# Which OS do you use and why?



## WelltodoInformalCattle (Jul 8, 2013)

I use Debian and Fedora along with Windows 8 (unfortunately...) and OS X on my laptops because I have way too much time on my hands. I'll admit that I absolutely love my Debian configuration and plan on sticking to it for the foreseeable future.


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## fapvps (Jul 8, 2013)

Windows 7 + Gentoo on Desktops/Laptops. Centos and Ubuntu on servers. Windows 7 because it is solid and Gentoo because it has the latest and the greatest stuff in portage. Centos and Ubuntu because they are both solid on the server from my experiance. I like Ubunut LTS a little more than Centos.


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## XFS_Brian (Jul 8, 2013)

I mainly use Windows 7 on my desktop and laptop. Been really thinking hard about changing my laptop over to CentOS Desktop. For anything website related, I use CentOS Server. I also have  Windows 2008 R2 Server setup for WDS use.


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## wlanboy (Jul 8, 2013)

Windows 7 desktop for all the software my family is using. It is a dual boot system (Ubuntu) but they are only using Windows.

Ubuntu on laptop, thinbox and all servers. I don't want to switch the linux distribution because I know every tool and every location and config file.


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## MannDude (Jul 8, 2013)

CrunchBang on my desktop, Ubuntu on my laptop.

Because it works


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## wlanboy (Jul 8, 2013)

MannDude said:


> CrunchBang


Is it still available as an ubuntu branch? I used it some years ago because of the dark theme and the openbox/conky desktop.


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## wdq (Jul 8, 2013)

At home I have Mac OS X on my main computer, and Windows 8 on my gaming computer. I have a few older Windows 7 systems laying around just idling at home as well. I also have a Chromebook that has both Ubuntu and ChromeOS on it. 

At work I use Windows 7 since that's what pretty much everyone uses there. 

On my servers I use primarily Debian, and Ubuntu on my game servers. I occasionally have a CentOS server which I use to test out things with cPanel.


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## WelltodoInformalCattle (Jul 8, 2013)

Quick, someone say Arch Linux!


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## bellicus (Jul 8, 2013)

I mainly use Windows 7, and Puppy Linux with the occasional Mint lol. @Voss I've used Arch in the past and loved it.


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## NodeBytes (Jul 8, 2013)

Servers


Debian - I know all the commands that I need to administer a Debian server and a lot of them can be carried between Debian and Ubuntu.
CentOS - It's smooth and has some features/application that I need that I can't run on Debian.
Ubuntu - Same as Debian
Windows Server 2008 - Compatibility with software/stability. Plus this is what my employer uses for most of their servers at the moment. 
Windows Server 2012 - I love the new interface and it works extremely well for everything I need. Plus I have an MSDN subscription and I like to keep up to date with the current software.


Desktop


OS X - I just LOVE OS X it's so awesome and it runs so well. Plus all my Adobe applications like Photoshop work like a charm and I never have any issues with them.
Windows XP - Stable as a rock, runs extremely well on Type 2 hypervisors


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## Dan (Jul 8, 2013)

Ubuntu + Win 7

Ubuntu mainly for web development and battery saving on the road 

Win 7 .. games that's all.


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## jcaleb (Jul 8, 2013)

Mint on my desktop, Debian on VPS


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## WebSearchingPro (Jul 8, 2013)

Desktop: Windows 7 Pro for online courses / gaming / general software.

Servers: Cent-OS instead of Debian because I was given a few free Fedora/Cent-OS books a few years back.


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## drmike (Jul 8, 2013)

Debian everywhere - VPS, desktop, local servers...

Dumped Mint, Crunchbang, etc.  too many hassles with my hardware (notebooks).


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## Hassan (Jul 8, 2013)

OSX CentOS Debian and Ubuntu mainly


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## HostVenom - Brandon (Jul 8, 2013)

Desktop: Windows 7

Server: Centos - Won't use anything else unless I have no other options.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jul 8, 2013)

Gentoo on physical hardware, Debian on virtualization.


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## MannDude (Jul 8, 2013)

buffalooed said:


> Debian everywhere - VPS, desktop, local servers...
> 
> Dumped Mint, Crunchbang, etc.  too many hassles with my hardware (notebooks).


Why'd you dump Crunchbang on the laptops? Just curious as I figured the hardware support would be the same as Debian.

I've got minor complaints about Crunchbang but the performance and stability outweigh everything else. The 'complaints' I have would be considered 'features' to others, and they're not even that big of a deal. It's nice to have to manually edit things here and there, get it working the way you want and what not.

What are you using on your Debian desktops as a DM?


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## sv01 (Jul 8, 2013)

Debian for personal  CentOS because only CentOS/RHEL compatible on cPanel, but personally I prefer Debian.

For desktop I use Fedora 19


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## MannDude (Jul 8, 2013)

Oh, if we're listing server OSes, then yes, Debian as well.

I really have no reason to choose Debian over CentOS/RHEL for servers other than it just being a personal preference and the OS I've got the most experience with.


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## saltspork (Jul 8, 2013)

OS X / Xubuntu / Win7 on desktop. The latter two in VMs.

Debian on servers. Tried CentOS for a while but never felt comfortable with it.


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## shawn_ky (Jul 8, 2013)

Windows 7 on Desktops/Laptops, 1 Windows 8 (Perhaps soon formatted), Centos on all servers... Cut my teeth with Suse years ago, grew with Debian and somehow settled with Centos... I show students in my classes Knoppix...


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## drmike (Jul 8, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Why'd you dump Crunchbang on the laptops? Just curious as I figured the hardware support would be the same as Debian.


 

Well. most distros just can't figure out how to slim down.  Crunchbang requires a DVD to burn the ISO.     So that kind of kills it for me.  Some of the notebooks I have laying around either have broken disc reader or just CD.  (Yeah, I really need to get a PXE boot setup running on my networks)

Beside that, ummm unsure, the latest version of Crunchbang failed in install process multiple times on one recent rebuild of a machine.  Plopped Debian in and no issue. 

Sorry lack of details there, was a big ugly reinstall and not one of my personal machines.  

I like/prefer a lighterweight GUI, thus Crunchbang still remains interesting.  Gap in time between the Crunchy releases had me disinterested for a while though.



MannDude said:


> What are you using on your Debian desktops as a DM?


DM = ???


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## fisle (Jul 9, 2013)

When I was a kid I used Arch Linux as my OS, being cool with bleeding edge and all.

Now I hate it. I just want a working system that I can update safely without everything breaking down.

Debian love <3


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## MannDude (Jul 9, 2013)

buffalooed said:


> Well. most distros just can't figure out how to slim down.  Crunchbang requires a DVD to burn the ISO.     So that kind of kills it for me.  Some of the notebooks I have laying around either have broken disc reader or just CD.  (Yeah, I really need to get a PXE boot setup running on my networks)
> 
> Beside that, ummm unsure, the latest version of Crunchbang failed in install process multiple times on one recent rebuild of a machine.  Plopped Debian in and no issue.
> 
> ...


Desktop Manager? Like OpenBox, XFCE, LXDM, etc. Figure you're using something lightweight.


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## kaniini (Jul 9, 2013)

I use Alpine on both desktop and server.  I have Windows running on a VPS for tasks like IPMI usage.


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## egihosting (Jul 9, 2013)

Windows 7 on company desktops. Windows on laptops. Linux and FreeBSD on servers.


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## Ruchirablog (Jul 9, 2013)

Debian,Ubuntu and CentOS on Servers | Yes I use all 3!

Ubuntu 13.04 on desktop :3

OSX on Macbook Pro of course!


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## bizzard (Jul 9, 2013)

Debian Stable on servers.

My Thinkpad runs Debian Sid most of the time. Mint and Arch too, whenever I look for a change.


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## drmike (Jul 9, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Desktop Manager?


 
I hate acronyms   Never can remember them.

OpenBox really has my attention, thus the ongoing love/hate with Crunchbang.

Frankly, I am long ago tired of having to hack my computer to adjust everything.   GUI-land has never been friendly place for quick, easy and approachable mucking around --- especially with the graphic adapter, monitor, etc.

So, XFCE is commonly found on my workstations.  Been using it for a while.  

Kicked around Gnome on latest Debian on recent install that wasn't my machine.  Quite nifty with whatever they call the task switcher ALT-TAB and the related screen when you mouse trail off the sides (shows what you have open in that desktop space and nests multiples open in the same program --- like multiple spread sheets). --- Also has interesting searchable software installed function that is peppy even on lowly old hardware.

Problem I have with most popular GUIs is the spyware/user activity tracking built in as a function.  When/if I find it, I cannibalize it or jump ship to something else.  Had been major issue in past year with distros.


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## kro (Jul 12, 2013)

This household runs Ubuntu, and if the missus comes home and her rig or laptop has windows booted up, she goes completely rank.

Every now and then to develop/test VPN software releases I'll fire up a few different windows vm's.
Or _IF_ not enough resources and to many tabs and files open, I'll resort to the missus equipment.(nerd much?)

Never a problem unless i forget to kick the reset switch with my toe when finished ~ Ubuntu is only like 20 seconds to boot, no excuses really.


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## KuJoe (Jul 12, 2013)

I used Windows 7 on my primary workstation (HP Mini 210) only because I've had horrible luck getting my Broadcom Crystal HD to work in Linux and I watch a lot of HD movies on it. I do dislike that I had to hack the display drivers to get 1920x1080 resolution but that's one of the reasons I'm slowly moving  my workload over to my Raspberry Pi with RPITC (Raspberry Pi Thin Client). On my VMs that I connect to with my RPi, I run Fedora, Debian, CentOS, Server 2008 R2, and Windows 7 depending on my needs.

For my servers, I use CentOS if it's a physical server and Debian if it's a virtual unless the application is known to run better or require CentOS.


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## mikho (Jul 13, 2013)

A couple of different windows versions at home and a ubuntu laptop.


All my active servers (from this community) runs debian.


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## film_girl (Jul 13, 2013)

Debian or Ubuntu on servers, OS X everywhere else. My NAS has a custom Linux-based thing on it (not sure what distro Synology based off of it).

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2


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## tdc-adm (Jul 15, 2013)

Desktop/Laptop: Linux Mint with Netbeans, Virtualbox, Chrome, Firefox... for my PHP job.

Servers: Debian/Ubuntu because of Minstall


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## Jeffrey (Jul 15, 2013)

For desktop use, Windows 8 x64 Pro.  I purchased a Windows 8 license for only $39.99 for a limited time from Microsoft and I haven't looked back since! 

For severs, VPS servers I usually always install CentOS 5x, 6x.  For home server usage, I use CrunchBang Linux as it is based on Debian 7 and comes pre-configured with OpenBox window manager.


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## stim (Jul 15, 2013)

buffalooed said:


> Crunchbang requires a DVD to burn the ISO.


I just installed crunchbang from a USB stick using this.

Very slick distro -  definitely a keeper.


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## Master Bo (Jul 16, 2013)

Ubuntu 12.04 on my desktops. I used to use Fedora, and still adore that branch, but I needed something that doesn't expire every two years.

CentOS 6.x or Ubuntu servers on my servers.

Kali Linux on my monitoring edges, to test my setups for possible problems.

Windows XP/7 on isolated systems, only when I need to create tutorials and/or run few existing programs that do not behave well under Wine.

I also use several Android-driven devices.


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