Poll: What is your primary development system? Mac, PC, Linux, Other
33 comments
Bought a Mac off Craigslist a year and a half ago to do development for iPhone; it was a beat up MacBook Pro 15" from 2006 with slightly messed up screen (backlighting was uneven). However, it was a good deal compared to a new Mac ($600).
It turned out I ended up using the Mac much more than my Windows machine. Why? Because it would come back from sleep in < 15 seconds, whereas my Lenovo would sometimes take 5 min to come back from sleep. Also, Windows would sometimes reboot my machine in the middle of coding a project. It had apparently "warned me" with some difficult to see message, and then just started shutting down my machine with no significant prompt. It would then sometimes hang in the update process, forcing a hard reboot and then another 10 min wait for startup. This was Win 7, mind you.
I took a nice paying dev project back in October, with the intention of using it to buy myself a new machine. I ended up buying a new MacBook Pro 15" with the anti-gloss screen and on the higher end of the hardware specs. Am in love with the computer. One of my housemates asked if he could borrow my Windows machine for an Excel class this weekend; I handed it over without hesitation. Haven't turned it on in months.
I originally thought I would have to install Parallels or boot camp when I first got my new Mac, not wanting to have to parallel path with the a separate Windows machine. In truth, I haven't ever installed any of these options. With Mac Office 2011, 99% of what I need to do is available. In the rare case when it's not, I may boot up the Windows machine for a one-off look at an Excel spreadsheet or something like that.
If I were MSFT, I would be worried. Around campus, the Apple logos outnumber the Macs in a big way these days. Two years ago, this was not the case. I'm a business school student, and Windows has always had significant crossover on campus from the corporate world. Our official school laptop is the Lenovo I don't use anymore.
Windows was always kind of a pain, but the variety of software available for it gave it tremendous leverage. I was a Mac addict as a kid, all the way up to around Windows 95, when it just became impossible to continue supporting the platform; the ecosystem had wilted at that point to a shadow of its former self. I have basically been on Windows since then, until the recent switch back to Mac.
Windows continues to ride the legacy train all the way to the graveyard. You can't do as bad of a job as MSFT has done in terms of maintaining a core platform and expect to maintain market share. Everyone from the CEO down should have been fired for Vista. Win 7 is basically the maintenance release that Vista should have been. In the meantime, the Mac has exceeded it by leaps and bounds.
It turned out I ended up using the Mac much more than my Windows machine. Why? Because it would come back from sleep in < 15 seconds, whereas my Lenovo would sometimes take 5 min to come back from sleep. Also, Windows would sometimes reboot my machine in the middle of coding a project. It had apparently "warned me" with some difficult to see message, and then just started shutting down my machine with no significant prompt. It would then sometimes hang in the update process, forcing a hard reboot and then another 10 min wait for startup. This was Win 7, mind you.
I took a nice paying dev project back in October, with the intention of using it to buy myself a new machine. I ended up buying a new MacBook Pro 15" with the anti-gloss screen and on the higher end of the hardware specs. Am in love with the computer. One of my housemates asked if he could borrow my Windows machine for an Excel class this weekend; I handed it over without hesitation. Haven't turned it on in months.
I originally thought I would have to install Parallels or boot camp when I first got my new Mac, not wanting to have to parallel path with the a separate Windows machine. In truth, I haven't ever installed any of these options. With Mac Office 2011, 99% of what I need to do is available. In the rare case when it's not, I may boot up the Windows machine for a one-off look at an Excel spreadsheet or something like that.
If I were MSFT, I would be worried. Around campus, the Apple logos outnumber the Macs in a big way these days. Two years ago, this was not the case. I'm a business school student, and Windows has always had significant crossover on campus from the corporate world. Our official school laptop is the Lenovo I don't use anymore.
Windows was always kind of a pain, but the variety of software available for it gave it tremendous leverage. I was a Mac addict as a kid, all the way up to around Windows 95, when it just became impossible to continue supporting the platform; the ecosystem had wilted at that point to a shadow of its former self. I have basically been on Windows since then, until the recent switch back to Mac.
Windows continues to ride the legacy train all the way to the graveyard. You can't do as bad of a job as MSFT has done in terms of maintaining a core platform and expect to maintain market share. Everyone from the CEO down should have been fired for Vista. Win 7 is basically the maintenance release that Vista should have been. In the meantime, the Mac has exceeded it by leaps and bounds.
Home: Laptop with Slackware. A lot of the supposedly more user-friendly (okay, less user-hostile) distributions have a knack for leaving a mess of my machine without my telling them to. Or ignoring my configuration files. Or changing their init system every other release. Slackware gives me vi and bash and then stays out of my way, so I have no need to switch. The laptop has a bit of exotic hardware that plays poorly on the BSD flavours; otherwise, I would probably use one of them.
Work: The thing sitting under my desk runs XP. It has three purposes: Outlook, internal IM, and a NoMachine session hooked up to a VM with CentOS 5.
Work: The thing sitting under my desk runs XP. It has three purposes: Outlook, internal IM, and a NoMachine session hooked up to a VM with CentOS 5.
I think these results will be inaccurate. How can I answer this question if I run Windows 7 as my OS, but use a Linux VM to do development work? Does Windows 7 count as my primary development system? What if I run Windows 7 at work, but do all my personal projects on Linux or OSX? Again, it's unclear to me, what counts as one's primary development system is in this scenario.
It's also worth noting that the pole permits more than one selection, which defeats the purpose of asking, "What is your primary development system".
It's also worth noting that the pole permits more than one selection, which defeats the purpose of asking, "What is your primary development system".
Arch Linux on a quadcore with FVWM is my machine of choice. VirtualBox for XP and Win7, but that's just for web testing, and for using my old copy of Adobe CS3 when needed.
Secondarily, I have an Arch netbook I use on the run (also for video skype). The lid switch works, even.
And lastly, a MacBook Pro that gets used for iOS dev.
Secondarily, I have an Arch netbook I use on the run (also for video skype). The lid switch works, even.
And lastly, a MacBook Pro that gets used for iOS dev.
Windows Seven w/ Ubuntu running in a VM. It would be 100% windows but faking all the server-side components got too tough.
I haven't used VM software for ages. Do you get good enough performance on virtualized Ubuntu to do all your developing?
We're a Mac shop with intensive requirements to run Windows software (both because the industry standard reversing tools are all primarily WinAPI-based, and because a lot of our targets are Windows). VMWare Fusion works fine, with (for business-class apps) virtually no perceptible slowness --- if you max out the memory on your system, and run one VM at a time. Virtually everyone on our team does this.
Running two systems on your laptop is a perfectly viable strategy for dev machines, and if you're most at home in Windows, I recommend it. If you're Linux or OS X, though, I think it's probably worth the effort to keep your dev environment cross-platform instead of working on it in a VM.
Running two systems on your laptop is a perfectly viable strategy for dev machines, and if you're most at home in Windows, I recommend it. If you're Linux or OS X, though, I think it's probably worth the effort to keep your dev environment cross-platform instead of working on it in a VM.
I'm a Ruby developer - I wouldn't know slow performance if it bit me.
Yes. It turns out 12GB of RAM does come in handy. (I have the same setup, Win7 w/ Ubuntu VM).
What's more annoying is doing port mapping through VirtualBox's XML configuration files, but this is a one-off task and not too complex. I'm seriously considering purchasing Mac OS X Server edition and using that in a VM as well but I can't figure out if this actually works. Does anyone know?
What's more annoying is doing port mapping through VirtualBox's XML configuration files, but this is a one-off task and not too complex. I'm seriously considering purchasing Mac OS X Server edition and using that in a VM as well but I can't figure out if this actually works. Does anyone know?
Just switch to Bridged networking in the VM and don't care about port mapping at all? (It will have its own IP.)
In case anyone else stumbled upon this thread, I've always thought running a VirtualBox VM in Bridged Networking mode still did not allow the VM instance to be externally accessible.
However, then I read this ServerFault thread and realised the bridge is a _new interface_, and hence you must either bind directly to it or bind to all interfaces in order to get your VM to become externally accesible!
http://serverfault.com/questions/206498/virtualbox-bridge-ne...
Fantastic!
However, then I read this ServerFault thread and realised the bridge is a _new interface_, and hence you must either bind directly to it or bind to all interfaces in order to get your VM to become externally accesible!
http://serverfault.com/questions/206498/virtualbox-bridge-ne...
Fantastic!
It's much easier when it's just another IP address! :)
And yeah, the reason something like AppEngine or Django wouldn't work is that they, by default, bind only to loopback/127.0.0.1, and are only accessible from the host on which they're running, as a security precaution.
And yeah, the reason something like AppEngine or Django wouldn't work is that they, by default, bind only to loopback/127.0.0.1, and are only accessible from the host on which they're running, as a security precaution.
2010 Mac Mini with an 8 GB RAM upgrade so I can just leave MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB, and Redis running all the time without giving me problems when playing Starcraft II.
I have Windows 7 running in Parallels, but the only thing I ever use it for is testing in IE.
I have Windows 7 running in Parallels, but the only thing I ever use it for is testing in IE.
Yay geek porn!
Desktop -- 2009 Mac Mini 2x2.26ghz/4GB/320GB running Ubuntu 10.04
Laptop -- HP Pavilion dv2700(something or other) AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-60/4GB/60GB SSD(!) running Ubuntu 10.10
Desktop -- 2009 Mac Mini 2x2.26ghz/4GB/320GB running Ubuntu 10.04
Laptop -- HP Pavilion dv2700(something or other) AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-60/4GB/60GB SSD(!) running Ubuntu 10.10
Once I decided to start a new career as a developer, the first thing I bought was a new MacBook pro. It's great. Keep in mind that the computer I'd had before this was a Dell Latitude from 2006. I bought it back in 2008 and while it worked for what I used it for, it was REALLY slow to boot, had almost no RAM, and the outside was broken. One thing I've believed in since I had my first job was to use the best equipment you can afford, because that way you can grow your business without outgrowing your equipment.
MacBook Pro with OS X for most of my hacking and a desktop running Fedora for when I feel like I want a nice proper linux desktop (instead of VNC/X11-forwarding to a server).
An iMac 27" is my main development hardware, but I use VMWare to run Debian where I do all my development. I've also got an i7 Debian Server running where I deploy to make sure stuff works on real hardware before it hits my host. I'm currently in the market for a "sofa programming" laptop. I'm thinking the 11" MacBook Air or the new Lenovo X220.
I too am interested in the X220, but man are all those ~13 inch laptops pricey.
Windows 7 (PC game development). I would probably be on Mac if I could.
I use my MacBook Pro 15" as my main development system. I have virtual machines setup for some projects usually using Ubuntu.
4 years ago worked on Windows, when tried Ubuntu and after that Mac, I never return back. I cant understand how LAMP or Rails developers working on win machines, I'v 2 XP running computers at home and using them only for gaming(very rare)
Primary dev box: Fedora Linux on a Toshiba laptop. Miscellaneous dev/experiment boxes: Various flavors of Linux (CentOS, Fedora) on a mishmash of PC hardware; and EC2 instances when needed, or just for playing around with Hadoop.
27" iMac, 15" PowerBook. Win 7 in a VM on each. Laptop is the mobile option when the desktop gets too cramped or need some air. Now & then I'll boot up an EC2 image (typically Ubuntu) and dev in the terminal if I'm in a pinch.
Hackintosh: Intel 3.1 ghz core 2 duo with 8gb ram on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P.
Vanilla retail install of Snow Leopard, only thing I had to patch was the sound kext, and it (so far) has taken automatic updates all the way up to 10.6.6 (haven't tried 10.6.7 yet) seamlessly.
Love OS X, love getting to pick my own (cheap!) hardware even more. Though if I ever get rich, I want one of those Axiotron Modbooks so hard (Macbook pro taken apart and given a Wacom penabled touchscreen).
Vanilla retail install of Snow Leopard, only thing I had to patch was the sound kext, and it (so far) has taken automatic updates all the way up to 10.6.6 (haven't tried 10.6.7 yet) seamlessly.
Love OS X, love getting to pick my own (cheap!) hardware even more. Though if I ever get rich, I want one of those Axiotron Modbooks so hard (Macbook pro taken apart and given a Wacom penabled touchscreen).
Primary dev system is a Windows 7 laptop because i bought it like that.Secondary system is an Ubuntu machine.
And the third is an embedded system with Debian.
iMac White 20". Oldie but a goodie. However, the LCD is starting to decay somewhat, with lines and smudges internally, and 3 Gigs ram is getting a bit tight.
Home is a gaming desktop which dual boots Vista and Ubuntu. Commuting is a new Win7 netbook; Emacs and GHC work fine, so I haven't bothered saving the recovery image and settling on a GNU distro yet. Work is a decrepit XP box due to be replaced, apparently with a Mac, which I guess I'm okay with if OS X (unlike iOS) continues treating owners as human beings and tinkerers. Servers at work are openSUSE.
Gentoo running on a Dell Inspiron 1525 at home. At work I run Gentoo on a Dell Optiplex 980 ( I think I have that model right)
Main dev machine is an old MacPro, with 2 x 3GHz quad core xeons and 8 GB ram (and dual 30" cinema displays :)
The laptop is an even older MacBookPro, first gen 1.83Ghz Core Duo, with 2GB ram. Still works like a champ.
Windows 7 and Debian Squeeze run in vmware fusion VMs. Debian is also what runs on my deployment servers.
Ubuntu 10.10 x64
Core i7 2600K
16GB DDR3
Debian with gnome and devilspie
MacBook Pro 13" from 2010 with 4GB of RAM. I also run Windows XP/7 and Ubuntu 10.10 on VirtualBox 4.0.
From my experience VirtualBox is faster and more reliable than Vmware.
From my experience VirtualBox is faster and more reliable than Vmware.
I'm working on a print server written in JavaScript using Mozilla Rhino, and I have configuration definitions for: Windows Server, Windows 7, Windows 7 Parallels, and OSX.
Windows + Strawberry Perl - almost all CPAN modules can be installed without problems.
i cast 2 votes as i have two machines, one linux, one mac.
Ubuntu 10.10, Windows XP on VirtualBox when needed
i have 4 machines. 3 runs ubuntu. 1 runs windows.
No love for BSDs?
Does anyone use any BSD distributions other than OS X? ;)
Yes. I use FreeBSD on production and dev servers. I use OpenBSD for other uses unrelated as well. Darwin is based off of FBSD. NetBSD runs anywhere, and OpenBSD is one of the most security-concious operating systems.
Just because some people use Apple's shiny new fad doesn't mean everyone does.
Just because some people use Apple's shiny new fad doesn't mean everyone does.
A 10 year old operating system is a new fad?
Sorry, I meant to convey the idea of Macs often being fashion statements. All the cool, hip kids use it to build their social coupon webapp weekend startup from a coworking space in RoR with a NoSQL backend while listening to indie rock.
And most of it dates back to NeXTSTEP in 1989.
Linux Mint + Windows 7 Dual Boot
win7 not by choice
[0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2398781 [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2398618