My coding spaces v1
Tags: linux, beginners, codenewbie, productivity
Published: 2022-12-10 17:18:59

So, in an [article](https://dev.to/kurtissfrost/how-i-want-to-increase-my-productivity-59p0) I posted the other day, I gad mentioned that I was working on getting my coding environment set up. Well, after a long weekend of trial and error and research, I have a "version 1" type setup. **Screenshots can be found at the very bottom of the article.**

![it's alive!](https://i.imgur.com/jPwBgRG.gif)
####                     IT'S ALIVE!

---

So, normally I use Windows for most things but, in my research on front-end development and just development in general, I noticed a lot of people talking about how they use the terminal for their workflow. So, I decided I should try and get my own workflow setup.

Now, I am no linux guru but, I am comfortable in the terminal. Currently, I have Ubuntu installed on my laptop and Windows 10 with WSL installed on my desktop. This would normally be acceptable except for a few things.

For one, I am not 100% sold on WSL. I'm not sure why. I have watched tutorials on it and I have seen people use it but, something about it just isn't clicking for me. The second issue I have is, while I like Ubuntu, I want to try out other distros and see if there is one out there that really "speaks to me".

So to remedy these "problems: I have decided to do the following things:

1. **Set up Linux mint on my laptop to replace Ubuntu:**
This will let me try out a new distro and see if it's for me or not. Right now I haver been using it for about 3 and half days and I am really enjoying it.

2. **Set up Linux Mint on VMWare:**
This way I can keep the environments the same and it won't be weird swapping from my laptop, to the desktop, to the virtual machine.

So, the first step on my linux machines was to install VSCode. It was kind of a pain to have to install it and all of my plugins twice but, what can you do. This is all for the sake of science.

Then I began looking into different terminals. I decided to go with Konsole for now but there are a few others I am looking at. My main complaint here is more of a personal complaint. When I was looking at terminals, I think I got a little sidetracked by the customization options instead of meaningful features. The main point of these two linux set ups was to try and get me a nice beginner coding environment set up. So, I want to revisit this topic at a later date and try to get one that is going to be suited to what I need but also still be customizable. I'm a sucker for that stuff. That is always the most fun. You get to take a distro or a terminal and make it feel like it yours. That's a pretty sweet feeling.

Next, I looked into a few other things to install like Ranger and I got a few other things I'm looking into. 

The final thing I did was install synth shell. With this I could make my terminal look a bit sexier. I have a few more things that I want to do but I haven't gotten around to them yet. A few other things I want to do is look into making my own system and terminal theme. In my mind, I have this idea of muted colors for some reason and I want to see if I can accomplish that.

Other than that, I haven't really done much with it. 

#### Do you have any suggestions for things I could do? Applications I could install? Lemme know!

**EDIT:** Hopefully, I will be able to get a v2 done sometime in the future after I give this one a whirl and see if it fits my needs. Thanks to everyone for checking it out!

---

## Screenshots:


![cinnamenu](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/m2571rinxb50r53uf1bp.png)
![desktop](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tn3ldk5iq90wohsgyv7i.png)

![folders](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vfpl2rgvga1wh6lwg0gp.png)

![Ranger](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/n5zobduuh0nuvd1yvckx.png)


![terminal](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3lqm6s21fqhnwlsqcjxv.png)