Add post about iPad Pro

content/blog/developing-with-ipad-pro.md

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+title = "Using an iPad Pro as a development machine"
+date = 2020-10-05T00:00:00-00:00
+draft = true
+meta_img = "/images/image.jpg"
+tags = ["productivity"]
+description = "Moving my development workflow to my iPad Pro!"
+hacker_news_id = ""
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+
+I believe the 2020s will be a new era of personal computers where the line
+between a device like the iPad Pro and the Macbook Pro will be blurred. That's
+especially true for a developer like myself, who develops mostly on remote
+instances where the client device doesn't really matter so much. This is the
+reason I caved this year and bought an iPad Pro (2020 edition)! With this new
+device came a different set of challenges, like which freaking app is the best
+to use for terminal emulation, and is the magic keyboard case for the iPad
+actually usable for a developer who mostly types on mechanical keyboards. So
+without further ado, here is my current developer setup for my iPad Pro!
+
+
+![iPad Pro](https://imgur.com/iBv5L1p)
+
+
+# iPad Pro Specific Things
+
+## Which terminal emulator should I use?
+
+The current terminal emulator that I am using is called [Blink Shell](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blink-shell-mosh-ssh-client/id1156707581).
+It costs about $20  but I have found it be easy to use as well as feature
+rich, without getting too confusing. It also just looks great,
+I don't know what the developers do to make the font rendering so smooth but
+it looks amazing and even supports things like NerdTree fonts! Another plus
+is that the developer of Blink Shell has also made a slew of color schemes
+and fonts available on Github for anyone else to use / iterate upon, which
+is always a plus.
+
+
+![Blink Shell](https://imgur.com/YcD5L6u)
+
+
+## How's the keyboard case for the iPad Pro?
+
+Coming from someone who is pretty picky about their keyboard situation, the
+keyboard that comes with the iPad Pro is probably in the league of the 2019
+Macbook Pro magic keyboard. It feels satisfyingly clicky with enough action
+in the keys to make you feel as though you've actually pushed a button.
+
+### But what about no ESC key >:(
+
+
+![No ESC](https://imgur.com/QGxsb9l)
+
+
+The lack of an `ESC` key is probably the most disappointing thing about the
+keyboard but it's still possible to function with my setup without a dedicated
+`ESC` key. Blink shell does have a few options for mapping `CAPS-LOCK` to `ESC`
+but I actually prefer the option where you map `CAPS-LOCK` to `CTRL` since it's
+more ergonmic for the keybinds I use within `neovim`.
+
+For the `neovim`/`vim` users who are struggling on the iPad Pro magic keyboard,
+just get used to typing `CTRL [`, which functions in pretty much the same way
+as an `ESC` key.
+
+# But how do you do actual development?
+
+So calling the iPad Pro a development machine is actually a bit of a misnomer.
+The iPad Pro is rather a thin client to an actual development machine, which
+for now is a Fedora DigitalOcean droplet. SSH'ing to the machine is actually
+very simple with Blink Shell, with the app having built in mechanisms for
+creating SSH keys as well as having support for things like host aliases.
+
+Another useful feature of Blink Shell is its built in support for `mosh`,
+which allows for persistent sessions, even if moving from one network to
+another. They even built from `mosh` master since the latest release of
+mosh doesn't include things like true color support.
+
+# Final thoughts
+
+The iPad Pro is a device that borders on a pure media consumption device
+and a real workhorse. The form factor and keyboard allow it to be a real
+replacement for personal development machines for software engineers who
+are looking to do some dev work on the side. If you're looking for an extra
+device to bring with you, that doesn't weigh as much as another MacBook Pro,
+the iPad Pro definitely does the job and more.
+
+If you have any questions feel free to contact me on twitter, [@_seemethere](https://twitter.com/_seemethere)
+