In recent times, linux, and more specifically Ubuntu, Mint and a few other distributions have gained popularity in both the consumer and corporate work station markets.

As a long time developer and linux user, I’ve slowly watched both the linux kernel and assorted commercial and open source software grow to maturity on these platforms. Don’t get me wrong – they still have a long way to go before being “ready” for the consumer markets, but the technology behind it essentially, super similar to popular products such as Android and Mac OSX.

Benefits of running Ubuntu for web development

Being a web developer usually means having a range of assorted software to help you do the job, and considering all of the work we produce at eMarketeer Australia in linux based web software, it only makes sense to have a linux environment to work.

1. Super easy integration with servers streamlines development

Connecting to your whole variety of servers comes native to most modern distros. Remote server connections make it easy to use FTP / SCP / SFTP to easily “drag and drop” files, or directly edit files on another machine.

2. Open source software is made with love, and it’s free

I’ve found that most mature open source projects are superior to commercial software. Picture a software developer, writing code purely because he enjoys it. Now compare it to a 9 – 5 work who is writing software just to pay their rent. The former is made with passion and love.

3. The community is huge, and finding help isn’t difficult.

Seems pretty self explanatory.

Web development software for Ubuntu that we use

For graphical work

  • GIMP 2.8+
  • Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator CS6 (via Wine)
  • Inkscape for the occasional SVG edits

For development

  • Apache2, MySQL, PHP, Perl and Ruby (All easily installable)
  • PhpMyAdmin
  • Go language
  • C++ and C
  • Git and SVN for version control
  • Rsync for various tools

IDE’s

  • Geany – great for lightweight, non-project based edits
  • Komodo Edit – probably the best open source IDE for Ubuntu
  • Sublime Text 2 – probably the best commercial based IDE for Ubuntu

Other stuff

  • Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird
  • Lightning plugin for Thunderbird calenders, with Google calender plugin
  • Libre Office suite
  • Remmina remote desktop client
  • Docky for window management
  • Gnome 3.10 desktop environment
  • Open SSH

And a whole lot more. We’ve just listed our favorite and most frequently used.

Is linux a viable OS to use for web development?

Considering I’ve used it full time for past 5 years to do primarily that, I will say yes, definiately.