Yieldthought
yieldthought.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2010
Mark O'Connor writes about programming and working remotely, notably replacing his MacBook with an iPad connected to a Linode server.
What HN saysHN commenters point to his iPad plus Linode posts in threads about coding on an iPad, using SSH and Vim.
38HN people shared it
30linked it in comments
24stories submitted
1.5Kstory points
2 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode21 people · 637 points · first shared 2011 · 338 comments on HN
- 2iPad and Linode: 1 Year Later14 people · 265 points · first shared 2012 · 117 comments on HN
- 3Embarrassing Flaws That Made My ‘Weekend’ App Possible2 people · 279 points · first shared 2010 · 66 comments on HN
- 4Profit from frontpaging HN and Reddit - what now?2 people · 44 points · first shared 2010 · 18 comments on HN
- 5Microsoft Surface vs. iPad and Linode2 people · 36 points · first shared 2013 · 56 comments on HN
- 6Machine Learning Teaches Me How to Write Better AI2 people · 24 points · first shared 2014 · 7 comments on HN
- 7Working in the Cloud2 people · 4 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 8When are neural networks overkill2 people · first shared 2018
- 9Work is Fascinating: The Metagame1 people · 114 points · first shared 2011 · 21 comments on HN
- 10What, more tests are always the best way to improve my product?1 people · 24 points · first shared 2010 · 22 comments on HN
- 11Single- vs Co-Founders: it's like Star Wars1 people · 14 points · first shared 2010 · 5 comments on HN
- 12Metagame Productivity Boost: Stats and Charts1 people · 10 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 13Users who can't buy; customers who don't use1 people · 4 points · first shared 2010 · 2 comments on HN
- 14Reality doesn't care about your opinion1 people · 3 points · first shared 2022 · 5 comments on HN
- 15Time for Tea and Destiny1 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
moconnor · 2023-07-05
https://yieldthought.com - wrote some popular posts about programming (under the coderoom name) and I guess also about working with an iPad and Linode before it was cool.
Haven’t posted for a while now, too many other things going on I guess!
freehunter · 2020-04-03
There really is no excuse for the lack of "real" software on the iPad (using "real" as in desktop quality). Only a small amount can be blamed on the system itself, appealing to a very niche audience (like XCode).
Arbitrary Javascript code written on the iPad can run, as evidenced by Play.js. Arbitrary Python code written on the iPad can run as evidenced by Pythonista. Arbitrary Swift code can run as evidenced by Swift Playgrounds. There's a Github app, there's a file explorer app, you can connect USB drives and keyboard and as of very recently, a mouse.
So where is VS Code for the iPad? Where is desktop-class software for the iPad? Why is this [1] article from 8 years ago still the best-in-class way to write code on an iPad? Is there still some kind of missing support I'm not seeing?
[1] https://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ip…
lecro · 2019-03-17
You might find interesting those two articles by
Mark O’Connor written over 7 years ago
I swapped my MacBook for an iPad+Linode
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
iPad + Linode, 1 Year Later
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
I followed his steps and enjoyed this approach much.
akerl_ · 2019-01-04
I actually just recently tried to use an iPad Pro for coding (more specifically, I tried to not use my laptop at all for several days, fully replacing it with an iPad).
My experience was that coding was definitely not as smooth as on my laptop, but I took an approach several folks here have called out: using a cloud-based VM and connecting to it remotely. I used the Termius app, which was pretty solid.
I got my initial inspiration from http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa… (and the followup http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later )
terhechte · 2012-05-20
iSSH & VIM should be pretty sound. I don't know about Emacs, there may be more difficulties since it Vim doesn't use the command and meta keys so much. This guy does all his coding from Vim in iSSH:
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
I understand your point about the small market, but if the target audience is developers, then I think that VIM or Emacs compatible keybindings (if only a small subset for movement and selection) are an attractive feature. On the Mac, SublimeText and AppCode, both beloved editors, feature Vim Bindings. And even some of the Cloud Editors (like Ace or Cloud9) have Vim bindings.
I hope it's just a matter of time until the first iPad editor with bindings comes out - and I'll buy right away :)
sedev · 2012-02-17
"Those are content-consumption devices, occasionally branching out into cutesy creation."
Haven't we had this discussion way too many times before? How many HN stories have there been of "look at the feat of content creation this person pulled off with an iThing!"?
Specific varieties of work are best suited to the desktop computing UI paradigm. That's distinctly different from "iThings are just content consumption devices." It's insufficiently rigorous thinking; also it's bullshit.
Warren Ellis has written tremendous amounts of his serious work on a (non-iOS) mobile device. Mark O'Connor made an iPad his primary coding device [1]. Atomic Tom could perform a song off of just iThings as instruments on the subway.
Please stop repeating the 'mobile devices are just for content consumption' meme. It's bullshit.
1: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
notpublic · 2025-01-06
Instead of doing a diff, curious if Normalized compression distance (NCD)[1] will yield a better result. It is very simple algorithm:
to compare two images, i1 and i2
l1 = length(gzip(i1)) l2 = length(gzip(i2)) l12 = length(gzip(concatenate(i1, i2)) ncd = (l12 - min(l1, l2))/max(l1, l2) Here is a nice article where I found out about this long ago.
https://yieldthought.com/post/95722882055/machine-learning-teaches-me-…
From the article:
"Basically it states that the degree of similarity between two objects can be approximated by the degree to which you can better compress them by concatenating them into one object rather than compressing them individually."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalized_compression_distance
leephillips · 2021-07-28
In 2013 Mark O’Connor wrote a series of articles about his experiments with nomadic computing using ipads, Linodes, and bluetooth keyboards. He was kind of a pioneer in this area:
https://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
sabizmil · 2019-06-14
Is this the article?
https://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ip…
I remember when it came out and a few coworkers at the time had seriously considered swapping to an iPad because of it, but ended up getting MacBook Airs instead.
It’s surprising how 7 years has gone by and using an iPad for development is still facing the same problems.
macspoofing · 2019-03-17
To be fair, this experiment has been run many many times since the the introduction of the iPad. I even tried it a few years ago because I liked the long battery life and the form factor (and after an HN article about iPad/Linode Dev setup[1]). Turns out lack of proper multitasking and multi-window management, and even lack of mouse support made everything cumbersome. Always needing a remote machine got old really fast too.
No real benefit over a decent laptop.
[1]http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
steadicat · 2018-02-13
The neural network is not for measuring how far off the time is, it’s for guessing where different trendlines in the charts should start and end. You could say it’s overkill, but as I mention in the article I wasn’t happy with the results I got using simpler math. Also I’m pretty honest about the fact that I used a neural network because I felt like it. :)
Check out this response for a different take on this: http://yieldthought.com/post/170830096265/when-are-neural-networks-ove…
dhimes · 2017-10-26
A guy (Mark O'Connor) did this 5 years ago. At the time I had a full dev stack (LAMP, vim, tmux, hg, etc.) on a netbook eee1001 (or whatever it was, the little guys) for portability. I liked my setup way better as I took my dev environment with me. But I would probably go nuts if I had to work on that little screen all the time.
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
Rjevski · 2017-07-19
I've tried to use an iPad for Python web development - it's usable for a Vim person since they'd be using the keyboard all day, but for me I missed Sublime too much. Ended up getting a Macbook and the iPad is now collecting dust.
Also task switching between your editor (which was Vim inside an SSH terminal in my case) and Safari to see the end result was way too slow, and you constantly need to take your fingers off the keyboard to interact with the touchscreen.
Related: http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
lolive · 2016-11-20
That reminds me of the trend of switching from a laptop to a tablet.
cf:
http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/six-weeks-working-android/
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
I know some of these people switched back to a laptop. And I wonder why they did.
filsmick · 2015-03-28
Oh, yes, that: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
I've read it a while ago.
Of course if you only use command-line editors, it's nice. But some people prefer Sublime or other graphical editors.
TwiztidK · 2014-10-15
A lot of people have used an SSH client on a tablet for development on a VPS or other server.
There is a blog about it here: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
lesterbuck · 2014-04-21
At least one developer dumped his MacBook and switched to an iPad + Linode server for at least a year:
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
nathancahill · 2014-02-27
Here's a really interesting post about that: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
bamos · 2014-02-23
I had a friend who tried [0] before, but switched back to a macbook after a few months.
[0]: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
MetaCosm · 2013-08-12
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later <- guy who tried it for a year.
JofArnold · 2013-06-17
Also, see my answer in a neighbouring comment.
I think, ultimately, it relates to how you approach code. Coding on the iPad is a kind of relaxation/holiday thing for me, but coding on the MBA is more of a working-at-my-desk thing.
That probably doesn't make much sense to other people, but there's a fair few that agree, e.g. http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
bergie · 2012-10-01
Some tips for setting up an iPad development environment here: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
aes256 · 2012-10-01
Precisely. I don't see how a tablet is much of an improvement in form factor over a laptop.
Recall the 'iPad + Linode' experiment [1]. In every photo Mark O'Conor posted of his iPad in action, he had an Apple wireless keyboard next to it. A screen and a keyboard. That's a novel idea.
Combined, they take up just about as much space as a laptop (11-13") but the combination is far less usable. Smaller screen, less processing power, less flexibility using iOS, less customisability, so on and so forth.
O'Connor was attempting to nullify one of those drawbacks (lack of processing power), but he can't escape all the others.
[1] http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
tomrod · 2012-09-19
An article that appeared at the same time on HN's front page points out some of the benefits:
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
stackingcode · 2012-08-20
s00pcan · 2012-08-11
donniezazen: I got home with my ipad and immediately bought issh to try out this setup: http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
It was disappointingly terrible.
berntb · 2012-04-05
You are probably correct, but... well, what is the fun in that? :-)
I found this http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
prsimp · 2012-03-20
It's not impossible to remain a creator while using an iPad (or other tablet) - at least not when it comes to development. There are certainly people who are happily developing on an iPad (albeit with a more powerful remote backend)[1]. I think we are likely to see even more of a shift in this direction as these devices become even more capable.
[1] http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
aggarwalachal · 2012-03-16
I think this will help you move to the right track.
How a Macbook was replaced by an iPad+Linode combo
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
jdi · 2016-05-16
A good advice is to always use tmux or screen in your ssh session, just in case your ssh connection drops out.
I also use Hacker's Keyboard on Android, but on tablets I sometimes don't find it comfortable when I would like to type with my thumbs. Does anyone know a good alternative/solution for tablets?
Some time ago, I ran into a series of posts where someone used an iPad, a bluetooth keyboard and a Linode server to do work. It's not exactly smartphone-"have everything in your pocket" purism, but it's close enough.
These are the 2 blogposts related to that:
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipa…
http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-later
It's also nice to see 2 other blogposts of his on the same subject:
http://yieldthought.com/post/42450188171/working-in-the-cloud
http://yieldthought.com/post/60180703528/microsoft-surface-vs-ipad-lin…