# What operating system do you use?



## Tekno_Cowboy (Jul 19, 2008)

I'm just curious, what operating systems do you use?


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## dulridge (Jul 19, 2008)

Just about anything. Assorted Linux boxes, Solaris 10 and 8 (Nothing above 8 works with the RAID), MacOS X, MacOS 9, Windows (Almost only to read work email as nothing else will let me send email from the work account), OpenBSD

OS is irrelevant as long as the apps you want will work.

If it hadn't been for a case of sudden laptop death yesterday (It was an insurance writeoff due to wine spillage into it), the primary OS is MacOS X 10.5. Off to tear the thing apart and figure out why it stopped working.


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## LED-holic (Jul 19, 2008)

Mostly Windows XP because all my apps and hardware run fine on it.


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## Braddah_Bill (Jul 19, 2008)

Mac OS X 10.5.4 Desk Top

Windows XP Pro Laptop


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## nighthawk (Jul 19, 2008)

MAC OS X 10.5.3. here.
Macbook Black on the go and iMac at home.


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## The_LED_Museum (Jul 19, 2008)

Windows XP Home on this computer and one of the spares; Windows 98 on the lab computer and on the laptop.


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## Black Rose (Jul 19, 2008)

Windows XP Professional.

I used to run Slackware Linux, but I sold the motherboard that was in the box it was running on.


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## Carpenter (Jul 19, 2008)

Linux (Ubuntu) is what I use 95% of the time. If the app doesn't run in Linux, I have a virtual machine of Windows XP that runs on top of Linux using VirtualBox.


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 19, 2008)

Win2k on my primary machine. I also have a machine with XP on it as well as a Linux box.

I was in a clinic getting a bone density scan a few years ago, and the machine kept crashing whenever the technician tried to open a file from a previous scan. I looked over my shoulder while it was rebooting and I saw the Windows-98 splash screen. Thank goodness it wasn't a heart pump or some other critical device.


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## TKC (Jul 19, 2008)

*I am a long time Mac user. And plan to ALWAYS be a Mac user.*


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## Shreknow91 (Jul 19, 2008)

I have a dell running xp, and 4 macs running various versions of OS 10.4


and i plan on buying a macbook at the end of the year:twothumbs


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## jzmtl (Jul 19, 2008)

XP on desktop and vista on laptop. I didn't really choose them, they came with computer.


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## ABTOMAT (Jul 19, 2008)

I regularly use several PCs with Windows 98 and XP, and several Macs with OS9 and OSX. My main machine is a PC even though I've been working on Macs since 1987.

I also have computers in the house that run Windows 2000, DOS, CP/M, all flavors of Mac OS, and Amiga OS. Plus some really old stuff like Apple IIs, TRS-80, and Commodore 64.


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 19, 2008)

ABTOMAT said:


> I also have computers in the house that run Windows 2000, DOS, CP/M, all flavors of Mac OS, and Amiga OS.



Hey, another Amigan! :thumbsup: What do you use it for?


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## ackbar (Jul 19, 2008)

Gentoo linux on both my desktop/laptop.. Maemo on my n810 and a windows partition on my desktop so I can play games


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## mechBgon (Jul 20, 2008)

The main rig runs 64-bit Vista Ultimate (it technically dual-boots 32-bit WinXP Pro, but XP hasn't been booted for months). 

The "leftover scraps" computer runs 32-bit WinXP Pro, and can still boot Win2000 Pro if I want to do some malware research, but I don't do much of that these days.


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## WildChild (Jul 20, 2008)

Laptop: Gentoo 32 bits
Desktop: Windows Vista Professionnal 32 bits/Gentoo 64 bits
Web server: FreeBSD 6.3
Backup server: Arch Linux
GF's laptop: MacOS X 10.5
Work computer: Windows XP
Work servers: AIX/Various Linux
Router: Tomato WRT (Linux)


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## Sub_Umbra (Jul 20, 2008)

My personal box is up 24/7 and has been running FreeBSD since 2000 or 2001 (FBSD4.1). Currently I have two 200GB drives -- each with it's own complete install of FreeBSD 6.2. Switching to UNIX was the best move I've ever made with computers -- I wish I'd done it ten years before.

EDIT: Am I missing something or is there a good reason why the respondant's votes add up to *136.07 %* (at this time). 

Darned computers.


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## WildChild (Jul 20, 2008)

Sub_Umbra said:


> My personal box is up 24/7 and has been running FreeBSD since 2000 or 2001 (FBSD4.1). Currently I have two 200GB drives -- each with it's own complete install of FreeBSD 6.2. Switching to UNIX was the best move I've ever made with computers -- I wish I'd done it ten years before.



 Using mostly Linux/UNIX was also my best move! Where are you from? Your location description sounds "french".


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## Sub_Umbra (Jul 20, 2008)

WildChild said:


> Using mostly Linux/UNIX was also my best move! Where are you from? Your location description sounds "french".


*Pirate Town,* aka New Orleans.


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## NA8 (Jul 20, 2008)

Win2k and Knoppix. 


Get a bootable Knoppix CD or DVD here: 

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Free download.


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## ackbar (Jul 20, 2008)

Sub_Umbra said:


> EDIT: Am I missing something or is there a good reason why the respondant's votes add up to *136.07 %* (at this time).
> 
> Darned computers.



Because you can vote for more than 1 OS.

I forgot about the router.. Tomato FTW


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## ABTOMAT (Jul 20, 2008)

PhotonWrangler said:


> Hey, another Amigan! :thumbsup: What do you use it for?



Nothing, I haven't even bought keyboards for them. At one point I was a hardcore computer collector, and I still have a lot of my older stuff. Ran across an Amiga 1000 and an Amiga 2000HD about six years back. Probably will sell them off as I try to streamline things. Either that or start skunk cartooning.


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 20, 2008)

ABTOMAT said:


> Nothing, I haven't even bought keyboards for them. At one point I was a hardcore computer collector, and I still have a lot of my older stuff. Ran across an Amiga 1000 and an Amiga 2000HD about six years back. Probably will sell them off as I try to streamline things. Either that or start skunk cartooning.



Those machines were leading edge when they came out in the mid 80s. The Amiga was the platform on which desktop video was invented; the Video Toaster set the vidseo production community on it's ear when it came out. 

Open up your Amiga 1000 and you'll see, embedded in the inside of the plastic lid, the signatures of all of the original Amiga team. I think there's even a dog's pawprint in there.


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## ABTOMAT (Jul 20, 2008)

PhotonWrangler said:


> Those machines were leading edge when they came out in the mid 80s. The Amiga was the platform on which desktop video was invented; the Video Toaster set the vidseo production community on it's ear when it came out.
> 
> Open up your Amiga 1000 and you'll see, embedded in the inside of the plastic lid, the signatures of all of the original Amiga team. I think there's even a dog's pawprint in there.



I'll have to dig my 2000HD out--it has some funky video hardware in there.

I like case signatures. Apple used to put them into almost every model. I forget the last one to have them, used to own them all.


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 20, 2008)

ABTOMAT said:


> I'll have to dig my 2000HD out--it has some funky video hardware in there.



Let me know what that "funky video hardware" is when you get a chance.


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## Tekno_Cowboy (Jul 20, 2008)

I spose I should've listed what I run too. 

Laptop: Fedora 9, Kubuntu 8.04
Desktop: Fedora 8 + KDE and XFCE, Kubuntu 7.10 + Gnome and XFCE, Gentoo (broken atm), Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista--All are 32-bit


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## h_nu (Jul 22, 2008)

Debian Linux mostly. I dual boot. Seems I use Windows less and less though.


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## Tekno_Cowboy (Jul 22, 2008)

h_nu said:


> Debian Linux mostly. I dual boot. Seems I use Windows less and less though.


 
I can definitely relate to that. I stick with mostly Unix-based OS's just for the stabily myself. (and that I like to tinker with my OS :devil


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## snakebite (Jul 23, 2008)

mostly linux here.running on free server parts from upgrades.
this box is a dual p3s 1.4 overclocked to 1.6.had bad caps andi got it after the board replacement/upgrade job.customer said toss it.i did.onto my bench to replace the caps.
seems the only way to get good reliable hardware anymore is to rebuild it premptively.swap out the cheap caps and fans the beancounters speced.
running fedora.
ran almost a year without a reboot.fans were getting noisy and its hard to replace the one in the psu live.
i can do case and the cpu fans live but the power supply requires lots of disasembly to get at it.
guess i get to start my uptime experiment over.
a use 1 win xp box at work just for data recovery jobs.


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## Tekno_Cowboy (Jul 23, 2008)

I was working on one of those uptime tests myself. I ran fedora 8 from the day it was released until a storm shut it off for me last month, with not one problem or reboot.


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## Trekmeister (Jul 28, 2008)

My desktop/gaming computer runs Linux (debian) while my main server runs FreeBSD. I also have a machine taking care of the routing for my own network and that one runs OpenBSD. 

I also have a Sun Ultra10, a Sparc5 and a Sparc20 sitting around. And an ancient Silicon Graphics machine which I actually use as a bed table.
Also tucked away I have an old DECstation 3100.

One of my coolest machines is a complete NextStation TurboColor, monitor, keyboard, mouse and soundbox. Perhaps the coolest desktop computer ever made with its matte black magnesium shell.

Last but not least I have an Amiga 1000 in good condition with some extra hardware, and my Amiga 4000 tricked out with a CyberVision3D and a 66MHz 68060 CPU. Good to see some other Amiga-users here!


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 28, 2008)

Trekmeister said:


> Last but not least I have an Amiga 1000 in good condition with some extra hardware, and my Amiga 4000 tricked out with a CyberVision3D and a 66MHz 68060 CPU. Good to see some other Amiga-users here!



Trekmeister, you're the first person outside of my Amiga user group that I've met who has a 4000.


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## Tekno_Cowboy (Aug 27, 2008)

I lan with someone who was big on the amiga's for a while, then he just suddenly gave all his systems away and started collecting ancient laptops. (he even got my old IBM with a 286).


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## PhantomPhoton (Aug 27, 2008)

I've been trying to get used to Vista, ad have been running that on this laptop for the past few months. XP usually has a small partition on most everything. I also use ubuntu on some of my machines and I seem to have a liking for Slax as small bootable OS. Finally I have been known to use backtrack whenever the need arises.


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## raggie33 (Aug 27, 2008)

ill dual boot linux and windows only reason back with windows was for the Olympics and my security cam thinking a trying bsd now.but i may be to dum for bsd never even saw it ran before


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## BrighTor (Aug 28, 2008)

We have an xp64 bit, vista home premium 32 bit, xp 32 on a laptop, MacOSX on an old G4 desktop, and vista ultimate 64 bit on my monster machine.


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## AMD64Blondie (Aug 29, 2008)

Just updated both my main Windows PC and my backup Suse Linux PC.
The Windows box got updated to 32-bit Windows Vista Ultimate,while my OpenSuse backup PC got updated to OpenSuse 11.


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## TJx (Aug 29, 2008)

Switched from PeeCee to Mac in December of 2002, never looked back!


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## bruddamoke (Aug 31, 2008)

Vista Home Premium on this machine, XP Pro on on secondary machine, XP Home SP3 on my personal laptop, XP Pro on my work-issued laptop.


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## Zelandeth (Aug 31, 2008)

Ended up with Vista Ultimate on here after XP managed to eat its partition when it crashed in the middle of installing an update - and I couldn't be bothered fighting with the partitioning to get it back up (750Gb harddisk and no SP2 equipped install CD handy).

Think I've used Vista for about 10 hours in total in the last four months or so.

99.9% of the time Ubuntu Linux is in use here - it makes a real change to have an OS which feels like it was designed around the user again!

Other machines I have here are an Amiga A1200 with WB3.0 on it - though that's not actually set up at the moment, and in my room at my parents house, an Acorn Archimedes A5000 with RiscOS 3.11 - which I do still use for word processing from time to time (and periodically playing Lemmings...somehow it's infinitely more satisfying on the Arc than on an emulator on the PC...).


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## Tempest UK (Aug 31, 2008)

Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Recently bought a MacBook Pro but I've yet to completely make the switch - the Windows machine still gets some use. I prefer the Mac by far, though. Really a breath of fresh air after using Windows for most of my computing life.

Regards,
Tempest


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## ozner1991 (Sep 1, 2008)

vista and i aint proud of it:duck:


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## Lit Up (Sep 1, 2008)

PCLinuxOS past couple years but have been thinking of giving PC-BSD another whirl. It's been a few years since I messed with it. I like the containers for the programs that the developer uses to install things. He's one person who finally got it right. Screw all the compiling and dependencies just to get a program to function.

You can try telling Linux developers that creating a standard for program installation will in no way inhibit their creativity and will even save them some work as newer version of things like Firefox come out (This distro still doesn't have FF3 in its repositories for example), but it's like pulling teeth. :shakehead


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## PhotonWrangler (Sep 1, 2008)

Lit Up said:


> PCLinuxOS past couple years but have been thinking of giving PC-BSD another whirl. It's been a few years since I messed with it. I like the containers for the programs that the developer uses to install things. He's one person who finally got it right. Screw all the compiling and dependencies just to get a program to function.



I might give that a try just for that reason. Getting a new program compiled and installed while managing all of the dependencies is a PITA.


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## meuge (Sep 2, 2008)

I am sure some of the Linux users, as well as those who are tired of being in the Windows camp will be interested to know that Dell should be releasing its "Mini-inspiron" netbooks (9.1" laptop) this Friday. I have a conference to go to in early October, and I would love to be able to bring a 9" laptop, instead of a 15" one. 

While the Asus EEE and MSI Wind are very decent netbooks, they are not very friendly to any Linux except the small distributions they chose... and appear to be trying to do away with Linux altogether. 

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is another option... but it's currently backordered so much that Lenovo has stopped taking orders.

Exciting times we live in... $400 for an ultra-portable laptop... almost makes it an impulse buy.


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## Tempest UK (Sep 2, 2008)

meuge said:


> Exciting times we live in... $400 for an ultra-portable laptop... almost makes it an impulse buy.



They're certainly a great price. Cheaper than a SureFire M6. I have no need for an ultra-portable, but I have been tempted by the gadget factor and to give Linux a try.

Regards,
Tempest


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## SlightlyDim (Sep 7, 2008)

Current list:

Main:

Core Server: CentOS 5.2 (x64) - Intel Atom 1.6 mini-itx board
Big NAS box: Solaris 10 U5 (x64) - DIY Rack server
Main desktop: MacOSX 10.5.4 - Intel Mac Mini
Other desktop: MacOSX 10.5.4 - Proliant ML115 G5 (don't ask)
Laptop: MacOSX 10.5.4 - MacBook

Others:
MacOSX: Additional Intel + Power PC Mac Mini + Imac G5 + Quicksilver
XP: generic DIY PC - rarely used - died about a week ago + in VMware on the Macs

Lesser used: (and being phased out)
Tru64 and OpenVMS: AlphaServer DS10L / DS10 / DS20 / XP1000
Solaris (SPARC): Ultra 5's + Ultra AXi board + Netra X1's + Ultra 2 
VMware ESX / ESXi: various DIY servers.

Not counting anything in the loft or in remote storage or that I've forgotten about or doesn't currently have a disk in. (otherwise the list would have to include sgi machines, a couple of low end Amiga's and a load more Alpha machines / boards - and I'm not listing all the PC server motherboards)


Flashlights are turning out to be cheaper for a hobby, takes up somewhat less space too and more show offable (unless you carry your electric bill with you)


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## dulridge (Sep 7, 2008)

SlightlyDim said:


> Flashlights are turning out to be cheaper for a hobby, takes up somewhat less space too and more show offable (unless you carry your electric bill with you)



Ain't it just. Stopped using an E420R Sun with a large RAID bolted to it because of its power consumption (And noise level - that thing is LOUD!). Ebayed the SunRays for the same reason as they were totally dependent upon the server to do anything useful. Still want to play with it, but not where I am able to hear it running. My electricity bill is over $300/month - a kWh costs about 25 cents here.

My useful file server box is in the process of dying after more than a decade in use. It is on its 4th PSU.

For most of my purposes an NAS box would do more for less power. About to rebuild it with an underclocked to 500MHz P3 which is just about silent - once I've tossed the video card it will be silent.

It will run OpenSolaris as all of its components are on the HCL so will get all my old drives bolted into it under ZFS when I get around to sorting it out.

ATM the fileserver is only used to shift stuff between various boxes so it doesn't need much performance or much power usage.

Solaris is still the way to go, but not running on Sun hardware as I can't afford it.

Still use an Sun Ultra 10 on a fairly regular basis as it is just nice.

I never have more than one box running Windows - one is quite enough for the gaming I do. The box name is invariably Wintendo. Currently it is Wintendo v.8 or thereabouts still using an XP licence bought years ago. Activating whatever the current hardware is is a pain. The Windows activation folks know me by name....

Don't know how many Macs I own, starting with a Mac Plus but there must be more than 40 of them in the loft. The ones that have seen serious use are a Plus, an original Mac 2 (Which ended up with a Radius Rocket in it), a PowerBook 190C, a Mac 2SCi, a Classic 2, a G3 Tower (With a 500MHz G4 in it), a PowerBook Lombard, a G4 Mini (Powered up in my living room as the DVD playing and music box), and a MacBook Pro which is the fastest machine I currently own. I've never owned a G5 Mac.

On a daily basis I use several flavours of Linux, Solaris, OpenSolaris, Windows (at work and for games at home), and MacOS of assorted flavours.

Primary box is a MacBook Pro running 10.5.4

OS is irrelevant as long as you can do what you want to. Depends what you want to do. Buy an XBox or a windows box for games, use something stable for work.

For me Mac OSX comes closest to good on the desktop - linux for cheapness on the server end, Solaris for niceness on the server end once you get your head around how different from Linux it is. Windows is purely for games. 

Torches - even the sillywatt versions - are a lot cheaper. Take a look at the Sun parts pricelist some day - my favourite was the 6V 5Ah SLA (To be replaced about every 9 months) for the RAID. £260 + VAT - i.e. about $600. Actual working alternative £3.99 (Say $8) from local hardware store...


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## geepondy (Sep 7, 2008)

Of you Vista users, now that you used it awhile and a service pack has been released, do you prefer it over XP?


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## weedle256 (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.4 on a Macbook Pro.

Thanks to VMWare Fusion, I also run Windows XP via boot camp, Fedora 8 (32-bit) and Fedora 9 (64-bit).

I was able to get rid of 4 machines when I got my Macbook Pro:
IBM Thinkpad for work
MacPro for work
Windows XP at home
Mac Mini at home


I really like my Macbook :twothumbs


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## js (Sep 10, 2008)

I have to use Windows XP at work all the time (like right now), and I just had to deal with Vista for the first time last weekend when helping my sister-in-law with her laptop. OMG! Was that thing a DOG, despite having a much, much faster processor than my Power Mac G4 desktop machine. And right in the middle of what I was doing--if you can believe this--Vista downloaded updates, installed them, and then restarted the machine! Granted, I had walked away for a few minutes while waiting for the USB jump drive to format, but, really, what the heck is up with that?

Mac OS X for me. Did anyone see that 10.6 will be a performance-oriented revision of 10.5? It will be smaller, leaner, faster, and better able to take advantage of multi-core set-ups. That just thrills me! I mean, I think time machine is a good feature, and when I upgrade my hardware (Mac Pro or MacBook Pro) I'll switch to Leopard (I'm running Tiger right now), but I really really like that Apple has recognized that OS bloat is an issue. Vista is a great example of that, it would seem.


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## Tempest UK (Sep 10, 2008)

js said:


> Mac OS X for me. Did anyone see that 10.6 will be a performance-oriented revision of 10.5?t... I really really like that Apple has recognized that OS bloat is an issue



A big "+1" moment here.

OS X does all I want it to at the moment. I'm much happier to see Apple make what I already have run better, instead of bolting on extra features they think I can't live without.

Regards,
Tempest


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## tiktok 22 (Sep 10, 2008)

Using Ubuntu 8.04 right now...


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## jchoo (Sep 10, 2008)

Vista 32 and 64 bit on laptop and desktop, respectively, XP pro and unix at work.


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## LukeA (Sep 10, 2008)

js said:


> Mac OS X for me. Did anyone see that 10.6 will be a performance-oriented revision of 10.5? It will be smaller, leaner, faster, and better able to take advantage of multi-core set-ups. That just thrills me! I mean, I think time machine is a good feature, and when I upgrade my hardware (Mac Pro or MacBook Pro) I'll switch to Leopard (I'm running Tiger right now), but I really really like that Apple has recognized that OS bloat is an issue. Vista is a great example of that, it would seem.



I sure hope it's lighter-weight! I'm running Tiger on a PBG4 1.5GHz and I'm not sure it will handle Leopard.


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## js (Sep 11, 2008)

LukeA,

It will handle Leopard no problem. I've read of people fooling the installer program to install Leopard on a 733MHz Power Mac G4, and they said it was only just noticeably slower than Tiger now and then. You're good to go. But on the other hand, there's no need to upgrade unless you see a need to upgrade! The best feature of Leopard is Time Machine, in my opinion, but I wouldn't upgrade even if I could (which I can't right now). My 2 cents.


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## Gimpy00Wang (Sep 12, 2008)

I'm so happy to see so many people using Linux and BSD these days. Mac usage has also picked up. I personally use OSX on my primary machine at home. I have a Linux box or two for test/dev and a FreeBSD box that just won't die. I still get to fondle Windows on my work laptop though. 



SlightlyDim said:


> ... CentOS 5.2 (x64) - Intel Atom 1.6 mini-itx board


I'm actually planning on getting one of those tiny Atom-based systems to replace my FreeBSD box over the winter. I'll be running CentOS as well so it's nice to see someone else has already done so.

- Chris


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## Fluffster (Sep 13, 2008)

Fedora 9 on both laptops here. I switched to linux from w2k when it started phoning home - I don't think I should need anyone's permission to use my own computer.

Never looked back.


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## Lit Up (Jan 10, 2009)

PhotonWrangler said:


> I might give that a try just for that reason. Getting a new program compiled and installed while managing all of the dependencies is a PITA.



It's an old thread, but let me recommend another distro: Ubuntu.

Somebody made the comment that PCLinuxOS was "the s*it in May 2007," but it's now January 2009. What I have learned is that Texstar (The PCLinuxOS distro's main developer) has some sort of health ailment that keeps him down from time to time. He has a couple other people help him out, but really, for the most part, it's his baby. So needless to say, development/updates has really suffered.

They have a couple beta versions of PcLinuxOS 2009 out, but I looked around instead at others, and Ubuntu just knocked it out of the park for me.
Ubuntu updates security often and just lets you know with an icon that updates are available, you click it and it starts. All automated. Finds hardware and offers drivers right from the repositories for you. Just a huge amount of happiness on my end with this distro. I was having issues with Flash on PCLinuxOS that has completely disppeared on Ubuntu. Everything is smooth now. I do know that FireFox 3 and Flash are having some issues currently, so I just use Opera browser that I downloaded from their site. Truth be told, Opera kicks Firefox's butt. Although a couple add-ons on Firefox I still need, so I just open Firefox when that's an issue, otherwise, it's Opera 99% of the time.

That's another thing. This distro is Debian based. A lot of times I can just get a debian package and right click, then choose to use installer and it takes care of everything for you to installing. I did that for Adobe Reader straight from Adobe's site. They have a debian package choice in the list along with Windows and Mac.

Now on Ubuntu, some of the non-free codecs won't be found in their repositories. However, there's an additional repository that all this can be obtained from. That can be found here: http://packages.medibuntu.org/intrepid/index.html

You'll notice a Win 32 or a Win 64 codec packge at the bottom of the list, that's in accordance to a 32 bit OS or a 64 Bit OS, whichever you're using. 

Just click on one of the things in that list and if you're using 32 bit operating system, just click on the "i386" option, if it's a 64 bit version, choose the "amd64" option. When a pop-up comes up, just choose open with deb package installer and it will take care of the rest and install it for you.

But all the players and other programs you'd need can be easily found in the main repositories through Synaptic package system.
Just click "System" on top of the desktop screen, choose "Administration" and then you'll see Synaptic in the drop down list.

Really great distro. They've made some huge strides with this one. A Windows competitor for sure.


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## Echo63 (Jan 10, 2009)

I used to use Windows (my wifes laptop still runs XP)
but recently i switched to mac, 10.4.11 at home and 10.5.?? at work


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## Diesel_Bomber (Jan 11, 2009)

Voted other, but I have Vista/Ubuntu dual boot on the desktop and XP on the lappy.

:buddies:


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## amigafan2003 (Jan 8, 2010)

Voted Other.

Win 7 64 on my gaming rig and Amiga OS 4 on my AmigaOne XE-G4 which is my media server and torrent downloading box.

Looking forward to Amiga OS 4.2 on the new AmgaOne X1000 they've just announced


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## PhotonWrangler (Jan 8, 2010)

amigafan2003 said:


> Voted Other.
> 
> Win 7 64 on my gaming rig and Amiga OS 4 on my AmigaOne XE-G4 which is my media server and torrent downloading box.
> 
> Looking forward to Amiga OS 4.2 on the new AmgaOne X1000 they've just announced



It's nice to see the Amiga hanging on. 

//Fellow Amigan from way back in the days of Workbench 1.2 and the A1000.


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## CaseyS (Jan 8, 2010)

Just built a new computer with Windows 7 and I'm very impressed. It's a big step up from XP.


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## superwood1212 (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm a long time use Linux system.


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## PCC (Jan 10, 2010)

All of the laptops in the house are running Windows XP and I installed Windows 7 Ultimate onto the one desktop system that will become my HTPC. I'm running virtual machines on the Windows 7 computer and I've loaded Windows XP and Windows 2003 Advanced Server (studying MCSE at the moment).


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## Rexlion (Jan 10, 2010)

My operating system:
First I make sure the operating instruments were sterilized, then I scrub, and I take the scalpel and... 
:naughty:
Not really!


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## fisk-king (Jan 10, 2010)

for the past 2months Windose XP but for 2009 and the latter half of '08 it was Ubuntu






I plan to purchase a laptop from  System76 this summer.


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## Alaric Darconville (Jan 10, 2010)

I skipped from XP x64 to Windows 7 x64. Avoided the whole Vista mess.

Previously, I've run the gamut from MS-DOS 2.11.13 (on a Tandy 2000 with a 10MHz 80*1*86), through most of the major revisions of MS-DOS, DR-DOS, and PC-DOS... Windows 3.1 and then 3.11 "for Workgroups"... OS/2 Warp 3, Windows 95, 95A, 95B, and 95C, 98 and 98SE, OS/2 Warp 4 (very briefly), Windows 2000, then XP Professional (both x86 and x64).

I've also dabbled with Linux (quit Red Hat when they 'broke' glibc, somewhere around 4.3) and also played with S.u.S.E, and maintained some 75MHz Sparc 9's running Solaris and used as DNS servers (those I left using the CLI, the X Window System wasn't 'pretty' enough for my liking).


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## John_Galt (Jan 10, 2010)

On my laptop, Windows 7. And I hate it! they tried to be too much like macintosh, with all the icons at the bottom of the screen. It's frustrating to use, especially when you have multiple windows of the same thing.

I'm seriously considering wiping it off my laptop and switching to ubuntu. I don't really do anything but surf the web, but i owuld have to check to see if Autocad works on Ubuntu...

Oh, yeah... I hate mac's. Hate 'em. With a vengeance...
Have to use crappy old mac's at school... Hate, hate, HATE them!

I liked XP... I like word 03, I wish you could still use it... Word 07 was designed by an idiot who thought Mac's were the bomb! Frustrating as H*ll to use. Stupid auto-correction BS that I don't know how to turn off! I WANT 03!!! It worked, it was simple and easy to use, intuitive for people who like folders and files! I have to look at icons! And they don't tell me anything! I have to wait for the little word box to pop up to tell me what that button does! 

I want there to be an easily discernible difference between Mac and PC. I don't want to have to look for a stupid apple!


Hate Vista, Win7, and mac... Microsoft really went the wrong way with Vista and 07!


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## CaseyS (Jan 11, 2010)

I love Windows 7. The changes to the taskbar are great. Being able to pin startup icons to the taskbar so the launch icon is the same as the locator icon makes for a much more effective user interface, and getting rid of the quick launch bar saves on real estate. I have a 1080p monitor, so I moved the taskbar from the bottom to the left side. It takes some getting used to, but it's a much better arrangement if you have a widescreen.

I also like Windows 7 desktop gadgets. I have the analog clock, three weather gadgets, a calendar and CoreTemp to monitor my CPU.

The search feature in Windows 7 is also incredible, especially if you use either Thunderbird 3.0 or a recent version of Outlook.

I've been looking at Ubuntu for the first time, and so far I find it annoying. The graphics were screwed up initially and it took forever to get it to fill the whole screen. I set my computer up to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu, and it was very difficult figuring out how to get Grub to boot Windows 7 first instead of Ubuntu. I also hate the whole sudo thing. When I have a little time, I may give funtoo a try.


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## jhanko (Jan 11, 2010)

I'm running dual boot 64 bit XP and 64 bit 7. To be honest though, I haven't booed up XP in over a month. As much as I hate to admit it, Windows 7 is a great OS. They finally got it right. I'll be removing XP soon to free up disk space...


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## blasterman (Jan 13, 2010)

For 32-bit work I stick to Win2000 Server. It's still the fastest and best resource handling 32-bit OS Microsoft has made.

For 64-bit work I'm migrating to Win 7 as much as possible. Vista never impressed me much.

Biggest reason I'm not using Linux is you can't run Photoshop native on that OS. Somehow the Linux crowd has been able to channel hatred of Microsoft and Apple into a selling point for GIMP. Sorry, I'm not drinking the kool-aid.

In regards to Apple, I can't stand using laptops for serious photo editing and I'm not a big fan of iMacs, although I have no issue with people who like them. This leaves the hugely over-rated and over-priced MacPro, and I'm not drinking that kool-aid either.


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## Braddah_Bill (Jan 15, 2010)

Braddah_Bill said:


> Mac OS X 10.5.4 Desk Top
> 
> Windows XP Pro Laptop




EDIT

OS X 10.5.8 desktop

Windows XP Pro Laptop

Windows 7 Home Premium Laptop


Windows 7 is nice. :twothumbs


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## Greg G (Jan 15, 2010)

MAC laptop ftw!!!!!


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## The_LED_Museum (Jan 16, 2010)

Desktop #1: Windows XP Home.
Desktop #2: Windows XP Home.
Desktop #3: Windows 98.
Laptop: Windows 98.


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## PhotonWrangler (Apr 5, 2010)

JHanko said:


> I'm running dual boot 64 bit XP and 64 bit 7. To be honest though, I haven't booed up XP in over a month. As much as I hate to admit it, Windows 7 is a great OS. They finally got it right. I'll be removing XP soon to free up disk space...



I've just built a machine around Win 7 64 bit, Core Duo Quad, 4gb of 1033mhz ram and a terabyte hard disk. I'll probably also swap out the DVD drive for a Blu-Ray drive at some point. This will primarily be a dual monitor CAD workstation. Don't have much of an opinion of it yet as I haven't loaded up any apps. 

I've also built another machine around Win 7 32-bit, primarily for video editing. It's only 2 ghz dual-core but it's fast enough for the job, although it's currently choking on AVCHD files.


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## andyw513 (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm running Vista...and honestly, I wish I still had Windows 98 2nd...


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## mrartillery (Apr 6, 2010)

XP all the way! Ive owned several different versions, from SP 1 all the way to Windows Black X64 (anyone ever heard of this? Programmer friend hooked me up ) I had my motherboard burn up last year, so I went and bought a new desktop with Vista, I used it for all of an hour and I boxed it up and took it back to Best Buy, called Dell the next day and ordered one with XP. Best Windows operating system ever designed IMO. :thumbsup:


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## mr.snakeman (Apr 7, 2010)

Our two desktops at work: XP Pro, works just fine for our shop needs. At home: Win 7 pro 32 on two of my laptops, XP pro on my third laptop and my desktop. Used to have Vista Ultimate on my now dead fourth laptop (motherboard/grafik card crash-the infamous Nvidia soldering failures).


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## Alex K. (Apr 12, 2010)

On my Laptop, Vista. On my home computer, XP. Vista really doesn't bother me that much...


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## carrot (Apr 12, 2010)

Just got myself an iMac desktop for iPhone and web development. I love it, and the massive improvements in Snow Leopard (from Tiger) really help my productivity.

Installed Windows 7 on the other side, and it is quite nice, far better than XP and Vista, but still not my OS of choice.


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## Popsiclestix (Apr 13, 2010)

Laptop:
Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 9.10 on my laptop.

My desktop quint(5)-boots:
Windows 7 Ultimate (usually where I am)
Ubuntu 9.10 (When I need a *nix environment to get my EE work done)
Ubuntu 10.04 Beta 2 (just messing with it till it goes to release, then im replacing 9.10)
Gentoo Linux (just so I can have a non-production environment to test things out in because I implement them on the server)
Mac OS X 10.6.3 (Hehe, I used to have a Macbook Pro, but it broke recently)

Server:
Gentoo Linux


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## don.gwapo (Apr 13, 2010)

My laptop and desktop is vista.


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## JCD (Apr 13, 2010)

Mac OS X 10.6.3

I also have Windows XP Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate, and two or three flavors of Linux installed on my MacBook Pro as virtual machines, but I only use them to check for compatibility issues. (I didn't count them in the poll.)


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## StarHalo (Apr 13, 2010)

Windows 7; I've been through pretty much all of the Microsoft OS's since 1993, and this is without question the best yet, by a large margin. 

The trick to getting the older OS's to run smoothly is to take the race car approach - it runs faster not because of what you add on,_ it's what you take off_. I would strip down the OS to get to run at "race weight" (you should see as few icons in the system tray and task manager as possible). Win 7 is the first OS that I haven't had to do that, it's already pared down to run fast.

Those of you who are complaining about problems with earlier Microsoft OS's, just switch to 7 and be done with it. (And those of you who are running anything earlier than XP are in danger; Microsoft stopped updating these earlier OS's which means they have vulnerabilities that are easily and widely exploited.)


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## PhotonWrangler (Apr 13, 2010)

I've just spent a day and a half upgrading an old Win2k machine to XP. It took forever because I had to manually chase down fragments of Zonealarm (which I wrongly assumed that the _Uninstall_ routine had, um, actually uninstalled). The machine is running noticeably slower with XP.


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## Sub_Umbra (Apr 13, 2010)

My setup has changed quite a bit since I first posted on this thread. While I still boot up in FreeBSD for a few tasks I've been pretty much running TEENPup (GNU/Linux) from a LiveCD on my main box for 6-8 months now. I burn and try quite a few LiveCDs as they come out (distrowatch.com) and have been doing so for years. 

LiveCDs have come a long, long way and some have become quite usable. They have reached a point where the trade off in functionality has been overshadowed by the increase in security that comes from booting from a tamper proof CDRom -- at least for me, anyway. Different strokes...

TEENPup works so well that I have even installed it to Mrs Umbra's home box that always ran XP Pro. *My wife is actually getting her feet wet with GNU/Linux!* She is collaborating on a script with people using Windows and they are able to read each other's files with no problem. This is great news as it will be much less hassle to admin than the old Win box. 

Also since my last post here my wife found a whimpy old computer *in the street* that a school threw out. I made a dedicated, bullet proof *Skype box* out of it that boots PUPPY GNU/Linux from a CDRom into a *RAMDRIVE.* It is completely hassle free. It just works. Since it's been set up (months ago) it's run 24/7 and all I've had to do to it is reboot it once after a *power failure!*


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## blasterman (Apr 13, 2010)

> It just works


 
If I stripped down a Windows OS to only peform those basic tasks it would be hassle free as well.:huh: 

I agree that Windows 7 is the best 'out of the box' Microsoft OS in a long time.


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## Sub_Umbra (Apr 13, 2010)

blasterman said:


> If I stripped down a Windows OS to only peform those basic tasks it would be hassle free as well.:huh:...


I don't know how to do that and my life will be way too short to ever want to. On the other hand it took nearly no time or effort to legally download a free ~100MB copy of Puppy, add free copies of Skype and Conky to it and remaster the works. No need to pay MS for a copy *OR* violate their EULA by re-tooling it. I ended up with something that not only "just works" but also my solution was both free and totally legal -- *two very real advantages that your solution lack.*

It is also true that the machine in question is so old and whimpy that I am aware of no currently supported MS OSs *that will even run on it.* In short, I'm using a free machine for this task that was thrown out specifically *because it had become useless* to those locked into using MS products exclusively.

Keep those old machines coming!


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## JCD (Apr 13, 2010)

Sub_Umbra said:


> I don't know how to do that and my life will be way to short to ever want to. On the other hand it took nearly no time or effort to legally download a free ~100MB copy of Puppy, add free copies of Skype and Conky to it and remaster the works. No need to pay MS for a copy *OR* violate their EULA by re-tooling it. I ended up with something that not only "just works" but also my solution was both free and totally legal -- *two very real advantages that your solution lack.*
> 
> It is also true that the machine in question is so old and whimpy that I am aware of no currently supported MS OSs *that will even run on it.* In short, I'm using a free machine for this task that was thrown out specifically *because it had become useless* to those locked into using MS products exclusively.
> 
> Keep those old machines coming!



One nice thing about Puppy Linux is that even on a machine several years old, since the entire OS and apps are loaded into and run from RAM (i.e. no hard drive necessary, so no slow SATA bus speeds to slow things down), it's blazing fast, much faster than a brand new Windows PC or Mac running Mac OS X.


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## ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond (Apr 13, 2010)

PhotonWrangler said:


> I've just spent a day and a half upgrading an old Win2k machine to XP. It took forever because I had to manually chase down fragments of Zonealarm (which I wrongly assumed that the _Uninstall_ routine had, um, actually uninstalled). The machine is running noticeably slower with XP.



Just a suggestion from a veteran Windows Administrator - NEVER upgrade a machine. Always backup your data, format the drive and perform a clean install. 

Unless you have under 1GB of RAM - I can see why your machine would be running slower now.


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## StarHalo (Apr 14, 2010)

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond said:


> Just a suggestion from a veteran Windows Administrator - NEVER upgrade a machine. Always backup your data, format the drive and perform a clean install.



I would agree with this, but with the caveat to never upgrade unless your version of Windows is no longer supported by Microsoft - it's better to take the hit in performance than to risk losing your computer. 

Windows 7 is the best bet for a newer/supported Microsoft OS for an older machine; with Aero turned off, it will in most cases run faster than XP or Vista. And a definite +1 for full format and full version install.


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## blasterman (Apr 14, 2010)

> No need to pay MS for a copy *OR* violate their EULA by re-tooling it. I ended up with something that not only "just works" but also my solution was both free and totally legal


 
That's interesting, because my solution would have been to shove the thing in a virtual machine, and while it sounds weird, I've seen a lot of Linux kernels running inside of Windows hosted VMs. That doesn't cost anything, and beats firing up an old box with poorly regulated power supplies and spinning my electric meter even faster. I love the utility apsect of CD-ROM'able Linux kernels (the good ones - many are crap), but just find them limited and don't want the support headache of older hardware. Otherwise, FreeBSD and Debian are two that run shockingly good on older hardware. Problem is, they lose their initial footprint advantage when you start trying to run fat apps in a hurry.

I've worked on zillions of NT 4.0 embedded thin clients, and while that OS is no longer supported by MS, I didn't see them self destruct because they weren't paying licenses to Microsoft. They load just as quickly as any Linux embedded device. I have a heavily modified Windows XP - PE bootable USB drive, but like you said, it _ain't _exactly Microsoft endorsed.



> it's better to take the hit in performance than to risk losing your computer.


 
I still do a lot of image processing on Windows 2000 Server (32-bit stuff), and would challenge that neither Windows 7 nor Server 2008 would run applications faster unless it's an explicit 64-bit task. Since I don't surf on that box, I don't care about security.


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## PhotonWrangler (Oct 23, 2010)

I've been bouncing between WinXP SP3 and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 on this machine after going through an upgrade nightmare with XP. I've been getting a good comparison of speed and general responsiveness between the two OSs, and I have to say that Linux runs like a gazelle on this machine. Light on it's feet and very responsive, even though I have the screen effects set to the highest level. On the other hand, XP moves like a drunken hippo.

If I didn't have to run a few specific Windows apps for work, I'd stay with Linux on this machine. Unfortunately I'm having a lot of trouble getting my VPN app to work on Linux.


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## jellydonut (Oct 23, 2010)

I've stuck to Windows and dabbled a little in others. My NAS box has OpenSolaris 2008.11 on it (love ZFS), not sure what to upgrade it to what with the Oracle debacle. Hopefully Openindiana will play out well. Not convinced by Nexenta.


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## jasonck08 (Oct 23, 2010)

I'm mostly a Windows guy and run Windows 7 at home on my desktop and Laptop. I run Vista on my work PC.  

I've experimented with various Linux distro's, primarily Ubuntu and Open Suse.

I have 2 phones, both run android, one I dual but WM 6.5 and Android 2.2.


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## carrot (Oct 23, 2010)

These days I am running a Mac-only setup. Life has never been simpler and computer maintenance is a non issue. I can still play games, such as L4D2 and Minecraft. I have Virtual Box installed so I can keep up with what's new in the Linux world and I can also install Windows (I have a valid 7 Pro license) but have not felt the need to. I have really no animosity towards Windows or any other OS for that matter but in my experience OS X lends to the most hassle-free experience and the hardware is quite pleasant to use as well.


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## jellydonut (Oct 23, 2010)

Warning, ramble incoming. Thoughts need to be typed down, I guess it's OCD-lite. :tired:

A thought popped up in my head tonight, regarding the two differing hobbies of mine - flashlights and computers. In some ways the way I look at, experience and buy stuff in these hobbies is the same, but in other ways very different.

With my disdain for overly complicated clicker UIs, love for my A2s and yearn for production PD lights one would expect that I could appreciate the Macs. (and maybe not make jokes about their earlier single button mice, like I do some times)

In a way, Surefire anno 2010 is kinda Apple-like - their products are regarded very highly by their fans, they're considered complete turnkey lights and their recent models are downright hostile to being user modified. Their emitters usually aren't cutting edge, yet their fans defend the product by claiming other qualities are as important if not more important - reminiscent of the Macs usually having the same hardware or lesser for more money than PC's, and their fans defending them on the terms of the chassis, the software and clever little touches like the magnetic charger plug. Their refusal to offer rechargeable models and insistence on using CR123s in a way corresponds to Apple's non-removable batteries. Yet I love my Surefires, and don't own a single Apple product. :duh2:

On the other hand I never buy a turnkey computer unless I have to - laptops come to mind, otherwise I build them myself. Reminds me of why I bought Oveready 6Ps and put various custom dropins in them. :naughty: Still, I don't look past sealed-head lights, I've got the Malkoff Hound Dog and Wildcat heads that I have no idea how to disassemble.

I guess maybe I should start considering them - I always follow every new Apple announcement because they usually have at least something interesting to say or add. My interest was especially peaked when they were going to add the ingenious ZFS file system to OS 10.6. Unfortunately this never came about, and now ZFS and Solaris is closed again thanks to Oracle. :mecry:

If I could find a replacement aluminium lid cover I might buy a MacBook. I hate the big glowing Apple, it's like saying 'hey, look at me and my money laptop' - might as well wear a platinum chain. :thumbsdow

I wish someone would build a true turnkey Linux laptop computer, with the extra touches, flair and features a turnkey computer should have. There are a few Linux computers available, but they're usually just OEM laptops with Linux installed on them, drivers preloaded and stickers put on the Windows keys. I guess what I'm saying is that someone should take the Apple approach and marry something like CentOS or an Ubuntu LTS release to a cool looking, rugged, decent Latitude-like chassis with purposeful specifications.


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## StarHalo (Oct 24, 2010)

jellydonut said:


> I hate the big glowing Apple



Gotta be creative


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## wyager (Oct 24, 2010)

OS X
The hardware and software are as smooth as glass, and have more features than I'll ever use. 5.1 surround sound, anyone? Plus, UNIX opens up a lot of possibilities.


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## AMD64Blondie (Oct 24, 2010)

Another update. My main Windows PC is now running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,while my backup PC is now running Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit.


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## PhotonWrangler (Oct 24, 2010)

AMD64Blondie said:


> Another update. My main Windows PC is now running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit,while my backup PC is now running Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit.



Is it possible to do an in-place upgrade from Ubuntu 32-bit to 64-bit?


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## fishinfool (Oct 24, 2010)

Win XP Pro.......still.


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## socalswami (Oct 25, 2010)

Win XP x 3, Win7 x 2
[first post]


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## Gaffle (Oct 25, 2010)

Mac OS X. Bought a Macbook Pro last January and I couldn't be happier. 

At some point (once my basement is finished) I will probably get a Windows box kickin for my daughter. She has some games that will not work on the Mac, and I really don't feel like installing Parallels.


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## fisk-king (Dec 17, 2011)

fisk-king said:


> for the past 2months Windose XP but for 2009 and the latter half of '08 it was Ubuntu
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well I decided not to purchase the System 76 laptop. On my HP laptop I have Windose 7 and booting Liberte Linux (hardened Gentoo, TORifies all connections & can use i2p) from USB. I wanted to try something different than Ubuntu.


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## AMD64Blondie (Dec 18, 2011)

Second update. Main PC is still running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

While my backup Linux PC is now on Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit.


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## Kilted (Dec 18, 2011)

jellydonut said:


> I've stuck to Windows and dabbled a little in others. My NAS box has OpenSolaris 2008.11 on it (love ZFS), not sure what to upgrade it to what with the Oracle debacle. Hopefully Openindiana will play out well. Not convinced by Nexenta.



Solaris 11 Express is suppose to be Oracles replacement. There was a OpenSolaris branch from Oracle but I cannot see it achieving any level of success. Despite Oracle claim Solaris 11 does not run on all x86 hardware. 

=D~~ Kilted


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## PhotonWrangler (Dec 18, 2011)

AMD64Blondie said:


> Second update. Main PC is still running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.



Any issues with lack of drivers for the 64 bit version?


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## ozner1991 (Dec 20, 2011)

im having constant issues with win 7 home in 64 bit, mostly flash software and some minor compatibility issues. it freezes every once in a while but nothing really bad yet


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## Sub_Umbra (Dec 20, 2011)

Just finished building a cruncher for Mrs Umbra w/dual 64 bit cores, 8 Gigs of ram and 64 Bit XP Pro.


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## PhotonWrangler (Dec 20, 2011)

Sub_Umbra said:


> Just finished building a cruncher for Mrs Umbra w/dual 64 bit cores, 8 Gigs of ram and 64 Bit XP Pro.



I've built a very similar machine but I've got it in mothballs for now. Interested in your experiences, Sub.


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## blah9 (Dec 22, 2011)

PhotonWrangler said:


> Any issues with lack of drivers for the 64 bit version?



I haven't had any troubles that I can think of with 64-bit Windows 7, and I've been running it since about the time it came out. I've installed it on some machines in the lab at school and they all seem to work fine as well.


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## Lite_me (Dec 22, 2011)

PhotonWrangler said:


> Any issues with lack of drivers for the 64 bit version?


I have a Win7 (64bit of course) laptop that I don't use all that much but I did install 10-15 various programs and haven't had any problems with them. Drivers, would be in regard to peripheral devices, add-ons. Not much experience there since it's a laptop, cept for a USB external HD if that counts. Oh, and a 1080P Web Cam. They worked.


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