The "New Toys" Thread

prizrak said:
I got a still running XPS but running is a strong word for it...

I think a lot of people at Google would disagree with you calling them hispters ;)

That is true if you are coding for Windows it makes little sense to develop on OS X ;) Linux blows as a desktop OS though, I have that on my work machine (we are not allowed to run Windoze) and I can't even get the mother effing Citrix receiver to work on it despite using a package straight from Citrix.... WebEx also bitches about Java not being installed (spoier alert it is), hell even the TeamViewer client I'm running on it is packaged with wine built in...

I would much rather run OS X or Windows with a Linux VM simply because Linux is just too god damn limited when it comes to normal desktop usage and I'm not even talking about purely consumer stuff like YouTube (which actually works fine). I will take OS X over Windows any day though because regardless of how outdated the shell is (you can just install a newer one from github or macports) it's still actual UNIX underneath with all the functionality that comes with it. This also means that just about any software made for Linux will actually run on OS X, that's where things like macports project and github come in. Mind you if you ever used BSD then you can see that OS X doesn't hide functionality as much as you think, it just goes about it in a more BSD way, which is annoying for anyone used to Linux myself included.
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My Dells are running flawlessly: I sold my Optiplex 745 to a friend, who uses it 24/7 running ESXi for NAS and other stuff. My Optiplex 980 also runs ESXi, but I use it for running pfSense machine rather than NAS as primary purpose. Well., I mean to.. I'm testing some RAM atm...

Actually, Google thoroughly doesn't care: there is absolutely no code on your local machine EVER. End of story. Plus, at the scale you run at with Google, you need to test _EVERYTHING_ on clusters. Typical shitty testruns are on the 1000 machines scale minimum, and with all their serverside stuff running Linux, you can guess what remote environment they run. That is also why using a Chromebook is entirely feasible at Google of all places for serious coding.

Oh, and in order to manage Macs, Google had to build most of there management tools to deploy and update software. Turns out remote desktop isn't enough when you have 10+k end-user machines.

As for your Citrix woes, all the blame can be placed squarely at the feet of Citrix. At work, just about all devs run ArchLinux because that's where you can get all the bleeding edge software with minimal faffing around self-compilation or constantly adding repos. I myself run Arch on my desktop and two laptops and it works fantastically well.

As for Windows, well, if you do any form of embedded or hardware development, you'll find that life is just easier on Windows, because most tools are built for Windows over Linux. OSX has just about nothing in that field compared to Linux, let alone Windows.

Oh, and to top it all off, the OSX Desktop Environment/Window Manager just sucks compared with the stuff we have on Linux.

Perc said:
You're so cool, with your "real" computer-y work and all.
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As someone who just went through Computer Architecture (how to design CPUs) and Extended Operating Systems (how to build Operating systems, funnily enough), I feel I have the right to make that statement.

narf said:
To get into real computers you need a 3270 terminal, not some fancy ssh mumbojumbo.
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I use the keyboard from a 3270 variant... does that count? :p
 
ZeDestructor said:
My Dells are running flawlessly: I sold my Optiplex 745 to a friend, who uses it 24/7 running ESXi for NAS and other stuff. My Optiplex 980 also runs ESXi, but I use it for running pfSense machine rather than NAS as primary purpose. Well., I mean to.. I'm testing some RAM atm...
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You are bringing desktops into a laptop discussion, I have a spare parts built NAS which runs fine but it also just sits there and doesn't travel anywhere so yeah...

Actually, Google thoroughly doesn't care: there is absolutely no code on your local machine EVER. End of story. Plus, at the scale you run at with Google, you need to test _EVERYTHING_ on clusters. Typical shitty testruns are on the 1000 machines scale minimum, and with all their serverside stuff running Linux, you can guess what remote environment they run. That is also why using a Chromebook is entirely feasible at Google of all places for serious coding.
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You thoroughly missed the point, Google does pretty much 80% web development that you were shitting all over....
Oh, and in order to manage Macs, Google had to build most of there management tools to deploy and update software. Turns out remote desktop isn't enough when you have 10+k end-user machines.
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They were never meant to be enterprise deployed Apple has said as much many times, they are only now starting to get the tools for managing enterprise roll outs.
As for your Citrix woes, all the blame can be placed squarely at the feet of Citrix. At work, just about all devs run ArchLinux because that's where you can get all the bleeding edge software with minimal faffing around self-compilation or constantly adding repos. I myself run Arch on my desktop and two laptops and it works fantastically well.
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See here is the problem, I don't care who's fault it is, I just know that for me to do my job I have to RDP to a windows box for all Citrix shit. I don't have to worry about that on Mac (which all of our devs use too)

As for Windows, well, if you do any form of embedded or hardware development, you'll find that life is just easier on Windows, because most tools are built for Windows over Linux. OSX has just about nothing in that field compared to Linux, let alone Windows.
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That's a pretty niche use, by the same token any design/music/video work is much better on the Mac over anything else just because of the tools.


Oh, and to top it all off, the OSX Desktop Environment/Window Manager just sucks compared with the stuff we have on Linux.
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Oh puhleeeze what's so great about any of the Linux UIs aside from ability to customize? Gnome blows since they went 3, Cinammon is buggy as all get out, KDE has never been good ever, Unity took all TE worse things from Mac and Windows and put em together, Mint's other UI (name escapes me at the moment) is not bad but notifications are broken.

Aside from all that the biggest problem Linux has is drivers, like the stupid ass USB 3 docks we use at work can't output video.

I been on Linux on both desktops and servers since like 97 and I still see the same issues. Half finished software, crap drivers and very little support from ISV, as an example there is no thick client for Evernote and Spotify Linux preview is so buggy it has crashed my entire system before.

Anyways let's wrap this OT up we both prefer what works for us, main take away here is Dell sux :p
 
Bretton Woods said:
It's back to a Thinkpad battlewagon until until Microsoft releases a better Mac OS solution.
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I'm looking forward to the 2014 version, like I said. I'm a paying 365 subscriber because I've been using microsoft office for 20 years now and like how it works. I'm not going to switch my entire life over to Windows just for a better office experience though. Especially considering my stuff isn't, apparently, nearly as advanced as what you seem to be doing. :)

They just released a load of new features for Office on iPad the other day, as well as an updated OneNote for iOS and Mac OS. I like how they're switching focus from using Office as bait to keep customers on Windows, to delivering a proper Office experience to whatever device their users might be using. I wouldn't be surprised if they released an Android tablet version of Office soon as well.
 
ZeDestructor said:
At work, just about all devs run ArchLinux because that's where you can get all the bleeding edge software with minimal faffing around self-compilation or constantly adding repos. I myself run Arch on my desktop and two laptops and it works fantastically well.
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All 5 of them?
 
Perc said:
I'm looking forward to the 2014 version, like I said. I'm a paying 365 subscriber because I've been using microsoft office for 20 years now and like how it works. I'm not going to switch my entire life over to Windows just for a better office experience though. Especially considering my stuff isn't, apparently, nearly as advanced as what you seem to be doing. :)

They just released a load of new features for Office on iPad the other day, as well as an updated OneNote for iOS and Mac OS. I like how they're switching focus from using Office as bait to keep customers on Windows, to delivering a proper Office experience to whatever device their users might be using. I wouldn't be surprised if they released an Android tablet version of Office soon as well.
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I would hardly call my work advanced. It's simply that I'm resistant to change.
 
WDTV was giving me a headache with it's youtube app, rebooting every other day without warning because apparently the apps hog memory, and the sluggishness of the app and general filebrowsing afterwards was way too annoying, so i got a Chromecast, set it up in 2 minutes and loving it.



Also HDMI-CEC works a treat between the three devices, chromecast turns on TV and switches input as soon as i turn on cast on youtube app on phone, same with wdtv when i turn it on or off. The only manual thing i need to do is turn off TV when I stop casting.
 
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Blayde said:
WDTV was giving me a headache with it's youtube app, rebooting every other day without warning because apparently the apps hog memory, and the sluggishness of the app and general filebrowsing afterwards was way too annoying, so i got a Chromecast, set it up in 2 minutes and loving it.



Also HDMI-CEC works a treat between the three devices, chromecast turns on TV and switches input as soon as i turn on cast on youtube app on phone, same with wdtv when i turn it on or off. The only manual thing i need to do is turn off TV when I stop casting.
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WDTV sux, I tossed both of mine it's only real benefit was the fact that it could play files directly of network shares.
 
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IMG_20140804_154056.jpg
Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop.

I won't post the full specs here since they're irrelevant now (it's from 2007 so it has a 1.6 Ghz Dualcore and 2GB of RAM, and a 17" screen)
The price however, was interesting : 0?
 
NooDle said:
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View attachment 13823
Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop.

I won't post the full specs here since they're irrelevant now (it's from 2007 so it has a 1.6 Ghz Dualcore and 2GB of RAM, and a 17" screen)
The price however, was interesting : 0?
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That's a good price/performance ratio! Also toss some RAM in thurr and an SSD will make it much better.
 
Vote for SSD as well, a 2007 laptop we have is still decent for browsing and general use cause of SSD
 
Yeah thinking the same thing. It'll be mainly used by the Mrs for emails and stuff though so I dunno whether it'll be needed. XP is so light when it's fresh...
 
NooDle said:
Yeah thinking the same thing. It'll be mainly used by the Mrs for emails and stuff though so I dunno whether it'll be needed. XP is so light when it's fresh...
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If you can get it to at least 4gigs RAM I would suggest Win 7.
 
NooDle said:
Yeah thinking the same thing. It'll be mainly used by the Mrs for emails and stuff though so I dunno whether it'll be needed. XP is so light when it's fresh...
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DO IT, even for general use an SSD blows any other single upgrade, even if you get a lowly OS drive like 64 GB
 
Blayde said:
DO IT, even for general use an SSD blows any other single upgrade, even if you get a lowly OS drive like 64 GB
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+1 on that, even my old as balls spare parts NAS started running much faster with SSD OS drive (5 second reboots).
 
I wouldn't spend that much money to extend the life of a seven year old laptop with just another year or so.
 
Just get a used ~60GB one, I'd think people would be trying to get rid of smaller SSDs for cheap.

Then again, I could be wrong.
 
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