7 ms·

iPad and Linode: 1 Year Later

262 points by moconnor 14y ago

st3fan 14y ago
The problem with replacing the iPad with a MacBook Air 11" is that there are way way more distractions on the MacBook. Maybe this also works so well for the author because the iPad is very limited. He basically degraded his super-multi-functional laptop to a simpler device that just does email/web/ssh very well. Maybe that is part of the reason why it works so well for him.
moconnor 14y ago
OP here, I'm happy to answer any more technically detailed questions; I had to cut a lot out of the blog post!
- polshaw 14y ago
  Did/would you consider a tablet(/netbook) running linux instead, /why? ..do you use the touch interface much, above and beyond basic clicking?
  - moconnor 14y ago
    Not really. You could certainly do the same with one of those and connecting through to a remote server. A netbook without a remote server wouldnt' be powerful enough for my work. Once you've got a quad core server doing the heavy lifting, why not use an iPad for the interface? It doubles as a fantastic entertainment device and looks great too.
    - polshaw 14y ago
      >why not use an iPad for the interface? Well, i was trying to get at what benefits you thought the iPad gave you (other than ease of setup, and being a great content consumption device). (While I don't know exactly what you do) you would probably still need a remote server, but Linux would give you a much more mature development platform, with many IDEs including the light table that you mentioned you missed.. with this and a proper shell you would be able to at least do some proper work with no data connection. And still keep the battery life courtesy of ARM.
- bergie 14y ago
  First of all, thanks for writing about your experiences! This was an inspiration for me when attempting to do something similar on a Transformer Prime. Unfortunately the Asus keyboard wasn't good enough, and that fell into misuse. However, this has prompted me to re-evaluate what I need on my work computer. Essentially, there are only three things I actually run: vim, Vagrant and a browser. This means that when the lease period on my current Air ends in February I will have a lot of freedom to choose my next "workstation". Theoretically it could be any small-and-light laptop, or maybe even something like iPad or Surface. Though even with the little requirements I have, I'm not so keen to go Windows... Oh, and an actual question: I do quite a lot of front-end development (see for instance http://createjs.org/ http://createjs.org/ ). One thing that mobile browsers lack is access to proper inspectors and JavaScript consoles. Any ideas on that?
  - moconnor 14y ago
    Well, I plan to use a Surface as a client but my development will stil be on Linux, of course. The whole no-browsers-except-IE-on-a-surface might be a real killer for anyone doing web development though.
    - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
      True of iPad as well, no? I'm still confused about the Windows RT / IE rule. I remember that they put special provisions for browsers to have elevated rights. Then I remember 3rd party browsers not being allowed on the "desktop" of RT, and then there is some suggestion that they won't be allowed to JIT even within Metro. There's been enough conflicting stories that I really want a detailed summary from someone at Microsoft or Mozilla on what is and is not allowed.
    - Splines 14y ago
      I thought I saw Chrome & Firefox doing Windows 8-style apps?
      - bergie 14y ago
        The last I heard of this is that the Metro versions of the different browsers can run on Intel-based Windows 8 devices, but not on ARM-powered Windows RT. This is a shame. Firefox is great on Android.
- deleted 14y ago
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- shimon_e 14y ago
  What is your average latency to your server? What is the maximum tolerable latency you can continue working normally? Do you use tools like mosh?
  - moconnor 14y ago
    I use vanilla SSH and GNU screen. I have a ping of 150ms to my Linode at the moment and that's absolutely fine. I think above 300 it starts to get a bit hairy. The Vim movement commands are extremely tolerant of a laggy connection, which helps with perception a lot, I think.
    - zoldar 14y ago
      Mosh (http://mosh.mit.edu/ http://mosh.mit.edu/) could probably improve experience a bit for high latency and/or dodgy connection. Unfortunately, there's no iOS client (yet - https://github.com/keithw/mosh/issues/198 https://github.com/keithw/mosh/issues/198). iSSH seems to have it on its roadmap though - http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html.
      - thejosh 14y ago
        I started using this after you posted this. I'm Australian (WA) and working over SSH to servers in the US with 230-260ms this tool has changed everything. Very, very nice.
- ebiester 14y ago
  While I am on board with the Linode, I can't imagine coding on something that small. As it is, I have vim on 1920x1080 and a full tmux on the other screen. How did you get used to seeing so much less code at one time?
  - moconnor 14y ago
    I use a fairly large font because readability is important to me, so I get something like 85 x 60 characters on the screen. Width-wise, that's fine (and I set Vim to wrap long lines anyway). I also would have thought I'd miss that wider overview, but somehow I don't. I've become quite proficient with vim's navigation and movement commands - perhaps that helps a lot. I sometimes code on a 1600x1080 monitor with at least 6 times as many characters on the screen, but I don't notice the difference any more. Except: when merging changes. Then I really want the screen divided into 4 sections, and the iPad is too small to do that comfortably. That said, I've noticed a trend in my coding style to prefer conciseness and locality. This may be a subconscious reaction to the smaller viewport I'm using.
- EvilLook 14y ago
  How can I get a job where my boss will let me wander Munich? I'm a desk slave right now.
  - moconnor 14y ago
    Join a startup as the 3rd employee and spend the next decade building their software from the ground up to a profitable product that leads in its field. Then move to Germany.
epaga 14y ago
fascinating stuff, makes me long for a good IDE on iPad that doesn't feel like a "toy", that can handle Objective-C for example. In an ideal world, Apple would be working on "iCode" as we speak... ;)
- moconnor 14y ago
  Yeah, I love Vim as an IDE, but there are a features I'd want to import from other IDEs if I had a magic VimScript wand... Edit: correction - I love Vim as an editor with incredibly powerful macro and scripting capabilities. That makes up for a lot of otherwise missing IDE features, but it could be so much better.
- M4v3R 14y ago
  Try Textastic app. I use it for quite a long time and it's a great editor + (s)ftp combo.
- dorkrawk 14y ago
  Not a full fledged IDE, but Panic makes a beautiful iPad version of their editor/ftp client called Diet Coda http://panic.com/dietcoda/ http://panic.com/dietcoda/
s00pcan 14y ago
The original article inspired me to get a retina ipad and wireless keyboard with hopes of connecting to my home server and developing with issh/tmux/vim/chrome and working anywhere from my tethered 4g phone. It was an immediate disappointment: issh is extremely unreliable, has awkward rendering glitches and a UI that can't be configured to actually fullscreen. Oh and it times out after a short while, especially if you've switched to some other app. iOS can't remap caps lock to control either, which would have otherwise made it usable for me. I didn't waste any more time attempting to fix these issues; the only way I see this working perfectly is if I had actual linux running on the ipad. http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad1.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad1.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad2.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad2.jpg
- deleted 14y ago
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- moconnor 14y ago
  I have a love-hate relationship with iSSH. I use it every day and don't have any problems with graphical glitches, despite using screen and a 256-colour Vim scheme. I'm not using a retina iPad though; maybe that's related. I'd love an actual fullscreen iSSH too. If only it was open source so we could improve it...!
  - s00pcan 14y ago
    The only thing I have to compare it to is connectbot, which works great on all of my android phones. It actually keeps the connection for as long as it stays running and at least tries to support touch events (scrolling with your finger sends pageup/down apparently). Ideally, I would be able to touch the screen and resize tmux panes, vim's split windows as well as scrolling in tmux's copy mode and vim. None of that is possible and I'd rather use the keyboard anyway, but not being able to remap caps lock is a serious issue for me. iSSH's only feature to alleviate this is to remap the option key to control, but that has its own set of issues and isn't where I want it to be on the keyboard anyway.
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
talkingquickly 14y ago
I've been wanting to try this for a while, the one thing holding me back is frontend work, day to day I do a mixture of frontend and backend development and I'm concerned that Mobile Safari/ Chrome might not cut it. Has anyone had any experience with this?
- moconnor 14y ago
  Mobile Safari is a bit of a pain for frontend developement. There's the javascript-based FireBug but it's a far cry from the real thing or the Chrome developer tools. Of course, you don't need to do it all day every day - you can use your laptop for frontend work and an iPad for backend development in the park on nice days.
  - talkingquickly 14y ago
    Thanks, definitely going to give it a go for backend development. It might actually be quite nice to have some forced segmentation between backend and frontend work to avoid getting distracted by the design at the wrong times. Do you have many problems with sunlight on the screen/ glare?
lazerwalker 14y ago
I've been able to accomplish the "meander around, finding cool new places to work" thing pretty well with an 11" MB Air (and optional tethered iPhone). It doesn't have the ridiculous battery life of an iPad, but other than that it essentially gives you the same portability without feeling like you're constraining yourself to a subpar development environment (I've tried doing serious web dev on an iPad, but the lack of a web inspector and the ability to remap caps lock as control are both dealbreakers for me).
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  Agreed. Also, you can't do serious web development on an OS that doesn't allow 3rd party rendering engines.
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  I ended up getting a Chromebook a few weeks ago as a cheap machine to hack and do interviews while my MBA was in for repairs. For not being much higher on the food chain than a thin client, it's pretty much perfect. Chrome's identical to Win/Mac/Linux Chrome (inspector and all); SSH works fine, "search" key (fka capslock) can even be remapped to ctrl.
  - lucaspiller 14y ago
    Interesting... What is the battery life like on it?
    - ConstantineXVI 14y ago
      On the Samsung 550 (the only model my Best Buy had on the floor), didn't do any scientific testing but definitely in the 5-7hr range. It's noticeably thicker than a MBA, but not by much; and IMHO the 12" (matte!) size is the sweet spot on a laptop. Unsure on exact specs, but plenty fast enough. Keyboard and click pad are solid as well (best pad I've ever used outside of Apple). Provided you can work within it's niche, it's a great machine for $450. Was sad to have to take it back (not in a position to throw money around I don't absolutely have to).
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kayoone 14y ago
Looks great, sadly i need a powerful machine locally because i develop hardware heavy 3D Games/Apps. But i might use something like that for everything that isnt coding, i still love my 11" MBA for that though.
jawr 14y ago
Maybe I'm missing the point, but this looks more clunky; having to carry around a keyboard and an iPad, surely just a laptop is more convenient?
- moconnor 14y ago
  I throw it all in a rucksack. The keyboard + iPad are lighter than any laptop I've seen that I'd like to use, but it's purely a matter of taste. Having a keyboard that's not joined to the screen has been convenient a number of times though - I can hang the iPad in a bush and rest the keyboard on my knees, for example.
  - jawr 14y ago
    Upvoting for hanging your iPad in a bush.
- bluthru 14y ago
  I think the big difference is battery life and cellular internet.
codehero 14y ago
I see that you don't have a physical hold on the iPad while you work outside. Has anybody tried stealing it?
- moconnor 14y ago
  No, but Munich is a pretty safe and affluent place. Also, what're they going to do? Run away in front of hundreds of witnesses while I video them with my iPhone and call for the (ever-present) police?
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
About the Surface. I've been doing some Windows 8 HTML5/JS SDK development for the past few months using a Vaio All-in-One with a touchscreen and the responsiveness and feel of HTML5 is on par with the C#/Xaml environment. Using the apps, you absolutely can not tell which SDK is being used. Of course this is on a fast x86 chip. No one has been able to get a comparable experience on a table or phone yet. I'm slightly worried that things won't be as crisp or as nice on the Surface ARM (and other ARM tablets). If it is it's not just a step up from Mobile Safari, Chrome for Android, and Firefox for Android, but a major step forward.
driverdan 14y ago
This is an impossible setup for a front end dev. As you mentioned Mobile Safari is junk. To add to that, its debug tools are laughable. Don't even think about cross browser testing unless you have additional remote systems + VNC. I tried an iPad + keyboard + remote vim a while back and found it slowed me down significantly. Having to take my hands off the keyboard and swipe or use the button slows my flow. Writing code and want to look something up? Swiping to Safari is much slower than Cmd+tab to a real browser.
farinasa 14y ago
Have you tried just using VNC to access your macbook? This would turn the ipad into a windows, linux, and mac osx device, plus no monthly cost. Also, Android tablets could do the same thing. If safari won't cut it, try chrome. It seems a bit odd none of this was mentioned/tried. Also, look at the magnetic logitech ipad keyboard.
Aykroyd 14y ago
I'll be curious to see how he finds the surface keyboard. I'm dubious of the one that doesn't have physical keys on it. I find it really hard to type effectively without that physical feedback. Great to read the year-after follow up, by the way. Really well done.
- adsr 14y ago
  Me too, and if the surface is the same size as an iPad then the keyboard is not going to be fullsize. If I add the wireless Apple keyboard ontop of the iPad about 2 keys sticks out over the edge if I line it up on the other end.
dfrey 14y ago
I don't think I could handle working full time on such a small display.
d0m 14y ago
I still have the first ipad generation and I can't see a damn thing outside. Do you have a screen protector or something special? Is it fixed in the second ipad generation? Also, what kind of programming do you do? I often hack in plain console.. but more often than not, I need a browser with the inspector/console open and lots of documentation tabs.. How do you make it work for these cases? Thanks!
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ashray 14y ago
Great article! I have an iPad 2 and a Macbook air 11''. I've tried using the iPad for development (I do web development, both front end and backend) and really couldn't use it. I do have an external keyboard but I believe it's just an interface issue. I find that I'm very used to the touchpad/keyboard combo and that speeds me up a whole lot. Requiring to reach for the iPad to swipe something is a MASSIVE annoyance. Plus, the fact that you can't Alt+Tab between applications (WTH is THAT all about ?!) As far as weight is concerned the Macbook air is an absolutely WONDERFUL device. Coming in at 2.2lbs it's almost the same weight as my iPad+keyboard. Plus, the fact that it's a shell design (case closes and protects the screen+keyboard) works way better for me than an iPad could (though arguably one could get a similar 'protector' for the iPad). Oh and the kicker ? I'm currently traveling fulltime with my girlfriend (have been doing so for a year now..) and between us, we carry an iPad2+keyboard and Macbook air combo. We do all sorts of things including photo editing, video editing, web development (for me..) on this combination. But using the iPad for any useful work ? Nuh-uh! Given our situation, it's also difficult to get good WiFi connectivity most of the time and the macbook air's wifi hardware is better than the iPad's by far. (in terms of wireless reception quality). There've been plenty of times that I pick up the WiFi signal on the Air and then share it over bluetooth for the iPad. More info on our gear is here: http://bkpk.me/about-a-z/ http://bkpk.me/about-a-z/
udpheaders 14y ago
Working with limitations is what yields creativity. But unlike the limitations of computing's yesteryear, the limitations of the iPad seem artificial. OSX is built from BSD UNIX, and iOS is built from OSX. Why should it be so limited? Where is the "iPad Pro"? The uncrippled version with USB and SD card slots.
- moconnor 14y ago
  That's probably what Microsoft were thinking when they designed the Surface. We'll see how well it works out for them.
  - udpheaders 14y ago
    If I can use my own bootloader with Surface, I'd buy one.
ww520 14y ago
Lack of offline mode really makes this setup unworkable.
Roelven 14y ago
I love these glimpses of the future. I'm far to visual and need more applications then what's available on iPad now, but I'd love to work like this too.
rguzman 14y ago
maybe i'm really missing the point, but once you attach a keyboard to an ipad you've are bound to have a sub-par user experience. in terms of portability, i see no difference between ipad + kb and a macbook air. heck, i see very little difference between ipad + kb and ipad + macbook air, which is what i carry around. ipad for reading, macbook air for coding and writing. iOS does not seem like an environment designed for people who spend most of their time writing and typing or otherwise creating. rather, it is an environment optimized for what most people do with their computers most of the time: consume information. that doesn't mean you can't create on the ipad. OSX, on the other hand, is such an environment. there is no reason to pick either or, you can have both at relatively low cost.
taligent 14y ago
I can't understand why ANYONE is still using Linode after their disgraceful behaviour at the start of this year. For those that don't remember they were hacked and a sizeable sum of Bitcoins were stolen from a number of VPSs after their customer service app was hacked. The problem is that (a) customers were the last to hear about it having to find out the news from Reddit, (b) we still don't know exactly what happened, (c) we don't know whether it affected other VPS or whether it is still an issue, (d) what they've learnt/changed. Compare this to Cloudflare which was transparent and open with everyone and clearly learnt a lot of lessons. Trying to hide your mistakes at every turn is NOT how you run a service company.
- mjs7231 14y ago
  OK, let's be sensationalist for a moment: I should stop using Google, Dropbox, Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Amazon... They have all been hacked at one point or another and very rarely do we get details of what actually happened. Ohh yea, I should give up my US citizenship as well. I hear about the US gov getting hacked all the time and they don't let us know whats going on either. People love hating on hosting companies, and touting their own horror or success stories. When will people realize that mistakes are inevitable. To me, one mistake every once in a while is forgivable. Perhaps I could also careless about bitcoins (they seem about as worthless as Second Life money). Linode did mention publicly that only 8 accounts were compromised and no credit card info or passwords were available to them.
  - freehunter 14y ago
    Also, while I'm not commenting on Linode's response to the incident, ultimately the security of your information is up to you. The owner of the stolen Bitcoins has publicly stated that he learned a lesson: encrypt your data. Your server, your data, your information is only as safe as you make it. Even if everything is fully encrypted and all a hacker could do to mess with you is delete your instance, you should have offsite backups of your important stuff. Always assume you're going to lose everything. Whether it's hardware failure, hacking, or a simple mistake, treat a gun like it's loaded. Encrypt your important data. Use two-factor authentication on privileged accounts. If you want Bitcoins to be a currency, then read up on Payment Card Industry regulations and really understand how to keep a currency secure.Hire an auditor if need be. Everyone is going to be hacked, everyone is going to be embarrassed, and your data is never secure unless you make it secure.
petercooper 14y ago
The author must be very tolerant or otherwise accustomed to lag. He says "no noticeable lag" but is 3G even that good on paper? Wavering pings of 100-1000ms are pretty normal on 3G in my experience, so given a round trip, if the difference is an optimistic 200ms that's should be pretty noticeable when typing, tailing logs or jumping around vim on a remote system versus doing it locally. I'm sure you can build confidence and get used to pulling off a string of moves with no immediate visual feedback, but it sounds like something you'd have to get used to tolerating, rather than not notice?
- vegardx 14y ago
  Yeah, that has to be horrible. I remember working remotely from Thailand, and had around 150ms to a linode in Japan, and it was infuriating. Even worse when trying to access services at home, with latency around 300ms. With latency over 30ms you start to notice it. There are good tools out there, though. Mosh is one of them.
stcredzero 14y ago
This isn't an article about iPad or about tablets. It's an article about working in the cloud. Considering all of the comments here, is there a service where you can use a browser that's hosted in the cloud, but have its UI appear in a client over something like VNC?
- bergie 14y ago
  Maybe https://browserling.com/ https://browserling.com/ would do
- gizzlon 14y ago
  Wouldn't good ol' X forewarning through ssh do? Try enabling compression (-C) as well. Use it a lot, but for simpler programs than browsers.

262 points by moconnor 14y ago

The problem with replacing the iPad with a MacBook Air 11" is that there are way way more distractions on the MacBook. Maybe this also works so well for the author because the iPad is very limited. He basically degraded his super-multi-functional laptop to a simpler device that just does email/web/ssh very well. Maybe that is part of the reason why it works so well for him.

moconnor 14y ago

OP here, I'm happy to answer any more technically detailed questions; I had to cut a lot out of the blog post!

polshaw 14y ago
Did/would you consider a tablet(/netbook) running linux instead, /why? ..do you use the touch interface much, above and beyond basic clicking?
- moconnor 14y ago
  Not really. You could certainly do the same with one of those and connecting through to a remote server. A netbook without a remote server wouldnt' be powerful enough for my work. Once you've got a quad core server doing the heavy lifting, why not use an iPad for the interface? It doubles as a fantastic entertainment device and looks great too.
  - polshaw 14y ago
    >why not use an iPad for the interface? Well, i was trying to get at what benefits you thought the iPad gave you (other than ease of setup, and being a great content consumption device). (While I don't know exactly what you do) you would probably still need a remote server, but Linux would give you a much more mature development platform, with many IDEs including the light table that you mentioned you missed.. with this and a proper shell you would be able to at least do some proper work with no data connection. And still keep the battery life courtesy of ARM.
bergie 14y ago
First of all, thanks for writing about your experiences! This was an inspiration for me when attempting to do something similar on a Transformer Prime. Unfortunately the Asus keyboard wasn't good enough, and that fell into misuse. However, this has prompted me to re-evaluate what I need on my work computer. Essentially, there are only three things I actually run: vim, Vagrant and a browser. This means that when the lease period on my current Air ends in February I will have a lot of freedom to choose my next "workstation". Theoretically it could be any small-and-light laptop, or maybe even something like iPad or Surface. Though even with the little requirements I have, I'm not so keen to go Windows... Oh, and an actual question: I do quite a lot of front-end development (see for instance http://createjs.org/ http://createjs.org/ ). One thing that mobile browsers lack is access to proper inspectors and JavaScript consoles. Any ideas on that?
- moconnor 14y ago
  Well, I plan to use a Surface as a client but my development will stil be on Linux, of course. The whole no-browsers-except-IE-on-a-surface might be a real killer for anyone doing web development though.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    True of iPad as well, no? I'm still confused about the Windows RT / IE rule. I remember that they put special provisions for browsers to have elevated rights. Then I remember 3rd party browsers not being allowed on the "desktop" of RT, and then there is some suggestion that they won't be allowed to JIT even within Metro. There's been enough conflicting stories that I really want a detailed summary from someone at Microsoft or Mozilla on what is and is not allowed.
  - Splines 14y ago
    I thought I saw Chrome & Firefox doing Windows 8-style apps?
    - bergie 14y ago
      The last I heard of this is that the Metro versions of the different browsers can run on Intel-based Windows 8 devices, but not on ARM-powered Windows RT. This is a shame. Firefox is great on Android.
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shimon_e 14y ago
What is your average latency to your server? What is the maximum tolerable latency you can continue working normally? Do you use tools like mosh?
- moconnor 14y ago
  I use vanilla SSH and GNU screen. I have a ping of 150ms to my Linode at the moment and that's absolutely fine. I think above 300 it starts to get a bit hairy. The Vim movement commands are extremely tolerant of a laggy connection, which helps with perception a lot, I think.
  - zoldar 14y ago
    Mosh (http://mosh.mit.edu/ http://mosh.mit.edu/) could probably improve experience a bit for high latency and/or dodgy connection. Unfortunately, there's no iOS client (yet - https://github.com/keithw/mosh/issues/198 https://github.com/keithw/mosh/issues/198). iSSH seems to have it on its roadmap though - http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html http://www.zinger-soft.com/iSSH_features.html.
    - thejosh 14y ago
      I started using this after you posted this. I'm Australian (WA) and working over SSH to servers in the US with 230-260ms this tool has changed everything. Very, very nice.
ebiester 14y ago
While I am on board with the Linode, I can't imagine coding on something that small. As it is, I have vim on 1920x1080 and a full tmux on the other screen. How did you get used to seeing so much less code at one time?
- moconnor 14y ago
  I use a fairly large font because readability is important to me, so I get something like 85 x 60 characters on the screen. Width-wise, that's fine (and I set Vim to wrap long lines anyway). I also would have thought I'd miss that wider overview, but somehow I don't. I've become quite proficient with vim's navigation and movement commands - perhaps that helps a lot. I sometimes code on a 1600x1080 monitor with at least 6 times as many characters on the screen, but I don't notice the difference any more. Except: when merging changes. Then I really want the screen divided into 4 sections, and the iPad is too small to do that comfortably. That said, I've noticed a trend in my coding style to prefer conciseness and locality. This may be a subconscious reaction to the smaller viewport I'm using.
EvilLook 14y ago
How can I get a job where my boss will let me wander Munich? I'm a desk slave right now.
- moconnor 14y ago
  Join a startup as the 3rd employee and spend the next decade building their software from the ground up to a profitable product that leads in its field. Then move to Germany.

epaga 14y ago

fascinating stuff, makes me long for a good IDE on iPad that doesn't feel like a "toy", that can handle Objective-C for example. In an ideal world, Apple would be working on "iCode" as we speak... ;)

moconnor 14y ago
Yeah, I love Vim as an IDE, but there are a features I'd want to import from other IDEs if I had a magic VimScript wand... Edit: correction - I love Vim as an editor with incredibly powerful macro and scripting capabilities. That makes up for a lot of otherwise missing IDE features, but it could be so much better.
M4v3R 14y ago
Try Textastic app. I use it for quite a long time and it's a great editor + (s)ftp combo.
dorkrawk 14y ago
Not a full fledged IDE, but Panic makes a beautiful iPad version of their editor/ftp client called Diet Coda http://panic.com/dietcoda/ http://panic.com/dietcoda/

s00pcan 14y ago

The original article inspired me to get a retina ipad and wireless keyboard with hopes of connecting to my home server and developing with issh/tmux/vim/chrome and working anywhere from my tethered 4g phone. It was an immediate disappointment: issh is extremely unreliable, has awkward rendering glitches and a UI that can't be configured to actually fullscreen. Oh and it times out after a short while, especially if you've switched to some other app. iOS can't remap caps lock to control either, which would have otherwise made it usable for me. I didn't waste any more time attempting to fix these issues; the only way I see this working perfectly is if I had actual linux running on the ipad. http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad1.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad1.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad2.jpg http://s00pcan.com/photos/ipad2.jpg

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moconnor 14y ago
I have a love-hate relationship with iSSH. I use it every day and don't have any problems with graphical glitches, despite using screen and a 256-colour Vim scheme. I'm not using a retina iPad though; maybe that's related. I'd love an actual fullscreen iSSH too. If only it was open source so we could improve it...!
- s00pcan 14y ago
  The only thing I have to compare it to is connectbot, which works great on all of my android phones. It actually keeps the connection for as long as it stays running and at least tries to support touch events (scrolling with your finger sends pageup/down apparently). Ideally, I would be able to touch the screen and resize tmux panes, vim's split windows as well as scrolling in tmux's copy mode and vim. None of that is possible and I'd rather use the keyboard anyway, but not being able to remap caps lock is a serious issue for me. iSSH's only feature to alleviate this is to remap the option key to control, but that has its own set of issues and isn't where I want it to be on the keyboard anyway.
pooriaazimi 14y ago

talkingquickly 14y ago

I've been wanting to try this for a while, the one thing holding me back is frontend work, day to day I do a mixture of frontend and backend development and I'm concerned that Mobile Safari/ Chrome might not cut it. Has anyone had any experience with this?

moconnor 14y ago
Mobile Safari is a bit of a pain for frontend developement. There's the javascript-based FireBug but it's a far cry from the real thing or the Chrome developer tools. Of course, you don't need to do it all day every day - you can use your laptop for frontend work and an iPad for backend development in the park on nice days.
- talkingquickly 14y ago
  Thanks, definitely going to give it a go for backend development. It might actually be quite nice to have some forced segmentation between backend and frontend work to avoid getting distracted by the design at the wrong times. Do you have many problems with sunlight on the screen/ glare?

lazerwalker 14y ago

I've been able to accomplish the "meander around, finding cool new places to work" thing pretty well with an 11" MB Air (and optional tethered iPhone). It doesn't have the ridiculous battery life of an iPad, but other than that it essentially gives you the same portability without feeling like you're constraining yourself to a subpar development environment (I've tried doing serious web dev on an iPad, but the lack of a web inspector and the ability to remap caps lock as control are both dealbreakers for me).

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Agreed. Also, you can't do serious web development on an OS that doesn't allow 3rd party rendering engines.
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
I ended up getting a Chromebook a few weeks ago as a cheap machine to hack and do interviews while my MBA was in for repairs. For not being much higher on the food chain than a thin client, it's pretty much perfect. Chrome's identical to Win/Mac/Linux Chrome (inspector and all); SSH works fine, "search" key (fka capslock) can even be remapped to ctrl.
- lucaspiller 14y ago
  Interesting... What is the battery life like on it?
  - ConstantineXVI 14y ago
    On the Samsung 550 (the only model my Best Buy had on the floor), didn't do any scientific testing but definitely in the 5-7hr range. It's noticeably thicker than a MBA, but not by much; and IMHO the 12" (matte!) size is the sweet spot on a laptop. Unsure on exact specs, but plenty fast enough. Keyboard and click pad are solid as well (best pad I've ever used outside of Apple). Provided you can work within it's niche, it's a great machine for $450. Was sad to have to take it back (not in a position to throw money around I don't absolutely have to).

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kayoone 14y ago

Looks great, sadly i need a powerful machine locally because i develop hardware heavy 3D Games/Apps. But i might use something like that for everything that isnt coding, i still love my 11" MBA for that though.

jawr 14y ago

Maybe I'm missing the point, but this looks more clunky; having to carry around a keyboard and an iPad, surely just a laptop is more convenient?

moconnor 14y ago
I throw it all in a rucksack. The keyboard + iPad are lighter than any laptop I've seen that I'd like to use, but it's purely a matter of taste. Having a keyboard that's not joined to the screen has been convenient a number of times though - I can hang the iPad in a bush and rest the keyboard on my knees, for example.
- jawr 14y ago
  Upvoting for hanging your iPad in a bush.
bluthru 14y ago
I think the big difference is battery life and cellular internet.

codehero 14y ago

I see that you don't have a physical hold on the iPad while you work outside. Has anybody tried stealing it?

moconnor 14y ago
No, but Munich is a pretty safe and affluent place. Also, what're they going to do? Run away in front of hundreds of witnesses while I video them with my iPhone and call for the (ever-present) police?

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

About the Surface. I've been doing some Windows 8 HTML5/JS SDK development for the past few months using a Vaio All-in-One with a touchscreen and the responsiveness and feel of HTML5 is on par with the C#/Xaml environment. Using the apps, you absolutely can not tell which SDK is being used. Of course this is on a fast x86 chip. No one has been able to get a comparable experience on a table or phone yet. I'm slightly worried that things won't be as crisp or as nice on the Surface ARM (and other ARM tablets). If it is it's not just a step up from Mobile Safari, Chrome for Android, and Firefox for Android, but a major step forward.

driverdan 14y ago

This is an impossible setup for a front end dev. As you mentioned Mobile Safari is junk. To add to that, its debug tools are laughable. Don't even think about cross browser testing unless you have additional remote systems + VNC. I tried an iPad + keyboard + remote vim a while back and found it slowed me down significantly. Having to take my hands off the keyboard and swipe or use the button slows my flow. Writing code and want to look something up? Swiping to Safari is much slower than Cmd+tab to a real browser.

farinasa 14y ago

Have you tried just using VNC to access your macbook? This would turn the ipad into a windows, linux, and mac osx device, plus no monthly cost. Also, Android tablets could do the same thing. If safari won't cut it, try chrome. It seems a bit odd none of this was mentioned/tried. Also, look at the magnetic logitech ipad keyboard.

Aykroyd 14y ago

I'll be curious to see how he finds the surface keyboard. I'm dubious of the one that doesn't have physical keys on it. I find it really hard to type effectively without that physical feedback. Great to read the year-after follow up, by the way. Really well done.

adsr 14y ago
Me too, and if the surface is the same size as an iPad then the keyboard is not going to be fullsize. If I add the wireless Apple keyboard ontop of the iPad about 2 keys sticks out over the edge if I line it up on the other end.

dfrey 14y ago

I don't think I could handle working full time on such a small display.

d0m 14y ago

I still have the first ipad generation and I can't see a damn thing outside. Do you have a screen protector or something special? Is it fixed in the second ipad generation? Also, what kind of programming do you do? I often hack in plain console.. but more often than not, I need a browser with the inspector/console open and lots of documentation tabs.. How do you make it work for these cases? Thanks!

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ashray 14y ago

Great article! I have an iPad 2 and a Macbook air 11''. I've tried using the iPad for development (I do web development, both front end and backend) and really couldn't use it. I do have an external keyboard but I believe it's just an interface issue. I find that I'm very used to the touchpad/keyboard combo and that speeds me up a whole lot. Requiring to reach for the iPad to swipe something is a MASSIVE annoyance. Plus, the fact that you can't Alt+Tab between applications (WTH is THAT all about ?!) As far as weight is concerned the Macbook air is an absolutely WONDERFUL device. Coming in at 2.2lbs it's almost the same weight as my iPad+keyboard. Plus, the fact that it's a shell design (case closes and protects the screen+keyboard) works way better for me than an iPad could (though arguably one could get a similar 'protector' for the iPad). Oh and the kicker ? I'm currently traveling fulltime with my girlfriend (have been doing so for a year now..) and between us, we carry an iPad2+keyboard and Macbook air combo. We do all sorts of things including photo editing, video editing, web development (for me..) on this combination. But using the iPad for any useful work ? Nuh-uh! Given our situation, it's also difficult to get good WiFi connectivity most of the time and the macbook air's wifi hardware is better than the iPad's by far. (in terms of wireless reception quality). There've been plenty of times that I pick up the WiFi signal on the Air and then share it over bluetooth for the iPad. More info on our gear is here: http://bkpk.me/about-a-z/ http://bkpk.me/about-a-z/

udpheaders 14y ago

Working with limitations is what yields creativity. But unlike the limitations of computing's yesteryear, the limitations of the iPad seem artificial. OSX is built from BSD UNIX, and iOS is built from OSX. Why should it be so limited? Where is the "iPad Pro"? The uncrippled version with USB and SD card slots.

moconnor 14y ago
That's probably what Microsoft were thinking when they designed the Surface. We'll see how well it works out for them.
- udpheaders 14y ago
  If I can use my own bootloader with Surface, I'd buy one.

ww520 14y ago

Lack of offline mode really makes this setup unworkable.

Roelven 14y ago

I love these glimpses of the future. I'm far to visual and need more applications then what's available on iPad now, but I'd love to work like this too.

rguzman 14y ago

maybe i'm really missing the point, but once you attach a keyboard to an ipad you've are bound to have a sub-par user experience. in terms of portability, i see no difference between ipad + kb and a macbook air. heck, i see very little difference between ipad + kb and ipad + macbook air, which is what i carry around. ipad for reading, macbook air for coding and writing. iOS does not seem like an environment designed for people who spend most of their time writing and typing or otherwise creating. rather, it is an environment optimized for what most people do with their computers most of the time: consume information. that doesn't mean you can't create on the ipad. OSX, on the other hand, is such an environment. there is no reason to pick either or, you can have both at relatively low cost.

taligent 14y ago

I can't understand why ANYONE is still using Linode after their disgraceful behaviour at the start of this year. For those that don't remember they were hacked and a sizeable sum of Bitcoins were stolen from a number of VPSs after their customer service app was hacked. The problem is that (a) customers were the last to hear about it having to find out the news from Reddit, (b) we still don't know exactly what happened, (c) we don't know whether it affected other VPS or whether it is still an issue, (d) what they've learnt/changed. Compare this to Cloudflare which was transparent and open with everyone and clearly learnt a lot of lessons. Trying to hide your mistakes at every turn is NOT how you run a service company.

mjs7231 14y ago
OK, let's be sensationalist for a moment: I should stop using Google, Dropbox, Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Amazon... They have all been hacked at one point or another and very rarely do we get details of what actually happened. Ohh yea, I should give up my US citizenship as well. I hear about the US gov getting hacked all the time and they don't let us know whats going on either. People love hating on hosting companies, and touting their own horror or success stories. When will people realize that mistakes are inevitable. To me, one mistake every once in a while is forgivable. Perhaps I could also careless about bitcoins (they seem about as worthless as Second Life money). Linode did mention publicly that only 8 accounts were compromised and no credit card info or passwords were available to them.
- freehunter 14y ago
  Also, while I'm not commenting on Linode's response to the incident, ultimately the security of your information is up to you. The owner of the stolen Bitcoins has publicly stated that he learned a lesson: encrypt your data. Your server, your data, your information is only as safe as you make it. Even if everything is fully encrypted and all a hacker could do to mess with you is delete your instance, you should have offsite backups of your important stuff. Always assume you're going to lose everything. Whether it's hardware failure, hacking, or a simple mistake, treat a gun like it's loaded. Encrypt your important data. Use two-factor authentication on privileged accounts. If you want Bitcoins to be a currency, then read up on Payment Card Industry regulations and really understand how to keep a currency secure.Hire an auditor if need be. Everyone is going to be hacked, everyone is going to be embarrassed, and your data is never secure unless you make it secure.

petercooper 14y ago

The author must be very tolerant or otherwise accustomed to lag. He says "no noticeable lag" but is 3G even that good on paper? Wavering pings of 100-1000ms are pretty normal on 3G in my experience, so given a round trip, if the difference is an optimistic 200ms that's should be pretty noticeable when typing, tailing logs or jumping around vim on a remote system versus doing it locally. I'm sure you can build confidence and get used to pulling off a string of moves with no immediate visual feedback, but it sounds like something you'd have to get used to tolerating, rather than not notice?

vegardx 14y ago
Yeah, that has to be horrible. I remember working remotely from Thailand, and had around 150ms to a linode in Japan, and it was infuriating. Even worse when trying to access services at home, with latency around 300ms. With latency over 30ms you start to notice it. There are good tools out there, though. Mosh is one of them.

stcredzero 14y ago

This isn't an article about iPad or about tablets. It's an article about working in the cloud. Considering all of the comments here, is there a service where you can use a browser that's hosted in the cloud, but have its UI appear in a client over something like VNC?

bergie 14y ago
Maybe https://browserling.com/ https://browserling.com/ would do
gizzlon 14y ago
Wouldn't good ol' X forewarning through ssh do? Try enabling compression (-C) as well. Use it a lot, but for simpler programs than browsers.