Linux for home computer?

[jason]

Welcome back Jason. You have got a powerhouse there running those VMs under Mac. What are the specs of your Mac Pro?

I have a machine that our desktop support team built as a protoype for a possible future desktop standard. I asked for a RAM upgrade and they brought me this instead:

2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xenon processor
16 Gb 1066 Mhz DDR3 RAM
Main HD: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD SATA 60Gb
Users Partition: 2 x Western Digital SATA 1Tb (RAID 2)
Time Machine dedicated drive: Hitachi SATA 2Tb
Monitor A: Dell UltraSharp U2311H 23" widescreen (16:9) 1920x1080
Monitor B: Dell 1905FP 19" (kept from old computer, color is starting to go, but at least its a second monitor)

I wish they'd give us Apple Cinema displays, but they buy the Dells in bulk. The SSD is sweet: a cold boot takes about 45 seconds, Photoshop starts in about 5 (with all of the VMs running).

--Jason

[JPC-Sabrina]

Jason you have so much equipment in front of you that I have a difficult time even envisioning it. Could your setup get any better? It sounds like you have found yourself in a nice ask and you shall receive position. It's good to see you around the forums on a regular basis.

[jason]

I wish it was "ask and you shall receive." I just kind of lucked out because they had two machines with the above configuration available when I happened to inquire about adding RAM. There's a few other things that I've asked for (like a laptop, since I spend 40-60% of some weeks in meetings on the other side of campus and can't easily make it back to my desk for much of the day sometimes) that I haven't gotten. Managers and project managers get laptops, developers do not. I'm a team lead, stuck somewhere in between--I'm expected to meet with customers and document technical requirements and they send me out to do that with a pad of paper in hand. )

--Jason

[JPC-Masood]

That is a neat machine you have got Jason. I'm waiting for Apple to update the specs as it has been over 500 days they released the last Mac Pro update. Lets see what they come up with.

[JPC-Masood]

... they send me out to do that with a pad of paper in hand. )

No iPad for you? That’s not fair!

[jason]

No iPad for you? That’s not fair!

Nope, but I'm more a fan of Android anyway. I kind of got hooked when I decided I needed a smartphone but I didn't want to leave Verizon. My choice at the time was the original Droid or Blackberry, I decided to go with the Droid (and have since upgraded to the Droid Razr--4G speeds are faster than my RoadRunner speeds at home). I do have a Vizio VTAB1008 that goes with me just about everywhere these days. It was a personal purchase, but it sure does come in handy for taking notes and keeping up with email on the days I never get to see my desk.

--Jason