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Nathan Tamez
Nathan Tamez

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What’s your Computer Environment?

I have worked on both OSX and Windows, and enjoy both environments. I currently use OSX on a 2018 MacBook Pro as my daily computer, but have a custom built Windows 10 desktop as well. I have also duel booted my MacBook Pro with windows 10.
I spend most of my time in OSX though as I like the unix-like environment more then windows. But both have there uses.
Please share you basic computer environments below, others will certainly be interested in your experiences.

Top comments (28)

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antikytheraton profile image
antikytheraton

I use Manjaro Linux (#Arch btw), jeje, and really enjoy it. Currently I have more than two years working with it and I'm very satisfied.

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juanfrank77 profile image
Juan F Gonzalez

I've read several good things about Manjaro. How's your general setup like?

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edlinkiii profile image
Ed Link III

Mac OS at previous job,
Windows 7 at current job,
Lubuntu w/ OpenBox at home.

I've used DOS/Windows since the late 80s, started using Mac OS in the late 90s, and have been tinkering with Linux since the early 2000s.

I prefer working on a Mac, but since they're outlawed at work and I can't afford one for personal use right now, I'm good with Linux (even with it's configuration frustrations).

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khophi profile image
KhoPhi

MSI laptop i7
16Gb RAM
1TB SSD internal
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (for everything web/mobile development and multimedia)
Running Windows in VirtualBox (for some multimedia tasks, filling in the gaps Ubuntu isn't good to handle)

Started using Ubuntu in 2006, I think (received first Ubuntu disk via shippit Ubuntu, it was the 6.06LTS)

Fun fact. When my MSI laptop came in, I never run the Windows that came with it to even see what it was. I booted from pendrive, straight up, installed Ubuntu, and never looked back.

My policy was, Windows should never directly touch any internal hard disk of mine. Via VM, fine. Directly installed, never!

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j_mplourde profile image
Jean-Michel Plourde

Personnal:
- Thinkpad T470: Ubuntu 18.04, 500gig SSD, 16gig RAM
- Custom built desktop: Win10, i5-6600k, 8gig RAM, GTX 1070 8gb, 500gig SSD + 2x1TB HDD, 144hz monitor

Work:
- HP desktop: Ubuntu 18.04, 500gig SSD, 16gig RAM

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akulbe profile image
Aaron Kulbe

I was a Mac user for 15+ years, but it feels like Apple doesn't care anymore. I ditched my MBP and my iMac is next.

Now I run a maxed out ThinkPad P1. Windows 10 FastRing. WSL made the switch painless. REALLY looking forward to the release of WSL2.

I thought about a Linux desktop, but all the apps I regularly use have no good alternatives. That, and I just value my time too much to spend so much time tinkering.

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tnypxl profile image
tnypxl

Yeah, the tinkering isn’t as prevalent as it use to be. There is some, but many distros work great out of the box. Pop!_OS is one such distro.

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akulbe profile image
Aaron Kulbe • Edited

I generally stay away from what I call "derivative" distros. Ubuntu and CentOS being the exceptions. For example, Ubuntu isn't going anywhere. Not anytime soon. But knockoff-of-Ubuntu may not last. I prefer to just stick with the main line distro, and avoid all that hassle.

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tnypxl profile image
tnypxl • Edited

Its really not that much hassle if you’re coming from macOS or Windows 10. Less to worry about in terms of hardware compatibility. Even though its a derivative, its still Linux either way.

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pinotattari profile image
Riccardo Bernardini

I graduated in 1990 and since then I always worked with *nix, with some VAX-VMS just after graduation. Nowadays it is Linux everywhere: 1 laptop and 2 notebook at home and 2 laptops at work (mostly Ubuntu since with age I got a bit lazy... 😊) with some virtual machine with Windows (old stuff.. maybe XP?) for the occasional need.

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Evan Plaice

Hardware: Dell Latitude with 16GB memory and 500GB SSD.

OS: ElementaryOS

Don't care about the computer as much as the OS.

ElementaryOS is like Linux Mint in that its minimalistic in terms of resource usage and shiny distractions. But its aesthetics are clean and consistent much like OSX.

The only gotchas are. The standard suite of *nix packaging tools (ex software-properties-common) aren't installed by default. A the desktop is disabled by default so no icons on the desktop (I actually like this) unless you explicitly enable them in the Gnome settings via Dconf.

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natonathan profile image
Nathan Tamez

I would use Linux but I need to use too many main stream applications to make the switch.

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jvarness profile image
Jake Varness

Here's a list of my top 10 favorite operating systems:

  1. You 👏
  2. Can't 👏
  3. Rank 👏
  4. Them 👏
  5. Because 👏
  6. They're 👏
  7. All 👏
  8. Useful 👏
  9. And 👏
  10. Cool 👏

Seriously though, the tooling is becoming so diverse and cross-platform (with the exception of the Apple development ecosystem) that it's hard not to just use whatever you're most comfortable with or whatever your company makes you use. I feel like people spend more time focusing on the right tools, and the OS is just an afterthought.

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angeliquejw profile image
Angelique

Mid-2014 Macbook Pro, which I've been using for 2 years.

Before that, I was developing on a variety of Windows laptops, so despite toting around my Mac, I'm still always speaking up for the possibility of developing on Windows-based PCs. I also have a laptop that runs Ubuntu, but only pull that out a handful of times a year, tbh.

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ybalrid profile image
Arthur Brainville

ArchLinux. Use to be a vim guy, but recently switched using spacemacs (basically an easy to configure "distribution" of Emacs, focusing on Vim users and using the space bar a the "leader key" for all keyboard commands).

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andreasjakof profile image
Andreas Jakof

I am a long time Windows user. Made the switch privately to a Mac Book Pro Mid-2014 and never looked back. Especially since Visual Studio (not Code) now has a port for the Mac.
For me, this is the best IDE.
@Work I have an HP Notebook with the latest Windows.

My home server is a MacMini running Windows Server... I know, but I like the environment since I use IIS at work and I really like the features of ReFS.

So, although I use mostly my Mac @home, I feel at home on both systems.

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shostarsson profile image
Rémi Lavedrine

I am using Ubuntu Budgie on a HP Spectre 360 for my personnal use.
I am only using applications that are cross-platforms.
My main app is Syncthing on a Raspberry Pi.
Thanks to that I have a Dropbox that I can use.
I am using Firefox as my main (and almost only) browser.
Boostnote to have a note taking app.
VSCode to do some great development.

Terminal and upgraded zsh shell to automate everything.

Gitkraken for git management.
KeepassXC for password management.
Thunderbird for email
Whatsapp and Wire for chat, that are loaded into my browser (so working everywhere).
Plex for everything media related (thanks to my Syncthing, I got almost nothing to set up. As soon as a new photo or movie is ready and uploaded, it is available on Plex).

And Linux only, I am using Darktable to manage my photos. And it is working absolutely perfectly.

With that, I can use Linux (that I really love) at home and MacOS for work. And from time to time, Windows when I really have to at work.

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Nathan Englert

I'm using a 2018 MacBook Pro for my day-to-day. For work, I mostly live in VS Code, Azure Storage Explorer and Azure Data Studio. Sometimes I have to use Citrix to remote into a Windows machine to compile .NET Framework applications.

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darkain profile image
Vincent Milum Jr

Something I've noticed in more recent times is that I'm apparently the oddball out. I don't actually run any development software on my local computer other than text editor / IDE. All actual execution of code happens on remote machines. So in this sense, "the OS has 'blah' feature!" means absolutely nothing to me. I can jump between desktop, laptop, workstation at work, doesn't matter, and I'm still just using the same IDEs to remote into the same servers.

Now, what are these servers!? Headless FreeBSD boxes! Some are full blown multi-CPU Xeon systems, others are ARM based systems like Raspberry Pis. I test code on a variety of hardware to try to understand what the experiences of users would be who cannot afford a 2018 MacBook Pro ;)

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Jamie

I have a custom built PC with Ubuntu Mate 19.04 installed on it. I haven't used Windows 10 as a daily driver for my personal usage for a long time. I do miss it occasionally, but Wine usually does a good job of filling in for the stuff I want Windows for.

I also have a mid-2015 Mac Air, but these days I use it mostly for editing podcasts and writing apps in .NET Core and Hugo (both using VS Code).

I have a 2019 XPS 15 for the work I do with my clients - most of the corporate .NET world is Windows based, so I still have to use it during my 9-5.