__/ [ Mark ] on Monday 10 July 2006 15:51 \__
> Hi
>
> I am a windows developer through and through.... XP, .Net, C#..... have
> been for years.
>
> But, i've always had a calling somewhere from deep inside me to turn my
> back on this all too convient combination in favour of something
> different.
[partly to self:] Mark Kent recently said that folks like you are becoming
rather common and I suspect he was very much right. You see, a few years
ago, before full maturity and word of mounth, such decisions were rarer.
> So, I might get a Mac. (:s)
Don't misinterpet this, but "Why?"! What will a Mac offer that GNU/Linux
cannot deliver, other than lockins (see remainder of message, addressing
your misleading prior experience)? Have a look at:
"Mac guru and software developer Mark Pilgrim recently switched to Ubuntu
Linux after becoming fed up with proprietary Mac file-formats and the
increasing use of DRM technologies in the MacOS. I've been a Mac user since
1984, and have a Mac tattooed on my right bicep. I've probably personally
owned 50 Macs, and I've purchased several hundred while working as an IT
manager over the years. I'm about to make the same switch, for much the same
reasons."
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2006/07/02/cory_doctorow_says_he_is_also_leaving_mac_os_x_for_ubuntu.html
So even long-time Mac gurus are switching to Linux, essentially forsaking
their knowledge and experience with Apple products.
> No, seriously, I'd like to get going with Ruby on Rails, which looks
> rather tempting. I know I can get this working under windows XP, but,
> well I wonder if someone could recommend a distribution of Linux that I
> could dual boot with XP...
Any distribution can dual-boot with XP. Differnet distributions, however, may
or may not come with a partitioner and a bootloader. Many modern
distributions give you a graphical front-end for the entire process though.
Seriously consider Ubuntu if you aim for simplicity -- something that works
/with/ you rather than /against/ you (through the offering of /too/ many
choices, thereby leading to confusion).
> I've tried this before, but every time, I've fallen flat... it just
> takes too long to get things working and it's too difficult to find
> support. :( Last time I tried, I used SimpleMEPIS - because people said
> it was the easiest and most complete out of the box solution.
Not quite. Whoever said this to you probably was a MEPIS user. MEPIS have
dropped Debian as their codebase IIRC and are now feeding on Ubuntu. It's a
small development team, so don't expect much from them...
> Well, I got it working, but:
> a) It didn't support (at least in a straight-forward way) WPA-PSK which
> meant it was useless for my wireless network
> b) It was slooooow. Slow to boot, slow to perform.
What specs?
> Can anyone help this lost soul? :)
> Mark.
Mark Pilgrim? He /too/ ditched Apple and moves/d to ubuntu Linux.
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Far away from home, robots build people"
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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