# Best Environment for development

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [December 27, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188 "2005-12-27T21:09:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/1 "2005-12-27T21:09:44Z")

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This is a newb question, and probably one that is a matter of taste  
more than objective merit.

I’m working on a home server, running Linux [FC 4], hosting a website  
[look for [generocities.com](http://generocities.com) shortly]. I have a delightful new Windows  
XP Pro Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop.

What would the community recommend for the environment in which I  
develop?

I don’t mean technologies like RoR or what have you. I mean editors,  
IDEs, etc.  
Cygwin? X servers? Notepad?

The server is in my basement, and I’d like to do everything through my  
laptop, so I can run an X client there. Suggestions?

I currently use an IDE for desktop computer vision applications in  
C++, which is very different than what I’m planning.

Thanks,  
Ivan K.  
[www.kirigin.com](http://www.kirigin.com)

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**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/2 "2005-12-27T21:39:49Z")

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Hi,

my linux-server is running eclipse/radrails which neatly integrates  
into the macosX-desktop running a x-server (the displaying program).  
the reason: eclipse is running slow on the ibook, which is my desktop  
computer. you should compare the speed yourself.

regards,  
Helmut

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**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/3 "2005-12-28T01:53:04Z")

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If you’re old-school then cygwin/vim is a good combination.  
Other people swear by mingw/msys ([http://www.mingw.org/](http://www.mingw.org/)).  
Vim (gvim) can be set up with very good ruby syntax highlighting  
and automatic indentation, but it lacks tab-completion.  
radrails has that.  
ruby is stable on cygwin, but there is one bug with ‘ri’ on  
cygwin (if you should run into the bug, the fix was posted  
on c.l.r.core about a week ago). Ruby comes prepackaged for  
cygwin but it’s also easy to compile if you want to run bleeding  
edge versions or want to add your own extensions.

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**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/4 "2005-12-28T12:12:47Z")

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I’d go with Komodo on the XP box, but that’s just me.  
I have a powerbook as well and enjoy working on OSX/Textmate more - but  
either are better than vim/linux imho.

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**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2005, 10:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/5 "2005-12-28T10:03:22Z")

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Ivan K.  
escribió:\> Cygwin? X servers? Notepad?

> The server is in my basement, and I’d like to do everything through my  
> laptop, so I can run an X client there. Suggestions?
> 
> I currently use an IDE for desktop computer vision applications in  
> C++, which is very different than what I’m planning.
> 
> Thanks,  
> Ivan K.  
> [www.kirigin.com](http://www.kirigin.com)

I find very usefull quanta for rhtml editing (with the syntax highlight  
file that is out there…), and radrails for every else.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@skywriter](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/skywriter)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/best-environment-for-development/51188/6 "2005-12-29T02:01:44Z")

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subimage interactive wrote:

> I’d go with Komodo on the XP box, but that’s just me.  
> I have a powerbook as well and enjoy working on OSX/Textmate more - but  
> either are better than vim/linux imho.

This year I made the switch from Linux/Quanta to OS X/TextMate and I  
couldn’t be happier – best development platform I’ve ever used.