as a web developer? I know theres an app or two geared towards being a web dev environment, the one good one i found (its called Gusto on the app store) i didnt get to test properly because it didnt support SFTP yet (due to apple requiring some permission from the gov or something, not technical limitation).

moconnor 15y ago
I do some web development in my spare time but I think I'd really miss the developer tools in the browser if I did more client-side javascript. There's always firefox-in-vnc, but that's a pretty awful solution.
rsl7 15y ago
It's almost impossible if you need to do anything related to graphics. Even picking a color. Maybe you have such things already laid out in proper sass files, and you've mastered zen-coding, know most of the various parameters, have templates for everything, don't need to look up sample code all the time, and you don't need to copy and paste random things from the web (text selection in safari is still awfully dodgy). And you don't need the various standards and documentation open right next to you. Still.. even plain HTML is a lot more visual than code. so much switching can suck. .. now, two or three iPads, that's the ticket.
csixty4 15y ago
I was just using Gusto for web development at lunch yesterday. It's a pretty good way to work if you don't want to drag a full laptop around everywhere. It's like that famous saying about the best camera -- the best coding tool is the one you have with you.
ricardobeat 15y ago
I tried to, but a few things make it impossible: - Most editors suck in one way or another - You have to work on a terminal if you want version control, builds or setup local servers - Mobile Safari is not fast enough. You spend a lot of time reloading pages - No inspector for the DOM, javascript, debugging, profiling - Zero ability to handle graphics

billpatrianakos 15y ago

I can't deny that this is a cool setup but I can't see it being useful for long. I personally need to see multiples windows simultaneously as I work. Swiping over can't cut it for very long. But good for you, man. To each his own I suppose.

moconnor 15y ago
I must confess, I did wonder about adding a second iPad for browsing documentation, or maybe one of the new kindles... I went through a phase of using multiple monitors all the time. After a year or so I came to the conclusion that alt-tab is quicker and easier than looking at another physical screen. Swiping isn't; I wish alt-tab worked in iOS. Still, it's close and it stops me checking my mail too often.
- Splines 15y ago
  I think this is one of the places where Win8's tablet interface will gain fans. I've seen the developer preview and being able to snap windows to the side and get a "mini mode" (or whatever it's called) is really cool.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    This. I'm sure a "mini mode" will be a part of every tablet interface in a couple of years' time.
- prophetjohn 15y ago
  I seriously doubt that you're alt-tab'ing faster than you're making a saccade to another monitor. We're talking tens of milliseconds to glance over. What if you have to hit tab 2/3/4 times to get to the application you want? And you have to stop and see how many tabs you need? Looking over at a different monitor is significantly faster.
DrHankPym 15y ago
You can use GNU screen to have more than one bash shell running, and you can use tabs and screen splits with Vim. I use to do this on my G2 phone; it's easier to play with Vim over ssh with a physical keyboard. Unfortunately, my phone lacks some critical characters like '|', '>' and '<', but it's really nice to be able to make edits wherever, whenever.

moonboots 15y ago

For anyone still using gnu screen, tmux.

vidarh 15y ago
Looked at it; didn't see any compelling reasons to switch; went back to screen. Screen is for the most part "good enough" that any replacement that aims to supplant it completely needs to either be vastly and obviously superior or enough of a drop in replacement that it doesn't require any effort to switch (I'm most definitively not investing time updating config files or changing key presses unless the improvements are dramatic). As far as I can see, while tmux might be "better" in some nebulous way, the value proposition is way to weak to invest time in switching for me.
- mbq 15y ago
  tmux is 4 letters, screen is 6 =) And splitting view sucks less.
  - vidarh 15y ago
    I rarely split views, so that makes no difference to me - all my splitting tends to occur in Emacs. And I never type anything to connect to my screen sessions. How primitive ;) I have shortcuts for the main machines I use that opens a terminal window, ssh's to it using my key, and attaches to my running screen or starts a fresh one if none is running (rarely - most of my screen sessions are 1+ years old) My sessions on less important machines run in screen windows.
- revscat 15y ago
  shrug Maybe. It's all about what's valuable to you. I switched to tmux because it is better maintained and it has better screen splitting functionality. I also mapped screens commands over to tmux, so the switch was basically painless. Took all of 15 minutes. If you're cool with screen, you're cool with screen. No worries.
  - 15y ago

trebor 15y ago

My first thought was, "Oh! no you didn't!" Kudos for thinking of it. I think that it's a very viable solution for those who don't have a great need for a graphical IDE. But as a web developer I have to test across all major browsers, so I can't switch everything to an iPad. (Not that I wouldn't be interested in trying it.)

davidjhall 15y ago

I heartily agree -- once you add a wireless keyboard to an iPad, it stops being a toy. I use the keyboard and an iPad 1 to write my first drafts (both locally and google docs, if need be) and with VNC, I code on my remote servers as well.

nodata 15y ago
How do you keep the iPad's screen comfortably facing you if you're not holding it?
- davidjhall 15y ago
  I have a protector case (Incase) which has ridges to keep it open at an angle, landscape. Very low-tech but it keeps it at the correct angle for me. Back when Border's were still around, I just needed keyboard and iPad (power lasts a long time) to work on my writing at one of their tables or even their Big Comfy Chairs(tm).
- moconnor 15y ago
  With case that double as an adjustable stand. I can't figure out how anybody uses an iPad without one. The smart cover's one fixed angle doesn't cut it.

kayoone 15y ago

You could actually do the same thing WITH a Macbook Air/Pro. The beauty of a cloud linux instance + gnu screen isnt limited to the ipad and so you could still have a bigger screen and the possibility to go back to GUI apps if you need them. I like this for travelling on the go, but spending my normal workday in 1024 resolution ? Naaa.

moconnor 15y ago
This is true, but I'd be sacrificing the silence, the portability and the battery life. And the hipster factor, I guess. 102x768 isn't for everyone, but in text-mode it's all the same. I've no idea how many hours I've spent on a huge high-res monitor staring at a relatively tiny terminal window surrounded by a pretty desktop picture.
- swombat 15y ago
  The battery life of a Macbook Air is pretty damn good. You can get a good 6+ hours of work out of them before needing to plug in. Not quite iPad-scale, but close enough in many cases. Also, the iPad does tend to run out of battery a bit more quickly when using 3G and bluetooth heavily, I believe...
  - moconnor 15y ago
    For me, 6 hours is the difference between needing to take a charger to work and never thinking about it. If I'm going to take a charger, I might as well have 1 hour battery life. I didn't buy the 3G version, but I do use bluetooth for the keyboard all day and still get around 9 hours out of it.
  - mgcross 15y ago
    Maybe with the 13" MBA or MBP, but my 11" gets around half the battery life of an iPad. On a different note, an iPad also makes for a decent external display for a cramped 11" MBA.
  - ynniv 15y ago
    It's useful to note that the Air's battery life is fleeting if you actually use the processor. Intensive game development has left me thinking that it's life is closer to two hours.

lean 15y ago

* iPad 2 (16Gb, WiFi) * Apple wireless keyboard * Stilgut adjustable angle stand/case Hopefully someday they'll sell portable computers with an integrated keyboard, and some type of mechanism to hold the screen up.

drivingmenuts 15y ago

What's the solution for when "the cloud" loses your files and the ToS says "so sorry, we'll try harder next time - here's next month's bill"? When I keep my files locally, the only person I have to blame for losing them is myself. Out in "the cloud", there's quite literally nothing that can be done to recover my data.

moconnor 15y ago
Linode offer monthly backups for $5. All my real work is pushed to the office repository. All my personal projects are done in a Dropbox folder. I'm pretty confident the data will be ok this time.
- njharman 15y ago
  Backups with same vender aren't backups.
nemoniac 15y ago
You can "quite literally" keep your data in two places in the cloud at once.

agentultra 15y ago

This has to be the most ergonomically inefficient set-up ever! I also cannot fathom how to work with < 2 big monitors (> 21" at least). And a tiling window manager. And a decent mechanical keyboard... ok ok.. Interesting setup. I'd be interested in knowing how it works out in the long term.

moconnor 15y ago
The wireless keyboard is really good; it's not quite as nice as a mechanical one, but it's easily better than a laptop keyboard. If I ever go back to my MacBook, I'll take the keyboard with me. I have a tiling window manager. It has one tile.
- jpdoctor 15y ago
  There is only one time that my batteries die on the wireless: When I don't have fresh ones nearby. Also, some server firedrill also increases the probability exponentially. I'm sure it's a consequence of thermodynamics, but I can't explain it.
- brider 15y ago
  I think you may be missing the point about mechanical keyboards, my friend. The appeal of a mechanical keyboard stems from the switches under the keys that offer varied pressure curves, pressure thresholds, and physical feedback (depending on the switch type). Both the apple wireless keyboard and MBP laptop keyboard use scissor switches which are the typical laptop keyboard switch type. Some people like this switch type, some people do not. But if you're to say something like "it's easily better than a laptop keyboard" you can only make such a claim based on size or number/position of keys, since both use the same switch type. I'd wager a guess that the nature of the key switches is probably what your parent is interested in.
  - grk 15y ago
    I have a 13" MBP and a USB apple keyboard. The keys really feel different, despite same layout. External keyboard has easier to feel clicks and requires more pressure. Could be the use on my laptop, though (2 years vs 1 year).

scott_s 15y ago

For anyone who spends their day (or most of some days) in a terminal connected to a remote server, I can't recommend using GNU Screen enough (brief tutorial: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/9/16838/14935). I've worked almost exclusively on remote servers, using the command line and vim, for about eight years now. It's only been in the past year that I started using Screen, and I feel stupid for not using it sooner.

pyrhho 15y ago
Since we're pimping terminal multiplexers, I quite enjoy tmux (http://tmux.sourceforge.net/ http://tmux.sourceforge.net/). I used to use screen, but found tmux to be faster, smoother, and have more logical key-combos (your mileage may vary).
- scott_s 15y ago
  I saw two people below who say they prefer tmux over Screen, so I just looked it up. What I care about most is persistence; I use multiple terminal sessions if I want to have multiple windows. Did you find any difference for that feature?
  - scottschulthess 15y ago
    Can you explain your question better? I don't understand it enough to take a shot at an answer
    - scott_s 15y ago
      The only feature I care about is persistence. Is there a difference between Screen and tmux regarding persistence?
      - djcapelis 15y ago
        No.

cmwright 15y ago

Incredible that we seem to be moving back to powerful mainframe computers in a timesharing system. A 40 year cycle?

moconnor 15y ago
Yes, I was really happy that so many open source tools born on such equipment were still around and perfectly tailored for this kind of setup.
toddh 15y ago
We also used to use diskless sun terminals that worked completely over the network.
markkanof 15y ago
It is a bit better than that though because you can have a complete server environment to yourself, and don't have to deal with timesharing.
- p0ckets 15y ago
  Unless you shell out for a dedicated server, you are sharing the physical machine with other people. The cpu is probably scheduled according to the size of the instance you bought, but you might get the whole thing if your neighbors aren't running anything.

mscrivo 15y ago

If this guys thinks having a single 10" screen with no ability to switch between tasks easily and quickly is the wave of the future for developers, I don't want any part of that future. You can pry my dual 24" monitors + high performance desktop from cold dead body.

moconnor 15y ago
I don't think it's the future for developers, I think it's the future for pretty much everybody else though. I plug the iPad into large monitors sometimes. When an iPad with double the resolution comes out, this won't seem nearly so silly.
- ricardobeat 15y ago
  The iPad 2 can output FullHD resolution, the app just needs to support it.

dramaticus3 15y ago

OMG computers

bergie 15y ago

Sounds very interesting. I think the major downside would be that you can't really do any development while offline. I've done some of my most productive programming during flights and train rides, so that would be a downside for me. Maybe Android could give a little more of the "local productivity" option?

randomdata 15y ago
While I haven't replaced my laptop, I also do some coding on my iPad under certain circumstances. Instead of using an editor over SSH, I purchased Textastic. It supports SFTP and a host of other protocols, allowing you to edit offline and then sync with the remote host when connectivity is available. I'm pretty happy with that setup. [1] http://www.textasticapp.com/ http://www.textasticapp.com/

RyanCumley 15y ago

That's good stuff! I just did the business version of this post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3186237 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3186237 I haven't attempted anything for my normal Objective-C XCode work yet on an iPad. Anyone out there have any hacks to do iPhone/iPad dev from the iPad?

navs 15y ago
I guess you could use a service like MacinCloud. http://www.macincloud.com/ http://www.macincloud.com/
robterrell 15y ago
1. Keep your project in a Dropbox folder or sftp site. 2. Edit your code with one of the many Dropbox-enabled text editors. (Or use Textastic with its sftp support.) 3. Use Hudson's web interface to kick off an Xcode build. Configure Hudson to send built IPAs back to you via email or TestFlight. 4. Download and test your new build on the same device. It sort of works, even! As long as you don't need to edit your XIB files, and you avoid typos. I'm not switching over to it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

awolf 15y ago

There are a lot of comments here from people acting as if not having two 24" monitors and a full mechanical keyboard would drastically diminish their productivity. This year I spent 4 months out of the country with only my 15" laptop while still working 8 hour days. I was surprised to find no change at all in how long it took to get shit done. I think we tend to kid ourselves about how much of a difference expensive equipment makes.

moconnor 15y ago
Yes, this is something I wanted to say and somehow didn't: one personal take-away from the experience for me has been that programming, ultimately, is thinking. All the technology in the world doesn't make me think faster. The most I can ask from it is that it gets out of my way and lets me search, explore and express myself efficiently.
- awolf 15y ago
  Exactly. A subtle change to our workflows where we force ourselves to think about the problem for a minimum of ten minutes prior to coding will provide more benefit than any piece of equipment ever could. Not as sexy as a new cinema display though.
- For_Iconoclasm 15y ago
  > programming, ultimately, is thinking. I very rarely feel slowed down by my environment. It's possible for it to happen, but most of my time is spent thinking about a problem, not typing.
scott_s 15y ago
For the past 10 months, I have only used a 15" MacBook Pro, and I've been wonderfully productive. Before that, I did most of my dissertation (coding and writing) on a 13" MacBook Pro.
vidarh 15y ago
I don't know - I find that smaller screens tends to mean more context switching. I often need to move back and forth between more terminal windows / virtual desktop / screen sessions where I'd just split my emacs session horizontally and/or vertically when I'm on a larger screen. The latter makes direct comparisons, cut and paste and working on things that cross files easier (e.g. writing a test and filling in code that correspond to them side by side) I'm not sure how much a small screen would or wouldn't actually slow me down, but it feels more tiresome to work on a smaller screen.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

Ogre 15y ago

This is partly a testament to what a great app iSSH is. I haven't used it as a daily work environment, but I've gotten some pretty great things done with it, even the iPhone version. My favorite was sitting in a crappy motel room with barely Edge, and still managing to build a GPX converter (not build as in write, build as in download and compile), convert some map routes to a format I needed for another phone app, and get them on my website where I could then get the app that needed them to download them. It was not fast, and I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but it worked, and iSSH made it about as painless as I can imagine that process being.

moconnor 15y ago
This is really true, although depending entirely on a low-price, commercial app makes me uneasy. I'd be happier if I knew iSSH made enough to support a small company. I'd be happiest with an open source version I could contribute to.
- guan 15y ago
  iSSH is not the only SSH client for iOS. I prefer Screens, even if there are a few features missing, and I believe there are other good ones too.
- spicyj 15y ago
  Panic's Prompt (http://www.panic.com/blog/2011/04/introducing-prompt-ssh-for-ios/ http://www.panic.com/blog/2011/04/introducing-prompt-ssh-for...) probably doesn't make them enough to support their company, but they've been around for a long time and I don't expect they'll go anywhere. I'm not sure whether it supports 256 colors.
  - moconnor 15y ago
    At least when I last checked, Prompt doesn't support VNC. If I had to switch apps, one would time out in the background. I think that'd be get frustrating pretty quickly.
  - conradev 15y ago

pavel_lishin 15y ago

> Frustrated by the inconsistent usage of ctrl/alt/option/arrow keys to jump words and screens and lines, I'd really like to know what editor he was using.

moconnor 15y ago
I tried Textmate. But I was also using a web browser, an email client, a terminal, a VM running Linux with gnome-terminal and a few other linux-only utilities, including our product. I don't recall exactly what was inconsistent with what, but the overall effect was to make me unhappy.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  I got used to it, especially with a little help in .inputrc: https://github.com/pavellishin/dotfiles/blob/master/.inputrc https://github.com/pavellishin/dotfiles/blob/master/.inputrc But moot point, now :)

sktrdie 15y ago

I don't see the difference compared to owning a MacBook Air. Is it that the screen and keyboard are separated?

orthecreedence 15y ago
The screen and the keyboard are separate, the Macbook Air isn't completely useless, and the Macbook Air can develop locally when, Jah forbid, the internet goes out or you have to work on a train or something. A Macbook Air can also, as far as I know, also work in the cloud perfectly well.

jsight 15y ago

> Maybe it works better on an Android - no, wait, that’d be anti-competitive behavior and Google would never do something evil, right? I don't see how releasing a full Android version would be anti-competitive in any meaningful sense. Especially since the Android app and webapp support for Google Docs is unbelievably horrible. It amazes me that something as simple as editing a document (or simple spreadsheet) is almost completely impractical on Android tablets.

namank 15y ago

What you have done here is an HCI study. On yourself. You could formalize this with related models and write a paper on it if you wanted.

mitjak 15y ago
The problem is, IMO, that it is a very narrow use case with a very specific user base that is willing to be very very flexible with this particular user interface (apps timing out when backgrounded, swiping instead of switching via Command+Tab, the low viewing angle etc). It is an interesting preview of what a 'cloud terminal' future could look like but I can't help wondering if the vast majority of viewers on HN are cringing at the thought of just how many backwards steps in UI evolution they would have to take from the familiar desktop and laptop PCs.
- namank 15y ago
  Well, yes. But Contextual Design, by definition means building something for a specific user. As you say, its a first step towards the the pc-free, cloud-enabled, dev environment. The 'cringe' factor will always be there with new things!

navs 15y ago

I actually attempted the same thing once but gave up after a day. I borrowed the iPad from work (clients absolutely love demos on this thing) and used iSSH to connect to my netbook running ubuntu. First, I tried to create a simple mobile website with vim. I'm not a hardcore vim user so the frustration I felt using it on the iPad were mostly due to my level of inexperience with vim. Additionally, I didn't have an external keyboard. Using the software keyboard with my neck hunched forward gave me some serious cramps. The second activity was writing a document. I used markdown and pandoc to create an rtf. googlecl for uploading to the google cloud. Small screens bug some people but after using a 15" macbook pro and a 10" netbook, it normally doesn't bother me. In this case, using a software keyboard meant I had even less screen real estate which did bother me. Overall, it was workable. If I ever took vacations, I could see myself taking an iPad (with keyboard) instead of a regular laptop and doing some emergency bug fixing but I wouldn't choose it over my netbook.

moconnor 15y ago
I feel your pain, I can't imagine doing any serious text-related work on the iPad without an external keyboard. As you say, alone the typing position is horrendous.

jamesu 15y ago

Sounds great if you do work which can be done in the terminal or a slow 256-color vnc session. Otherwise i'll be sticking with my Macbook.

VikingCoder 15y ago

Do other people have this much trouble with Google Docs? I sure don't, and I consider myself a heavy user.

nileshk 15y ago

The last time I tried to use SSH under iOS with the Apple bluetooth keyboard (trying different SSH apps including iSSH and TouchTerm) I found that I could not comfortably use Emacs due to various key combinations not being transmitted (I guess Vim isn't as much of a problem). One of the SSH app developers said that they were not able to trap certain keystrokes that were iOS keyboard shortcuts. Looks like this may still be an issue, as moconnor says this: > Ctrl-X is my screen’s ‘hotkey’; it defaults to Ctrl-A but on a wireless keyboard that leaves unicode characters in the terminal - I assume this is related to Apple’s support for some common Emacs key bindings in iOS. Is the situation any better now? Any workarounds to make this work better (e.g. configure the shell on the remote end)? How is this on Android? I was trying this on an iPhone, but I'd imagine it handles bluetooth keyboards the same as the iPad. Another issue I had was latency of the cellular connection (AT&T 3G); there was a very noticeable delay between keystrokes and the server receiving them and transmitting back. I imagine if you're on wifi most of the time this isn't as much of a problem, though. Or maybe you just get used to the latency.

moconnor 15y ago
I'm on wifi, there's rarely noticeable latency, even on full screen updates. Ctrl-a and friends still don't work properly. However, iSSH has an option that lets you use the option key instead, and for me that did work just fine, but escape didn't. Now in version 5.x escape and ctrl work for everything except the most common emacs key bindings, and option-A doesn't any more.
rsl7 15y ago
In my experience, Prompt is much better app for straightforward terminal use than iSSH. It handles meta keys very well includig the hardware ESC key on the wireless keyboard that iSSH could not, last time I tried it.
- moconnor 15y ago
  iSSH supports escape and most ctrl key combinations now.
- nileshk 15y ago

mbq 15y ago

In other words, yet another frustrated Mac user converted to Linux.

moconnor 15y ago
I used Linux for 10 years before my first MacBook, so it was really more of a return than a conversion.

jrockway 15y ago

$800 gets you a pretty nice laptop. I don't see the advantage of this approach at all.

sjs 15y ago
We have very different definitions of "pretty nice".
- jarek 15y ago
  Only until Apple releases an $800 laptop
  - sjs 15y ago
    I like the Sony Vaio-Z, it's a good notebook. Sony has $800 notebooks too but they are shit. It has nothing to do with the logo on the machine and I resent your thinly veiled attempt at dismissing me as a fanboy. Got any links to all of these mythical, amazing $800 notebooks?
orthecreedence 15y ago
$800 gets you a LOT more than an iPad. I can see the advantage of working in the cloud, but working off of an iPad to smells of "hey! hey everyone!! look at me! look what I'm doing!" Not to mention there is now a monthly fee to program. That's not economical.
- ricardobeat 15y ago
  I don't recall the article being "Programming on the cheap". You can get a used 12-core station for that money. Or a bike.
- pseudonym 15y ago
  Just to toss this out here, but $20/mo for a linode, is not a huge investment, and it's something that I have even without doing everything "in the cloud". It's handy for those quick file transfers, a small portfolio site, and since you have root access, you can quickly set up or take down any odd services without the hassle of finding a distinct hosting service (Mumble, Mercurial, Subversion, or what have you). But that's just my two cents.

zrgiu_ 15y ago

I dream of the day when I would be able to work completely remote. Much like using a VNC now to connect to server and do the work. Unfortunately.. the internet connection is not good enough for anything like that, and VNC is sub-optimal for this kind of things. Imagine being able to work remotely, being able to "rent" a couple of more virtual processor when you need to compile something bigger, having as much RAM available as you need and paying only for what you use, and most of all, having the security that all your data is safely backed up with a 1-second delay at most. Virtually unlimited bandwidth (again, pay for what you use), as all the other resources. Just imagine ...

wes-exp 15y ago

Imagine an "iPad Pro" that had similar battery life and even an integrated keyboard. In addition to supporting the SSH workflow, it can run traditional GUI applications if you really need them. You don't have to wait: it's called the MacBook Air.

hoverkraft 15y ago
Hahaha... was just about to post the same thing. It amazes me the number of people who lug around an iPad, an iPad stand, and an external keyboard to avoid the burden of carrying around a "real laptop". The MBA is probably half the weight of that setup.
stock_toaster 15y ago
I really like the 13" Air form factor, but the high resolution and smaller physical size results in fonts that are a bit too small for my eyes these days. So, I stick with my couple-gen-back 15" with matte finish and 1440x900.
- wes-exp 15y ago
  The new full-screen capabilities in Lion can help with reading on small screens (in fact I think that's why they added it). Combined with bumping up the font size in applications, it can be quite readable.
  - stock_toaster 15y ago
    terminal.app is one of the worst offenders, possibly because I like a good monospace font for it (monaco-with antialias disabled). When adjusting the size away from the 'good default' of 11pt, it looks awful. Combined with that, bumping up the size in every single app lowers the value proposition for me, especially given the expense of the laptop itself. I practically live inside my laptop, use it far too much of the day, and anything that makes my eyes hurt more or requires more effort to use instead of less, I consider less than ideal. Full screen (which I quite enjoy by the way) helps neither or those things.
- 15y ago

RexRollman 15y ago

I am still amazed that Apple hasn't come up with a shortcut for app switching when using bluetooth keyboards. By the way, Moconnor, have you given Panic's Prompt a try?

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
They don't really need to come up with one as much as just implement it. Gold standard's always been [Alt|Clover]-Tab; or even F3 (Apple's mapping for Exposé/Mission Control, even marked as such). I understand there's no easy way to dismiss the on-screen keyboard when you're using a hard keyboard either.
- moconnor 15y ago
  The on screen keyboard vanishes when a Bluetooth one is connected; the eject button toggles it in and out again.
  - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
    I'm guessing this changed in iOS 5 then (AFAIK; it didn't in iOS 4). I stand corrected.
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  Since I can't edit after this long: I'm wrong, iOS 5 lets you dismiss the soft keyboard if you have a keyboard attached.
jmelloy 15y ago
My bluetooth keyboard treats Home as escape, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.
jmelloy 15y ago
My bluetooth keyboard treats escape as Home, double-tapping it to bring up the task switcher and hitting the screen is acceptable. I keep trying to alt-tab, though.

pdenya 15y ago

I'm surprised he didn't think it was worth going for a 3G ipad. I spend a decent amount of time working outside of my office on my laptop with a local environment. Impossible with this setup and no 3G. Maybe there's a tethering plan on his iphone to account for that. Either way, this setup would be significantly less painful using a MBP to connect to linode instead of an ipad.

jwallaceparker 15y ago

It looks like the goal of the swap was to have a spartan, lightweight, cool (temperature) workspace. It seems like a MacBook Air accomplishes this better than iPad, stand and keyboard. The only difference I can grok from the article is that the MacBook Air is somehow more fragile. But is it?

peng 15y ago
The title is a bit disingenuous. Before clicking through, I was wondering how he managed to maintain his productivity level with a touchscreen keyboard. I'm disappointed he's using external hardware, because otherwise I'd love to try a similar setup.

rapind 15y ago

Very interesting. Did you ever consider the same setup but using a Chromebook? I've been thinking about doing that for a while now (I'm on an MBP currently). http://www.google.com/chromebook/ http://www.google.com/chromebook/

chrisjsmithuk 15y ago

I absolutely hate iPads with a passion. So much so that I writhe around in agony thinking about the things usually. However, that is actually a pretty neat idea. I'm not sure I'd swap it for my 1920x1080 terminal emulator (Sony VPCJ1+windows7+putty) though :)

prg318 15y ago

I find myself using SSH on my Google CR-48 netbook to develop and do work much more than my shiny Dell XPS laptop. SSH+Linode+VIM+screen is such a great combination as you can literally pick up exactly where you left off from any machine with SSH access. Gotta love it.

zyfo 15y ago

I use a Chromebook and its crosh to ssh into a Linode instance with tmux for web development. Works like a charm, apart from the lack of UTF-8 in chrosh.

tomkinstinch 15y ago

I tried to code on an iPad, but just couldn't get used to it. I'm glad it is working for you. It should be interesting when there are versatile graphical programming languages for touch devices (LabVIEW, etc.).

william42 15y ago
To be fair, he attached a keyboard to it and worked mostly through ssh.

deanproxy 15y ago

The lack of ability to look at documentation/stackoverflow/code examples in a browser while simultaneously coding out said example and making the changes I need would severely limit my productivity. "Just copy and paste!" you may say... Sure, that'll work. Only, wait, I forgot what that one line meant, is it needed? What did they say about changing this piece of code that was "really important?" Crap, back to the browser. Let's switch apps again. Crap, the page in the browser is having to reload because I had too many tabs open and memory got low, now I have to wait for it to reload. Where was I on the page? Cause when it reloaded the page, it put me back at the top. Wait, that wasn't the tab I wanted, it's that other tab. Great! It has to reload now too! I typically work with a single external monitor connected to my Macbook and use the Macbook for holding my mail client, chat and a browser while my Terminal's and IDE are on the external monitor. This works best for me. Now that spaces and expose are so tied together, working with even just one screen is much nicer. I have toyed with the idea of just using a single external monitor and use spaces extensively. Just a swipe and I'm at a new space. This is much faster and nicer than changing apps on iOS. I think it's a neat trial idea, but for long term productivity, it certainly is more of a "hipster factor" than useful.

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

I'm in the process of deciding on a laptop upgrade. I can't decide between an 11" MacBook Air or a 15" MacBook Pro. If I could get a nice Thunderbolt 3D accelerator, the Air would win hands-down. I'm really close to moving to remote work for almost everything development related, but I photoshop enough to worry about the Air being underpowered. Any good cloud answers for that?

vaughan 15y ago
Thunderbolt 3D accelerator will be out early next year. ViDock G4 Micro (http://www.facebook.com/VillageViDock?sk=app_202980683107053&app_data=69f57681-2b83-45a5-b695-1ba5cd87ff48:0 http://www.facebook.com/VillageViDock?sk=app_202980683107053...)

jiggy2011 15y ago

Ouch, each to his own but not for me! Combination of tiny screen , having to reach out and touch the screen rather than just put a hand on the mouse and the latency involved in using a remote machine would make this a nightmare for me! Judging by the photo of the setup on the desk I would assume you have to lean quite far forward in order to see the screen (unless you have very good eyesight) and I have enough backpain as it is. Using any graphical tools at all (unless there is an ipad version) must be a major pain on this setup! I find working on a laptop bad enough but when I really need to be portable and can't take my dual monitors with me the combination of internet hosted source control + IMAP email + dropbox means that I can grab my laptop and just walk out the door without worrying about where my files are so I'm not really sure what advantages you get from this setup. Of course if your happy with your setup then that's totally cool, what worries me more is if the desktop market dissapears and it becomes necessary for everyone to use a setup like this, it would feel like a massive step backwards to me. I'm just too used to being able to lie back on my chair, have my keyboard within easy reach and clearly see everything I need to see right in front of me in big readable text. As an aside I also don't really like widescreen monitors for doing work , especially programming as vertical screen estate is much more useful than horizontal when trying to look at allot of code and figure out where the bug is. But it seems almost impossible now to get a large square monitor that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

moconnor 15y ago
At work we have large widescreen dell monitors that can be rotated into a portrait mode, you might like those.

rayhano 15y ago

If only a viable version of Office could be found for the iPad

deleted 15y ago

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diamondhead 15y ago

I put my throughout development environment on my linode for couple of years and think that it's a good for availability. As an example, I developed MultiplayerChess.com is on my Linode server. I don't have an IPhone or IPad yet but I see that it's great to access a full utilized development environment from anywhere... Let's turn this topic to a usesthis.com for CLI lovers. CLI apps that I use are tmux (In addition to the previous comments not recommending Screen, I highly recommend Tmux), Emacs, VIM (I use Emacs as an IRC and Twitter client, an IDE and a self-organizer, VIM as a file editor), newsbeuter for RSS and links for browsing. My choice of distribution is Arch Linux. if you wonder about my Emacs configuration, it's in my Github; github.com/azer/emacsfiles

reustle 15y ago

I would do this, except for most of the day hook up the iPad to a 24" monitor with the HDMI cable. The only roadblock I see is not having chrome inspector.

noveltyaccount 15y ago

> More recently I’ve been scanning mails over IMAP with a python script instead. Natch.

ypcxz 15y ago

Sorry man, but I like to code from my sofa. I also have no problem keeping my Snow Leopard running perfectly. iPad is just way too limited and you will discover that very soon.

ypcxz 15y ago
Oh, just now I noticed all the affiliate links in your post. Yep, we're on the same page now. Keep going!

dinedal 15y ago

iSSH maps either alt to option or control to option, how do you have it set up to do both? Prompt lets you use the control key for control, but the alt key is borked on apple's wireless keyboard. Is there a set up with both these keys working at the same time, preferably on the keys labeled as such?

deepGem 15y ago

On a rather different note, a very comfortable setup can be achieved. Setup a neat iPad mount on a wall with a comfortable viewing distance and say goodbye to neck strain :).

anthonyb 15y ago

> The iPhone keyboard is somewhat painful to use, but for rm -rf /tmp/build-2011-* it suffices. Is it just me, or does the thought of typing rm -rf on an iPhone keyboard sound a little... dangerous?

deleted 15y ago
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moconnor 15y ago
The best part is, I was root.

bbwharris 15y ago

I tried doing this, but it felt like I wanted to make this setup happen. It just wasn't there for me. The idea is elegant and simple, but the reality is that having a laptop is just more efficient. One day, this might be the nomadic developers toolbox.

6ren 15y ago

Isn't the latency of vim on a remote server distracting? Or is your ping low enough to not be noticeable? I've thought about this kind of setup, but I think I'd need vim to be running locally (but working on files from a remote filesystem - vim can do this).

anjc 15y ago
Can you or somebody expand on that last bit...run vim locally on remote files? How? How does this improve lag? Any downsides to it? This would save me so much bother.
- 6ren 15y ago
  I haven't done it in ages, but a quick google shows gives an example (BTW google beats vim :help if you don't know the command name) http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Edit_remote_files_locally_via_SCP/RCP/FTP http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Edit_remote_files_locally_via_SCP/... vim scp://konimi@vim.org//var/www/html/rtc_functions.php i.e. you just start vim with the address preceded by the protocol name (here it's scp, but also works for ftp and rcp). The "konimi@" is the syntax for username. You might need to set up SSH passwords for scp on the remote (that's a whole other thing to research)
  - anjc 15y ago
    Thanks a million
- ubercore 15y ago
  Expandrive works well for this.

doki_pen 15y ago

So Mac/VMWare/Linux failed and the solution was to move to iPad/Linode? Did you consider just installing a Linux distro? Why do people who develop on Linux all day need OSX? I don't get it. What is the killer app? It's more expensive and harder to use for Linux development. Is it really just because it's prettier?

bitwize 15y ago

Hey, 1024x768, 8bpp is how I rolled back in 1995 rocking my first Linux box. Thanks for bringing that feeling of freedom back to my memory.

jebblue 15y ago

If you're going to try something like this, you couldn't ask for a better VPS provider than Linode. I think the choice of VPS provider is at least as important as the choice of client access tools.

borism 15y ago

what is VGA adapter used for?