lewantmontreal

My Macbook Pro order looks to be still months away from shipping and I’ve started to consider the “light laptop as a terminal for a beefy Linux desktop” alternative. If you happen to use such a setup what does it look like and how well has it served your needs? Is there specific VNC software or a Tmux plugin you could not live without?

Setups that come to mind for me are

1. RDP/remote desktop methods. Pros: You can run everything as if using a regular computer. Persistent, all the apps and windows are kept in place and running even if you disconnect. Cons: Additional latency. On my naive xrdp attempt I could not get 4k resolution usable, plus Ubuntu kept asking for my root password for various things every minute.

2. VSCode remote SSH. Pros: Low latency and very easy setup. Cons: Only for command line apps and web dev. Cant resume terminal instances after a longer disconnect.

3. Remote terminal (ex. SSH/Mosh). Pros: Low latency with mosh. App/window persistence with Tmux. Cons: Steeper learning curve. Only for command line apps.

4. Fully online IDE. Pros: Very easy, similar to VSCode with SSH remote. Cons: Unregular keyboard shortcuts are needed to avoid hitting browser shortcuts. Cost usually scales with hours of use or number of projects.