Just to add to the above, I've been testing Visual Studio Code, with the Picaxe extensions and compilers yesterday and today, on Linux Mint 18.1, 64 bit, running on a fairly old Intel D5252MW dual core Atom machine that's driving a very old 19" 1280 x 1024 LCD display. So far it looks pretty good as a Linux development tool for more experienced Picaxe users. Visual Studio Code, with the Picaxe extensions, is fairly easy to use, and I've had no problems getting it to work and program a Picaxe via a hardware serial port. With luck I should be able to do some further testing with an AXE027 USB to serial cable in the next week or so; my only reason for initially testing with a hardware serial port is that this work bench PC has one (and a proper LPT port for running a CNC PCB router/drill).
It's still early days, and I understand that the installation and set up will probably get a bit easier than it is at the moment for the beta version that some, like me, are playing with. Having said that, if you work methodically through the set up instructions on the link above then you should be able to get a straightforward installation up and running.
I've been tweaking my installation today, by creating folders in VS Code for each Picaxe chip, with each folder having its own customised java script notification file (tasks.json), so it calls the correct compiler for that chip. This makes it simpler to use, as you can keep all programme files for a particular Picaxe flavour in the same folder, and when you wish to download them they will automatically run the correct compiler and download the programme to the Picaxe with a single keypress.
Configuring the tasks.json files is pretty straightforward, as they are text files. If others are interested in using Linux to write code and programme Picaxe chips using VS Code it might be useful to start a specific topic, or perhaps even a forum sub-section, to discuss this, as although it's pretty easy to use, it can seem a bit daunting for those unfamiliar with editing configuration files in Linux (although in this case VS code is the file editor as well, which makes things a lot simpler).
All told I quite like VS Code, mainly because it's a very clean and simple interface, which I prefer, as I rarely use anything other than the text editing and programme download capability in the Windows PE. It also seems to be rock-solid, with no problems at all with loading or saving files from any source I've so far tried (network storage, USB memory and the machines internal file system). For those who have had problems with Axepad crashing during file saves (which is an issue particular to some Linux distros, it seems) then I suggest having a go with VS Code. I'm not sure how many people have been trying it out over the past week or so, but even though I'm far from being an expert when it comes to Linux, I'd be happy to share my experiences and some of the tweaks I've made, and a user group here on the forum seems like a good way to share this stuff.