A breif look at the tools you need as a web developer in 2020, running Linux on the desktop as a web developer.

OSX is my os of choice, but I’ve always used linux on at least one of my machines (I use Kali a ton, and Centos / Debian on servers every day). I thought I’d visit if my regular work flows work on linux in 2020.

A list of tools:

• git
• Docker
• Vagrant (with VirtualBox)
• Firefox
• Chrome
• VSCode
• MySQL workbench
• php
• python3
• pip
• composer
• npm
• vuejs

Preinstalled tools

Python

In most distros you should have Python installed.

Php

In most distros you should have a verison of php installed

Firefox

In most distros you should have Firefox installed too (though you may want to update to the latest version):

Linux on the desktop as a web developer – Installing missing tools

Git

Out of the box, you should be able to install git with your package manager if its not already installed:

sudo apt install git

VSCode

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux
install via snap, or via apt

Docker

https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/
add the repo, install and run

Vagrant (and VirtualBox)

First, install virtualbox using apt:

sudo apt install virtualbox

Once you have virtualbox installed, install vagrant from https://www.vagrantup.com/

Chrome

Chrome isnt installed on most distros, but its very easy to install – just search google for ‘google chrome’ and click the install button on the chrome site

MySQL Workbench

Head to the mysql website and download the latest versoin of workbench:
you can download here

Composer

Follow the usual install instructions here

Pip

Pip usually has a package available for the major distros:

sudo apt install python3-pip

NPM

npm is included in nodejs, so follow the install instruction here and here

VueJS

install nodejs – https://nodejs.org/en/

install vuecli3 – Building a PWA vuejs app with wordpress API – Part 1

npm install -g @vue/cli
npm install -g @vue/cli-service-global

create a new project (I like to create in github, clone and then initiate vue)

git clone XXXXXX
cd XXXXX
vue create .

Ten years ago, it was difficult to run Linux on the desktop as a web developer for your everyday dev machine for web. Today, its very simple – there is no reason to not use a linux machine as your daily-driver (in the same way that there is no reason not to run windows or osx – alll the tools you need are available on all platforms, except xcode, which is osx only, and is only needed if you are submitting to the apple app-store)