5 ms·

The Setup: Zed Shaw

• vinhboy 15y ago
  I have always been dismayed with us techies and our toys. Like women and their purses. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But its nice to know there are great programmers out there who don't care about that stuff. But geesh, even I would upgrade from a white Macbook, and I am using a 2006 MBP.
  • d_r 15y ago
    While some toys can definitely be attributed as luxury (you don't really need that iPad), I can say that my i7 Macbook Air made me a significantly happier developer. Incredibly fast for everything I do, be it Xcode or Photoshop. Check. Long battery life and lightweight - great for coffee shops. Check. This is one "toy" that actually improved my productivity. Also, something should be said about efficiency. If you're primarily coding on a slow/old computer where compiles, etc. take longer, you may be wasting precious time. It's worth having the best tools for the job.
    • minikomi 15y ago
      Not to mention photoshop/illustrator woes.
  • xpaulbettsx 15y ago
    I definitely agree, if I wasn't doing Windows development, I'd be perfectly happy with a machine that was that level spec, Vim and screen don't take up many resources at all. Lousy battery life would be a dealbreaker though.
• zdw 15y ago
  I'm on a similar course - the further I dive into systems, the more I learn to use the ubiquitous software (vi, for example) rather than being picky about my tools and environment. People with very complex environments make me think they spent far too long developing a theoretical methodology, and too little time actually hacking and using stuff.
  • dlsspy 15y ago
    It took me years to consider using vim over plain vi. After fifteen years or so of vi I ended up switching to emacs. I've worked with really awesome people who are completely lost without [insert proprietary single-platform editor here].
    • crag 15y ago
      I can't use vim. God, I've tried, and tried. I'm too old. I just can't do it. So I stick with a big IDE (or Sublime 2 which I'm liking more and more). I had to telnet into a Centos box recently and the only thing I could find was vi. Took me a few minutes but I managed. I was proud. ;)
      • dlsspy 15y ago
        I bet you can. But can likely use emacs as well. I think if I had to pick one piece of software to live with on my desert island, it'd be emacs (assuming I had a reasonable boot loader and a filesystem to sit under it).
        • jamii 15y ago
          Choosing emacs is cheating, it contains every other program you might ever want to use.
      • bostonvaulter2 15y ago
        I'm curious, how long did you spend trying to use Vim?
        • crag 15y ago
          A few days. I must admit, I was resistant from the start.
        • crag 15y ago
          Ok you've shammed me. I'm gonna start learning and using VIM. Even if it kills me.
• bilalhusain 15y ago
  how very honest!
  • askedrelic 15y ago
    I enjoy Zed's enthusiasm. While people seem to argue with him frequently or vice versa, he is prolific in his books and software and is definitely helping improve things.
• dbbo 15y ago
  I thought it was a bit odd that he wrote 7 paragraphs about music equipment and software, but didn't mention which GNU/Linux distribution(s) he uses on his "junky" laptops.
  • sirvaliance 15y ago
    Don't know why I am answering because my response is most likely inaccurate, but IIRC (specifically from following him on Twitter) he used to use Arch linux for a while. I also remember him complaining about it and IIRC he made a switch. I am sure once he sees the post he will correct me and or answer you.
  • Tobu 15y ago
    I think the yarn about music was his jokey way to play with people's expectations of his life's pie chart.
  • keithpeter 15y ago
    I'm not a programmer, but I suspect the detail on the music gear might be because the sound you get depends on the instruments and effects chain. The code you get out of your coding session, or the LaTeX source for your book, does not really depend on which method you chose to install and update GNU/Linux. Am I being naive here?
    • zwieback 15y ago
      I suspect you're right - I spend a lot more time programming than playing music but have a stronger emotional attachment to my music gear than my coding environment. Musicians call it GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome, e.g. I've got major GAS for an Ampeg amp.
      • zedshaw 15y ago
        I solved my GAS by replacing the A with C: Gear Construction Syndrome. Now I make myself build it if I want it and I can.
  • 15y ago
• andrewljohnson 15y ago
  Everyone I see in these kind of articles uses old hardware and small screens. I feel like it is selection bias - it makes for a better story when the rock stars don't use the best tools. When I moved from an old Mac to a tricked out iMac, my apps compiled 10x as fast. I suppose it's nice to know you can write good software on any box, but it's worthwhile to have good tools for something you spend many hours on each day.
  • latch 15y ago
    Aside from an SSD, a 2006 computer (with the introduction of the first intel Core2Duo) with 8 gigs of ram is really the last time things got noticeably faster for the average programmer. Sure, game programmers and the like 'need' to upgrade more often, but for almost everyone else, it's just been a waste of money in relation to what you get. Laptops are a different story, though I think that's quickly coming about (or it already has with i5/i7s) I have noticed a tendency for some of the bulkier tools to get slower over time, making it seem like you need a better computer, when in reality, we just need better tool makers (VS 2010 was a notable step back that made you feel like it was time to upgrade).
    • barrkel 15y ago
      I frequently run things like: find -iname '*.foo' | xargs -P 8 -n 1 process-foo The more cores, the better. I feel I'm really restricted from targeting the CPUs of tomorrow by lack of parallelism; if you're writing a piece of software you expect to possibly last 20+ years, you really shouldn't over-assume today's limited CPU count, in particular. Work per clock cycle is improving at a not too shabby rate either. When I upgraded from a Q6600 to an i7 920, build times reduced by about 60%; Handbrake transcode times improved by even more.
  • jasonlotito 15y ago
    Check out Gabriel Weinberg's (DDG) setup. http://gabriel.weinberg.usesthis.com/ http://gabriel.weinberg.usesthis.com/
  • zedshaw 15y ago
    I have a mix of ages in hardware, so it's not all old. The linux laptops I have sit on a desk more often, so those have 17" screens and I pair them with a 21" monitor. So, I do use big monitors. But, that's not the point. I can also code just fine in a 80x25 ssh connections using vim and screen. I agree you should probably do most of your work using the best visual setup possible, but if you simply can't function without 3 apple thunderbolt 29" displays then you've got to rethink how you do things.
• ww520 15y ago
  I agree hardware is no big deal for development in general. I tend to buy one generation behind in term of hardware. Not only all the bugs have been work out but I also got great bargains. Initial depreciation is steep for technology related products.
  • crag 15y ago
    Since I use Mac, I've been forced to upgrade sometimes. Like going from my Powerbook (G4 chip) to a Macbook Pro in 2007 (for the intel chip). Last week, I finally broke down and brought a Macbook Air. It wasn't for the i7 chip, or the SSD (which by the way, I will NEVER go back to spinning drives again); it was the mobility. The Air is the lightness most powerful machine I've ever had. Amazing machine. My scratched up, stained, and dented MBP sits in a bookcase. On top of my old Powerbook.
• Homunculiheaded 15y ago
  Not long about I accidentally ruined the keyboard on my oldish white macbook, I debated spending cash I really didn't need to spend on a nice new macbook air. But after giving it some good thought I decided to just go ahead and replace the topcase myself. While deciding this I realized it's rather a shame that in our hacker culture there's still somewhat of a fetishism for having a sleek new laptop, and that it would be much better if the culture valued the patched together, upgraded and heavily worn. There are many great reasons for this: cut down on consumer waste, more in-tune with the hacker ideal to squeeze the most out of what you have in front of you, interesting performances issues aren't solved with a simple hardware upgrade, and of course Zed's point that we remain more in-touch with what actual users are using. It shouldn't a point of shame to have the latest and the greatest, but it would be nice more cred went to the hacker in the room with the oldest, most beatup, but still productive laptop
  • mnutt 15y ago
    Don't replace it if it works for you, but due to Moore's Law computer hardware doesn't age that well. Older guitars that are well taken care of sound as good if not better than shiny new ones, but after a certain age your computer begins wasting your time. Most programming time is spent sitting and thinking, but when I act I want the computer to respond as quickly as possible, whether compiling or running tests or opening a website. That's not to say I don't share the sentiment about computers becoming less hackable and more consumer toys. It's a shame that laptops these days have almost zero user-servicable parts.
    • pygy_ 15y ago
      Macs are actually remarkably serviceable, thanks to their limited product range, and iFixit. My only computer is a tweaked 5 years old MacBook Pro, underclocked to 1 GHz for stability reasons. I've replaced the optical drive with a big hard disk, and the primary hard disk with an SDD. Stock 2GB of RAM. Except for CPU-bound tasks (mostly HD videos, and the ocasional ./configure && make && sudo make install), it flies.
      • 15y ago
• latch 15y ago
  This is a good contrast to this recent front-page HN story: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3075145 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3075145 "If you're a developer, you need to spend money on a great computer, an awesome monitor, a fantastic chair and a good bed" Personally, I think Zed's approach is far more responsible/sane. If you "need to spend money on a great computer", you are either doing something very different than me, or very wrong.
  • ethank 15y ago
    Shouldn't it be worth it to decrease friction in something you are spending 8-10 hours a day on? Personally I can't stand when I run into the physical/computational limitations of a system I'm on. I also can't stand it when someone on my team complains about this. A nice computer, a good amount of RAM, good input devices, a good chair and a desk are paltry compared to what you should be paying a great engineer or designer. Tools don't make the talent, but they sure do make the extraction of talent into product/technology much easier all around.
    • latch 15y ago
      Like I said in another comment, in my opinion, a 2006 (intro of a intel's c2d) computer with 8gigs of ram + an SSD was pretty much the last time your average programmer saw any appreciable gains on the desktop. Things _have_ moved forward since then, especially if your are multi-thread/core sensitive. For everyone else, even at 8-10hours a day, I'm not sure it'd be considered a great investment for such incremental improvements.
      • ethank 15y ago
        RAM and i/o will certainly make the biggest difference for the average person or engineer. That and HID's and your display. My computer before this one at its core was not the latest/greatest Mac Pro, but I had upgraded parts (RAM, video, HD) which made the biggest difference.
      • freeman478 15y ago
        Unfortunately in some (most ?) big enterprise we are still stuck with Windows XP (so 3.5gigs of RAM) and shitty hard drive that are further killed by the antivirus :(
• brndnhy 15y ago
  Wow. Thanks for the Reaper tip. Very impressive effort there, and for $60... Nuts!
  • eliasmacpherson 15y ago
    It's a phenomenal program, I am a huge fan, Justin Frankel (winamp), schwa and the rest have done an incredible job.
  • m0shen 15y ago
    Not to mention that you can download the fully functional evaluation version, including several plugins in an 8mb package. It is a remarkable piece of software.
  • zedshaw 15y ago
    Reaper is one bad ass piece of software. I would kill to work for those guys, 'cause damn they could use a new manual or two. I really think a great manual with a video course would turn Reaper into a powerhouse in the market. Anyway, I do all my audio editing in Reaper and find it's the most intuitive and best performing DAW out there. And, I do it on a Mac. I do not do audio or video on Linux. Linux is just horrible for anything media related.
• kayoone 15y ago
  old hardware might work for him, but not for me. I dont want to wait for my pc, and if i can noticably improve speed with a SSD, a better CPU or more RAM i do so. Whats wrong with wanting fast hardware? I spend 8-12 hours each day in front of these things, so if i can upgrade stuff to make my job easier i do so.
  • Marwy 15y ago
    I'm not sure why you wrote that post. I mean, Zed is not saying that having/buying faster hardware is bad, it's just unnecessary for him most of the time. What is that you're arguing about?
  • zedshaw 15y ago
    Oh, I don't have all old hardware. I have some pretty bad ass gear for power, I just don't go running out to buy the latest crap whenever it shows up. Instead, I find I need to accomplish something, realize my current gear sucks for it, then go find the best option for what I'll need to do. Sometimes that's a monster Linux laptop, sometimes it's a Mac, and other times it's parts from sparkfun. The point though, is the brand and type of computer doesn't matter for what I do. It's more what I do and uses my software that matters.
• Sukotto 15y ago
  If you want to see Zed's vimrc you can find it here: http://zedshaw.com/zedsvim.tar.gz http://zedshaw.com/zedsvim.tar.gz
  • zedshaw 15y ago
    I need to update that some, but yep that's my setup.
• rebel19 15y ago
  It was nice to see the thumbs up from Zed for Ana Nelson's Dexy. We need more women like her in Tech.