Well it's a common enough problem - A Linux lover living in a Windows household with a common computer. Oh what is a geek in search of nerdvana to do?
My current configuration involves two of the standard solutions. I have a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10 with room for other flavors of Linux if I somehow manage to find the time for such play. The majority of the time Windows 7 is running and I have resigned myself to having this as my primary OS.
Within Win 7 I have several user accounts, as I wrote in an earlier post. This machine is the server for media in and out of the house. One user is designated for this purpose and under that account I run the fantastic application Virtualbox. Virtualbox allows me to basically run several computer systems in the same physical space. One virtual machine is a linux server that I use for ftp and as an apache server. I also have Subsonic server running which I use both in and out of the house to stream all my music. I occasionally use tonido web server as well. All files are accessed from the primary Win 7 OS using the shared folders feature.
I find this method of using a virtual machine extremely useful for several reasons, the virtues of which I will extoll in a later post.
I also use this machine for my primary desktop when I am using computer. In full desktop mode it feels like I am on a native Ubuntu machine.
Virtualbox is an extremely useful tool, especially for those who are thinking of making the switch to a linux OS - which I highly reccomend doing, if not for all the time every day use, then at least as a way to educate yourself a little bit about alternatives that are available, especially if you are in the inevitable situation of a Windows meltdown.
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