Ask HN: OSX vs Ubuntu for Ruby/Rails Development

7 points·zdzich··5 comments

i use OSX since 5 years. Now i think about mac mini or PC. But i don't know which one OS to chose . Any pros for leave OSX for Ubuntu? HELP ME

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I never has a mac and i'm using linux-based distros for 8 years now. I love rails and i'm happy with the following setup:

Elementary OS Luna beta (based on Ubuntu LTS (http://elementaryos.org), "rbenv" as ruby version manager (https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv), "bundler" as gem packages manager (http://bundler.io), Sublime Text and vim as code editor (http://www.sublimetext.com) and SQlite as developement database (or simply install PostgreSQL or MySQL throught apt-get package manager)

I use Ubuntu. In a past life I was strictly a windows user. The thought has crossed my mind to switch to a mac because of GUI nav speed and peer pressure. It's not that trendy to haul around a 17" Dell XPS with a big power cable to a coffee shop or ruby meetup. Luckily I realize that those good with macs could be equally fast on Ubuntu with practice and being trendy is overrated. It's all about getting things done and I like having a big monitor + power.

Ubuntu is a far better option for RoR development. - apt-get is far better than homebrew - many things just work better in linux land (especially if you are into emacs and the like). - development on a system more closely resembling production

the only thing OSX does better (for RoR) is development with GUI programs and fonts... which most ubuntu-friendly developers are willing to do without.

Both are fine. If you use an OS X-only editor like TextMate, that may be an issue.

I use vagrant on my mac that has Ubuntu loaded on my VM.

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