# Software (good/bad, what you use, free options, Q&A)



## DT

Figured I'd make it a more general thread (per the title), but specifically, I am digging on all the new tab/window organizational features in the recent versions of Chrome (Mac).   You can pin a tab, group tabs, and for a window, name it, and then easily move a tab to a window by name.  Just super handy, especially for someone like me who regularly has like 40+ tabs open at once.


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## Clix Pix

I am actually rather conservative when it comes to software and I actually don't have a whole lot beyond what is bundled with my Macs at the time I buy them.  I have a few photography-related software programs and that's about it.....


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## SuperMatt

I am using Vivaldi which has incredible amounts of customizability. I use it as my Chromium browser for testing websites … no way I’m using the official Google Chrome browser. That’s a guarantee I will run out of RAM and lose all my private data to Google…


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## DT

Clix Pix said:


> I am actually rather conservative when it comes to software and I actually don't have a whole lot beyond what is bundled with my Macs at the time I buy them.  I have a few photography-related software programs and that's about it.....




You picked up a new M1 machine didn't you?  The Wife is the same way, she's only using the "bundled" apps (I was going to install a few dev tools for a backup machine, but I got my MBP fixed for free).  We're using Google Apps (through our Biz Account) for office related needs (thought that's just browser based)


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## DT

SuperMatt said:


> I am using Vivaldi which has incredible amounts of customizability. I use it as my Chromium browser for testing websites … no way I’m using the official Google Chrome browser. That’s a guarantee I will run out of RAM and lose all my private data to Google…




I never run out of RAM with Chrome, but I'm also still running 10.14.6 (Mojave) as I've heard it's Big Sur that's been experiencing some issues.  I mean, like right now, I have 60-something tabs open, in 5 different windows, and also running: Safari (just a few tabs), Postman (dev tool), VSCode (MacOS), Messages, Photos, Sketch, several term windows, plus a Windows 10 VM running MS-SQL, IIS, and two instances of Visual Studio.


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## Clix Pix

DT said:


> You picked up a new M1 machine didn't you?  The Wife is the same way, she's only using the "bundled" apps (I was going to install a few dev tools for a backup machine, but I got my MBP fixed for free).  We're using Google Apps (through our Biz Account) for office related needs (thought that's just browser based)



Yep, typing on that M1 MBP right now, actually.....  Sweet little machine, and so speedy and cool!    The extra software programs that I have installed in here are fewer than on the 2018 Intel-based MPB, but  mostly they're concerned with various aspects of photo editing, etc.


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## Alli

I used Chrome exclusively up until Safari got Keychain integration. I love so many of Chrome's features including, as DT mentioned, being able to pin tabs. But Safari is a resource hog, and Keychain is slowly coming to Chrome. I'll go back to it soon. I've just become too dependent on Keychain.


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## Eric

DT said:


> Figured I'd make it a more general thread (per the title), but specifically, I am digging on all the new tab/window organizational features in the recent versions of Chrome (Mac).   You can pin a tab, group tabs, and for a window, name it, and then easily move a tab to a window by name.  Just super handy, especially for someone like me who regularly has like 40+ tabs open at once.



The group tabs in Chrome seemed like a great feature but the fact that it won't let you save what you've grouped (upon closing and re-opening) makes it pretty much useless for me, unless I'm missing how to do this.


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## User.168

.


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## Runs For Fun

I've never been a fan of Chrome. I hate it. Firefox is my favorite. Been using Firefox since the 1.5 days. There's an extension that's been around for a while now for Firefox that does tab groups and they are saved across sessions.









						Panorama Tab Groups – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
					

Download Panorama Tab Groups for Firefox. Panorama Tab Groups are an easy way to organize a lot of tabs. You can visually group related tabs and switch between groups.   Panorama Tab Groups is a updated fork of Panorama View.




					addons.mozilla.org


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## Clix Pix

I use Safari only, as years ago I found Firefox to be a bit kludgy and Chrome definitely is too memory-intensive.


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## SuperMatt

RunsForFun said:


> I've never been a fan of Chrome. I hate it. Firefox is my favorite. Been using Firefox since the 1.5 days. There's an extension that's been around for a while now for Firefox that does tab groups and they are saved across sessions.
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> 
> Panorama Tab Groups – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
> 
> 
> Download Panorama Tab Groups for Firefox. Panorama Tab Groups are an easy way to organize a lot of tabs. You can visually group related tabs and switch between groups.   Panorama Tab Groups is a updated fork of Panorama View.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> addons.mozilla.org



Vivaldi browser has had superior tab management for a while. It also runs the latest sites quite nicely on my older Mac with 10.11.6, whereas Safari isn’t updated for that old OS and some newer sites don’t load right.









						10 Tab Management Tricks in Vivaldi browser: Group & Mix tabs
					

It’s all about the Tabs. Here’s a run down of the top Tab Management tips and features in Vivaldi web browser as suggested by users of one of the most popular browser.




					vivaldi.com


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## DT

I originally used Chrome vs. MS options, then went Mac, used Safari, it was pretty fast, low resource requirements ...

... but, I needed to do two things:  1)  sync passwords/tabs/bookmarks across both Winders™ and MacOS (formerly OSX), because I was running multiple machine / bootcamp, and 2) doing development/design work and needed to validate against the only relevant non-MS browser (at least in terms of my clients)

Also, Chrome provides some kickass dev/debug tools, including auth/cookie integration with my [primary] API test tool, and plugins for testing React/Redux.

I no longer need Windows Chrome, but just sort of stuck with it, like that the bookmarks/passwords are all audit-able through the Google Biz account admin, and I even use Chrome on iOS/iPadOS.  Google services through a paid account (vs. "free" Gmail) are significantly different in terms of exposure/privacy,


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## DT

For Mac folks:  I use a super handy app called Tot. It's a sync'ed clipboard/pasteboard for text, stays resident up in the menu bar, has multiple "tabs" (dots, really), can float, saves the state, very super handy for keeping random text, sort of interstitial C&Ps, or thought snippets, it's color coded, the snippet window can detach and float around, it has a (paid) iOS app, but the MacOS app is free.  Very super highly recommended if you're like me and you deal with 1000 tiny bits of textual information day-to-day.









						‎Tot
					

‎Tot is an elegant, simple way to collect & edit text across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s your tiny text companion!  ⁕ Less Is More Tot’s single window design and simple formatting controls mean no more hunting for that chunk of text. Seven color-coded dots let you organize your notes while...



					apps.apple.com


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## SuperMatt

DT said:


> For Mac folks:  I use a super handy app called Tot. It's a sync'ed clipboard/pasteboard for text, stays resident up in the menu bar, has multiple "tabs" (dots, really), can float, saves the state, very super handy for keeping random text, sort of interstitial C&Ps, or thought snippets, it's color coded, the snippet window can detach and float around, it has a (paid) iOS app, but the MacOS app is free.  Very super highly recommended if you're like me and you deal with 1000 tiny bits of textual information day-to-day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ‎Tot
> 
> 
> ‎Tot is an elegant, simple way to collect & edit text across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s your tiny text companion!  ⁕ Less Is More Tot’s single window design and simple formatting controls mean no more hunting for that chunk of text. Seven color-coded dots let you organize your notes while...
> 
> 
> 
> apps.apple.com



I like that app too!


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## Runs For Fun

DT said:


> For Mac folks:  I use a super handy app called Tot. It's a sync'ed clipboard/pasteboard for text, stays resident up in the menu bar, has multiple "tabs" (dots, really), can float, saves the state, very super handy for keeping random text, sort of interstitial C&Ps, or thought snippets, it's color coded, the snippet window can detach and float around, it has a (paid) iOS app, but the MacOS app is free.  Very super highly recommended if you're like me and you deal with 1000 tiny bits of textual information day-to-day.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ‎Tot
> 
> 
> ‎Tot is an elegant, simple way to collect & edit text across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s your tiny text companion!  ⁕ Less Is More Tot’s single window design and simple formatting controls mean no more hunting for that chunk of text. Seven color-coded dots let you organize your notes while...
> 
> 
> 
> apps.apple.com



Oh I’ve been looking for something like this!


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## Alli

RunsForFun said:


> Oh I’ve been looking for something like this!



I’ll have to give that a look in the morning when I use my Mac.


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## User.45

VirtualBox all the way. Parallels is a scam.


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## DT

P_X said:


> VirtualBox all the way. Parallels is a scam.




VB isn't nearly stout enough / feature rich to accomodate my VM needs, poor graphic performance, missing several key features, as well as a couple of slick options like Coherence mode in Parallels (which is  mostly how I use it).

I've been using Parallels for ~10 years, pretty much non-stop, it's open now in fact, my machine runs 24/7 with that VM open (current uptime is ~76 days).  I occasionally do a quick re-review of alternatives, though mostly the only other real commercial product in this space (VMWare).

In terms of pricing, I upgrade Parallels every 2 years at the very most, and I almost always score a deal through Parallels direct, or some kind of software bundle where I buy (and sell off the rest), or buy it from some who bought a bundle but didn't want Parallels.

I'm using the non-subscription model, mine will continue to function.  I have an extra license sitting here I picked up for $10 from someone on MR, my last license was $20, I'm into it for about $30-40 over 3-4 years, and I've used it to bill, well, A LOT   The cost is so trivial for my business, I would save more money by not printing ... and I print about once every 2 months and that's an Amazon return label


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## SuperMatt

DT said:


> VB isn't nearly stout enough / feature rich to accomodate my VM needs, poor graphic performance, missing several key features, as well as a couple of slick options like Coherence mode in Parallels (which is  mostly how I use it).
> 
> I've been using Parallels for ~10 years, pretty much non-stop, it's open now in fact, my machine runs 24/7 with that VM open (current uptime is ~76 days).  I occasionally do a quick re-review of alternatives, though mostly the only other real commercial product in this space (VMWare).
> 
> In terms of pricing, I upgrade Parallels every 2 years at the very most, and I almost always score a deal through Parallels direct, or some kind of software bundle where I buy (and sell off the rest), or buy it from some who bought a bundle but didn't want Parallels.
> 
> I'm using the non-subscription model, mine will continue to function.  I have an extra license sitting here I picked up for $10 from someone on MR, my last license was $20, I'm into it for about $30-40 over 3-4 years, and I've used it to bill, well, A LOT  The cost is so trivial for my business, I would save more money by not printing ... and I print about once every 2 months and that's an Amazon return label



I’ve experienced seriously flaky behavior (VM totally fried; hope you backed up! Bugs? Just wait until the next version, maybe we’ll fix it then) from Parallels in the past. Its ease of use and Mac-Windows integration is hard to beat though. The latest version of VMWare’s fusion has the (in my experience) solid reliability of VMWare with enough Mac-Windows integration to make it usable for the average person.


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## User.45

DT said:


> VB isn't nearly stout enough / feature rich to accomodate my VM needs, poor graphic performance, missing several key features, as well as a couple of slick options like Coherence mode in Parallels (which is  mostly how I use it).
> 
> I've been using Parallels for ~10 years, pretty much non-stop, it's open now in fact, my machine runs 24/7 with that VM open (current uptime is ~76 days).  I occasionally do a quick re-review of alternatives, though mostly the only other real commercial product in this space (VMWare).
> 
> In terms of pricing, I upgrade Parallels every 2 years at the very most, and I almost always score a deal through Parallels direct, or some kind of software bundle where I buy (and sell off the rest), or buy it from some who bought a bundle but didn't want Parallels.
> 
> I'm using the non-subscription model, mine will continue to function.  I have an extra license sitting here I picked up for $10 from someone on MR, my last license was $20, I'm into it for about $30-40 over 3-4 years, and I've used it to bill, well, A LOT  The cost is so trivial for my business, I would save more money by not printing ... and I print about once every 2 months and that's an Amazon return label



I run a shitty Java app (I know...) every 3 months and the rare DosBox thing. That's it.

I'm surrounded by PCs, if I need more I fire up a PC. Research stuff run on Linux/MacOS natively. Nota lot of missing out on Windows.


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## DT

I should disclose that one of my superpowers is generally not having issues with computers/electronics.  Call it luck, call it karma ...



P_X said:


> I run a shitty Java app (I know...) every 3 months and the rare DosBox thing. That's it.
> 
> I'm surrounded by PCs, if I need more I fire up a PC. Research stuff run on Linux/MacOS natively. Nota lot of missing out on Windows.




I'm kind of hoping to move all development work off of Winders™ this year, I mean, in terms of client/desktop tools. I use MacOS:  tons of small opensource tools (mostly terminal apps), mobile dev tools (Xcode and MS Visual Code), API tools, browser (for debugging, etc.),  even my primary Oracle dev tool (which is also a SJA ), I run on MacOS native, and the actual Oracle instances are up on AWS.  MS is making good progress with Visual Studio on MacOS, so all I eventually need to do is move my local IIS and MS-SQL instances to the cloud, get a good solid workflow and I can nuke Windows/Parallels.

Kind of timing that was the release of a higher power M1<something> machine.


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## User.45

DT said:


> I should disclose that one of my superpowers is generally not having issues with computers/electronics.  Call it luck, call it karma ...
> 
> 
> 
> I'm kind of hoping to move all development work off of Winders™ this year, I mean, in terms of client/desktop tools. I use MacOS:  tons of small opensource tools (mostly terminal apps), mobile dev tools (Xcode and MS Visual Code), API tools, browser (for debugging, etc.),  even my primary Oracle dev tool (which is also a SJA ), I run on MacOS native, and the actual Oracle instances are up on AWS.  MS is making good progress with Visual Studio on MacOS, so all I eventually need to do is move my local IIS and MS-SQL instances to the cloud, get a good solid workflow and I can nuke Windows/Parallels.
> 
> Kind of timing that was the release of a higher power M1<something> machine.



I'm curious too! Though as you could see, it will take like 3-5 years for my type of software to transition to Mx C/GPUs.


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## LIVEFRMNYC

FastStone Image Viewer ...  I can't use a Windows PC without this installed.  No other viewer on Windows, Mac, or Linux comes close to this. 
Has some decent editing tools built in as well.  I just wish the developer was more active and built this for MacOS too.  I have the exe saved just incase it's no longer available.


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## Pumbaa

Taskwarrior is Free and Open Source Software that manages your TODO list from the command line.

I’ve lost count of how many TODO apps I’ve tried over the years, both paid and free. Taskwarrior is the first one I have been happy with; it is compatible with my workflow. The main flaw for me is the lack of an iOS app. Might just have to code one one of these days if I ever figure out an user experience I would tolerate...


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## lizkat

I've used Firefox for so long now that I can barely find my way around Safari.   I only found that out though TODAY,  having finally become EXASPERATED trying to continue using Firefox until the 1Password developers release a production version of the 1Password extension for MacOS  that integrates its lock state with the desktop version of 1Password.    As of its most recent production release,  it auto locks whenever you quit the browser in MacOS Firefox, with no option to not do that (i.e. regardless of other settings for lockup, like the timer preference).  So the only way to get that to quit happening in MacOS using Firefox right now is to use a 1Password beta release, which I do not want to do.

So now I'm in Safari, the 1Password extension of which does not behave that way, thank goodness.

But I now I also realize I'm definitely getting old:  everything that is different between Firefox and Safari infuriates me anew today,  regardless of whether it's related to extension management, content viewing options, bookmarks,  privacy/tracking, yada yada.

Whatever happened to my previous sunny disposition along lines of "Oh, so that's what happens when you do this..."   ??!    I'm sure I'm talking to myself this afternoon over this mess, and I'm also sure I sound like my great great grandmother when she was trying to figure out how to use an electric steam iron in her old age.
​But at least for now when using Safari,  I can stop cursing at 1Password devs and I am definitely enjoying not having to re-enter my master pw for 1Password after every relaunch of my desktop browser.  I quit my browser dozens of times a day and I'm not going to try to unlearn that habit.

And.... since the wizards at 1Password say that they have fixed this aspect of the Firefox 1Password extension for MacOS in a beta release,  there's presumably hope on the horizon that I can revert to Firefox pretty soon...   i.e., before my brain decides Safari is the only browser I know how to use.

Thanks for letting me vent.    And now back to your regular programming...    me, I'm off my coffee break now and headed back to raking off the grass that should have been mulched when the guy mowed.  It was unbelievably tall grass after everyone around here had waited and waited for sunshine to rediscover us.  It's literally almost enough of a mown hayfield now  to need baling instead of just raking out!

EDIT:   happy camper once again...  1Password released update as of 5/26 that includes Firefox in brower extension integrating lock state of desktop and browser.  I guess it didn't hurt me to prowl around Safari for a few days in the meantime.  At least I cleaned up some years-old bookmarks by importing the ones from Firefox..


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## thekev

DT said:


> VB isn't nearly stout enough / feature rich to accomodate my VM needs, poor graphic performance, missing several key features, as well as a couple of slick options like Coherence mode in Parallels (which is  mostly how I use it).
> 
> I've been using Parallels for ~10 years, pretty much non-stop, it's open now in fact, my machine runs 24/7 with that VM open (current uptime is ~76 days).  I occasionally do a quick re-review of alternatives, though mostly the only other real commercial product in this space (VMWare).
> 
> In terms of pricing, I upgrade Parallels every 2 years at the very most, and I almost always score a deal through Parallels direct, or some kind of software bundle where I buy (and sell off the rest), or buy it from some who bought a bundle but didn't want Parallels.
> 
> I'm using the non-subscription model, mine will continue to function.  I have an extra license sitting here I picked up for $10 from someone on MR, my last license was $20, I'm into it for about $30-40 over 3-4 years, and I've used it to bill, well, A LOT   The cost is so trivial for my business, I would save more money by not printing ... and I print about once every 2 months and that's an Amazon return label




Any thoughts on hypervisors for those of us stuck doing Windows development who occasionally need to run Kaeli?


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## DT

thekev said:


> Any thoughts on hypervisors for those of us stuck doing Windows development who occasionally need to run Kaeli?




I guess I'd score the multi-day trial for the usual suspects and give them a good test drive, assuming you mean Windows on an Intel based Mac.  Did you mean Kali?  Like the security tech stack?

I'm getting sort of excited about the rumors on the next gen Mx based machines, but that will absolutely mean I need to change my workflow as I have Windows dev needs too.  As far as an IDE, I've been knocking around with VS for Mac, it's getting pretty close, really the issues I've had is dealing with the project being run __on__ a Mac, and all the additional config/runtimes needed, I'd rather keep the project "Windows clean".

I already use Oracle from the cloud, I moved it off a local resource a couple of years ago, so my real needs are simply IIS/MSSQL, which I could either run on AWS or Azure, or, if I wanted to keep it local, just rebuild the couple of 4U servers I have, just toss in an inexpensive MB, 16GB RAM a 512GB PCI stick ...

... hmmm, I may do that anyway, I could use some additional servers on this end


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## thekev

DT said:


> I guess I'd score the multi-day trial for the usual suspects and give them a good test drive, assuming you mean Windows on an Intel based Mac.  Did you mean Kali?  Like the security tech stack?
> 
> I'm getting sort of excited about the rumors on the next gen Mx based machines, but that will absolutely mean I need to change my workflow as I have Windows dev needs too.  As far as an IDE, I've been knocking around with VS for Mac, it's getting pretty close, really the issues I've had is dealing with the project being run __on__ a Mac, and all the additional config/runtimes needed, I'd rather keep the project "Windows clean".
> 
> I already use Oracle from the cloud, I moved it off a local resource a couple of years ago, so my real needs are simply IIS/MSSQL, which I could either run on AWS or Azure, or, if I wanted to keep it local, just rebuild the couple of 4U servers I have, just toss in an inexpensive MB, 16GB RAM a 512GB PCI stick ...
> 
> ... hmmm, I may do that anyway, I could use some additional servers on this end




Yeah I misspelled it, and yeah. I run that (as of very recently, thus forgetting how it's spelled) and either Ubuntu or Debian for non-Windows development. Most of what I do at the moment is Windows, which makes building anything open source quite annoying. Virtualbox is often a bit laggy, even when I assign it tons of ram, and it's a pain configuring its desktop resolution and size. This machine is secondhand and running 64GB of ram, so I can pretty much throw 8-16GB at a single vm.


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## Renzatic

thekev said:


> Yeah I misspelled it, and yeah. I run that (as of very recently, thus forgetting how it's spelled) and either Ubuntu or Debian for non-Windows development. Most of what I do at the moment is Windows, which makes building anything open source quite annoying. Virtualbox is often a bit laggy, even when I assign it tons of ram, and it's a pain configuring its desktop resolution and size. This machine is secondhand and running 64GB of ram, so I can pretty much throw 8-16GB at a single vm.




Why not just use WSL2?


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## User.191

DT said:


> I guess I'd score the multi-day trial for the usual suspects and give them a good test drive, assuming you mean Windows on an Intel based Mac.  Did you mean Kali?  Like the security tech stack?
> 
> I'm getting sort of excited about the rumors on the next gen Mx based machines, but that will absolutely mean I need to change my workflow as I have Windows dev needs too.  As far as an IDE, I've been knocking around with VS for Mac, it's getting pretty close, really the issues I've had is dealing with the project being run __on__ a Mac, and all the additional config/runtimes needed, I'd rather keep the project "Windows clean".
> 
> I already use Oracle from the cloud, I moved it off a local resource a couple of years ago, so my real needs are simply IIS/MSSQL, which I could either run on AWS or Azure, or, if I wanted to keep it local, just rebuild the couple of 4U servers I have, just toss in an inexpensive MB, 16GB RAM a 512GB PCI stick ...
> 
> ... hmmm, I may do that anyway, I could use some additional servers on this end



I have a local Docker Sql Server 2019 image that works a treat for me.


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## SuperMatt

I use Docker on Mac for web development. Works very well, and other developers are saying it’s working pretty well on M1 Macs too after some initial hiccups.


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## DT

MissNomer said:


> I have a local Docker Sql Server 2019 image that works a treat for me.





Yeah, I should probably just use that, I actually have one already setup, I ported over the couple of development DBs, they worked just fine, I mean, the Docker MSSQL is actually running on a *NIX stub, and generally I try to be more exact in terms of matching platforms (this is for pretty mission critical work in the Fed operations sector ...), but it's  99.999% likely to be fine.

In fact, I may look at it again this week, like I said, I kind of don't mind having the extra servers running here (I actually have an 18U server rack in my "equipment closet"), and that does allow me to do an exact environment match (some of this for systems running on extremely secured networks).


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## DT

thekev said:


> Yeah I misspelled it, and yeah. I run that (as of very recently, thus forgetting how it's spelled) and either Ubuntu or Debian for non-Windows development. Most of what I do at the moment is Windows, which makes building anything open source quite annoying. Virtualbox is often a bit laggy, even when I assign it tons of ram, and it's a pain configuring its desktop resolution and size. This machine is secondhand and running 64GB of ram, so I can pretty much throw 8-16GB at a single vm.




My machine,  2018 Mini, i7, 32GB, runs fantastically well with dozens of native apps and one, occasionally __two__ Windows VMs running.  I'm still on Parallels 14, hahaha, and still on 10.14.6 (Mojave) on MacOS.  My main VM (my dev Win 10) I actually stuck out on external storage, it's ~115GB and was taking up so much space, and my TB3 external is almost as fast as my internal storage.

What I should do is steal one of the two M1 machines we have, setup VS Mac, Docker, port over a DB, see how it runs.


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## thekev

DT said:


> My machine,  2018 Mini, i7, 32GB, runs fantastically well with dozens of native apps and one, occasionally __two__ Windows VMs running.  I'm still on Parallels 14, hahaha, and still on 10.14.6 (Mojave) on MacOS.  My main VM (my dev Win 10) I actually stuck out on external storage, it's ~115GB and was taking up so much space, and my TB3 external is almost as fast as my internal storage.
> 
> *What I should do is steal one of the two M1 machines we have, setup VS Mac, Docker, port over a DB, see how it runs.*




I would actually like to hear how that runs. I may need to replace a backup machine in the near future. I work remotely these days, so some redundancy is necessary.


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## User.191

DT said:


> this is for pretty mission critical work in the Fed operations sector ..



I feel your pain. I did a tour of duty with DHL back in the day when they were based over in San Francisco. Nothing like being yelled at at 2am on a Sunday morning by a ground tech because a system's down and a fully laden 747 can't take off until it's up again...


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