[TUHS] Re: What do you currently use for your primary OS at home?

[Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com>]

Started with MS-DOS 3.10b and some version of CP/M on a DEC Rainbow 100. 
Then more DOS and Windows. A bit of Linux in 1992/1993 (prior to the 1.0 
kernel) - first Unix exposure. Then Windows and Linux (every so now and 
again) until 2005 when I went Mac full tilt. I would have stayed Mac, 
but man they're expensive and I so rarely have enough cash laying around 
to buy replacements. In 2008, I started using FreeBSD for SCM and other 
services and what with ZFS, it would have been nirvana, but the UI... 
When my 2012 MacBook Pro died, I almost cried... but I didn't replace 
it. Instead, I got a 10 year old IBM ThinkCentre m92p on ebay for $75 
w/32GB of RAM and a fast Quad Processor and I ran Linux Mint on it for a 
year and after getting critical mass on things, thought I would make the 
switch to FreeBSD for everything, but that UI... and the fact that this 
program required Linux compatibility, that one wouldn't run, and so 
on... I've recently switched back to Mint and things are just... better. 
I miss boot environments and systemd's a travesty, but, stuff just 
working is pretty cool.

Mint just works - it sooooo reminds me of Mac in that regard - darn near 
every application on the planet will run on it, if it's *nix friendly at 
all (and my one gotta have app - Acrobat Pro X, runs great under wine  - 
as do Minitab 16, Notepad++, Mavis Beacon, etc). I tried MX for a while 
cuz it's a pretty Debian, but Mint's got MX beat for ease of running 
stuff. Cinnamon as delivered on Mint is pretty seamless. Stuff like 
audio video apps work, the music player integrates so that when it's 
playing Cinnamon knows and stuff...

Also, and apropos to the list, I can emulate any machine known to 
mankind, so far as I know. Yesterday I booted my Windows 3.11 instance 
and did some assembly stuff... simh, yup, Mips, yup, Commodore, yup, 
Apple IIe, yup :). Big fan.

Will