Which platform to use for ROS development?

asked 2020-07-27 08:15:45 -0500

Kartik Singhal
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Right now, I am using VmWare to run ubuntu on my MacBook Pro. But, the system hangs too often with both gazebo and Rviz running, so I am thinking about buying new hardware. I recently learnt about Nvidia Jetson family. I want to know what ROS developers actually use? Do they use their high performance PC/laptop with high specs or they use Jetson TX2 like developer kits as their development platform? Should I use Jetson TX2 as a standalone computer by connecting it to a monitor for Robotics or should I buy a better PC like XPS?

These are my current specs -

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) , 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 , 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 , Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB

I am a beginner. This is all what I could gather till now, so, I am open to suggestions about other platforms too. If I should buy a PC, what are recommended specifications (not minimum specs).

Thank you

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answered 2020-07-27 18:51:02 -0500

stevemacenski

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updated 2020-07-27 18:52:38 -0500

High performance PC/laptop for development. A Jetson board is a deployed solution but I wouldn't dare do my day to day development on one, limited RAM and weak CPU cores to be compiling code and running physics simulators.

Your laptop though you could definitely run ROS on, many people run ROS on their macs. I don't personally have experience to tell you how much effort is involved with that, but there's some documentation around about it. If you're wanting to have an easy experience, getting a ubuntu machine would be good - though you could also just dual boot your Mac.

My recommendation for everyone is the Lenovo Thinkpads. They have some of the best linux support of any vendor and great developer machines. That would be my recommendation if none of the other alternatives above interest you.

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Thank you. Exactly what I wanted to know.

Kartik Singhal ( 2020-08-01 11:44:37 -0500 )edit

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