Not ESP32, but development in general with (let's just say) "AI", I've gone to a dedicated machine. I'm not sure how many peers have told me, or articles I've r

Not ESP32, but development in general with (let's just say) "AI", I've gone to a dedicated machine. I'm not sure how many peers have told me, or articles I've read, saying to use containers/VMs/whatever, but taking an old-but-still-decent business class laptop, slapping Ubuntu on it, and running right in the native OS has so much less admin overhead. I can just turn it off. I can unplug it from the network if I'm worried. I can easily isolate it network-wise using just a VLAN and normal firewalls. Hardware connectivity (ESP32 stuff I'm doing this weekend) -- as you describe -- is just easier.