Let's say you have a slow laptop which can't handle Visual Studio but a blazingly fast desktop that can. Let's also say that you want to develop in several rooms in your house. Are there any drawbacks to having Visual Studio running on the desktop and simply using the laptop as a way to access it remotely? I'd guess that the only thing that you would be concerned about would be the network latency, but if the two computers are on the same network that should be minimal.
+4
A:
Do it.
Since you are running Visual Studio in your own local network, the main drawbacks (security and latency) are not there. In addition, you get the speed of your desktop and the mobility of your laptop.
MrValdez
2009-03-19 08:24:36
A:
No big drawbacks. I've been running VS 2008 remotely on a server 400 miles away, using GNU/Linux and rdesktop on my laptop and the server (of course) running Windows. The only problems I encounter are that it is a mess to move files between the two - but if you have the desktop near and can install anything you like (ftp programs for example), I can't see any drawbacks.
Björn
2009-03-19 08:26:34
What remote client tool are you using? MSTSC allows you to add local drives to the session.
AnthonyWJones
2009-03-19 08:32:08
I'm not sure actually, it's not my server. I used it during a .NET workshop, and I couldn't care less what they were running as long as it worked. ;)
Björn
2009-03-19 08:37:03
+1
A:
I do this a lot even over broadband, I've never found speed to be a problem.
AnthonyWJones
2009-03-19 08:30:17
+1
A:
This is my standard working practice at work. There are times when you have issues, such as opening TFS document attachments can fail, but overall the experience is fine.
It is also an added bonus that you can leave it running continually (i.e. overnight / weekends) and you can kick off a build before you leave for the evening and come back to a packaged installer (or an error :) ).
I'm looking forward to (in a year or two) be able to do this over Hyper-V - then the application will run as though it IS on my laptop, with no remote desktop required.
ck
2009-03-19 08:38:40
A:
In a corp work environment where I've tried this I never felt particularly joyful. Tried using MSTSC and VNC.
Having a desktop with multiple monitors and trying to view that through a smaller laptop display is typically quite painful, never enough space.
Even when it was PC's on the same switch there always seemed to be some delay in the mouse moving or typing, I'm sure you could adjust, I just found it a bit annoying too.
We haven't tried serving up DevStudio from a CITRIX server yet, that might be worth a go.
Greg Domjan
2009-03-19 09:23:05
A:
I work a lot with Visual Studio over broadband, which is ok. If you are running linux on your laptop, rdesktop is your friend. There are many options to gain more speed, like using 8-bit color instead of 16 or more. I don't know if mstsc offers such options. Visual Studio 2008 has got many options concerning speed which can be enabled if the connection is too slow: disable fancy menus etc.
greetings
A:
I think that having the dual (or more) monitor set-up does beat the ease of mobility when using a laptop connecting to a remote desktop. I work at home at least two days in a working week using my laptop (which is a 17", 1900x1200 screen, basically what they call a "desktop replacement"), connected to VS and TFS using VPN and I find that experience less than the situation at work where I have the 17" laptop screen AND a 24" TFT (also 1900x1200).
I also have experienced that running VS (or SQL Server Management Studio for example) over an RDP session is just not like the real thing. It does get the job done, however the "feel" isn't just the same.
craziac
2009-03-19 09:38:19