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Koding - Free VMs for online development

agnasg 13y ago
This page abort on Chrome/WinXP. It works on firefox. Checking the page source code the only thing strange I see is a font hosted on googleapis.com
- koding-dev 13y ago
  That is weird, chrome on win7 is doing fine, i am gonna install an XP box, thanks for the notice.
  - theonewolf 13y ago
    You guys should really have a QA test bed with _all_ supported OS's and browsers and with _every_ releasable change regression test it through all of these OS's and browsers meticulously. Since you're using VM technology I'd have assumed this would be a no-brainer to setup and enforce?
    - koding-dev 13y ago
      you're right, we should, we're a small team and early optimization is not the best friend of a startup, we test it in modern browsers w/ up to date operating systems, assuming what a developer(our target audience) would use. However i admit that it is still not a valid excuse, i would just say give it some time. Thanks for the comment.
    - philbarr 13y ago
      > You guys should really have a QA test bed with _all_ supported OS's and browsers and with _every_ releasable change regression test it through all of these OS's and browsers meticulously. You and what army? They could be doing that or they could be adding features... P.S. I accidentally downvoted you whilst copy-pasting your comment and can't undo it, sorry about that. Feel free to downvote me back.
beck5 13y ago
To actually get to the site you need to go to http://www.koding.com http://www.koding.com, there didn't seem to be any link in the docs. The fact they publicly say its free does not strike me as a strength, how are they going to pay the bills to store all of my data? It looks like it started life as an online php editor (kodingen.com) but now has broadened out to supporting vms with 'social' stuff. Some of the main competitors are: - https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/ - http://compilr.com http://compilr.com - https://codenvy.com https://codenvy.com The general experience after playing with it for a few minutes is quite nice, robust file tree, good editor (ace), interesting news feed.
- skinofstars 13y ago
  It looks to be that additional VMs cost money, so there's a business model to start with. btw, your compilr link goes to a domain squatter.
  - cdman 13y ago
    Either s/he edited the link or your DNS is hijacked since it works for me :-)
- gexla 13y ago
  Heroku provides free VM's also. Though the dyno's apparently go idle if not hit by traffic in X time. Also, of course you don't get full SSH access to do whatever you want.
  - kencausey 13y ago
    The same is true for Koding. From the linked page: "Approximately 20 minutes after you log out, your Free VMs will shut down." followed shortly by "Note: In the future Paid Always-On VMs will be an option. This is currently not available though."
- leeolayvar 13y ago
  I'm the koding user (not staffer) who wrote the docs, good point on the Koding link. I never expected anyone to be reading the docs who didn't know the url for Koding, but both Reddit and Here have linked to the docs directly. Not sure why, but i'll add a link to Koding from the docs today. Thanks for the feedback :) edit: https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/72 https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/72
ericcholis 13y ago
The title of this post is more informative than the Koding homepage or even the docs themselves. A clearer message about why I should sign up is critical. After watching the video, I did understand what Koding was solving and was excited by it's potential. But, that message needs to be communicated more clearly when visiting the Koding homepage. From the docs: "Koding offers nearly unlimited possibilities; so many in fact, that people often misunderstand what Koding is being designed for. " This seems aloof. I feel that this is more explanatory of what Koding offers: "Koding provides free hosted VMs for development to anyone. The Koding VMs provide you with a real Ubuntu OS, with a real Terminal, and allow you to work on real code. Python, PHP, C++, C, it doesn't matter. Even better, they are online. Accessible from anywhere in the world. Even sharable with teams." On a side note, would it be possible to offer offline capability? Perhaps allowing users to download/upload Vagrant VMs configured with Puppet.
- leeolayvar 13y ago
  Heya, i'm the koding user (not staffer) who wrote those docs :) > This seems aloof. I feel that this is more explanatory of what Koding offers: I would agree with this sentiment. I didn't expect so much publicity over my little doc project haha. I'll look at rewording that, thanks for the feedback :) > On a side note, would it be possible to offer offline capability? Perhaps allowing users to download/upload Vagrant VMs configured with Puppet. To my limited understanding, the VMs will offer an always-on option in the future. I haven't heard of a timeframe on any of this though. My apologies if i'm slow to reply/etc, i'm new to this platform. edit: I made an issue on this note. https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/71 https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/71
nkuttler 13y ago
The news stream on http://www.koding.com http://www.koding.com is broken as new content is simply inserted at the top and whatever you're trying to read is jumping around randomly.
CmonDev 13y ago
Locked to one OS. Expected mainstream ones. Useful for a niche of people.
aegiso 13y ago
Koding(en)'s been on my radar a while since they're in a vaguely similar space (lightweight virtualization). But as a coder, I could never for the life of me figure out what Koding is for. Apparently the Koding team doesn't know either. It's a bunch of (admittedly cool) tech features thrown in a box and shaken up a bit. Now the team is scratching their heads about what it is they've built, trying to justify their investment money. Koding is a fine example of a "sitcom" startup in YC parlance [1]: social virtualized viral cloud coding, just because. So that's my analysis. If anyone from the Koding team reads this, here's my advice: Stop. Take a machete to 80% of the product. Figure out what it is that you're great at, and that people really, really want. Then you won't need to be making silly goggle videos or tragic blog posts like this one. [1] http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
- babarock 13y ago
  I know what I'm going to use it for. I work on an open source project and I've just submitted a patch. Tomorrow, I'm travelling to go spend a week with my parents, away from home. I don't plan on taking my laptop with me, but I want to follow up on my patch. Reviews are probably going to ask for minor changes. Basically, I can see myself using something like this when I'm on the move. I'm not a big fan of dragging my laptop with me everywhere I go...
  - inetsee 13y ago
    I'm confused. If you don't have your laptop with you, how are you going to access Koding?
    - recursive 13y ago
      Via a web browser on a different computer.
  - derekp7 13y ago
    So how is this different from either having a copy of your git repository on your phone (which you can mount on your parent's computer), or accessing your own home server remotely (or an EC2 micro/free tier server instance)?
hobs 13y ago
I tried to register with github and now it just loops a popup that closes immediately forever when I try to sign in with github or register with github. Cool. Update: Tried it in my unprotected chrome and after a few bumps got it working. Once you are signed in the demo is pretty good.
- getriver 13y ago
  Hey hobs, it's possible some chrome plugin is interfering with Github authentication though. If you can provide a little more info, I can debug it for you. P.S. I work for Koding.
  - hobs 13y ago
    No worries, I got registered via chrome and now the github login works in firefox as well. Thanks!
koding-dev 13y ago
Hey guys, Koding developer here, thanks for the comments, there are some really valuable ones that we should consider doing. Would gladly answer the questions, if any?
- diydsp 13y ago
  hi! 1. Would it be possible to download the virtual machine onto my desktop/laptop, then, work on it for a bit, then upload it back to the virtual machine? 2. Would it be possible for the online virtual machine to access a USB debugger on my desktop? thank you.
  - koding-dev 13y ago
    you can ssh/ftp into your VM but downloading it and uploading back is not possible atm, and i don't think if it is going to be the case. As for the second question i don't think it would be possible w/o running your VM locally. Thanks.
farslan 13y ago
There is an public announcment: http://blog.koding.com/2013/08/koding-is-public/ http://blog.koding.com/2013/08/koding-is-public/
- mjn 13y ago
  Unfortunately, this announcement doesn't tell me anything about Koding!
jheriko 13y ago
i can see the advantage over having to set up my own vm or os install... but by targetting an os which, to a very close approximation nobody uses, I can't help but wonder what their target audience really is. nobody who wants to make software for a living i'd imagine... although i guess it could work really well for web hosting type stuff where the crippling choice of OS is irrelevant?
- farslan 13y ago
  What do you mean with "by targetting an os which, to a very close approximation nobody uses"? You mean nobody uses Linux for development? That's a comment which really doesn't have single point of truth. At least i would except some sources that backes your argument, which you dont't have. Shame.
  - jheriko 13y ago
    nobody uses linux for much other than servers to an excellent approximation. i shouldn't need sources for this... how many work places use linux workstations that you have ever seen? or homes? and aren't most pre-installed linux boxes nuked to have windows put on them?
adultSwim 13y ago
This is useful for me. I don't really care about the social features etc but the core product seems good. What is the business plan? I don't want it to be advertising or selling information about me. The documentation could be better. The site looks very slick but doesn't really lay out the basics. For instance, just reading, I wasn't sure whether or not files are stored between VM runs (i.e. being able to save my work and configurations for use in later sessions). The site (koding.github.io) doesn't even link to the main page (koding.com). Side note: start ups have terrible names. What's wrong with using actual words?
- _delirium 13y ago
  > Side note: start ups have terrible names. What's wrong with using actual words? One part "brand names have always been silly" and one part "need to find a domain name that's available".
bwb 13y ago
You guys should try http://www.CodeAnywhere.net http://www.CodeAnywhere.net, free online code editor that connects via ftp, dropbox and has a built in sandbox as well.
- dm2 13y ago
  There are a few similar services. One is Cloud9 (c9.io)
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
hoverbear 13y ago
Koding looks interesting, however my interest in the project died after waiting several months to get into the beta but hearing nothing and seeing no changes to their site. I'd still love to try it though, but I won't hold my breathe.
- getriver 13y ago
  Hey hoverbear, sorry for the long wait time. We're in public beta now and anyone can sign up: https://koding.com https://koding.com P.S. I work for Koding.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
farslan 13y ago
Hi all, I'm one of the Koding developers. I've posted this as a comment but thought It would be helpful to the question of "What Koding is?" Basically, http://koding.com http://koding.com offers full vm with root support and a web-terminal (again just like a desktop terminal) to access this it. What does it mean? It is a full featured Ubuntu where you can install any stack you want. Want to play with Redis? No problem just do apt-get install redis-server. Want to try to use vim? Just type vim and enter. You see that only your imagination stops you here. Not only this it has the concept of "Apps" that let you install custom webapps inside Koding, which can access your VM. For example there is the Rails Dashboard app that let you deploy and setup Rails instances with just one click. There is the Teamwork app, which is a collaborative way to work with your friends, basically you can share and play together on the same editor and terminal! Just think how great this is, you basically can mentor someone, you can get help to develop your app and so on. Well not only this, there is also Groups where you can work and share your with your friends,class,team, etc.. Groups are awesome because they are totally separated from Koding and you can control and give access control to each of the member of the groups. This are basically subreddits with their own members and culture. Also VM's can be shared amongst the members, which makes it awesome to work together on projects. This is just a sneak peek and many other features are on the way. Just give it a try please and see yourself how many great things
informatimago 13y ago
You liked how the NSA was copying all your emails from Google mail, and all your sources from github. You will love how they'll introduce backdoors in your programs while you write them with Koding!
- asenna 13y ago
  Businesses cannot stop coming up with new products and solutions. We cannot say that "Oh, NSA can access anything so let's not use anything anymore." A better way to address the problem is to just persistently keep fighting it and raising this issue. Running away from it will not get us anywhere.
opendomain 13y ago
This is fantastic! I have been looking for something like this to develop tutorials for my site http://RubyRails.com http://RubyRails.com I see a big problem - how do I save a template of a VM? It would be a pain to install Ruby on Rails each time per student.
iuguy 13y ago
I watched the video and am none the wiser. What is the problem that koding solves? It seems like some sort of groupware social network thing for dev teams with a vm hosting thing bolted on.
- leeolayvar 13y ago
  I'm the koding user (non staffer) who made the video. My goal was to quickly gloss over the features with the video, but i thought the concept of Online Development was a pretty well grasped concept. No offense to you of course, the video obviously falls short for a lot of people. It's not intended to be a pitch, just an overview. I had hoped that by going over the features, that Koding would make a bit of sense. Perhaps i need to redo the video? The short timeframe goal, really limits me though haha. I never intended my 2 minute overview to be on the front page of Koding, nor be posted onto reddit and here. This is so much more publicity than a short little video targetted at new Koding users. Nevertheless, thanks for the feedback :)
talles 13y ago
I already felt in love with Koding, but I had some connection issues while using it, kinda bothering. But the service still lovely, looking forward to see it get more stable through the years.
sdfjkl 13y ago
Can someone explain what this does, in technical terms? The site doesn't.
- mjn 13y ago
  From some brief playing around, it's a web-based development environment: 1. At the simplest level, it's an installation of Ace (http://ace.c9.io/ http://ace.c9.io/), an in-browser code editor. So you can edit code in-browser and it gets saved it to some (free) cloud storage. 2. There are some social features added on to this, which I haven't really investigated, but I guess you can form groups, get a feed of updates, share projects, etc. 3. In addition to the basic cloud storage + editing, you can spin up (also free) VM instances to back the editor, forming a dev environment. Your web-based editing space gets mounted as /home, and you have root access to an Ubuntu machine so you can install whatever you need. This can all be managed through either the web interface, or SSH if you prefer. However since they're only intended to back the IDE, the VMs shut down about 20 mins after everyone accessing one has closed their Koding browser window, to discourage using them as free VPS hosting. There are a few other companies in this space. Cloud9, which developed the Ace editor (https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/) are possibly the best-established. Koding seems to differentiate by emphasizing the social/collaborative features more, and possibly in being more generous with the VMs. There is also https://www.nitrous.io https://www.nitrous.io, which I don't know anything about. If anyone's up for writing an article, I'd certainly be interested in an overview of the current offerings from someone who's actually used them, i.e. more in-depth than I can glean from checking out their websites.
- manmal 13y ago
  My interpretation is that it hosts VMs of your development environment (only Ubuntu though), and provides you access via VNC or similar tech. I'd say it frees you from the burden of having to manage your own remote VM instances if you are e.g. coding on an iPad.

This page abort on Chrome/WinXP. It works on firefox. Checking the page source code the only thing strange I see is a font hosted on googleapis.com

koding-dev 13y ago
That is weird, chrome on win7 is doing fine, i am gonna install an XP box, thanks for the notice.
- theonewolf 13y ago
  You guys should really have a QA test bed with _all_ supported OS's and browsers and with _every_ releasable change regression test it through all of these OS's and browsers meticulously. Since you're using VM technology I'd have assumed this would be a no-brainer to setup and enforce?
  - koding-dev 13y ago
    you're right, we should, we're a small team and early optimization is not the best friend of a startup, we test it in modern browsers w/ up to date operating systems, assuming what a developer(our target audience) would use. However i admit that it is still not a valid excuse, i would just say give it some time. Thanks for the comment.
  - philbarr 13y ago
    > You guys should really have a QA test bed with _all_ supported OS's and browsers and with _every_ releasable change regression test it through all of these OS's and browsers meticulously. You and what army? They could be doing that or they could be adding features... P.S. I accidentally downvoted you whilst copy-pasting your comment and can't undo it, sorry about that. Feel free to downvote me back.

beck5 13y ago

To actually get to the site you need to go to http://www.koding.com http://www.koding.com, there didn't seem to be any link in the docs. The fact they publicly say its free does not strike me as a strength, how are they going to pay the bills to store all of my data? It looks like it started life as an online php editor (kodingen.com) but now has broadened out to supporting vms with 'social' stuff. Some of the main competitors are: - https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/ - http://compilr.com http://compilr.com - https://codenvy.com https://codenvy.com The general experience after playing with it for a few minutes is quite nice, robust file tree, good editor (ace), interesting news feed.

skinofstars 13y ago
It looks to be that additional VMs cost money, so there's a business model to start with. btw, your compilr link goes to a domain squatter.
- cdman 13y ago
  Either s/he edited the link or your DNS is hijacked since it works for me :-)
gexla 13y ago
Heroku provides free VM's also. Though the dyno's apparently go idle if not hit by traffic in X time. Also, of course you don't get full SSH access to do whatever you want.
- kencausey 13y ago
  The same is true for Koding. From the linked page: "Approximately 20 minutes after you log out, your Free VMs will shut down." followed shortly by "Note: In the future Paid Always-On VMs will be an option. This is currently not available though."
leeolayvar 13y ago
I'm the koding user (not staffer) who wrote the docs, good point on the Koding link. I never expected anyone to be reading the docs who didn't know the url for Koding, but both Reddit and Here have linked to the docs directly. Not sure why, but i'll add a link to Koding from the docs today. Thanks for the feedback :) edit: https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/72 https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/72

ericcholis 13y ago

The title of this post is more informative than the Koding homepage or even the docs themselves. A clearer message about why I should sign up is critical. After watching the video, I did understand what Koding was solving and was excited by it's potential. But, that message needs to be communicated more clearly when visiting the Koding homepage. From the docs: "Koding offers nearly unlimited possibilities; so many in fact, that people often misunderstand what Koding is being designed for. " This seems aloof. I feel that this is more explanatory of what Koding offers: "Koding provides free hosted VMs for development to anyone. The Koding VMs provide you with a real Ubuntu OS, with a real Terminal, and allow you to work on real code. Python, PHP, C++, C, it doesn't matter. Even better, they are online. Accessible from anywhere in the world. Even sharable with teams." On a side note, would it be possible to offer offline capability? Perhaps allowing users to download/upload Vagrant VMs configured with Puppet.

leeolayvar 13y ago
Heya, i'm the koding user (not staffer) who wrote those docs :) > This seems aloof. I feel that this is more explanatory of what Koding offers: I would agree with this sentiment. I didn't expect so much publicity over my little doc project haha. I'll look at rewording that, thanks for the feedback :) > On a side note, would it be possible to offer offline capability? Perhaps allowing users to download/upload Vagrant VMs configured with Puppet. To my limited understanding, the VMs will offer an always-on option in the future. I haven't heard of a timeframe on any of this though. My apologies if i'm slow to reply/etc, i'm new to this platform. edit: I made an issue on this note. https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/71 https://github.com/koding/docs/issues/71

nkuttler 13y ago

The news stream on http://www.koding.com http://www.koding.com is broken as new content is simply inserted at the top and whatever you're trying to read is jumping around randomly.

CmonDev 13y ago

Locked to one OS. Expected mainstream ones. Useful for a niche of people.

aegiso 13y ago

Koding(en)'s been on my radar a while since they're in a vaguely similar space (lightweight virtualization). But as a coder, I could never for the life of me figure out what Koding is for. Apparently the Koding team doesn't know either. It's a bunch of (admittedly cool) tech features thrown in a box and shaken up a bit. Now the team is scratching their heads about what it is they've built, trying to justify their investment money. Koding is a fine example of a "sitcom" startup in YC parlance [1]: social virtualized viral cloud coding, just because. So that's my analysis. If anyone from the Koding team reads this, here's my advice: Stop. Take a machete to 80% of the product. Figure out what it is that you're great at, and that people really, really want. Then you won't need to be making silly goggle videos or tragic blog posts like this one. [1] http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

babarock 13y ago
I know what I'm going to use it for. I work on an open source project and I've just submitted a patch. Tomorrow, I'm travelling to go spend a week with my parents, away from home. I don't plan on taking my laptop with me, but I want to follow up on my patch. Reviews are probably going to ask for minor changes. Basically, I can see myself using something like this when I'm on the move. I'm not a big fan of dragging my laptop with me everywhere I go...
- inetsee 13y ago
  I'm confused. If you don't have your laptop with you, how are you going to access Koding?
  - recursive 13y ago
    Via a web browser on a different computer.
- derekp7 13y ago
  So how is this different from either having a copy of your git repository on your phone (which you can mount on your parent's computer), or accessing your own home server remotely (or an EC2 micro/free tier server instance)?

hobs 13y ago

I tried to register with github and now it just loops a popup that closes immediately forever when I try to sign in with github or register with github. Cool. Update: Tried it in my unprotected chrome and after a few bumps got it working. Once you are signed in the demo is pretty good.

getriver 13y ago
Hey hobs, it's possible some chrome plugin is interfering with Github authentication though. If you can provide a little more info, I can debug it for you. P.S. I work for Koding.
- hobs 13y ago
  No worries, I got registered via chrome and now the github login works in firefox as well. Thanks!

koding-dev 13y ago

Hey guys, Koding developer here, thanks for the comments, there are some really valuable ones that we should consider doing. Would gladly answer the questions, if any?

diydsp 13y ago
hi! 1. Would it be possible to download the virtual machine onto my desktop/laptop, then, work on it for a bit, then upload it back to the virtual machine? 2. Would it be possible for the online virtual machine to access a USB debugger on my desktop? thank you.
- koding-dev 13y ago
  you can ssh/ftp into your VM but downloading it and uploading back is not possible atm, and i don't think if it is going to be the case. As for the second question i don't think it would be possible w/o running your VM locally. Thanks.

farslan 13y ago

There is an public announcment: http://blog.koding.com/2013/08/koding-is-public/ http://blog.koding.com/2013/08/koding-is-public/

mjn 13y ago
Unfortunately, this announcement doesn't tell me anything about Koding!

jheriko 13y ago

i can see the advantage over having to set up my own vm or os install... but by targetting an os which, to a very close approximation nobody uses, I can't help but wonder what their target audience really is. nobody who wants to make software for a living i'd imagine... although i guess it could work really well for web hosting type stuff where the crippling choice of OS is irrelevant?

farslan 13y ago
What do you mean with "by targetting an os which, to a very close approximation nobody uses"? You mean nobody uses Linux for development? That's a comment which really doesn't have single point of truth. At least i would except some sources that backes your argument, which you dont't have. Shame.
- jheriko 13y ago
  nobody uses linux for much other than servers to an excellent approximation. i shouldn't need sources for this... how many work places use linux workstations that you have ever seen? or homes? and aren't most pre-installed linux boxes nuked to have windows put on them?

adultSwim 13y ago

This is useful for me. I don't really care about the social features etc but the core product seems good. What is the business plan? I don't want it to be advertising or selling information about me. The documentation could be better. The site looks very slick but doesn't really lay out the basics. For instance, just reading, I wasn't sure whether or not files are stored between VM runs (i.e. being able to save my work and configurations for use in later sessions). The site (koding.github.io) doesn't even link to the main page (koding.com). Side note: start ups have terrible names. What's wrong with using actual words?

_delirium 13y ago
> Side note: start ups have terrible names. What's wrong with using actual words? One part "brand names have always been silly" and one part "need to find a domain name that's available".

bwb 13y ago

You guys should try http://www.CodeAnywhere.net http://www.CodeAnywhere.net, free online code editor that connects via ftp, dropbox and has a built in sandbox as well.

dm2 13y ago
There are a few similar services. One is Cloud9 (c9.io)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

hoverbear 13y ago

Koding looks interesting, however my interest in the project died after waiting several months to get into the beta but hearing nothing and seeing no changes to their site. I'd still love to try it though, but I won't hold my breathe.

getriver 13y ago
Hey hoverbear, sorry for the long wait time. We're in public beta now and anyone can sign up: https://koding.com https://koding.com P.S. I work for Koding.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

farslan 13y ago

Hi all, I'm one of the Koding developers. I've posted this as a comment but thought It would be helpful to the question of "What Koding is?" Basically, http://koding.com http://koding.com offers full vm with root support and a web-terminal (again just like a desktop terminal) to access this it. What does it mean? It is a full featured Ubuntu where you can install any stack you want. Want to play with Redis? No problem just do apt-get install redis-server. Want to try to use vim? Just type vim and enter. You see that only your imagination stops you here. Not only this it has the concept of "Apps" that let you install custom webapps inside Koding, which can access your VM. For example there is the Rails Dashboard app that let you deploy and setup Rails instances with just one click. There is the Teamwork app, which is a collaborative way to work with your friends, basically you can share and play together on the same editor and terminal! Just think how great this is, you basically can mentor someone, you can get help to develop your app and so on. Well not only this, there is also Groups where you can work and share your with your friends,class,team, etc.. Groups are awesome because they are totally separated from Koding and you can control and give access control to each of the member of the groups. This are basically subreddits with their own members and culture. Also VM's can be shared amongst the members, which makes it awesome to work together on projects. This is just a sneak peek and many other features are on the way. Just give it a try please and see yourself how many great things

informatimago 13y ago

You liked how the NSA was copying all your emails from Google mail, and all your sources from github. You will love how they'll introduce backdoors in your programs while you write them with Koding!

asenna 13y ago
Businesses cannot stop coming up with new products and solutions. We cannot say that "Oh, NSA can access anything so let's not use anything anymore." A better way to address the problem is to just persistently keep fighting it and raising this issue. Running away from it will not get us anywhere.

opendomain 13y ago

This is fantastic! I have been looking for something like this to develop tutorials for my site http://RubyRails.com http://RubyRails.com I see a big problem - how do I save a template of a VM? It would be a pain to install Ruby on Rails each time per student.

iuguy 13y ago

I watched the video and am none the wiser. What is the problem that koding solves? It seems like some sort of groupware social network thing for dev teams with a vm hosting thing bolted on.

leeolayvar 13y ago
I'm the koding user (non staffer) who made the video. My goal was to quickly gloss over the features with the video, but i thought the concept of Online Development was a pretty well grasped concept. No offense to you of course, the video obviously falls short for a lot of people. It's not intended to be a pitch, just an overview. I had hoped that by going over the features, that Koding would make a bit of sense. Perhaps i need to redo the video? The short timeframe goal, really limits me though haha. I never intended my 2 minute overview to be on the front page of Koding, nor be posted onto reddit and here. This is so much more publicity than a short little video targetted at new Koding users. Nevertheless, thanks for the feedback :)

talles 13y ago

I already felt in love with Koding, but I had some connection issues while using it, kinda bothering. But the service still lovely, looking forward to see it get more stable through the years.

sdfjkl 13y ago

Can someone explain what this does, in technical terms? The site doesn't.

mjn 13y ago
From some brief playing around, it's a web-based development environment: 1. At the simplest level, it's an installation of Ace (http://ace.c9.io/ http://ace.c9.io/), an in-browser code editor. So you can edit code in-browser and it gets saved it to some (free) cloud storage. 2. There are some social features added on to this, which I haven't really investigated, but I guess you can form groups, get a feed of updates, share projects, etc. 3. In addition to the basic cloud storage + editing, you can spin up (also free) VM instances to back the editor, forming a dev environment. Your web-based editing space gets mounted as /home, and you have root access to an Ubuntu machine so you can install whatever you need. This can all be managed through either the web interface, or SSH if you prefer. However since they're only intended to back the IDE, the VMs shut down about 20 mins after everyone accessing one has closed their Koding browser window, to discourage using them as free VPS hosting. There are a few other companies in this space. Cloud9, which developed the Ace editor (https://c9.io/ https://c9.io/) are possibly the best-established. Koding seems to differentiate by emphasizing the social/collaborative features more, and possibly in being more generous with the VMs. There is also https://www.nitrous.io https://www.nitrous.io, which I don't know anything about. If anyone's up for writing an article, I'd certainly be interested in an overview of the current offerings from someone who's actually used them, i.e. more in-depth than I can glean from checking out their websites.
manmal 13y ago
My interpretation is that it hosts VMs of your development environment (only Ubuntu though), and provides you access via VNC or similar tech. I'd say it frees you from the burden of having to manage your own remote VM instances if you are e.g. coding on an iPad.