Rails Mac OS or Windows Development

Question

I am currently running Ruby on Rails and currently using Windows (XP or 7), but I find many cases where gems don't seem to do what they need, or its pain for installing and using them under Windows , like twitter-bootstrap seems fine for Mac OS, but I had to decide that sass-bootstrap is better for Windows. It just goes on and on, as it is today, I cannot force myself to start doing this when testing RSpec, although I know that my lack of experience does not help.

So should I just get a Mac? Would a Mac give me an easier life? Most RoR developers seem to use them, and most tutorial examples seem to be guessing.

Thanks for any advice.

Answer 1

The simplest answer is that you can easily create RoRs on any platform.

Personally, I started developing on Windows, and then switched to VirtualBox on windows running Ubuntu. I now have a MacBook Pro and it must say that this is the happiest environment!

Windows - It's wise to just install rails, but it seemed much slower than in other environments. The disadvantage of a simple console with color backlighting was annoying.

Ubuntu - faster than under windows (even with virtualization!). If you don't know Linux, it's a lot less fun, a steep learning curve for the command line and lots of dependencies to solve

Mac - The best of both worlds, a nice interface for everyday work, awesome command line support, Ruby and RoR work very fast on the MacBook Pro.

Answer 2

I do not use mac, I use linux, but I switched from Windows at an early stage of my experience with Rails. Using mac is better than using windows. A cheap option is to simply double boot your Windows Ubuntu computer.

Just get away from the windows.

See this for more details: Getting the Ruby on Rails runtime and installing sqlite3

Edit: VirtualBox is also an option for those whose processor supports it.

Answer 3

I would suggest trying with any versions of Linux like Ubuntu, centos, fedora ...

Answer 4

I think you can use the Linux version - ubuntu 12.04, because there are some ruby ​​stones that do not work on windows like rubyracer, less-rails.

Answer 5

Install VirtualBox and launch the Ubuntu or Redhat Linux virtual machine.

Answer 6

I develop Rails for Windows at work and at home most of the time. There are several cases where gemstones will not work or require a little more work to work properly. There are also cases where Windows development and deployment on a Linux / * NIX environment can cause problems, usually associated with specific Windows objects in your Gemfile.lock, that are not compatible with Linux / * NIX.

All in all, this is not too much trouble while you follow gotchas.

I also use Mac OS X to develop Rails, and I like the development experience much more than on Windows. That being said, of course, I don’t need a Mac to be able to effectively develop in Rails.

Answer 7

I also started with Rails development and recently bought a MacBook Pro. The Mac has solutions to run Windows, if you still need to do development in the Microsoft technology stack. You can install Windows through Bootcamp, which is a built-in solution. Or, start Windows in a virtual instance using virtualization software such as Parallels.

hope this helps

Anthony