Developer hardware support
Hi all,
I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into developer's hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this (or if we should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with not knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring I am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able to fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows that a 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our current financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of support is given to who could be quite a challenge.
Tav
I think that sounds like a good idea. I don't think we need an official policy on something if we're not going to do it regularly, we can just handle it on a case-by-case basis. Noticed that you mentioned a 2018 one, but would it be better to have an ARM based Mac Mini? Would be nice to have someone with that HW testing the builds as well. I think they're also cheaper (not sure about in Europe). Ted On Nov 30 2021, at 3:46 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote:
Hi all, I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into developer's hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this (or if we should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with not knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring I am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able to fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows that a 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our current financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of support is given to who could be quite a challenge. Tav _______________________________________________ Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org To unsubscribe send an email to inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org
My own thinking is that it'd be better if we had machines that could be remote into with something like VNC.
The hosting developer could be anyone. A bit like how René is currently hosting the macOS CI builder machines. But it would allow us to give some credentials out to anyone, even if they're involved with a GSoC or have come along later.
Having them be remotable doesn't have to be an ethier-or, and happy to see us taking use of older machines for testing.
Developer meeting is tomorrow and the 9th, PLC video meeting is 9th Dec. We could discuss this developer funding issue there too.
Best Regards, Martin Owens
On Tue, 2021-11-30 at 11:30 -0600, Ted Gould wrote:
I think that sounds like a good idea. I don't think we need an official policy on something if we're not going to do it regularly, we can just handle it on a case-by-case basis.
Noticed that you mentioned a 2018 one, but would it be better to have an ARM based Mac Mini? Would be nice to have someone with that HW testing the builds as well. I think they're also cheaper (not sure about in Europe).
Ted On Nov 30 2021, at 3:46 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote:
Hi all,
I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into developer's hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this (or if we should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with not knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring I am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able to fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows that a 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our current financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of support is given to who could be quite a challenge.
Tav _______________________________________________ Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org To unsubscribe send an email to inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org
Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org To unsubscribe send an email to inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org
Having a local machine is probably necessary for testing the GUI (which is where the current problem is).
Unfortunately, I'll not be able to make today's developer meeting (gotta go toot my horn, literally).
Tav
----- Original Message ----- | From: "Martin Owens" doctormo@gmail.com | To: "Ted Gould" ted@gould.cx, tavmjong@free.fr | Cc: inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:47:48 PM | Subject: Re: [Inkscape-board] Re: Developer hardware support | | My own thinking is that it'd be better if we had machines that could | be | remote into with something like VNC. | | The hosting developer could be anyone. A bit like how René is | currently | hosting the macOS CI builder machines. But it would allow us to give | some credentials out to anyone, even if they're involved with a GSoC | or | have come along later. | | Having them be remotable doesn't have to be an ethier-or, and happy | to | see us taking use of older machines for testing. | | Developer meeting is tomorrow and the 9th, PLC video meeting is 9th | Dec. We could discuss this developer funding issue there too. | | Best Regards, Martin Owens | | On Tue, 2021-11-30 at 11:30 -0600, Ted Gould wrote: | > | > I think that sounds like a good idea. I don't think we need an | > official policy on something if we're not going to do it regularly, | > we can just handle it on a case-by-case basis. | > | > Noticed that you mentioned a 2018 one, but would it be better to | > have | > an ARM based Mac Mini? Would be nice to have someone with that HW | > testing the builds as well. I think they're also cheaper (not sure | > about in Europe). | > | > Ted | > On Nov 30 2021, at 3:46 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote: | > > Hi all, | > > | > > I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into | > > developer's hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this | > > (or | > > if we should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with | > > not | > > knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring | > > I | > > am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able | > > to fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows | > > that a 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our | > > current | > > financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I | > > could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of | > > support is given to who could be quite a challenge. | > > | > > Tav | > > _______________________________________________ | > > Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | > > inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | > > To unsubscribe send an email to | > > inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org | > | > _______________________________________________ | > Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | > inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | > To unsubscribe send an email to | > inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org | |
I was thinking a 2018 as I'm not sure of the status of Inkscape on the ARM based ones. The base ARM model is a bit cheaper than the base Intel mode but the cost of memory/SSD upgrades to the ARM one seems to be huge and it can't be upgraded after the fact.
----- Original Message ----- | From: "Ted Gould" ted@gould.cx | To: tavmjong@free.fr | Cc: inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:30:47 PM | Subject: [Inkscape-board] Re: Developer hardware support | | | | | I think that sounds like a good idea. I don't think we need an | official policy on something if we're not going to do it regularly, | we can just handle it on a case-by-case basis. | | Noticed that you mentioned a 2018 one, but would it be better to have | an ARM based Mac Mini? Would be nice to have someone with that HW | testing the builds as well. I think they're also cheaper (not sure | about in Europe). | | Ted | | On Nov 30 2021, at 3:46 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote: | | | | | Hi all, | | I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into developer's | hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this (or if we | should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with not | knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring I | am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able to | fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows that a | 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our current | financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I | could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of | support is given to who could be quite a challenge. | | Tav | _______________________________________________ | Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | To unsubscribe send an email to | inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org Sent from Mailspring | _______________________________________________ | Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | To unsubscribe send an email to | inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org |
On Wed, 2021-12-01 at 16:26 +0100, tavmjong@free.fr wrote:
Having a local machine is probably necessary for testing the GUI (which is where the current problem is).
A VNC wouldn't be command line SSH, it would be full desktop. Just remotely accessible so other people could log in and use it. It looks like a virtual machine and it's not always super fast (latency) but it would do for a lot of GUI tests.
Martin,
Not gonna over think it, but I was more thinking that by the time the dev release gets out, people will probably care more that ARM works than Intel. Where the puck is going so to say.
Ted On Dec 1 2021, at 9:30 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote:
I was thinking a 2018 as I'm not sure of the status of Inkscape on the ARM based ones. The base ARM model is a bit cheaper than the base Intel mode but the cost of memory/SSD upgrades to the ARM one seems to be huge and it can't be upgraded after the fact. ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Ted Gould" ted@gould.cx | To: tavmjong@free.fr | Cc: inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:30:47 PM | Subject: [Inkscape-board] Re: Developer hardware support | | | | | I think that sounds like a good idea. I don't think we need an | official policy on something if we're not going to do it regularly, | we can just handle it on a case-by-case basis. | | Noticed that you mentioned a 2018 one, but would it be better to have | an ARM based Mac Mini? Would be nice to have someone with that HW | testing the builds as well. I think they're also cheaper (not sure | about in Europe). | | Ted | | On Nov 30 2021, at 3:46 am, tavmjong@free.fr wrote: | | | | | Hi all, | | I would like to raise the topic of getting hardware into developer's | hands. I'm really not sure the best way to do this (or if we | should). My motivation is the frustration I'm having with not | knowing if I am breaking the our MacOSX code with the refactoring I | am doing... and when I do get reports of breakage, not being able to | fix it (it's currently broken now!). A little research shows that a | 2018 Mac Mini can be had for around $1000. Given our current | financial state, that would see like a reasonable investment. I | could imagine though, coming up with a policy of what kind of | support is given to who could be quite a challenge. | | Tav | _______________________________________________ | Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | To unsubscribe send an email to | inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org Sent from Mailspring | _______________________________________________ | Inkscape Board of Directors mailing list -- | inkscape-board@lists.inkscape.org | To unsubscribe send an email to | inkscape-board-leave@lists.inkscape.org |
On Dec 1 2021, at 9:32 am, Martin Owens doctormo@gmail.com wrote:
On Wed, 2021-12-01 at 16:26 +0100, tavmjong@free.fr wrote:
Having a local machine is probably necessary for testing the GUI (which is where the current problem is).
A VNC wouldn't be command line SSH, it would be full desktop. Just remotely accessible so other people could log in and use it. It looks like a virtual machine and it's not always super fast (latency) but it would do for a lot of GUI tests.
Generally speaking if we have things that we expect to be available to devs, I think we shouldn't have people host them at their houses. Also latency sucks there. There are folks that provide virtual machines of various types as a service, and I think that makes sense. It could also make sense in this case as I'm not sure how long Tav would be needing the OSX machine, perhaps paying for a few months of a virtual machine would make more sense than hardware that would eventually sit idle. I don't have an OSX virtual machine vendor that I've used before, but this is the first one that popped up on a DDG search and illustrates what I'm thinking: https://www.macincloud.com/ Ted
participants (3)
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Martin Owens -
tavmjong＠free.fr -
Ted Gould