My primary workflow on side projects right now is VS Code with an ssh connection to a GCP instance. It's very quick, and I can run it across both my desktop and laptop, so if I want to go work in the living room I can get up and get to work immediately on whatever was open in the workspace.
The only downside is that the difference between extensions installed on the remote and locally is a little confusing, but the extension ecosystem in VS Code has satisfied all of my use cases. I've also run into some occasional ssh hangups on weak connections, but I haven't experienced that isuse in a few months.
For years I was a linux guy, and now I see no reason to go back, because I can just remotely access a linux environment from whatever system I'm already on. Less time spent swapping between operating systems to work on projects, and a consistent environment, are both huge features.
I've been experimenting with VS Code remote for the past few weeks, and I'm really enjoying it. I have a Linux desktop that I run headless in the closet and can connect to it from thin clients. I recently bought the base model new Macbook Air to replace my Linux laptop which I'm hoping will give me the best of both worlds: thin and light laptop with great battery life which I can connect to a powerful Linux server/desktop for development.
This way I don't have to spend so much money on expensive desktop replacement laptops.
This is actually a good idea, I've been meaning to turn one of my old laptops into a media server, but it hadn't occurred to me to use it as a development server as well.
I'm in a similar boat as the Macbook Air, but I was going to go for a Surface Book because I want the detachable tablet features
Does the extension build/test code locally or on the remote system? It would be great to keep my local system free of all the build tools and dependencies.
