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Thread: Which OS do you use for what Purpose

  1. #1
    Member Slartarama's Avatar
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    Which OS do you use for what Purpose

    So, this might belong in General Chit Chat, but it's actually about OSes, so I'll post it here.

    I know most people have a favorite OS, I do too, but I still use a lot more than anyone should I guess. So the question is, just for fun, how many PCs do you have and what OS do you run on them, but also why and for what?

    So here are mine, in no particular order:

    1. Mac G5 PPC: OSX Tiger (10.4.11):
    I used to use it for Web Development, games, etc -- Now I use it for TV, movies, games, since I have a big monitor and surround sound

    2. Dell Desktop: Windows XP:
    Has decent amount of RAM and a very nice video card, I use it primarily for games, but also for school, since some classes I have are IE only.

    3. Mac G3 OSX OSX Tiger (10.4.11):
    This is actually my wife's PC, I don't ever tough it unless it needs something(our agreement, so that she has one PC that is totally hers)

    4. Dell Desktop (Ubuntu/XP)
    For my kids, they have the Ubuntu PC and then XP in dual boot to play games that have been bought for them

    5. Dell Laptop (Ubuntu/XP)
    I dual boot for when I want to play games on XP and I am traveling, but the main OS is Ubuntu, with Compiz and all the bells and whistles, this is my favorite PC/OS. I have a VM on Ubuntu for when I don't want to reboot for school or work when I am using Ubuntu.

    6. Older PC scratch Built ( Clarkconnect)
    This is the first PC I built and I am using it as a gateway/router

    7. Older HP Server (VM ESXi)
    For fun on a virtual network

    8. Old Aptiva (Smoothwall)
    As a router for the virtual network

    9. OLd Gateway Pentium 2 ( BSD)
    Because I want to learn BSD


    Anyway that's where I am with PCs and OSes, what are you folks doing?

  2. #2
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    I triple boot on my desktop and have a MacBook. I run Windows XP just because it came with it. I like to use Fedora for programming.

    My Mac is usually for web surfing and some random games that I play on the internet. I have to say that each OS has their pros and cons.
    Learn about Rubik's Cubes HERE

  3. #3
    Gonzo District BOFH westin's Avatar
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    I have a homebrew Desktop running Ubuntu 8.04,

    another homebrew running XP Pro,

    a work laptop running XP Pro,

    a laptop that I use for the church website running Vista Home Premium,

    an old laptop that I use for recording music [cool edit pro] running XP Home,

    and at work I have a macbook running OS 10.4 ... I think it is 10.4... don't quote me on that...
    \"Those of us that had been up all night were in no mood for coffee and donuts, we wanted strong drink.\"

    -HST

  4. #4
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    The first time I used a mac was when I was maybe six or seven-ish. I didn't like it then... and I don't enjoy their computers now. And I consider Linux to be the OS of choice for users who are to dumb to operate anything else. Yet are to proud to admit they themselves often dislike having to run it.

    Nope, I've always liked the NT family of operating systems.

  5. #5
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    Using XP on Dell Latitude 620 for Corp stuff but will be switching over to OS X. Then will use Fusion to muck about in a variety of OSes and security tools.

    Have an XP system for gaming stuff.

    Just got a Wii for silly games.

    That's it. No need to have a bazillion physical boxes when I can use a virtual platform to muck about in.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
    Extra! Extra! Get your FREE copy of Insight Newsletter||MsMittens' HomePage

  6. #6
    AO's Filibustier Cheap Scotch Ron's Avatar
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    MacBook Air, OS X 10.5.5 - Personal email and general web browsing
    Dell PowerEdge 1435SC 64 bit - Development Machine - VMware, opensuse 10.3, Win2K3

    I'm with MsMittens. Virtual is the way to go.

  7. #7
    Senior Member t34b4g5's Avatar
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    Machine i'm on now is XP Pro
    got another one with win2000Pro
    laptop dual booting XP Pro/Suse
    EeePC 1000H runnin xp
    EeePC 1000HA also on XP

    a old pen3 running clarkconnect
    and a few other systems with various OS.

  8. #8
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hardware:

    IBM PC XT
    BBC Basic Microcomputer
    Acorn Archimedes
    Amstrad 1512
    Intel 286, 386, 486, Pentium I, II, III, 4
    Athlon XP 1900+, 2200+, 2400+, 3000+

    OSes:

    RISC
    DOS 3.3, 4.1, 5.0, 6.22
    Windows 2.03, 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, ME, 2000Pro, XP Home, XP Pro, Vista Home Premium.
    Ubuntu, Red Hat, SuSE


  9. #9
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    Smile OS's for different purposes

    I have an AST Adventure 4066D for my old MS-DOS games I still have. (MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11)
    A PIII 866MHz microprocessor running Debian 4.0 or Slackware normally, but exchange the HD with another one with Windows 98 for my Amateur Radio stuff when I need to.
    An custom built AthlonXP 2.4 GHz microprocessor running Windows XP for my online flying/games. When not using it for games I have a hard drives with Fedora 9 and FreeBSD 7.0. Testing box for my different Linux distros I have also.
    The wife and I run both Toshiba P-4 laptops running Microsoft Vista for internet surfing and general use.

  10. #10
    Member Slartarama's Avatar
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    I thought there would be a great diversity here. It's interesting to see everyone's experiences and different choices.

    I started out with Windows, was seduced by Macs, with OSX(they never did anything for me before) and then decided to try about ten different flavors of Linux until I settled on Ubuntu. I really like Sabayon though. And a few others.

    I took part in many a Mac vs Windows forum war, tried to go "no windows" at home, I think as a see-if-I-can-do-it but also because there is a fad about ridding the world of Windows.

    But after I matured a little on all three of my current choices for desktop OS, I have found a few things:

    1. XP is very stable, I support it at work and will never stop using it until MS replaces it with something else as stable. All in all it is a damned good OS. Malware aside, if people were educated, it'd be tougher for malware to spread. I go to some pretty colorful places on the internet and I never seem to get infected. I also know how to protect my PC so, there's that.

    2. Mac OS is also pretty damned good, but Apple is not the up and coming underdog that they want to be and they are are not angelic. Some of their business practices are worse than MS. I have no problem buying TV Shows and songs, but the fact that you can transfer the media to only five hard drives and cannot burn TV Shows to a format that is DVD player watchable is total BS. Plus, I once rebuilt my Mac HDD and left all of my songs on my iPod instead of backing them up, couldn't pull them off without third party software, because it is only associable to one iTunes Library-CRAP!

    A standard MP3 player does not have that limitation.

    PLus the equpment is very good, but it is expensive. I have usually bought my Macs old or under a discount and then they were comparable, but I've had rock solid PCs that have run without a hitch next to my expensive Macs. No Difference.

    3. Linux has come a looooooooooooooong way for user friendly desktop OS. It is a beautiful OS, plenty of bells and whistles and freeware that is industry strength. I think that it is on the whole as strong as the other two standard desktop OSes, but it is much more apt to allow you to be punished for making a mistake. I have hosed a Linux installation many a times and made it unrecoverable, but oh well, part of the learning process.

    4. This is the most important thing, as a user of all three of these in various flavors and forms I have to say, ALL OSes have something lacking and do things better than the others. I mean that Linux does things I like but then OSX will do something else better, and then something else is better or easier in XP. Thing is, I never take sides in an OS flame war because I have seen the limitations and strides of each and use each daily.

    I'm typing this on a Windows XP PC while my Mac is running a game. Meh. I think that you really can't be a fanboy if you work closely with each one. But if you're satisfied with your OS, then good for you.

    5. The main thing is for me and the diversity, I like to play. I like to reinstall and do better than I did before. I like to try and see how one OS is at one particular task. VMware is great for a quick look but it doesn't always do the OS justice without native hardware, but that's mostly video I think.


    Anyway, thanks for all the input. I always find it interesting to see what other folks are doing.

    Oh, yeah I also forgot I like to run Backtrack 3 off a USB stick and Puppy Linux off a live disk, those are two others I frequent, but I have copies of about twenty OSes, even a Vista VM, which runs really good. Just had to turn off the annoying bits.
    Last edited by Slartarama; November 22nd, 2008 at 05:42 AM. Reason: Spelling again...

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