I want to be able to use this IDE to step though code and debug.
So far I have found:
"e" Text Editor (http://www.e-texteditor.com/) $34.95 Arcadia (http://arcadia.rubyforge.org/)
Has anybody ever tried either of these and how are they? Or anything else you can suggest?
If you're specifically looking for debugging capabilities, then the following fit the bill:
While E Text Editor has no debugger as such, it's a great editor for working with Ruby and Rails due to its similarity to TextMate and compatibility with its Bundles.
in windows, it's got to be aptana http://www.aptana.com/ - it has strong debugging capabilities although it is a bit of a process hog
komodo ide from activestate has ruby and debugging; however, I won't be able to comment on the cygwin piece you asked about until next week when I actually set up cygwin on my windows box
E.texteditor is very good one.
On linux I use gEdit (gMate with plugins) On windows: E.Texteditor On Mac: TextMate.
They have got many similar functionality (such as bundles and themes). I don't think that big IDE's are good solutions for rails development. So I recommend you to look at e.texteditor on windows.
Although you can look on vim or Emacs (I prefer Emacs) - they are hard on the beginning but very when you are experienced user - they give you many cool features. And they are platform independent. So you have got your editor everywhere you work.
If you consider going down the Emacs route, the following link probably will be helpful: