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VIM on Willem's Blog

Tablet as Tool

Appreciating iPad Pro: A Different Perspective

May 8, 2023
Discover the hidden advantages of the iPad Pro in this insightful blog post, offering tips and personal experiences to help you maximise the tablet's potential and redefine your workflow.

The iPad Pro's utility has sparked much debate recently. Some users argue it's a disappointment, failing to meet expectations set by traditional laptops. However, there are less obvious benefits to the iPad worth considering. This blog post delves into these advantages and shares insights into the personal experience of using an iPad Pro.

Designing and implementing a (micro) payment system

Monetising my blog with coffee, Apple Pay and Mollie

Mar. 25, 2020
Designing and implementing a micro payment system with an emphasis on simplicity. Read about how I did it in this post.

Online payments are now more important than ever as businesses are disrupted by the COVID-19 virus. It drives my customers to seek new ways to make money online. I designed and implemented a (micro)payment system. This post is about achieving simplicity by solving complex challenges.

Tablet as main computer

Comparing the Microsoft Surface Pro to iPad Pro

Mar. 7, 2018
I have been using a tablet as my main computer for quite some time now. In this blog post I share you my experience on using Surface Pro and iPad Pro to get my work done.

For the past few weeks I have been using the Microsoft Surface Pro as my main computer. It's a modern tablet computer that can be used as laptop with the type cover. With the Surface Pen, it's a versatile PC that works in a lot of different ways. Time to find out if it's any good and how it compares to my other tablet computer, iPad Pro.

Clouds below my floor

Building a little datacenter in my basement

Aug. 31, 2017
Building a little datacenter in my basement utilising a very fast internet connection.

At my home I have this crazy fast optical internet connection. It is a 600MB up and down fibre connection which directly arrives in my home (no copper cables involved). It's like a private internet highway. Reason enough to find out if I could do something to make better use of all this speedy fiber galore...

The day I killed my LAN

Turned off my local network and went 4G only

July 31, 2017
I killed my office LAN and went 4G only. Saves a lot of clutter, energy and money.

Today I called my provider to quit my office's ADSL internet subscription, I don't need it anymore. I have turned off my local area network and switched my workflow onto mobile internet only. The simplicity and savings actually surprised me so much, that I made blog post for it.

Programming on Apple Watch

Serious about crazy experiments

Feb. 16, 2017
Programming with VIM over SSH on Apple Watch using a bluetooth keyboard

Over the past years I have been no stranger to crazy experiments, but this time I really wanted to push it into the extreme: programming on an Apple Watch. Would it be possible to actually write code on such a tiny device? Why even bother? This post is about the case for crazy experiments, and why you should try too!

iPad Pro as primary computer

testing iOS as primairy development platform

Aug. 15, 2016
Is the time right to use an iPad as primary development platform to get some real work done?

The lack of physical clutter, distracting branding, or blinking LED's makes the iPad Pro a textbook example of minimal design. My despiction of distraction explains my interest in using the iPad Pro as only computer to test if it is up to the task. Is Apple's latest effort on iOS enough to enable it to do serious development work?

Building the blog... in style!

Developing on a 20-year old computer with 16MB RAM and Windows 98

June 23, 2016
Find out if it is possible to turn a computer from the 90s into a modern development machine.

One must be a bit crazy to come up with the idea to build a blog (as in: actual programming) on an old 486 laptop with just 16MB RAM. I happen to be that crazy: I took my very first laptop from the 90s and decided to find out if it was possible to turn it into a development machine.

All blog posts
Developing the user interface using Blink and Inspect Browser on iPad
Developing the user interface using Blink and Inspect Browser on iPad
Touch screens are important these days when designing (and testing) interfaces
Touch screens are important these days when designing (and testing) interfaces
Mollie is a payment provider that supports many different payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, iDEAL, Sofort, Giropay, SEPA, various bank apps and Apple Pay
Mollie is a payment provider that supports many different payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, iDEAL, Sofort, Giropay, SEPA, various bank apps and Apple Pay
Message from my buddy Niels, suggesting I take my
Message from my buddy Niels, suggesting I take my "working on a smartphone"-idea to the next level, complete with a Photoshop mockup.
Kickstand is useful in combination with the Pen
Kickstand is useful in combination with the Pen
Programming on iPad Pro using Blink, tmux and VIM over Mosh (in a remote VPS)
Programming on iPad Pro using Blink, tmux and VIM over Mosh (in a remote VPS)
Split screen multitasking allows me to have access to the my programming code (left) and a live preview (right) simultainiously
Split screen multitasking allows me to have access to the my programming code (left) and a live preview (right) simultainiously
Microsoft Surface Pro
Microsoft Surface Pro
Multiply the touch/swipe muscle memory if your tablet behaves the same as your phone
Multiply the touch/swipe muscle memory if your tablet behaves the same as your phone
Updating... updating... updating... updating...
Updating... updating... updating... updating...
Though a hatch near my front door I have access to the space below the floor.
Though a hatch near my front door I have access to the space below the floor.
Using the Surface and iPad as laptop
Using the Surface and iPad as laptop
Connecting frontend with backend technology, simple as 1-2-3
Connecting frontend with backend technology, simple as 1-2-3
Running four apps simultaneously thanks to Windows multitasking - at the price of consuming more battery power
Running four apps simultaneously thanks to Windows multitasking - at the price of consuming more battery power
Connected a monitor and keyboard to test the systems
Connected a monitor and keyboard to test the systems
Autodesk Graphic is an amazing app for iOS - I use it to design icons and graphics, with layers and alignment tools
Autodesk Graphic is an amazing app for iOS - I use it to design icons and graphics, with layers and alignment tools
Clouds below my floor: my little basement datacenter.
Clouds below my floor: my little basement datacenter.
Zoom in to work on details more precisely
Zoom in to work on details more precisely

More VIM on Willem's Blog

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