Web Development on Mac, Linux

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Stanley

Stanley

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I'm getting ready to purchase a new workstation so I need some feedback from developers/designers who have used both Mac and Linux setups. Please don't post fanboy responses like Macs are shit or Linux is the best solely because it's open source.

I don't care about eye candy or shiny graphics, but things like stability, efficiency and flexibility (i.e. customizing) are crucial.
I don't play games and I use a separate box for hosting Apache/MySQL.

Proprietary software is not an issue because I'll be using VMWare to virtualize Vista x64, although I'm not yet sure how smooth it will be on a Core 2 Quad Q9300 and 8GB of RAM.

So all it really comes down to is how easy or smooth is it to do the simple things like navigating the file system, running three dozen programs at the same time, crash recovery, converting PNG->GIF without opening Photoshop, searching for files, dual-monitor support, or sending files via the network.

I'm picky, but if you spent 100 hours a week in front of the comp, you probably would be as well.

PS: I don't want to use Windows as the primary machine, so save yourself the trouble.
 


I use Macs and Linux systems for development regularly. They both have their pros and cons. Macs are good machines with a good OS. Dual monitors is literally plug-and-play with Macs. On Linux I have to go into the xorg.conf file and manually setup my dual monitors.

One thing that really bugs me about Macs is the directory setup. You basically have the core unix directory setup but on top of that you have your Mac directories like /Library, /Users, etc. It bugs the fuck out of me that I can't add users the standard unix way. This is one area where Linux wins.

I do a lot of installing from source and both Macs and Linux are pretty good here, with Linux being the more 'standard' system for installing libraries from source. In either system I rarely move out of the shell, so I like having vim on the Mac. I also use TextMate on the Mac but I've used vim so much that I start typing hjkl into the TextMate editor.

I like spaces on Macs as well. I don't use it to its full capacity however and it's just a neat feature. I believe both Macs and Linux have fast user switching so you can work in multiple desktops at once just by switching to another user.

Both systems are very stable. Updating either system can be a pain and I generally hate it when it comes time to updating my Mac. Updating Ubuntu is pretty clean. Neither system pops up like Windows saying shit like "your computer will restart in 5 minutes". Mac and Linux let you decide when to update and just provide friendly reminders. Mac updates are more in your face but they don't do anything without your consent. On both systems you generally have to enter your root password to install the updates. Not sure if that's how it is on Windows since I don't use it.

I think that's about all from a dev standpoint. Let me know if that helps at all.
 
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I use mac at work on a daily basis. The ones we have to use are refurbished models, with only 1 gig of memory in them. Now I work for a newspaper as a graphic designer and sometimes the ads can be huge Im talking 11.5in x 21.5 in @ 400dpi and our macs with their measley 1 gig of mem have no trouble handleing it. I can have photoshop open, illustrator, in-design, Acrobat plus a few other things and experience no hic ups
 
I use strictly Mac, never use VMWare at all. You can convert PNG to GIF and other formats back and forth using Preview, a pre-loaded image viewing application (with basic editing as well). The file system is much easier to navigate than Windows (no ugly .dll files, programs are folders that the OS recognizes as an application. all data is within the program folder), UNIX Based and Certified UNIX, so anything that's open source for Linux and POSIX certified you can port over if it hasn't been already.

Can also be a web server out of the box just by checking "On" in your preferences, so you could use it to test pages before going live on your other box. Install XAMPP for PHP/MySQL and it's a perfect way to test before going live.

Mac would be your best bet though, so you aren't virtualizing Windows just to run Photoshop or something like that. No matter what, native will still be faster than virtualization.

The interface might be "shiny graphics!" and all, but it's designed much better than available for Windows or Linux, much more intuitive and conducive to workflow. Try finding a decent fucking window system on linux that's even half as refined as Windows, and that's saying a lot. Gnome and KDE are fucking awful.
 
Here's from a coders standpoint... my new 9-5 has shown me outside the realm of what I'm used to..

All designers here use Mac's (go figure) - but they all dual-monitor too. According to them it's a good setup and great for design overall.

Linux wise I've done some developing on it but the only clear-cut advantage of it is obviously stability - and I would do most of my dev in nano for color coding.

However, here's the spin - my supervisor does his dev work in Mac and says using bbEdit isn't bad. I know you said design mostly, but here's just a thing to plan for down the road if you're going to go that route. Plus, for PHP work if you use Zend it's also on Mac as well now (but there's enough open source alternatives that I doubt you'll have to worry).

Stability wise I'd say probably Mac would be good if you're going to focus on design, as for the multi-tasking and quick response. Linux would be good if you need more control over the system as far as settings/edits, etc. I just like the ol' command line sometimes, but that's just me.

Hope this helps a bit (I don't design at all!)
 
My current setup consists of a C2D Windows desktop and a 2.4Ghz Penryn Macbook Pro. I'm running triple screen, with a 19" widescreen hooked up to the PC, and using my Macbook Pro's screen coupled with a 17" screen. Using synergy I only need to use 1 mouse and keyboard for the entire system. I plan to add an ubuntu machine to the system, along with another monitor or two. That being said, lets talk about OS X. I'm not being biased considering the fact that I own and work with both Windows and Mac all day.

The OS X work environment is so much nicer than windows. I use to get frustrated working in windows and I'd have to take a break. In OS X I can work for hours at a time staring at my tiny 15" screen, and not have any problems at all.

Your Mac will not crash unless you have a shitty program running. And if you manage to crash it, it handles itself very well. Customization isn't as good as it is in Windows, however I'm fairly confident that you won't need to customize OS X to satisfy your needs. Its that good.

One compliant I do have is that it can be a bitch to get a CD out of my MBP. Sometimes I have to reboot the computer and press some button while its starting up to get the fucking CD out. Oh yea, booting up and shutting down literally take seconds.

I wouldn't count on VMWare unless you plan on getting a lot of ram, or better yet a Mac Pro. Its a bit slow on my Mac, but I only have 2 Gb of ram. However as soon as I got it installed, I've never used it. The Windows partition on my hard drive is just wasting space.

As far as Linux goes, I haven't tried it yet. But as mentioned earlier I plan on it sometime soon.
 
not a Mac fanboy here (was raised on Windows) but with a Mac I can kill 3 birds with one stone:

1. OS X (of course)
2. Windows via Parallels (easy on system resources, have it open all the time on my MacBook)
3. Unix core - just open the terminal and gain full access to a unix subsystem (if you need a unix windowing system, use a second instance of Parallels).

$0.02
 
JamesH said:
One compliant I do have is that it can be a bitch to get a CD out of my MBP. Sometimes I have to reboot the computer and press some button while its starting up to get the fucking CD out.
Click to expand...

You would hold down the mouse button while you boot.

or

Hold down the eject key for two or three seconds, or, in terminal enter "drutil tray eject" without quotes or use df to show mounted drives and "hdiutil eject (disk name)" to eject it. If the disk isn't mounted on the desktop, but is in the machine try ejecting it from iTunes or Disk Utility.And if none of those work try Force Eject or Ejection Seat.
 
I tried all of those methods and ended up just rebooting and holding down my mouse button. Pain in the ass though.
 
Off topic - Since there aren't that many program utilize all 4 core yet, it is better to have a dual core chip w/ higher clock speed (and dual core chip are cheaper too) than a quad core
Coding Horror: Choosing Dual or Quad Core

on topic. I am using ubuntu. Some hardware make take some tweaking to work. (spent 2 hours last night to play with a bluetooth mouse, but still fail to get it reconnect after sleep). And dual monitor is far from perfect!
 
Does Mac command line differ greatly from Linux's?

Are there Mac alternatives for the following software?
  • UltraMon (for managing multiple monitors)
  • Winamp
  • Media Player Classic (I know about VLC, but MPC's interface is light years ahead)
  • Notepad++
  • Digsby (kickass IM software)
  • SmartFTP
Also, on Mac, how easy is it to customize stuff like the right-click menu (shell-extensions)?

Thanks for your help guys.
 
Ultramon, not really, but look at these to see if they will help you. Desktop manager and DejaMenu

For media QuickTime with Perian and Flip4Mac of courser there is VLC, iTunes, windows media player, real, etc.

notepad++, dunno, I like BBedit not free though

Digsby, it's supposed to be out soon For im I use Adium connects to most everything.

For FTP try cmd-k (connect to server) or OneButton FTP or terminal.

For right click stuff in finder use automator.

Hope this helps.

Stanley said:
Does Mac command line differ greatly from Linux's?

Are there Mac alternatives for the following software?
  • UltraMon (for managing multiple monitors)
  • Winamp
  • Media Player Classic (I know about VLC, but MPC's interface is light years ahead)
  • Notepad++
  • Digsby (kickass IM software)
  • SmartFTP
Also, on Mac, how easy is it to customize stuff like the right-click menu (shell-extensions)?

Thanks for your help guys.
Click to expand...
 
I used BBedit on Mac and absolutely hated it. I switched to TextMate and love it now. For IM I would use Adium also. And a must have app is Quicksilver. Makes your life so much easier.
 
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