Operating Systems
Linux
Linux is a robust, free
UNIX-like operating system. I prefer Fedora
Linux because it is supported by RedHat, and I've been a RedHat Linux user for
quite some time.
freshrpms.net is a site that offers add-on programs for Fedora Linux.
There are many distributions of Linux. A few are:
- Debian, which is developer friendly, and has great package management (I.E. easy to upgrade and get new software). They have a good definition of free software and a social contract which includes their free software guidelines.
- Knoppix is an outstanding live CD distribution that is based on Debian. It has outstanding hardware auto detection. You can boot Linux from the CD, and it is never necessary to install it onto a hard drive. I highly recommend it.
- SUSE is one of the best mainstream desktop distributions available, although Ubuntu is a close contender.
- many others.
Useful UNIX resources:
Windows
NTFAQ.com has information on how to
configure NT/2000 internals. Windows is much more developer friendly when using Cygwin -- a UNIX environment for
Windows.
Microsoft's MSDN is a resource for developing on Microsoft platforms.
The best of Windows freeware. www.sysinternals.com has some nice utilities.
MacOS X
I did database programming on a Mac for four years while in college. I learned to appreciate its legendary ease-of-use. In those days, their operating system was crash-prone. Apple remedied that situation by releasing Mac OS X.
Of course, I'm a UNIX/Linux enthusiast, so the GNU Mac OS X Public Archive and the fink project are great places to get additional software. There is also the OS X FAQ.
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