What OS do you use?

[headprogrammingczar]

Download VMWare. Excellent virtual environment that runs on every OS.

[Marz]

I use Debian (Lenny beta 2). I actually find it more pleasant to use than Ubuntu, even though Ubuntu is supposedly friendlier.

I was really asking about your opinion from a political science perspective. I guess it really is a subject most people have never thought about.
personally I hate that I use Adobe's Flash Player.
Gnash is not anywhere near perfect, and Flash Player's the only proprietary software I use.

How about swfdec? It's released under LGPL.

[niko7865]

Windows XP
Windows Longhorn
OS X (on my iPod Touch)
Ubuntu
Debian
OpenBSD
Fedora
Linux Mint
EyeOS

[crp]

So i'm trying Ubuntu for the first time off the disk

And windows can go to hell. Ubuntu has everything I need
Especially the games collection and fan base
GNU Robots = win

[fennecfanatic]

My laptop dual-boots Vista and Ubuntu 8.04. Unfortunately I have to keep Vista around as I need Visual Studio for school *grumbles*.

My desktop runs Vista, because multiple attempts to install Ubuntu 8.04 have led to unbootable setups due to a bizarre GRUB error (21). So far, every suggestion for fixing it has failed.

So I run Vista and Ubuntu, but I'd rather just run Ubuntu. I voted for both.

As for Vista vs. XP, call me crazy, but I vastly prefer Vista. For whatever reason, it's faster on my PC (My guess is because the display is managed by the graphics card rather than dragging down the CPU), and once you turn off UAC and automatic updates (a recent one bricked my installation and mandated a reformat*. Joy.), it gets to be quite tolerable. I'm told SP1 is also a good idea, but I haven't decided to juggle that torch yet.

I may try another Linux-based OS in the future, or maybe a BSD variant (maybe OpenDarwin!), but for now I'm pretty much in love with Ubuntu.

*

Spoiler:

The update was intended to "improve the user experience" when activating Windows. Apparently it had a bug with OEM discs, though, as my system builder's copy (built-in product key, no activation required) caused it to decided that I had an incorrect product key. Since I didn't have a good key, I had to reformat.

When I did, I found out that MERE HOURS LATER they had released a fix for exactly that issue. Ugh. Too bad you can't download Windows updates on a machine which lacks access to Windows Update because it thinks you're a pirate.

Reason #5,842 for why I hate DRM.

[codyhotel]

XP and Other (DOS FTW)


XP is on all my current computer systems, and DOS is on an old, OLD (pre windows 95) laptop, i use it to play an old game where you and your opponent are apes standing on opposite sides of the screen and you have to enter a tragectory and velocity top throw an explosive banana at your foe. the DOS name was GORILLAS.EXE, it was the best.

[ash.gti]

I may try another Linux-based OS in the future, or maybe a BSD variant (maybe OpenDarwin!), but for now I'm pretty much in love with Ubuntu.

As a tip, OpenDarwin is kinda a dead project. However, you can still get all the components of OpenDarwin (like the kernel) from the http://www.opensource.apple.com/darwinsource/ website.

You will just have to build all the components yourself as there isn't a setup installer for it anywhere.

Not to say it can't be done. It will just take a lot of compiling yourself, compared to other systems. If you want you can use OSx86.turk or iAtkOS.

They are ports of OS X (the current version) to other hardware than Apple hardware. It will give you the Darwin kernel, if you want to start from there to build up other components like the UI (Quartz + Aqua is included in both of those, but you can install something else if you wanted to, like Metacity + GNOME)

[enk]

GORILLAS.EXE

Nostalgic win.

The app justifies the OS

[JayDee]

XP is on all my current computer systems, and DOS is on an old, OLD (pre windows 95) laptop, i use it to play an old game where you and your opponent are apes standing on opposite sides of the screen and you have to enter a tragectory and velocity top throw an explosive banana at your foe. the DOS name was GORILLAS.EXE, it was the best.

I remember that game as one of the example programs for QuickBasic. This page has the source (GORILLA.ZIP, under Misc Code.) According to my research it runs fine in DOSBOX.

[codyhotel]

XP is on all my current computer systems, and DOS is on an old, OLD (pre windows 95) laptop, i use it to play an old game where you and your opponent are apes standing on opposite sides of the screen and you have to enter a tragectory and velocity top throw an explosive banana at your foe. the DOS name was GORILLAS.EXE, it was the best.

I remember that game as one of the example programs for QuickBasic. This page has the source (GORILLA.ZIP, under Misc Code.) According to my research it runs fine in DOSBOX.

you. are. GOD!!!

seriously though, I love you.

[zombie_monkey]

a graph

That graph is kind of inaccurate, as people can vote for not just one but two OSes. It seems to me those who use one OS exclusively, it should count for twice as much for that OS. Actually, that applies to the pool itself.

[scootwhoman]

My laptop dual-boots Vista and Ubuntu 8.04. Unfortunately I have to keep Vista around as I need Visual Studio for school *grumbles*.

My desktop runs Vista, because multiple attempts to install Ubuntu 8.04 have led to unbootable setups due to a bizarre GRUB error (21). So far, every suggestion for fixing it has failed.

So I run Vista and Ubuntu, but I'd rather just run Ubuntu. I voted for both.

After having to reinstall Linux based GUI's every time in reinstalled Windows, I finally decided to try something different. So, I went to a local computer shop, and bought two RAID hard disc drive holders, and the plug-in slots for them. I put the Windows drive in one, and the Linux drive in the other, and put one RAID slot in my computer as Primary Master. Now, to change the OS, I shut it down, pull the boot drive out, and slap in the other one. No more problems with booting the desired OS!

Currently, I have computer with Windows Vista, (Boo! Hiss!) my multiple OS system, with Windows XP, 98, and Ubuntu, and a DOS machine. I am growing increasingly fond of Ubuntu.

[crp]

a graph

That graph is kind of inaccurate, as people can vote for not just one but two OSes. It seems to me those who use one OS exclusively, it should count for twice as much for that OS. Actually, that applies to the pool itself.

i could put every option twice

Most people i know have 2 OS' though, no idea why though.

[Xanthir]

Voted XP and Other( Firefox ). Because seriously, at least half of my life is browser-based, and I could access it on any computer and any OS that ran FF.

I've used Kubuntu in the past, and the servers I use at work are all ubuntu, but they constitute a lower proportion of my total OS-time, and I only had two options.

[Neureo900]

Ubuntu and loving it. I also have an XP partition for iTunes, but that doesn't count 'cos it's just in case my iPod gets screwed up.

[CVSoul]

Stupid vista.

I recently tried to plug in my webcam and it promptly gave me a BSOD.

Stupid Vista.

[crp]

lol, i bet my life that webcam was not made by windows or any affiliates, right?

[headprogrammingczar]

Funny, I was about to bet my life that it was...

[hotaru]

lol, i bet my life that webcam was not made by windows or any affiliates, right?

the only thing windows makes is headaches.

[Xanthir]

Windows-bashing aside, I'm betting it's due to the webcam-maker's idiocy. They likely made some stupid assumption or just plain did something retarded that makes Windows bork.

Raymond Chen (author of the blog Old New Thing, look it up) offers for free a chapter of his book devoted to some of the worst things he's encountered as a Windows programmer. He's one of the guys on the team that runs every program known to man and tries to figure out just what retarded workaround needs to be added to the OS to make popular programs work.

[sakeniwefu]

I am surprised by the very few "others" as there is no BSD option in the list. I guess most were just pissed off at being told they use a hobby OS.
I dual boot Ubuntu and OpenBSD in my Linux XPS1330 laptop. I use XUbuntu for webbrowsing, skyping, youtubing, wineing, virtual machines and office work, and OpenBSD with a dwm "desktop" for sound and video playback(Ubuntu players all suck for some reason) and software development. I tried to replicate the latter with Debian, but OpenBSD just turns out to be more orderly out of the box.

[EvanED]

The distinction between this thread and the older OS thread is thin, but I think this webcam complaint discussion belongs in the other one. If it continues for more than another post or two, expect those posts to be split.

Windows-bashing aside, I'm betting it's due to the webcam-maker's idiocy. They likely made some stupid assumption or just plain did something retarded that makes Windows bork.

Raymond Chen (author of the blog Old New Thing, look it up) offers for free a chapter of his book devoted to some of the worst things he's encountered as a Windows programmer. He's one of the guys on the team that runs every program known to man and tries to figure out just what retarded workaround needs to be added to the OS to make popular programs work.

Not to mention a substantial majority of Windows BSODs are caused by third-party drivers.

[bert5412]

I'm running Windows XP on my gaming computer and my computer for school work runs on Windows ME. Both computers work just fine. At school i use windows XP, and OS X on occasion.

[aleflamedyud]

I am surprised by the very few "others" as there is no BSD option in the list. I guess most were just pissed off at being told they use a hobby OS.

I'd be proud to use a hobby OS. Getting one of those to work makes you a total badass.

[scarecrovv]

On my old laptop, which I use for most stuff, I run Windows XP and Fedora Core 4 about half the time each, Windows mainly because I couldn't (be bothered to) make everything work in FC4. However, I'm in the process of rapidly switching to my new laptop, which I'm running Fedora 9 on exclusively. I'm nearly done setting it up. All that's left to do is make flash and wine do what I want, then copy important data, and that's not really very critical, just for You Tube and some games.

[Flectarn]

Desktop- XPpro, Sabayon and, Vista (though i hardly ever use it anymore). I would have Solaris on here, but it refused to install, and wouldn't give me a reason.. Same for AROS

Laptop- XPpro, SymphonyOne (probably be chaning this to something else soon though), Ran OSX86 on it for a while untill the novelty wore off.

Amiga500- AmgiaOS Workbench 1.4

[mat-tina]

Gentoo on the stationary, Debian on the laptop. I've also got a Windows partition, just in order to not boot it.

[codyhotel]

I was going to Add Linux to my vote but you can only pick 2 things,...

Just made myself a Knoppix Boot CD today at work, I've only used it for a few minutes but a couple days at the office doing no work should be enough to learn.

[Nubsy]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows XP SP2.

I'm loving Ubuntu very much. I can't really find anything to complain about with it. heh.
WinXP is on an all around better computer (dual core vs. single, newer components, etc), but I know that with my luck if I were to install Ubuntu and rid myself of windows, something would happen and I'll be SOL.

Anyone know if I can take the HDD with Linux and move it to a completely new computer safely? I know that with windows you need to remove all drivers and then move it and it MAY work if you're lucky, but I dunno about Linux.

[Exenon]

I'm mainly using Vista ultimate on my Laptop, but I also use XP and Ubuntu 8.04 on my older desktop. Currently the video card of my desktop pc is down, so i can only use my laptop. But as soon as i have a new one, i'm ready for ubuntu again !
Actually, i like vista . Dont beat me to death, it would be a total waste ! I have had some extremely bizarre bugs and crashes, that caused me a lot of problems, but all in all, it's okay, and it's definitely better than XP for the daily use.

[atimholt]

XP is on all my current computer systems, and DOS is on an old, OLD (pre windows 95) laptop, i use it to play an old game where you and your opponent are apes standing on opposite sides of the screen and you have to enter a tragectory and velocity top throw an explosive banana at your foe. the DOS name was GORILLAS.EXE, it was the best.

I remember that game as one of the example programs for QuickBasic. This page has the source (GORILLA.ZIP, under Misc Code.) According to my research it runs fine in DOSBOX.

you. are. GOD!!!

seriously though, I love you.

Yeah, entering numbers was way cooler than the nowaday's projectile launching games (like Scorched 3d, check it out) gui based imprecision. Back when I played it, I didn't even know what angle was (I was little). And if you launch the banana at high-enough a speed, it'll go straight through buildings, usually blowing a hole deep inside it. That was my favorite method of bypassing unfairly tall buildings closeby. But when I played it, it was as an uncompiled, example program in QBasic, along with "Nibbles," the worm game. I think we had Windows 3.1 when we first started playing it, and would exit to dos to use the QBasic IDE, which had a ghetto ascii based mouse pointer and gui.

I've got Ubuntu dual booting with Windows Vista. I never have problems with windows, maybe because I have 2gb memory? Actually, it's probably because I don't branch out to less 'orthodox' programs that might crash, like I ought to for educational purposes. This will sound stupid, but I actually bought Office 2007 (at student price), and like it. One reason I use Windows.
Ubuntu is cool. I might word process there (I'm writing a novel),except I'm using the obscure comments feature of Microsoft office to keep track of 1st draft idiocy. Way better than the wavy bracket in-lining I was doing before.
OpenOffice works better now, but when I tried it before, it couldn't handle hundred-or-more-pages long document very well. Of course, I was running it under windows at the time .
Total lack of virtual workspaces in windows is just intolerable! I tried a thrown together program for such in Vista, but it doesn't work well with the hated Toshiba 'flashcards' program at the top of my laptop's screen (that's another rant--is there a thread on crapware?).
If I could just get my wireless working and if I just took a little time playing with Wine, I'd probably mostly/totally switch to Ubuntu (except for office, maybe). I'd still use windows for games, but I don't play games oh so much.
[/wall of text]

[Wiglaf]

Arch Linux on mah 733 Mhz Pentium III. I'd probably be running Gentoo if I had a stronger computer.

[codyhotel]

XP is on all my current computer systems, and DOS is on an old, OLD (pre windows 95) laptop, i use it to play an old game where you and your opponent are apes standing on opposite sides of the screen and you have to enter a tragectory and velocity top throw an explosive banana at your foe. the DOS name was GORILLAS.EXE, it was the best.

I remember that game as one of the example programs for QuickBasic. This page has the source (GORILLA.ZIP, under Misc Code.) According to my research it runs fine in DOSBOX.

you. are. GOD!!!

seriously though, I love you.

Yeah, entering numbers was way cooler than the nowaday's projectile launching games (like Scorched 3d, check it out) gui based imprecision. Back when I played it, I didn't even know what angle was (I was little). And if you launch the banana at high-enough a speed, it'll go straight through buildings, usually blowing a hole deep inside it. That was my favorite method of bypassing unfairly tall buildings closeby. But when I played it, it was as an uncompiled, example program in QBasic, along with "Nibbles," the worm game. I think we had Windows 3.1 when we first started playing it, and would exit to dos to use the QBasic IDE, which had a ghetto ascii based mouse pointer and gui.

[/wall of text]

BAWWWWW I REMEMBER NIBBLES NOW!!!

DOS is the greatest thing ever

[headprogrammingczar]

Does anyone remember BattleChess? I would play it for hours on end, and I was only 4.

[cooldude76]

I currently have OSX on my Laptop (a Mac, obviously, and a pretty good one too ). I also have XP on an old, like '03 (ish) machine, mostly for gaming, and I am trying to get Linux (either on partition on the other machines or on a crappy other machine that I bought from a thrift store (<<<< future tense)). So i voted for OSX and Linux, mostly because I really want Linux.

[newhouseb]

I run a pretty standard OS X with VMWare Fusion pretty much full-time hosting Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows XP.

I use OS X for what I would call life... communcation, browsing, etc etc
Ubuntu for developing... hooray wmii and vi!
Windows for windows specific software and VPN browsing (that way I don't have to fiddle with shaky OS X openvpn clients)

It's a beast of an environment, but I have the best of all worlds, and I use all three about equally frequently, sad we could only choose 2

[godrik]

I voted for debian and other linux distribution.
In fact i mainly use ubuntu and debian distribution. However, i use ubuntu repository but my machines does not really looks like an ubuntu one. (i mean that i don't use any ubuntu configuration helper anymore and i am considering migrating to debian seriously)

My vote for "other linux distribution" comes from the kernel used in linux distribution, which is linux. I believe we should consider migrating to real time kernels in order to use efficiently multicore architectures. since i am not really sure that rtlinux is still linux, i voted for "other linux distribution"

[tylerwylie]

Does anyone remember BattleChess? I would play it for hours on end, and I was only 4.

My favorite battle was rook eating the queen.

*Edit* I may be thinking of a different chess game, either way I need to find it.

[evilbeanfiend]

xp at home for gaming
at work its linux/unix so
sun os or more usually now
red hat or fedora

as i dont need to do any sys admin stuff at work and i only really use the command line im pretty agnostic to which distribution i use

[Evilagram]

I have a Desktop running XP/Ubuntu (Wubi installation), and a laptop running Vista/Ubuntu (Live CD installation).


I've been meaning to try out Ubuntu since a minor run in with Knoppix booted off a flash drive (had to repair what were apparently system critical files, that didn't help the system at all, bloody registry!). I recently installed it using Wubi onto my desktop, which ran smoothly, and I'm enjoying the host of programs and capabilities it has. I dual boot because there are a number of programs I still like on XP, including games, my picture manager of choice, and this one awesome video player (called zoom player, I'd suggest checking it out). I've tried installing these using WINE onto my Ubuntu installation, with less than satisfactory results, which I may or may not tinker with in the future. Similarly there's a number of programs on Ubuntu which are incredibly useful, including programming resources, an awesome pixel art program, and a number of other things.


The Laptop is a different story. My father said, "Hey lets get vista on our new laptop!" Things went downhill from there to say the absolute least. Constant program crashes, it froze all the time, and a number of other miscellaneous errors. After poking and prodding for the better half of eternity, I gave up, burned a live CD and installed Ubuntu on there, and we've been having a wonderful time ever since. In particular I like how it mounts external drives. No more of this idiotic "safe removal" bullshit. Now I know what the fuck the thing is actually doing to my drive and I can control the entire process.

Feel it's worth mentioning that Ubuntu is the first OS I haven't had good reason to despise in one way or another. I'd say it's the first I genuinely like.