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Is Codespaces going to replace Gitpod?

Surajv on September 06, 2020

So I was working on my project on Github when I got a message from one of my peers that Github has launched the ฮฒ testing mode of a new cloud-based...
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Mike

Keep in mind that Gitpod is open source whereas Codespaces... Well, its not, only works with GitHub and uses their proprietary marketplace.

Full disclosure, I've used Gitpod for a long time and can't imagine developing on my laptop again. I wrote about it on multiple occasions:

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Surajv

Glad to know your thoughts! The articles were a great read :)

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ymiyugy profile image
YmiYugy

I really like the idea of developing in the cloud or developing in containers in general.
The biggest roadblock right now is the lack of support for graphics.
Shadow PC seems to be only option right now.

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Surajv

Yeah, I agree! Maybe in the near future as tech progresses we can hope for some great optimizations.

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YmiYugy

Iโ€™m quite doubtful. Graphics and especially native GUI is one of the strongest bastions of platform dependent differences there are.
Not only is there no common low level API supported on all major platforms everyone also uses their own compositing and presentation platform which vary significantly (Linux has two l, plus Android, plus Chrome OS).
This is quite different from most of tech used on the backend of web services. The vast majority itโ€™s cross platform by default or just a recompilation away.

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Banee Ishaque K

Gitpod supports GUI developement too (with the use of VNC embedded in HTML5). Currently it is good for desktop apps development, since Gitpod deosn't support direct connection of local devices (mobile phones, ioT devices, Microcontroller boards, etc), also lacks support for device emulators (due to the complexity in virtualization) - there are some hack ways - not tried yet.

A common drawback for both platforms is support for windows only technologies like .NET Framework (but, supports .NET Core). I think Microsoft will overcome this limitation in near future thorugh Codespaces.

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Johannes Landgraf • Edited

๐Ÿ‘‹ Johannes here from Gitpod. I might be a bit biased, but for people interested in a more in-depth, technical comparison we created the following landing page: gitpod.io/gitpod-vs-codespaces/

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Sattwik Sahu

Yes, even I am excited for the CodeSpaces release. I hope it's free, I am just a high school student so I don't buy stuff ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

I currently use GitPod for React projects and it is like 20 times faster than my local environment (3GB RAM).

PS I'm just curious to know whether we can create Python projects with GitPod. It doesn't support and deps via pip when I try.

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Miro Spรถnemann

I'm just curious to know whether we can create Python projects with Gitpod.

Yes, see this tutorial: gitpod.io/#https://github.com/brea...

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Banee Ishaque K

Gitpod Supports everything that a linux machine supports, except GUI things

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Phippsy
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Surajv

Interesting! :)

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Krzysztof Buczynski

I think this is all base on user case scenario. Some people/devs might find more useful to have Codespace available against their repos in GitHub. However, Gitpod is opensource which means devs would be able to build on top of it easier since they can contribute to the project them self.

The war between both is pointless in my opinion as they are both for aiming against different types of people who wish to use it.

But good article, It was great to read it and bring out some thoughts on it.

Keep it going !

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surajv profile image
Surajv

Gald to know your opinion & thanks :)

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ItsASine (Kayla)

My concern for Codespaces is the pricing model is still being worked out. Sounds like it'll get people hooked in beta and then get priced out when it's done. Otherwise, I'm just along for the ride to see how cloud-based development continues as a trend :)

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Surajv

Glad to know your opinion!

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Madza

I wonder why Github was not like that in the beginnings?! ๐Ÿค”

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adrian_widerski profile image
Adrian
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Raphael Mattos

What about stackblitz.com? This is becoming a crowded market...

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Fredhel KISSIE

StackBlitz is not cloud based, you develop in your browser with a nodeJs embedded in wasm. And The files are saved in your local machine.