I have been thinking about setting up an extra windows based computer that I have with Ubuntu just for fun and was wondering what OS system you currently run or would prefer to run. Also, any thoughts or advice running Linux and why?
I have more than one PC computer running XP but I also have a Mac Mini running OX X Leopard 10.5.8. I guess I should have included a dual platform choice but you can state that in your post if you like.
A far better way of doing things these days, imho, is virtualisation. Grab a copy of vmware player (free):
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
Hop onto vmplanet.net here:
http://www.vmplanet.net/
to download free vmware images.
Enjoy!
As to Linux, it's my preferred operating system in many ways - powerful, sleek, secure, very reliable, plenty of choice and freedom. Plus, I'm a GNU FSF fan. I'm a command line type of guy, I find it much more powerful than the GUI to be honest. That said, I'm too lazy to learn bash shell scripting and sed/gawk. I know I should, but alas, me be lazy sometimes. Windows is so...crappy in so many areas. Try searching log files, it's horrid on Windows. DOS blows in so many areas it isn't funny, then there's Windows poor hardware support out of the box...the list goes on.
But, I run Photoshop CS2 for my photography, and up until about a year ago, it didn't play nice with WINE. Hence my migration back to Windows land around 4 years ago. Prior to that, I used Linux as my only operating system (Debian of course).
I work in IT (local medium sized ISP), my primary area is web hosting, email hosting and hosted exchange. I also dabble in MYSQL, MS SQL maintenance, as well as general dialup/dsl/shdsl/ethernet support for our residential and busienss customers. I'm always learning something new. There's not many ISPs where you get level 15 admin access to the main core routers ;-)
Dave