

Ask HN - Which OS do you prefer for programming? - factorialboy

* Debian / Ubuntu based Linux
* Fedora based Linux
* Other Linux distro (Please mention the distro)
* Mac OSX (Please mention the version)
* Windows (Please mention the version)
* Other (Please mention the distro)
======
SlipperySlope
Lubuntu - Ubuntu rich debian repositories without annoying Unity desktop. LXDE
is a familiar menu-driven desktop - and fast.

I am a Java 7 AI developer running a multi-monitor development desktop, a
server for svn / jenkins continuous integration, an alpha production server,
and two linux laptops. I also have a Windows 7 desktop and laptop for testing,
and network everything with Samba. Computers range from single core 512MB RAM
to four-core 16GB RAM. I use cron jobs and rsync for cross-server backups and
also replicate the most important files on Ubuntu One - the cloud backup
service.

Lubuntu is fastest for my Java development. I keep 7 virtual desktops on dual
monitors and like the familiar menus and taskbars for application switching
and monitoring. Years ago I was a Windows NT developer but Linux is much
cheaper and much easier to debug via open source. In the last decade I have
used Red Hat, SUSE, KDE, Gnome and Ubuntu. I have only one machine left to
convert from Ubuntu to Lubuntu with a new install.

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mcrittenden
Arch Linux + Scrotwm as the window manager and desktop environment.

Arch because:

\- It's simple, you only install what you need

\- Don't have to upgrade ever 6 months

\- Software in the repos is always up to date

\- The wiki is extremely helpful and the community is smart

Scrotwm because:

\- Tiling WMs are just more productive to me

\- It is configured with a plain text file

\- It has vim-like keybindings by default

\- It behaves the way my mind works (much like XMonad but without the Haskell)

This setup is fast and nimble and super productive to me, someone who tries to
avoid the mouse as much as possible.

I wrote a more detailed post about my setup here:
<http://mikethecoder.com/post/10563094906/my-minimalist-setup>

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joshmanders
Unix based. So basically OS X, or Linux.

I currently use Ubuntu 10.04 LTS but will be switching to Mac OS X Lion here
in the coming months on all 3 of my development machines.

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Jem
I'm a PHP developer (if you count that as programming) so can easily develop
on anything with a text editor. Unfortunately I also do a lot of PSD->HTML
stuff which writes linux out of the equation (GIMP just isn't good enough.)

At the minute I'm running WinXP at work and Win7 at home. If Photoshop were
not part of the equation I'd be running xubuntu again.

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skykooler
Mac OSX Snow Leopard at work, Ubuntu 10.04 at home. Unfortunately I can't use
Lion because I have a 32-bit computer. I've tried extending my dev environment
to include Windows, but it's such a hassle making it play nice (line endings,
shell scripts etc.) that I've pretty much given that up.

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drcode
Ubuntu with XMonad is the best way I know of of running a web browser, browser
console, emacs, and a terminal on-screen simultaneously on a notebook (with a
large screen.)

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nitinkhanna
Depends on the project.

I use windows, Mac and Ubuntu off and on. Tool wise Mac and Linux are most
flexible

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sandipagr
Windows XP/7 at work and Ubuntu at home

I use Windows 7 for everything beside programming even at home.

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smountcastle
Mac OS X 10.7.2 It has all of my favorite Unix tools as well as the best Mac
apps for development.

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factorialboy
To answer the question myself, I'm on an Xubuntu (Ubuntu but with XFCE)

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kgutteridge
iPhone developer so don't have that much choice really, but would probably
still use OSX or Ubuntu given the freedom to choose

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Spoygg
Ubuntu 11.04 on work and Ubuntu 11.10 at home.

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mindcrime
Fedora Linux for me.

