Mac update and
Its been a while since I last made a post so it is about time.
I wrote this back in January, I just never posted it. First, my 2016 MacBook Pro (MBP) saga update.
I was having so much trouble converting from using my MBP in a mobile configuration back to what I call my "desktop" configuration (which is clamshell mode with two external 4k moniters attached) that I came real close to taking it back.
It would rarely make the conversion from internal GPU to discrete GPU without either crashing or just losing it's mind. I could never count on the transition to work. I could usually count on it to NOT work.
But with the update to macOS 10.12.3 (which hinted it fixed a GPU switching problem) it has become much more stable. I still don't go from "mobile" (clamshell closed) mode to "desktop" mode without first opening the clamshell prior to connecting the monitors. But it is much better now.
It's not perfect, but now I have a 50/50 chance of waking my computer up by just hitting a few keys on the keyboard.
The battery situation still isn't great but seems to have gotten a little better with the macOS update and the latest version of Chrome.
So in the end it took over two months but I am at least satisfied with my purchase. Here is a picture of my setup:
On the development front, I have started two new apps. One is a financial app for iOS and the other is my first game using Unity. Both are a long way away but I am excited about the endeavors.
If I had to guess, I would expect the finance app to take about 6 months and the game may never be released (if I am truly honest with my time commitments).
Now to the more interesting stuff. My side web app project.
This project is a Ruby on Rails backend supporting (right now) a mobile app via a REST api. In order for us to release the product though, we also will need a web app.
I built a basic admin portal for the database and, several months ago, built the first part of the web client using React and the 'react-rails' gem.
As time went by, our design team turned to focus on the mobile side and as (often happens in startups) the web design languished as we discovered new workflows and data structures needed for the app.
That gave me time to read and study how best to build the web front-end based on React for a RoR backend.
After much studying I decided I should use webpack and build the React client with a true Javascript tool chain.
I first started by rolling my own before I found the 'react-on-rails' gem. This has an opinionated way of integrating a Javascript toolchain into a RoR application.
It looks good but I find the example's a little hard to grok. Whether that is my lack of knowledge of RoR or Node I'm not sure. I did read yesterday that RoR 5.1 will have Webpack support baked in, so I am looking forward to that.
I think this is where I will stop today. Till next time.
