Developing with Pop!_OS
Pop!_OS comes with GNOME by default. Pop!_OS’ Cosmic desktop will be coming out soon. You can install other desktop environments (DEs) if you want to. Here’s a step-by-step guide to set up a local development environment on Pop!_OS:
Make small moves. Take your time. Don’t try to do everything all at once. The system I will describe in this story is a learning system. It is a high performance system.
Start by installing Alacritty or Kitty or both. Get it configured the way you want it configured. Spend some time figuring out how to use this advanced tool. If you use Alacritty, get Tmux installed and configured. Allacritty and Tmux work well together. Kitty has most Tmux capabilities built into it.
Install Neovim and get it configured the way you like it. Make Neovim your one and only text editor/IDE. Neovim has a fairly steep learning curve, but it is one of the most high performance text editors. It will take you some time to learn how to use neovim, but once you do, you will be a high performance coding ninja.
Install Git. Get a GitHub account set up. Start up your Akamai Linode account and start developing your remote development environment. Take your time. Get an account set up with a file system that you can access from any computer. You can build your own if you want to, but you would be losing one of the most important advantages of a remote file system, which is backing up your files in case of fire or flood at your home office. Make sure you have a copy of all your files at your home office and at least one remote location.
Learn how to use Git and SSH to connect your local development environment to your remote servers at GitHub or Akamai. Get Qemu, LXC and LXD installed for creating virtual environments and containers.
- update your system:
sudo apt update && upgrade - install and enable the libvirt daemon that runs virtualization in the background
sudo apt install libvirt-daemon, thensudo systemctl enable libvirtd, thensudo systemctl start libvirtd - Install QEMU:
sudo apt install qemu-system - Install Virtual Machine Manager:
sudo apt install virt-manager
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1490805/how-do-i-install-qemu-on-ubuntu-23-10
You should be able to find the Virtual Machine Manager in your application launcher.
Set up your VPN to ensure your privacy.
Install PostgreSQL and learn how to use it for your database applications. Create a database schema and populate it with sample data. Set up database connections in your code (e.g., using PDO or Sequelize)
Install C/C++, Node.js and npm, Python, PHP, Lua, Rust
Set up syntax highlighting and code completion for your languages (e.g., PHP, JavaScript). Configure debugging tools (e.g., Xdebug, Node.js Inspector). Set up version control integration (e.g., Git)
Additional Tips
Familiarize yourself with Pop!_OS’s keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Super key for Activities Overview). Explore the Pop!_OS community and documentation for more information on setting up a development environment. Consider using a bootstrap script (e.g., pop-os-bootstrap) to automate the installation of development tools and dependencies
Resources
Pop!_OS documentation: https://pop-os.org/docs/
Pop!_OS community: https://community.pop-os.org/
GitHub repository for pop-os-bootstrap: https://github.com/bneff84/pop-os-bootstrap
By following these steps, you’ll have a solid local development environment set up in Pop!_OS, ready to tackle your next project!