lilliealbert
commented
8 years ago Hi @jcandan! Thanks for the suggestion. We've experimented with Cloud9 before, as you can see in this work in progress PR that could use some review and cleaning up someday: https://github.com/railsbridge/docs/pull/518
I am against only recommending a cloud-based IDE, though, because one of the goals of RailsBridge is to help increase people's comfort level with their own computer, and feeling like you have to log into a special website or VM in order to do development gives the person less familiarity with their own machine.
We also can't always assume reliable wifi.
I highly recommend using Cloud 9 Remote IDE (http://c9.io) for Install Fest. Students can create a free account. The students can be directed to create a Ubuntu box with which they can still go through the work of installing the software to get a hands-on experience, and can do it from any OS, right from the browser (no Windows headaches, works on ChromeOS).
This solution would be solid for locations with reliable Wifi.