I have been contemplating getting a Mac. I never seriously considered this, but recent event have caused me to think this way. I won’t get into the reasons here, but I would like to try something that could be better.
What about Linux. I have played around with Linux a few times. I always stop playing around as soon as I have any trouble with drivers (almost always). I have done the dual boot thing and I have also used Virtual PC to run Linux in a virtual machine.
I have a few Windows application that I need. Expression Web, Money and Office come to mind. I could probably work with an Office alternative on my home laptop. Money connects to my credit union for updating seamlessly, so I don’t think I would try to live without it. Of course Expression Web is what I use to maintain my own web site.
Maybe I have been going about this the wrong way. I hate dual booting. I also have not been thrilled with the performance running Linux in a virtual machine. Maybe I should try installing Linux as my main operating system and running Windows XP in a virtual machine when I need it. Hmm. I have heard that VMWare can do this.
I am still waiting for nVidia to release Vista drivers for my GeForce Go 7900 Series graphics on my Toshiba laptop. When those driver become available I think I am going to try loading Linux and setting up Windows XP in a virtual machine. If I like it I will keep it that way. If I don’t like it I will wipe the machine and load Windows Vista.
The new network support specialist at work is a Windows and Linux nut. He loves Linux and puts Windows down all the time, but unlike a lot of other biased Linux nut cases he admits to liking Windows and having it on some of his home machines. He will be a good resource for me getting Linux setup.
I’ll keep you posted… but you can get an idea when this will happen when you see nVidia get those drivers out.
May 2, 2007 at 8:40 pm |
I have been able to run VMWare on Ubuntu 6.10, with XP as a VM. I just wiped the box and installed Kubuntu 7.10, and will install VMWare on it. Also, at work, we had a Mac come in, and were able to play with the Parallel Desktops. It was pretty cool in that the windows apps could run “outside” a desktop environment, so to speak. This made the app appear as if it were a native Mac OS based app.