Re: All VM-based development

On 1/15/2025 1:43 PM, Buzz McCool wrote:

On 1/9/2025 6:54 PM, Don Y wrote:

Has anyone tried moving entirely to VM-based systems for
their (hardware/software/documentation) development efforts?

 This is not quite what you are talking about, but I do all my development efforts on one hefty Linux server running a GUI Linux desktop accessed via a VNC session I ssh into.

I only use my (BSD) boxes for software development.  Most non-windows
platforms are sorely crippled by the tools they have available.  E.g.,
I was building 3D CAD models in the early 90's -- deciding that the few
kilobucks AutoDesk charged was easily recovered by the capabilities of
their tools vs what was available on FOSS at the time (or even *now*!)
I have X servers on the Windows machines so I can interact with the
BSD hosts -- which all run headless.  And, VNC running on all of the
Windows hosts so I can interact with any from any other.
But, this is clumsy as large native desktops require large hosting windows
(fitting ANOTHER 5 pounds into the sack that the hosting machine has already
stuffed with 5 pounds).  So, I only use it for "little things" (like
mounting/umounting an external share, moving files *into* that share
so they can be accessed remotely, etc.)
It would be tedious to, for example, work in Photoshop on machine #3 through
a VNC session on machine #1.  So, when doing so, I simply power up machine #3
and swivel my chair to face the monitors tied to machine #3.
Trying to host EVERYTHING on a single machine is a nightmare because of
how Windows does things.
If, instead of powering up that other machine and swiveling my chair, I could
just power up a VM and switch to it on *one* machine, then I don't have to
worry about all those apps coexisting on ANY machine -- yet, have the
ability to access them from a single (or pair of) workstation.  Discard
the extra hardware and upgrade the hosting system for "comparable" performance.

I have a Windows laptop at my office that does my web browsing and email and I just bring up the server VNC session to do design work. Likewise I ssh into the same VNC session with a Linux laptop at home. The VNC session is constantly up so I don't have to worry about losing my place. I can also go into a lab and bring up my VNC session on a lab computer.

I can't use laptops for anything but email and browsing the web.  I've grown
accustomed to having LOTS of display real estate.  E.g., I tend to work in
two or three 19/24/30" dia windows.  It's annoying to have stuff covered
by a window.
So, the laptops sit in the closet (each in its own carrying case) waiting for
"road trips" where I won't have to do any work but need a more useful interface
than a phone/tablet can provide (I don't know how folks can do anything useful
with a phone, other than TALK!  My current phone is ~6" dia -- too large to
carry -- and STILL too small to be useful!)

This way my laptops do not need to be powerful or need to save state and I don't need to physically drag them around if I don't want to.

Yes, that was my thinking with my server hosts.  I can put gobs of resources,
there, and "hide them" so they don't take up WORK space.  This is fine for *most* applications, but not all (displaying rendered video from 3D models
tends to get upset if the network is heavily loaded).  The real appeal is
being able to share media instead of duplicate it (I've ~200T spinning).