

Ask HN: I'll be starting with a new job soon but their machines have Windows - grover_hartmann

Basically, I&#x27;ve got a job to write code using Node.js, AngularJS, Rails, PHP and so on.<p>However, all their computers have Windows and I&#x27;m not comfortable using it to write code.<p>I asked if I could use Linux but they said I can&#x27;t bring my own laptop, they said I could develop on a VM though.<p>What are the disadvantages of using a VM? I find it disappointing they won&#x27;t let me install Linux on it.<p>Any workflows I should now when developing on VM?<p>Thanks.
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kasey_junk
I've worked in VM environments and they are _fine_ for some degraded
definition of _fine_. You can certainly get most everything done with them if
thats what you want.

I'd argue a little bit that in this day and age, that unless you have some
very specific Linux requirements its a valuable career skill to be able to
develop on multiple platforms.

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grover_hartmann
It's not that I can't develop software on Windows, I could if I really wanted
to.

It's just that GNU/Linux happens to be my _preferred_ environment for writing
code, and I see nothing wrong with that.

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brudgers
I guess the question becomes, is the work important enough to switch? If it
isn't then maybe the money is good enough, but that's a bit of a different
standard. If the work isn't important and the pay isn't good enough, then
there's no reason to take the job.

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noonespecial
My dev enviro is a debian VM that matches our servers with xfce. This on an
older Mac via VMware fusion 5. I don't really like OS X so I almost never
switch out. Once I full screen the vm I can't tell the difference. Even with
videos. (I don't play games so I'm not sure there). I'd say a vm is a
perfectly viable option. Plus you'll have the builtin option to hop back to
windows and see your work as the unwashed masses will see it in a blink.

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S4M
You can use cygwin as a shell, then you will mainly be using a text editor, a
browser and a shell that is similar to the Unix shell, so it will not be
fundamentally different from Linux - from the user point of view.

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arnold_palmur
Second this, as a long OSX & Vim user, cygwin was a HUGE relief for the switch
to PC for a new job. Definitely an essential piece of software now.

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chewxy
Vagrant is your friend. I switched from a linux env to my current job which
has a MS stack. Took a few months before I fully got my windows env up and
running, and in the meantime Vagrant tided me over

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cdvonstinkpot
Being that VMs usually have terrible disk I/O, I've found that it helps
noticably to set the Windows host to increase the amount of memory it uses for
the disk cache. There's the setting in 'My Computer" > 'Advanced', plus a
little-known registry (or group policy- I don't recall off the top of my head)
setting that increases it quite a bit more than the GUI-fied switch. You can
find it on Google easily enough.

-my 2 cents

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brudgers
Given the way Linux uses physical memory and swap space, pumping up the amount
of RAM available to the VM might provide more fine grained control [1]. Since
the implication is the developer will be primarily in the VM, constraining the
physical memory available to Windows somewhat is less likely to impact
performance particularly if Windows configuration is tailored to the usage
scenario.

[1] And RAM is cheap.

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ColinWright
Connect via VPN to your machine somewhere else and do it all over the net?

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dreaminvm
Almost everything is the same using a VM, with the bonus of VM functionality
like cloning and changing the hardware specs.

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grover_hartmann
Changing hardware on Linux is very seamless, unlike Windows.

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starshadowx2
Are you allowed to use a LiveCD/boot off a USB?

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grover_hartmann
Probably not, the use of personal hardware is forbidden, and I think that
includes personal USB drives as well.

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honest_joe
Run from such a company. You are just an asset to them that has to obey. You
are not doing a nuclear research and there's not a reason for them to force
you.

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brudgers
Professional programming is a team sport.

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honest_joe
That has nothing to do with what i have said.

