I have the following:
Windows Vista (primary machine) -- 1.9.1-p129 and all gems I currently need -- using netbeans IDE 6.5 -- have a primary project being developed
Ubuntu 9.x (VMWare box on primary machine) -- 1.9.1-p129 and all gems I currently need -- using netbeans IDE 6.5 -- has a copied version of the primary project being developed
Ubuntu Hardy (VPS - main website hosted through slicehost) -- 1.9.1-p129 and all gems I currently need -- no projects uploaded or tested yet
Älphä Blüë wrote:
1. I tested out the VMware box and was able to load my project and even work on it. I received no errors and all tasks seemed to perform well. This leads me to believe that as long as all three environments have the exact same version of ruby and exact same version of gems (regardless of ruby was compiled on windows with ming etc.) that they all should work. Is this a correct assumption?
I would think so.
2. I would simply code on my VMWare box but it's a little more sluggish becuse it's a virtual box. I'm also worried that it will crash one day and unless I'm doing nightly snapshots or saves, I'll lose work.
Why are you worried about that? Linux is a lot less crash-happy than Windows.
Do you recommend that I just use this as a test box for my code and keep developing on windows where I'm used to developing?
Every time you use Windows, a demon gets his horns. 
3. Any suggestions on backing up data or crossing over data. Is there a core concept or things to keep in mind when backing up projects after you've worked on them?
At the moment, my project backup is my version control repository (you *do* have one of those, right?).
[...]
4. Any other tips that I can use to keep my environment stable and efficient?
Stop using Windows, which is neither?
Many thanks in advance...
Best,
Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:
Why are you worried about that? Linux is a lot less crash-happy than Windows.
My linux VMWare box is on Windows Vista so if (windows crashes) the linux box will too..
Although the likelihood of that happening is very slim (I have only had one crash in over a year and that was due to a hardware issue with bad memory).
I just like to be safe
At the moment, my project backup is my version control repository (you *do* have one of those, right?).
Actually I'm just starting my project and haven't done this yet. I'm
looking into doing that now. This was a very good suggestion and I
appreciate it. 
Thanks for the feedback mate.
Älphä Blüë wrote:
Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:
Why are you worried about that? Linux is a lot less crash-happy than Windows.
My linux VMWare box is on Windows Vista so if (windows crashes) the linux box will too..
True, but I would think that the VM would still be in a consistent state, since *it* was not crashing. [...]
Actually I'm just starting my project and haven't done this yet. I'm looking into doing that now. This was a very good suggestion and I appreciate it.
That should be about the first thing you do when you start a project. Version control (I recommend Git) is so amazingly beneficial, and so easy to set up, that there is absolutely no excuse not to use it. (And it's nearly essential if you're using Capistrano.)
Thanks for the feedback mate.
You're welcome!
Best,
Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:
That should be about the first thing you do when you start a project. Version control (I recommend Git) is so amazingly beneficial, and so easy to set up, that there is absolutely no excuse not to use it. (And it's nearly essential if you're using Capistrano.)
Marnen thanks so much mate!
I had tortoiseSVN installed on my machine (just never used it). I created a repos and my netbeans IDE actually has subversion built into it so I can commit changes from there. I tested it all out and it's working nice. This helps me a ton.
I'm very appreciative.
I have Git Bash installed but I am not very proficient with it. Is tortoise not good?
Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:
I use several plugins and gems (RSpec, Hobofields) that extend script/generate with their own generators. Amazingly, NB does not pick up the new generators as options, so I'm back at the command line if I want to use them. This was about when I decided there was no reason to continue with NB for Rails until something gets upgraded.
I use Rspec-rails and Rspec with NB and it generates fine for me. You have to add both to vendor/plugins. Once you do that, you right-click your project -> generate -> and select rspec controller (which shows up automatically as a new generator in NB), etc. and generate them right there. I haven't had any issues with rspec doing it this way..
And as a Rails beginner, you should be aware that NB may be hurting you by not giving easy access to tools you may not yet know you need. (This may not actually turn out to be an issue, but the possibility is real.)
I always try out multiple ways of doing things, without fully relying on the IDE to do this for me. Many of the books I'm reading show me how to do it "manually" so I learn things that way. Once I'm comfortable, I figure out how to do it the NB way. If it doesn't work in NB, I make a mental note. I haven't had many issues with things not working well with NB.
However, HAML and SASS are one exception. NB doesn't make great use of them and plugins are either out of date or not being actively worked on anymore for those.
Take care mate. You give great input and feedback and many of us appreciate it.
I have not tested out Komodoedit - I'll look into it. I'm still early in my rails programming phases so it's never too late to learn if it works well.