Recommended specs for Windows Development computer.

Peter Bogdanoff bogdanoff at me.com
Sun Oct 6 19:31:00 EDT 2019


I work on text-heavy e-book-like, multi-language applications where layout is important.

I use fields instead of buttons as it is much easier to control the text display.

For field length, I often set the height of the field to the formatted height since Windows text (and other languages) will flow differently than Mac. However the card has to be showing to do this; you can’t do that from another card.

Also a difference between Mac/Windows is that for fields who’s textHeight is not set (fixed line height not checked), the default spacing between lines is different between Mac & Windows. I use images inline (image source set to an image’s ID) and you can’t fix the line height when that is happening.

So, to make Mac and Windows look as similar as possible in a paragraph of text where the text continues on to another page, I add carriage returns after every line of the Mac text (my development platform) and then export the htmlText to the database. Then when Windows loads the text in, the line breaks look more or less the same—I do have to make the field a little wider for Windows display. The height of Windows fields will need to be some 10% taller.

Also I use standard fonts, Georgia and Helvetica.

There’s a free version of my music application, Music In the Air, available to see this:
https://artsinteractiveinc.com


Peter Bogdanoff
ArtsInteractive

> On Oct 6, 2019, at 4:22 PM, dsc--- via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> I tend to use a lot of whitespace in layout and keep label fields and text buttons long.
> 
> And, since I am often the LiveCode programmer's programmer, building libraries & LCB extensions and such, I sometimes just throw controls onto the card. (Which might contribute to the notion that Dar can't GUI.)
> 
> Platform, window size, display size, and font availability are all in the environment. Perhaps these can be handled in a uniform manner as one might do a stack resize.
> 
> If I need to, I use raw primitive controls and use appropriate graphics.
> 
> So, to address the question, for simple stacks, I design for Mac and adjust for Windows.
> 
>> On Oct 4, 2019, at 11:50 AM, Jjs via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>> 
>> How do you people cope with the differences on fields and knobs having text in it on the different OS-es? If i only build on windows even for Linux and Macos, text and such never fits in the fields.And i have to adjust it and maintain a stack for each OS.
>> 
>> Dar Scott Consulting via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> schreef op 4 oktober 2019 19:40:16 CEST:
>>> The original question mentioned testing and debugging. 
>>> 
>>> I tend to develop on the Mac and test on Windows. At times I need to
>>> develop on Windows because there are unknowns in the environment or I'm
>>> using some Windows specific hardware. Especially internal hardware.
>>> 
>>> It is a big pain to have multiple programming stations, so I set up
>>> Windows workstations with monitors, keyboards and mice as needed. I
>>> prefer to have my big wide monitor on my Mac and then remote in. I
>>> currently use no-machine to access Windows machines.
>>> 
>>> The focus in the discussion has been on processor, RAM and disk. For me
>>> however, other hardware is important. That is, that which makes it hard
>>> to test with virtualization needs to be in the real hardware. And often
>>> one needs real hardware. Virtual Box has been good to me as far as
>>> emulating hardware, but I need to test on real stuff.
>>> 
>>> So, for me, the most important part is not so much processor-RAM-disk,
>>> but I/O. I want lots of USB and a variety of such, front and back. I
>>> want board slots. I want multiple NICs. RS-232 is a big plus. A
>>> powerful GPU is a plus, but I hope to build a computation server
>>> someday. Multiple kinds of video is good as well as handling multiple
>>> monitors. I want Bluetooth and Wifi. I want WoL. Though I use
>>> no-machine, I want to be able to remote desktop in, so W8.1 needs to be
>>> Pro. As soon as I get a computer, a customer will come up with
>>> something I neglected, so those slots are important. I get Pro for
>>> everything if I can.) For a different machine, I might want something
>>> with a touch screen that I can carry around.
>>> 
>>> In my last buy, I compromised. I did not get high performance or slots.
>>> 
>>> And speaking of Pro, Windows 10 Pro is, out of the box, friendly to us
>>> old guys.
>>> 
>>> As far as development on the Mac, Bootcamp does not work well for me, I
>>> want to see all of my screens on all of my computers. Parallels is
>>> good, but I have found that when Parallels and VMWare say no, Virtual
>>> Box says yes. What good is higher RPM when you can't get it into
>>> reverse? In general, virtualization allows me to swap out hardware or
>>> display sizes quickly, bing, bing, bing. Network configuration testing?
>>> No searching for switches, routers and cables. 
>>> 
>>> Just going by my memory (I recommend against trusting it), I do not see
>>> a big performance hit. I think LiveCode on Windows 10 Pro on Virtual
>>> Box 6 on Mac Mini runs slightly faster than LiveCode on macOS on
>>> MacMini. That could be my imagination. Disk I/O might be a lot slower,
>>> but it did not affect me. I typically use a LAN drive for such testing,
>>> anyway, unless the tests directly involve a local drive.
>>> 
>>> I have used MSDN Operating Systems to build a variety of virtual
>>> machines and to load on real machines. However, things seem to be
>>> different. Now the best way seems to be Visual Studio Pro, $1200 for
>>> the first year, $800 for subsequent. 
>>> 
>>> Dar
>>> Mad Scientist
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Oct 4, 2019, at 2:34 AM, Curry Kenworthy via use-livecode
>>> <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> For anyone truly interested in the original question of "Recommended
>>> specs for Windows Development computer"
>>>> 
>>>> (... as opposed to any OS-partisan virtue signaling, or avoiding
>>> Windows hardware, or maintaining a single computer as the rule, etc
>>> ...)
>>>> 
>>>> here's my take, from many years of often "Windows first, but not
>>> Windows only" experience:
>>>> 
>>>> - Biggest OS difference/biggest factor: anti-virus. I've literally
>>> seen a Mac running with software techniques similar to today's PC
>>> antivirus, and similar results.
>>>> 
>>>> - I don't trust my PC to run Mac, nor my Mac to run PC. I get my
>>> hands dirty on both, with dedicated hardware for each. You notice
>>> more....
>>>> 
>>>> - PC doesn't require a huge investment. I use a budget (but not
>>> bottom) laptop with as much hard disk and RAM as possible. Currently an
>>> i5 chip and 8 GB memory, 1 TB RAM.
>>>> 
>>>> - The specs I listed are quite adequate for professional LC dev. Any
>>> extra power feels great, but remember that it also could cause you to
>>> overlook issues affecting some of your end users. I intentionally use
>>> budget hardware to make sure software is snappy for everyone.
>>>> 
>>>> - Again, with Windows 10 it's all about managing antivirus and
>>> various other software/settings to be allowed to use the inherent
>>> performance of your machine. The power is in there, but you have to
>>> remove the ball and chains.
>>>> 
>>>> - Any OS-partisan biases (in other words reliving the 80s and 90s,
>>> which felt so good) will tend to be confirmed by their own cognitive
>>> influence on your perception of your limited experiences on another OS.
>>> Using a system efficiently takes experience and learning, built into
>>> habits. (There once was a system called MacOS that for a number of
>>> years pretty much broke that rule. And during those bygone years, I was
>>> proudly "Mac-first, but not Mac only.") Whatever OS you use, just
>>> realize that many everyday users are equally efficient on the other
>>> operating systems.
>>>> 
>>>> I like having and using both almost daily, as long as I'm developing
>>> for both. And developing for both is specifically how I ended up right
>>> here! :)
>>>> 
>>>> Best wishes,
>>>> 
>>>> Curry Kenworthy
>>>> 
>>>> Custom Software Development
>>>> "Better Methods, Better Results"
>>>> LiveCode Training and Consulting
>>>> http://livecodeconsulting.com/
>>>> 
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