Which OS do you prefer?

[brollyparagus]

I've noticed many people professing a general dislike of Windows based operating systems, and many praising Mac OS's. A lot of these people happen to be Humanities-Social Sciences... I'm wondering whether the Hard/Mathematical Science students prefer using either of these, or the clearly (computationally) superior Linux OS's?

But seriously, who likes Linux? Oh, and what distro?

Edited March 8, 2011 by brollyparagus

[sacklunch]

Windows 7 on all three of my machines.

I like Mac products (they are built well, ect), but I don't think spending 1k+ for a laptop/desktop is a good deal. I have also done several hackintosh setups myself, all ending rather quickly (got bored of OSX).

If you like to build, play, tinker, ect, with systems (like m), I think Windows (or Linux) is the way to go.

[oldwolf]

Linux all the way.

[brollyparagus]

Linux all the way.

What distro is your "go-to" oldwolf? I'm partial to Ubuntu (I know it's mainstream, but I 'shopped' around a lot before ending up with this. It's efficient at resource allocation, you can avoid bloating, and best of all, it's FREE!!!)

[eklavya]

bio-linux all the way!

[oldwolf]

What distro is your "go-to" oldwolf? I'm partial to Ubuntu (I know it's mainstream, but I 'shopped' around a lot before ending up with this. It's efficient at resource allocation, you can avoid bloating, and best of all, it's FREE!!!)

I use Gentoo. I get a lot of smack about how long it takes to set up the thing initially. "How many weeks did your install take?" is a typical example. But once it's up and running, assuming you keep it updated, it's pretty sweet.

Linux overall is great if you find yourself doing a lot of code development -- which is a tendency in math, physics, computer science, etc. And it's marketable: many physics and math internship programs (don't know about other fields) are now listing UNIX as required/preferred experience.

[brollyparagus]

I use Gentoo. I get a lot of smack about how long it takes to set up the thing initially. "How many weeks did your install take?" is a typical example. But once it's up and running, assuming you keep it updated, it's pretty sweet.

Linux overall is great if you find yourself doing a lot of code development -- which is a tendency in math, physics, computer science, etc. And it's marketable: many physics and math internship programs (don't know about other fields) are now listing UNIX as required/preferred experience.

lol, I haven't tried Gentoo yet and I am inclined to compile it one of these days on my laptop (the installation seems quite easy since it's ALL documented!)... My hesitation however stems from the fact that I am not TOO specific a user of any application, hence compiling all software is a bit useless to me. But then again, just the challenge of getting it going might be an accomplishment on its own!

[starmaker]

I really hate Macs. A lot of people swear by them, and of course those people should get Macs, but I find them horribly unintuitive, plus Apple's marketing irritates me. I like various Linux stuff (Ubuntu is kind of nice, Debian seems fine), Windows XP, and Windows 7.

[pangur-ban]

I've settled on Debian as my Linux of choice. Ubuntu (I thought) makes it too hard to change/control everything I want, and Gentoo is too much work for me.

[waddle]

I'd use Kubuntu if only I could get the wireless card on my main computer to cooperate. Not having the Internetz is a big turn-off.

My preferred OS is Windows XP, but I also have one computer running Win7. I think Macs are way over priced and I really dislike Apple's corporate strategy, i.e., crippling your software and trying to tell you how you should use your computer. The last Mac I had was a Mac II, with 64 KB of RAM. It was black and white and had awesome games.

[hardcrashxyz]

I routinely use Windows 7, Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Mac OS X. A majority of the applications I rely on are Open Source and many are cross-platform.

Most of my time recently has been with Mac OS X on a 15" Powerbook pro. I like the gui and appreciate that I can also go to the unix command line. Very few challenges with stability or configuration (easier to do when the company matches both OS and hardware). Downside is cost and getting lumped in with fanboys. Setup to dual boot Windows 7 with bootcamp, because I need windows 7 for my game fix and the software I may be working on in grad school is slow to release in Mac OS X.

For servers I use Linux only.

Although I will pretty much adopt whatever is in common use at my dept. in grad. school.

[UnlikelyGrad]

I'm pretty much a Mac person, but I have been known to use Linux (and the command line . Actually, I have been known to use Windows, too, but only when dragged to it kicking and screaming. My son wants to build a computer from scratch; when that happens, we'll probably install Ubuntu on it.

BTW, Macs *seem* overpriced--but we've been able to use our Mac desktops for years and years (like 10+), way longer than anyone I know has been able to use their Windows machines. In other words, replacements are more expensive but less frequently needed. Now my laptop is only ~3 years old and starting to get flaky, which is disconcerting. I expected to be able to use it through grad school...

[metasyntactic]

I've been using Debian GNU/Linux for about ten years now and plan to keep using it as long as it's maintained. Ubuntu is installed on the department machines (such as the one on my desk), so I use that occasionally. I occasionally dual boot to Windows if I feel like playing a PC game, but that doesn't happen very often anymore.

[timuralp]

I use Debian for everything -- I find it to be a nice balance of compiling stuff I care about and using other stuff that I really couldn't care less about compiling. By the way, since when is resource allocation in Ubuntu different from any other distro? If there's something one is hell bent on doing differently, compiling your own kernel takes only 5 minutes, but that's a different story). What other resources are allocated outside the kernel?

I have a win7 install kicking around in a VM and as a dual boot because OOImpress doesn't really cut it for presentations.

Also, not to nitpick (don't you love how everyone who says that goes on to nitpick?), but Linux and UNIX are indeed different. Just because Linux implements a large chunk of POSIX , doesn't make them the same.

[talfiq]

i am comfortable with Ubuntu, and don't remember when was the last time I boot my windows.

i got macmini in my home too, and planning to get a MacBookPro... and also considering getting a ThinkPad as option. not sure yet.

[firefly28]

i am comfortable with Ubuntu, and don't remember when was the last time I boot my windows.

i got macmini in my home too, and planning to get a MacBookPro... and also considering getting a ThinkPad as option. not sure yet.

I also use Ubuntu. I can use R but I won't be using any proprietary stats programs that might come up in classes, at least not on my own computer. Which doesn't matter since R is better than them anyway.

[was1984]

I use a mac because I like the robustness of the hardware and I like being able to run all of the Linux-based cad tools using X11. Windows is out of the question, since I absolutely deplore CygWin (and windows for that matter). I could run Linux on a made-for-windows laptop, but I like the sturdy feel of my Macbook pro, and I can't find a windows laptop that is anywhere near as sturdy.