When it’s time to lay down a new operating system on Intel system, do you go for:
- Windows Vista?
- Linux?
- Windows XP?
- Hackintosh?
- Windows 7 Beta?
We recently had some bad weather here in North Georgia. Tornadoes, power lines down, etc. I came home from a business trip to my main PC with a failed power supply. No worries I thought, off to Fry’s for a replacement.
Since I haven’t upgraded my PC in a couple years, I went with a modular power supply, high efficiency, etc. The problem with installing such a power supply in an Antec P180 case (still my favorite for quietness) is that the modular connectors need to be put in place after the power supply has been mounted.
That’s when I found out that the PCI-E connector (8 pin) will accept the SATA power connector (6 pin). Hook everything up and power up the PC. BIOS POST starts, but states in cannot see any hard disk drives. Sure enough they aren’t spinning, and by the way, what is that burning smell?? Oh noes!!!!
PCI-E provides a 12V rail while SATA drives prefer a more sedate 5V input. Needless to say, both drives smoked. Another trip to Fry’s and a 1TB Seagate later (that doesn’t have the firmware issue of the earlier Barrcudas), and it’s time to install an OS.
Windows Vista
The most obvious choice for home users. It’s the current operating system sold by Microsoft, supported, etc. And, I even have two copied of Vista Ultimate at home (thanks to the Microsoft Store a couple years ago). But two years ago when I installed Vista, I struggled with it for 4-6 months before falling back to XP (32-bit).
At work we still have issues with Vista compatibility and speed, so it’s not my first choice.
Linux
I work with Linux server installs daily (RedHat, CentOS, Debian), and have installed Ubuntu on a laptop for some Cisco simulation love (GNS3). But I still want to run software that I use for photography work and general Office productivity. So, not really an option just yet. I’ll give it a year or so and revisit.
Windows XP
Tried and true, stable, and getting looooong in the tooth. It’s what I was running before, and even though it worked fine, there still were some issues of newer hardware not being recognized, or development support no longer provided (Logitech G15 Gaming keyboard for example).
It is still an option, but comes in second.
Hackintosh
I love my MacBook Pro and the design and operation of OS X. My PC hardware would run it fine, but that means very messy upgrades from every dot release and major OS upgrade. Plus, I still need a Windows machine to do “work” work from time to time, and Fusion doesn’t always cut it.
Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000)
The reviews show Windows 7 having better stability than Vista, faster than XP, and even for an “early” beta, fully functional. And since I need to become familiar with the OS that most companies will deploy post-XP, a jump into the deep end seems doable.
Although there still numerous applications, drivers, and other bits to install if I do go back, it’ll be good to see how others who get Windows 7 will be affected.
One thing I have done (and saved my butt when I smoked my hard drives) is to make sure all my documents and media (photos, songs, video, etc) are backed up on the Internet (Dropbox) or on a couple other servers locally.
So when that day comes in August or Septemer or whenever WIndows 7 is released, I’ll be able to simply deactive applications (Adobe, iTunes, etc), reinstall, and restore the data. It’ll still be a weekend plus job, but I did almost get two years out of the previous XP install.
So tune in for short posts on the results of the Windows 7 install, what works (and doesn’t), and anything I find out along the way.
