iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

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simonmlewis
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iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by simonmlewis »

I am looking at getting a Tablet to provide PHP support away from home.
I like the ipad mini and all it can do, but seems that to provide support via TXT and PHP and INC files, it's a bit of a hassle.

Can anyone provide me with help on how I might do it with the ipad mini? ie. Apps you guys and girls use, free or otherwise?

Many thanks

Simon
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simonmlewis
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by simonmlewis »

Heavens, has NO ONE decided to use the iPad Mini and used it with developing or support?
I'm told oncloud is a good freebie for 'Office' type documents, and </> Markup is good for coding.
Textastic good for coding and FTP, and FTP Manager Pro is apparently and excellent paid-for FTP App.

Anyone got any advice or ideas?
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twinedev
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by twinedev »

Try checking out some of the cloud based IDE's listed in this article, see which ones work well on the mini...

http://designbeep.com/2011/06/28/18-use ... evelopers/

-Greg
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mecha_godzilla
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by mecha_godzilla »

Hi,

I think the interface is what would put me off - how quickly can you update a script or type a DB query using a touch screen? Most of the "urgent" support I get asked to do is terminal login stuff anyway or manual database interventions, for which I often need to switch between two or more applications. What's the benefit of using an iPad Mini as opposed to (say) a netbook, which can essentially be an exact duplicate of your work machine but in a smaller format? If you can look beyond the touch screen (perhaps you'd even prefer it - I know this is a no-brainer for some people when it comes to smart phones) then by all means get an iPad Mini, jailbreak it if needed and put whatever open source apps you want on it.

Mecha Godzilla
Last edited by mecha_godzilla on Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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social_experiment
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by social_experiment »

I wouldn't use it for any development work. The screen is too small so if i was forced into buying i'd go for a larger tablet. A keyboard is also a must because to me typing a full script on a tablet screen would be difficult. I'm not sure about any apps so i can't give my opinion on those.
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t work right. If everything did, you’d be out of a job.” - Mosher’s Law of Software Engineering
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Christopher
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by Christopher »

You might want to look into an Android tablet, like the Nexus 7 or 10. I would think that finding a good BlueTooth keyboard may be important too. With my Android phone I can SSH into servers, transfer files, things like that. I have certainly used that functionality when needed. I'd be interested to know if a tablet or tablet+keyboard could work as an support computer even if only to deal with emergencies.
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simonmlewis
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Re: iPad Mini - is it good for "away from home" web support?

Post by simonmlewis »

Textastic is brilliant.
I've bought it yesterday and have connected, downloaded, edited (it saves automatically on your local saved folder) and uploaded and tested.

Really simple to use. Even the means to tap across character by character (as you do with the <- -> keyboard), is easy by just tap with two fingers, and up comes a large control.

Highly recommend so far.
Love PHP. Love CSS. Love learning new tricks too.
All the best from the United Kingdom.
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