Let me preface this with saying that I'm very much new to Ruby on
Rails.
At the time of this post, available versions are:
- Ruby 1.9.2
- Gems 1.6.2
- Rails 3.0.5
I'm trying to set up several working environments in order of
priority:
1) Testing/Learning environment on my system (Windows 7, 64-bit)
2) Shared environment so that I can learn with a developer friend of
mine.
3) Hosting/Deployment environment.
Re: #1 - I have everything installed and have tried several IDEs with
hardly any success (RadRails 2, NetBeans 6.9.1, and RubyMine 3) - yet
haven't been able to set up a fully working/stable environment. Could
be convinced not to use an IDE too, but still need to be able to test
on localhost.
Re: #2 - Tried to combine 2 & 3 by using AWS. Got it going kinda, but
honestly don't know what I'm doing. Maybe Slicehost or Linode would
be better. Want to avoid EngineYard and some of the "expensive"
options because I can't afford it and don't want to pay that much to
learn Rails. Remember that #2 is my priority, so it doesn't exactly
have to be the "final destination" for my application.
SO...
Can folks weigh in on tried & true methods for getting up and
running. I'm a bit frustrated, and thought I'd turn to the experts
for advice. This help could come in any form you're able to give -
step by steps, links, replies, pointers, articles, etc...
Let me preface this with saying that I’m very much new to Ruby on
Rails.
At the time of this post, available versions are:
Ruby 1.9.2
Gems 1.6.2
Rails 3.0.5
I’m trying to set up several working environments in order of
priority:
Testing/Learning environment on my system (Windows 7, 64-bit)
Shared environment so that I can learn with a developer friend of
mine.
Hosting/Deployment environment.
Re: #1 - I have everything installed and have tried several IDEs with
hardly any success (RadRails 2, NetBeans 6.9.1, and RubyMine 3) - yet
haven’t been able to set up a fully working/stable environment. Could
be convinced not to use an IDE too, but still need to be able to test
on localhost.
Re: #2 - Tried to combine 2 & 3 by using AWS. Got it going kinda, but
honestly don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe Slicehost or Linode would
be better. Want to avoid EngineYard and some of the “expensive”
options because I can’t afford it and don’t want to pay that much to
learn Rails. Remember that #2 is my priority, so it doesn’t exactly
have to be the “final destination” for my application.
SO…
Can folks weigh in on tried & true methods for getting up and
running. I’m a bit frustrated, and thought I’d turn to the experts
for advice. This help could come in any form you’re able to give -
step by steps, links, replies, pointers, articles, etc…
What I would do is:
Set up an Ubuntu linux vm on your windows. You are going to have a lot better time dealing with Ubuntu than with Windows and have more support.
For deployment use Heroku if you are starting out. Does not get easier than than IMO. To use Heroku you will use git and that way you and anyone else you like can share the repository.
All -
I’m trying to set up several working environments in order of
priority:
Testing/Learning environment on my system (Windows 7, 64-bit)
Start by setting up rvm so if you need multiple versions of rails, gems and ruby (you will) it’ll give you the ability to handle that.
Shared environment so that I can learn with a developer friend of
mine.
Hosting/Deployment environment.
I’d use Heroku
Re: #1 - I have everything installed and have tried several IDEs with
hardly any success (RadRails 2, NetBeans 6.9.1, and RubyMine 3) - yet
haven’t been able to set up a fully working/stable environment. Could
be convinced not to use an IDE too, but still need to be able to test
on localhost.
Skip IDE’s. All you need to do is run “rails server” to test on localhost. Command line and a decent text editor are the easiest way to start and for most projects a good way to continue.
Re: #2 - Tried to combine 2 & 3 by using AWS. Got it going kinda, but
honestly don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe Slicehost or Linode would
be better. Want to avoid EngineYard and some of the “expensive”
options because I can’t afford it and don’t want to pay that much to
learn Rails. Remember that #2 is my priority, so it doesn’t exactly
have to be the “final destination” for my application.
Use heroku to kick things off. It’s the simplest possible starting point and no cost until you push to production (and many people have simple sites in production on the free version)
I'll second that you're likely to find more help on a non-Windows
system just because there are more people here with experience on Mac
and Linux.
I also second getting RVM for managing Ruby.
And before you get to an IDE, I would use the command line to make
sure you've got your environment correct.
However, I'd say that once you've gotten your first Rails app running
on localhost, then RubyMine is going to be a great help and save you
lots of time.
I've heard very good things about Instant Rails on Windows. I believe it sets up a Linux VM and installs all the tools. This makes it trivial to have a working environment that's closer to what you'll really be hosting on, so it removes some layers of abstraction and translation.
You are coming from other languages and you are trying to carry over all of your habits to rails, thats why you are so confused, first of all rails does not needs an ide, second your app will come with everything you need to develop once you run rails new command and create it, it will have testing, and a webserver indise for development.
Everything can be managed via de console and you dont need and ide. Rails is free, open source and easy, so it changes a lot that is why you will get confused easily if you find that soem tutorials dont work. Also you will find most of the support comes from the open source community so using an open source OS to program will be so much easier for you as a begginer.
If you want to include project collaboration read about git and learn to use it.
Since rails is based on ruby and is easy to create new libraries for it you will need a gem(libraries) dependency manager, that is bundler will do for you.
Not much maintenance has been done on Instant Rails for a while. The latest version uses rails 2.0 or 2.1 though you can install a later rails version on it. It consists of a directory hierarchy that contains the tools you will need to create and run a rails app on windows. It is not a Linux VM it is just a packaged rails system with a few bells and whistles and it runs good within the limits of windows. I use it all of the time for deploying on windows but I prefer to develop on Linux. You can use virtualbox and set up a Linux VM on windows and have a good development environment or do what I do and set up your system to dual boot Linux and Windows and maybe after a while you will forget windows is there.
I've heard very good things about Instant Rails on Windows. I believe it sets up a Linux VM and installs all the tools. This makes it trivial to have a working environment that's closer to what you'll really be hosting on, so it removes some layers of abstraction and translation.
Walter
Not much maintenance has been done on Instant Rails for a while. The latest version uses rails 2.0 or 2.1 though you can install a later rails version on it. It consists of a directory hierarchy that contains the tools you will need to create and run a rails app on windows. It is not a Linux VM it is just a packaged rails system with a few bells and whistles and it runs good within the limits of windows. I use it all of the time for deploying on windows but I prefer to develop on Linux. You can use virtualbox and set up a Linux VM on windows and have a good development environment or do what I do and set up your system to dual boot Linux and Windows and maybe after a while you will forget windows is there.
Norm
I am sorry, I misremembered the name. I was thinking of another kit. I'm googling but all i can find are references to RailsInstaller, and I think that just installs everything within Windows. Can anyone recall the name of the one that puts everything in a Linux VM?
