[HN Gopher] Reflections on software development from anywhere on...
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Reflections on software development from anywhere on an iPad
Author : ghuntley
Score : 122 points
Date : 2021-10-28 11:36 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (ghuntley.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (ghuntley.com)
| emptyparadise wrote:
| What hurts is that an iPad is powerful enough to do a huge chunk
| of these tasks locally but Apple wouldn't allow it.
| throwaway894345 wrote:
| I have mixed feelings about this. On the plus side, it's more
| secure (which is especially nice since my less-than-tech-savvy
| family use iPads quite a lot). Moreover, even if you had an
| unlocked iPad, it would be inferior to a laptop in most
| respects anyway (most standing cases don't allow you to
| actually work from your lap, keyboards are awful, etc). So
| while it would be neat to be able to do development work from
| an iPad, it's really only useful in those rare occasions where
| you _really can 't afford_ an extra cubic inch (or whatever the
| difference between a MacBook Air and an iPad is) in your
| luggage.
| mjmahone17 wrote:
| It would be amazing for students.
|
| In college a lot of students get a device that needs to last
| for 4 years, not knowing what classes they'll end up taking
| (often they switch majors).
|
| Lots of students will get iPad Pros as their only device.
| When they decide to take a class that requires coding,
| they'll run into all the support problems, and either need to
| do all their work in a library or pony up more money they
| don't have to get a worse-spec computer that they can
| actually do their assignments on.
|
| These classes typically have support guides for MacOS and
| Windows. Even making it possible to install MacOS on an iPad
| Pro would make the device good enough to be a student's only
| computer.
| throwaway894345 wrote:
| I would contend based on my earlier post that they would
| still be better served by a MacBook Air at a similar price
| point (even if they could unlock their iPad). In other
| words, I don't see an advantage for the overwhelming
| majority of students.
| rich_sasha wrote:
| What I now discovered, after drooling about similar idea of
| remote work: in most scenarios, children put a halt to that.
|
| Children want stability, access to age-appropriate entertainment
| (playgrounds, soft play centres, or cinemas and suchlikes for
| older ones), good schools, friends with similar age.
|
| All those things funnel you to populated centres, likely
| wealthier ones (for schools, though this varies by locale), and
| hence also pricier ones.
|
| Sure, some kids are super-happy slumming it in a van, or a shack
| somewhere beautiful, and enjoy outdoors so much that they don't
| mind missing out on the other things, and I'm sure (I know in
| fact) that you can have a very valuable childhood this way. But I
| guess this is not great for most kids, or at least unsuitable to
| many.
| throwaway413 wrote:
| Have always had the off-grid van dream, but as the father of a
| 6yo I've come to accept what you have said as my reality,
| having experienced the results on myself and my family after
| much trial and error over the last few years, including
| building out a shipping container on 5 acres, living in hotels
| full time, buying a van, and attempting to settle down in many
| different urban communities. I finally find myself now settling
| down in a suburban family-focused community, for my son to
| start 1st grade. And after a couple months already, I wouldn't
| say the amount of happiness is what's changed, but the total
| amount of stress. It is extremely freeing in its own right,
| just like falling asleep in a van in the desert is. I still
| haven't given up, I love setting off to explore the unknown,
| but life has a funny way of giving you exactly what you want
| while not giving you anything you may have expected to begin
| with.
| ghuntley wrote:
| I'm divorced. I've got two kiddos - five and seven. For school
| holidays we go away on extended adventures around Australia and
| on weekends we go camping. During weekdays the kiddos see me
| before and after school most days and I've rented an office
| nearby for co-working from when in Sydney.
|
| The van is setup like a house (office) on wheels with all the
| typical luxuries such as toilets, running water, seperate
| sleeping areas, microwave for popcorn+movies, massive
| electrical system and "the best interest in Australia" -
| https://ghuntley.com/internet so it is hardly slumming it.
| rich_sasha wrote:
| Well done, sounds like you're a very dedicated parent.
|
| Mine are 1 and 3 (1's a bit young for major exploring,
| admittedly, but 3 is getting there). The 3-year old likes
| outdoors, but I can't picture her living permanently out in
| the sticks. She likes her big-city nursery, her little
| friends, going for croissants etc.
|
| In a way it's a shame, I'd love to pack up and live in the
| back country, but how things are for me, I could only do it
| at a detriment to my kids development - YMMV.
| thurn wrote:
| The greatest thing about books is that they are _easier_ to read
| in bright sunlight. I wish we could crack that problem for
| computer screens, even really bright screens like the iPad
| essentially must be used in a very shady environment.
| ryukafalz wrote:
| I'm interested in seeing how the PineNote turns out:
| https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/
| ghuntley wrote:
| I found a solution to the shade problem. Introducing my outdoor
| office chair.
|
| https://twitter.com/geoffreyhuntley/status/14531947902169538...
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| That's still just trying to get away from the sun at a
| smaller scale, and honestly even sitting in shade in bright
| sun is too bright for most screens to really work well in my
| experience.
| ghaff wrote:
| I extended my WiFi to, in part, allow me to sit out on my
| deck and work. I quickly realized that I didn't actually
| want to work out there.
| throwaway894345 wrote:
| I thought eReader screens were supposed to outperform paper?
| The problem with these is that they have _very_ low refresh
| rates relative to typical laptop screens (but still far higher
| than paper!)
| yewenjie wrote:
| The PR for the Nix/NixOS guide for OpenVSCode Server is still
| open though - https://github.com/gitpod-io/openvscode-
| server/pull/88
| ghuntley wrote:
| Well spotted. That's why the blog post uses oci.virtualisation.
| Upstream PR to turn openvscode-server into an expression is at
| https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/140344#issuecomment-...
| .
| yewenjie wrote:
| How difficult and useful would it be to have a NixOS based
| instead of Ubuntu using something like
| https://hub.docker.com/r/shridharpatil01/nixos-base ?
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| I'm in Tucson for the week (with 5g connection) and needed to
| edit a pdf. Couldn't even manage to do that without pulling out
| my partner's Mac book air. Actual software development on an
| iPad? Forgetaboutit - none of the tooling I used in my
| programming career runs on an iPad and trying to use it as a thin
| client sounds horribly suboptimal. Great for watching a movie or
| reading a book, still not as productive as a laptop for anything
| else.
| Terretta wrote:
| Acrobat and PDF Expert are two great bets for editing a PDF on
| the iPad.
|
| As a counter-piece of anecdata:
|
| With connectivity, VS Code runs on an iPad, blink mosh terminal
| client, remote desktops of all kinds, etc. Without
| connectivity, various code editors with full syntax
| highlighting and git sync, to the point I've been handling
| enterprise software dev via iPad Pro for several years now. It
| used to be hard, now it's trivial.
|
| Since circa 2017 I've only taken MacBook Pro on a trip if I'm
| somewhere more than 3 weeks, and ever since the keyboard with
| trackpad and now the Xbox controller for Xbox cloud gaming, I'm
| not even sure I need that. The MBP is probably a crutch.
|
| Given the portability, true _lap_ top usability, all-day
| battery life, built in cellular connectivity, ability to
| transform into a Kindle or touch device, etc., along with tools
| needed to code both online and offline, most devs with an iPad
| Pro 12.9 can ask, "What's a computer?"
| ViViDboarder wrote:
| All of mine runs on an iPad when I develop remotely using mosh.
|
| Also, iSH allows you to install Alpine Linux along with many
| packages.
| xvilka wrote:
| iSH is a wasted battery and performance. I don't get why they
| emulate x86 and not just use Alpine ARMv8 version instead.
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| Well, congrats. But none of the tooling I used in my tech
| career (which I left 2 years ago) ran physically on the ipad
| then, and none of it does now either. I tried doing the thin
| term thing and it was just a hassle. Good on you if it works
| for you, but I'd rather pack a laptop if I'm doing more than
| editing a few characters- for the screen size if nothing else
| ghuntley wrote:
| Typing this on my iPad right now. For things such as editing
| PDF's (see https://www.jabmaker.com) I RDP to my homelab in the
| sky (see bottom of blogpost for details about the setup).
|
| For day-to-day software development. Use Gitpod or GitHub
| Codespaces or Mosh+SSH to a Baremetal machine.
|
| What's your technology stack? What's the tooling you need to
| do?
| djrogers wrote:
| Let's be honest - you didn't want to edit the pdf on your iPad.
| I say that because if you wanted to, or it's something you need
| to do even once in a while, there are dozens (hundreds?) of
| serviceable pdf editors for iPadOS. There are even many really
| good ones. And they cost the proverbial cup of coffee..
| poulsbohemian wrote:
| Just let's be honest: I paid for the pro version of adobe
| brcause I had business deals depending on the documents I was
| editing. I failed to successfully split or delete pages on
| any of the contracts I tried and I resorted to borrowing the
| laptop. So there you go and I stand by what I wrote.
| Terretta wrote:
| I know what you're talking about, and that's on Adobe's UX.
|
| The feature is there, but it's not readily discoverable.
|
| For that reason, I mentioned PDF Expert, which doesn't have
| Adobe's lack of UX sensibility baked in.
| quitit wrote:
| Sounds more like they just wanted to use something they
| already know - which is fine, but not for a lack of
| capability on the iPad.
|
| (Was doing that was back with a gen 1 ipad, a pencil from
| "53" and a cheap pdf editor.)
| sosuke wrote:
| Though I found the content sounded very interesting I kept losing
| focus while trying to continue reading. The interruption sections
| look too much like advertising. I think I'm having a gut reaction
| thinking the article was over.
| throwawaycuriou wrote:
| Yeah I had a similar reaction. Chalk it up to the chum bucket
| fatigue at the end of listicles.
|
| I am recently considering that imagery on the web is too
| powerful. It can be detrimental or subversive to my attention.
| I feel rejuvenated from HN much of the time because it's
| textual and thoughtful, not so much of the web that's trying to
| influence me with images (moving images even more so). Using
| reader mode / pocket can help.
| martijn_himself wrote:
| This is a great read. I absolutely love the iPad, and it's one of
| the few devices I still find magical everytime I pick it up. I
| have an older iPad Pro 10.5" with a Smart Folio keyboard and I
| wonder if his setup is a big step up in terms of ergonomics. I've
| tried using my iPad for productivity related tasks but I find it
| too cramped.
| ghuntley wrote:
| The 13" screen enables me to do split windows and multi task
| effectively. I don't see split windows working well on an
| 10.5". Having said that - iPad's can connect to external
| monitors so 10.5" might just be a perfect size. K33g over at
| GitLab (who is also a core committer to golang) uses a 10.5"
|
| https://twitter.com/k33g_org?s=20
|
| > I still find magical everytime I pick it up
|
| So magical. I love mine so so much. If it could run Xcode
| natively it would be so much better and I would not need to
| carry around my M1 MacBook Pro.
| mbreese wrote:
| My problem with using the 13" iPad was that with the
| keyboard, it's not that much smaller/lighter than an Air. You
| still have a big battery and display, which will be roughly
| the same size. While I like the keyboard, it adds a decent
| amount of bulk.
|
| I also use my iPad for drawing / handwritten note taking.
| This is a use-case which the iPad is clearly superior
| compared to a MBP/MBA. :)
| xvilka wrote:
| Unlike MacOS, iPadOS doesn't allow you to run binaries that you
| just compiled from source. So it's no-go for any compiled
| language.
| wilsonfiifi wrote:
| Unless he's really invested in the apple ecosystem, I can't help
| but feel the author might have been better off with a Surface
| Pro. Similar form factor but with a desktop OS. Granted it's not
| as powerful as an ipad pro but I would argue that it might
| provide a better overall development experience.
|
| I don't understand why Apple doesn't give Ipad pro users an
| option similar to Samsung Dex. There seems to be an aversion to
| enabling MacOS on touch devices.
|
| Anyway enough with my rambling, the author seems pleased with his
| setup so it is what it is.
| leephillips wrote:
| He has powerful and expensive hardware in perfect condition, that
| he can't use because it depends on a closed-source OS and is
| controlled by Apple's policies. He recommends another device
| running another closed-source OS and controlled by the same
| corporation for software development. Wouldn't a better choice be
| a device that you can actually own?
| ghuntley wrote:
| Consider a standard node_modules and installing via pnpm -
| that's a lot of network round trips and downloads if you are on
| a marginal internet connection. When your development machine
| has Gbit uplinks all that pain melts away.
|
| These cloud style development environments are lovely because
| all development is happening in a data centre and frankly it's
| all sandboxed. Every time you run "git pull && make" from
| GitHub you are essentially rolling the dice that the end result
| is not "rm -rf /*" or "sudo apt-get install miner" (if you are
| lucky)
| vorpalhex wrote:
| Please don't run code from the internet without glancing at
| first. I also believe parent was discussing the fact his
| laptop managed to get bricked because he left a beta
| program...
| dividedbyzero wrote:
| I've been trying to build a remote dev setup using code-server
| [1] on a 2017-ish iPad Pro 10.5" and a Logitech K380 keyboard for
| when travelling and when on the indoor bike. I have code-server
| running in a big fat docker container with language SDKs,
| utilities, fish shell with custom prompt, etc. installed as well,
| and it works great in a desktop browser, but I can't quite get it
| to be fully usable on the iPad. It seems this still has a bunch
| of very rough edges.
|
| Using code-server in iPad Safari means Cmd+N etc. won't work and
| also losing very precious display real estate to Safari's UI.
| Adding it to the home screen and launching from there solves
| that, but now switching to Safari and back causes keyboard input
| to stop registering at all in code-server. The Serverediter [2]
| app doesn't have that issue, but its UI and parts of the code-
| server UI will jump around for a second when Cmd-Tab-ing to it,
| which is pretty unnerving.
|
| Then there's connectivity: Apparently background SSH tunnels get
| killed by iOS after a while. Serverediter has its own SSH client,
| but port-forwarding any other ports than code-server's doesn't
| seem to work. Not being able to expose a running web service on
| my local device makes lots of things infeasible. Maybe I'd need a
| separate VPN between the code-server machine and my iPad? But
| that adds more complexity to an already quite complex setup. And
| finally, https with self-signed certs isn't exactly a walk in the
| park with iPads (I can't use letsencrypt), but without it I
| believe the clipboard won't work right.
|
| I realize there are SaaS offers that will make some (or most?) of
| these issues go away, but those don't seem to be all that
| customizable, and since I'd use this for personal projects that
| don't earn any money, keeping costs down is a priority as well
| (so if I can self-host on hardware I already have, I'd rather do
| that).
|
| So while I totally get the appeal, I really wonder how others
| make it work for them. It doesn't seem to be quite as straight-
| forward as the blog posts made it look.
|
| 1: https://github.com/cdr/code-server
|
| 2: https://servediter.app/
| throwawaycuriou wrote:
| The iPad has the advantage of cellular data. But if your
| nomadic goals are not cramped by being near WiFi, I find a
| cheap thin ChromeOS client (ideally with a 3:2 display) works
| substantially better. I have been code-server'ing from a gaming
| desktop for three years now this way. My clients have been a
| Asus C302, Pixelbook, an Acer Spin 13, and now a Framework
| laptop on Manjaro Sway edition. It's been a revelation. The
| desktop cranks on web dev stuff in a way no laptop can.
| kryptn wrote:
| I picked up an iPad Pro more or less to chase this same ideal.
| I'm using blink shell and tailscale. Originally I wanted to use
| code-server but none of those web vscode instances support the
| extensions I want to use, so now I'm just trying to pick up
| vim.
|
| https://blink.sh/
|
| https://tailscale.com/
| neilalexander wrote:
| If only Textastic had the ability to edit files over SSH
| instead of having to transfer files back and forth first,
| pairing Textastic with an SSH client to a remote server would
| be absolutely ideal for me. The problem is that good text
| editors without obvious compromises for iPadOS are extremely
| difficult to find.
| math0ne wrote:
| Recently did the exact same thing and came to the exact same
| conclusion, even if code server worked well enough the lost
| screen realestate pissed me off so much I don't think I could
| have lived with it.
|
| There is a hack to get background ssh connections to stay
| alive: https://docs.termius.com/faq/troubleshooting/cant-run-
| in-the...
| nicbou wrote:
| I travel by motorcycle. My big, fragile laptop takes a lot of
| precious luggage space, so I'd love to have something smaller.
|
| I thought of using just a tablet to replace my laptop and my
| paper notebook, but thin client development only works with a
| fast, stable Internet connection.
|
| This isn't possible everywhere. It's not even possible on German
| intercity trains/buses. It's also not possible across the oceans
| due to latency.
|
| Even when the location is fine, there are bad wi-fi connections,
| paygates and network outages. Hotel wi-fi is hit or miss. Camping
| wifi is mostly miss. Censorship is also an issue in some
| countries. Some wi-fi networks block certain ports too.
|
| My definition of anywhere includes those places, and far more
| remote ones. Therefore I need a local development environment, so
| I'm taking my laptop with me.
|
| However, I really love the idea of working from a quiet place
| outdoors. I spend a few hours on my small balcony every morning.
| I was considering working from quiet places in the woods like you
| do.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| There's non-Apple tablets that could work, iirc Apple is the
| only one that doesn't allow running code or sideloading apps
| that can do so. And there's plenty of more portable laptops; a
| Macbook Air isn't that much bigger than an ipad with a
| keyboard.
| Terretta wrote:
| How does running side loaded code fix the wireless connection
| problem discussed in the post you're replying to?
|
| There are local / offline code editors on iOS that will sync
| via Git next time you're online, and Git itself is pretty
| tolerant of bad connections. As is blink terminal client,
| over mosh.
| vikingerik wrote:
| He means a tablet that is open enough to run code or
| sideload apps can run a full development environment on its
| own and not have to be continuously connected.
| Terretta wrote:
| These scenarios are different for standalone app devs
| versus system or enterprise devs.
|
| For enterprise or systems devs, the negatives of
| attempting to host a complex system environment on your
| laptop outweigh the challenges of marginal network
| coverage (except when there is no network coverage).
|
| Because of those negatives, even dedicated full time dev
| machines on gigabit connectivity are moving towards
| CodeEnvy style local (and portable) workspace for edit,
| with remote deploy/run/debug models. That's basically
| thin client / thick client debate coming around again.
|
| Vast majority of enterprise/system devs are not so remote
| as to have to run a simulated cloud environment (e.g.
| minikube) locally, and I've found almost zero rural areas
| in the US that can't do a mosh session over the iPad
| Pro's cellular chip.
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| Whats stopping you from using a macbook air? they are
| incredibly small for the power they pack. Plus you get a
| descent keyboard to boot.
|
| To add some context. Had to take my fully specced out 2018 MBP
| 15" to get the battery replaced. Basicly, I had to go a week
| without my daily driver and I didn't have a backup. So I picked
| up a macbook air since they have a 14 day no questions asked
| return policy. I expected this thing to do some light work. I
| didn't expect it to actually keep up with my entire workload
| but it did and without getting particularly warm either. This
| tiny 1k laptop with 8 gb of ram was ding the job of a 3.5k
| fully specced mbp with 32 gigs of ram.
|
| can't wait to see what they do with the m1x but I think the
| macbook air will handle everything you need + allow you to
| devlop locally.
| karmelapple wrote:
| I'm guessing that's the kind of laptop the person you're
| replying to is using. That's what I used when I first went on
| motorcycle rides with a laptop. I put a leather case from
| TwelveSouth around it, and it rode in the saddlebags of a
| Harley Sportster for thousands of miles without a problem.
|
| I'm getting a MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro next, since I
| really want the ability to drive more than 1 external
| monitor. But if the Air could do that, I'd be all over it now
| even with the original M1.
| blunte wrote:
| My M1 Air is fantastic with thus far only one exception -
| recent frequent OS out of memory notices, but no apparent
| single cause. I imagine it's a software problem that will be
| soon resolved (and it's the first such memory problem I've
| ever encountered on any Mac in 10+ years).
|
| With 16GB, I normally have open: RubyMine, DataGrip (two
| heavy JetBrains products), a terminal with two tabs, one
| having tmux and multiple local subshells and one with a
| remote connection to a server which has tmux (love tmux!),
| PostgreSQL, MailCatcher, any number of custom app servers
| (some ruby, some Node), Firefox with far too many open tabs,
| Spotify, and a handful of other apps.
|
| I'm just about to find out how this thing handles 4k video
| processing as I got some new video toys to travel with. Maybe
| I'll end up needing the extra cores of an M1 Pro Max, but
| hopefully not.
| mrtranscendence wrote:
| > My M1 Air is fantastic with thus far only one exception -
| recent frequent OS out of memory notices, but no apparent
| single cause.
|
| Mmm. That's disconcerting, as I just bought my fiancee an
| M1 Air with 8gb. (Getting her to spend more than strictly
| necessary on a laptop would be worse than pulling teeth.)
| Hopefully that's not an issue with her computing needs,
| which should be fairly minimal ... Word, Excel, BlueJeans
| for teleconferencing, Chrome.
| blunte wrote:
| Something changed which brought these errors on... I
| suspect it was an OS update. My usage habits did not
| change, and for the first few months I had none of these
| errors.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| For the record, 8GB was unusable for me as someone who
| habitually leaves tabs open.
|
| I use IDEs that are heavier duty than the average user,
| but those didn't even seem to be the issue, once I had
| more than about a couple dozen or so tabs open the
| machine would start grinding to a halt. Sometimes so
| badly that even closing applications was difficult.
|
| I upgraded to a 16GB and have zero issues now. It seems
| browser tabs just don't play to the strengths of the M1's
| memory setup
| 015a wrote:
| I've been getting these a ton recently, on both a 2018 15"
| Intel MBP w/ 32g memory and an M1 Air w/ 16g.
|
| I suspect its just a recent MacOS bug that will get sorted
| out, and not an actual OOM issue. Chrome can use a lot, but
| I've never gotten close to using 16 gigs in my workflows,
| let alone 32.
| FearlessNebula wrote:
| Seems like you didn't realize this, but the new MacBook pros
| are available as of this week, and they aren't called M1X.
| They're as exciting as you imagined
| wlesieutre wrote:
| _> can 't wait to see what they do with the m1x but I think
| the macbook air will handle everything you need + allow you
| to devlop locally._
|
| No need to wait, they're available starting this week!
|
| https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/
|
| https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-m1-pro-max-
| everythin...
| bloudermilk wrote:
| I wonder if you could throw a Raspberry Pi together to act as a
| server for your thin client in those situations?
| blunte wrote:
| Yes, this is a thing. There are some good tutorial videos out
| there, and it looks pretty great. However, it's more overhead
| and more individual things to keep up with, whereas an M1 Air
| can do more for the same overall volume of equipment space.
| bachmeier wrote:
| > I thought of using just a tablet to replace my laptop and my
| paper notebook, but thin client development only works with a
| fast, stable Internet connection.
|
| I bought a Chromebook Duet at Best Buy for $259. Works very
| well for software development without internet (runs Debian out
| of the box). I can plug it into an external monitor and add a
| keyboard and mouse when they're available. Otherwise the case
| comes with a keyboard, so I can program at any time.
| ghuntley wrote:
| > but thin client development only works with a fast, stable
| Internet connection.
|
| One needs a stable connection (Edge network connectivity is all
| I need), fast is not needed. If there's high packet loss I
| switch over to using mosh+ssh and elinks.
| VikingCoder wrote:
| I was really hoping Starlink would work for people like you.
| (Yes, I get it wouldn't help trains/buses, unless the bus
| provided Starlink Wifi.)
| ghuntley wrote:
| Starlink is currently region locked but the regions are very
| large. What I did was pick my favourite camping areas around
| Sydney and put the Australia Post down as my service address.
| This means when Dishy ships I'll have internet in mint places
| that are completely empty during weekdays.
| retrac wrote:
| How about a tablet with something like a regular Linux distro
| and a small wireless keyboard?
| fsflover wrote:
| Perhaps Librem 5 can help you, which is a smartphone running
| desktop Linux. It even works with an external screen and
| keyboard if necessary.
| easygenes wrote:
| Not out yet, but in a few months the PinePhone Pro will offer
| a faster experience for less money. They even have a small
| keyboard that makes it like a tiny phone laptop.
| fsflover wrote:
| RAM is still twice faster in Librem 5:
| https://forums.puri.sm/t/pinephone-pro-annouced/15004/4.
| secondcoming wrote:
| +1, an ipad is useless if you don't have an internet
| connection.
| ghuntley wrote:
| Tbh. Software development in 2021 without internet
| (regardless of iPad or other device) is almost impossible
| which is why I invested heavily into my internet connectivity
| - https://ghuntley.com/internet
| ericd wrote:
| Have you heard of Dash? Makes it easy to download and
| search doc sets, as well as subsets of Stack Overflow.
|
| Guessing you might've, given how much effort it looks like
| you've put into this, but if not, it's worth a look.
| Integrates really well with Alfred.
| simonh wrote:
| So the use I put mine to when out and about without wifi are
| a figment of my imagination.
| blunte wrote:
| Some people report happily working with a Raspberry Pi as
| their development machine, with an iPad as the "head".
| jpindar wrote:
| I've done this from my Android phone. Just for short
| sessions though, it would get tiring after a while.
| bnastic wrote:
| I tried this setup a few years ago, over a couple of weeks whilst
| in Spain on holiday. iPad Pro (1st gen + apple's keyboard case),
| shared Wifi from my iPhone (4G in roaming), blink, and OpenBSD VM
| from Vultr.
|
| It was surprisingly OK. Mosh definitely works for dodgy
| connections, tmux keeps the session(s) around and all works fine.
| I was writing C in vim, so that also helped, no heavy tools other
| than the compiler.
|
| I only wish I had the bigger iPad model. And I wish there was a
| way to attach that keyboard when in portrait mode (far superior
| for coding on iPad).
| math0ne wrote:
| I have a Ipad with Magic keyboard that I tried to make work for
| just keeping up on work while I travelled not even as a primary
| dev machine and without background tasks it was just not
| possible.
|
| Ended up giving it to my wife and getting a surface go 2 m3, its
| lighter smaller and 1000% more capable, couldn't be happier.
| Isthatablackgsd wrote:
| Same for me. Tried to use it for various things but it never
| works well for me. Now it is function as a Zoom meeting and
| videos. It is so locked down which make it behaves like a
| smartphone rather than actual productivity device.
| hnrj95 wrote:
| as mentioned in the article, blink is a remarkable tool. it
| really is indispensable for any dev work on an ipad. i absolutely
| love it. worth every cent
| AlbertCory wrote:
| For a while, Google tried to institute Tablet Tuesdays, where
| developers did all their coding on a tablet. These were
| definitely _not_ 12 inch tablets.
|
| It fizzled. But we didn't have all the advantages he has.
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