When writing server code (or any code) that will be run on Unix systems what OS do you use? Basically, I have Windows boxes here at my home and am only familiar with Unix from the time I spend at the lab at college. Is there a way to dual boot a Unix OS that can be used as the OS for the server side? My intentions would be to develop the client side for Windows and the server side on Unix. Being that I am now reading the Unix Programming book by Stevens I will apparently need some sort of Unix OS in order to work with any of his code examples. Either that or figure out how to make it all work for Windows which is not something I want to frustrate myself with at this time since I am just learning to begin with. So, any free Unix OS''s out there that i can dual boot on my home system for testing? I have a small LAN so I''d like to test the server code on my fastest PC under Unix and just run the client sides from my lower end Windows PCs. The clients I will obviously have to adapt to Windows code and not Unix. Thanks for any info, Webby

LINUX!!

[edited by - baloogan on May 21, 2003 5:08:37 PM]

OpenBSD, much better than linux IMO.

In either case I still want to be able to use this computer for my general work and play so I am guessing that I will have to partition my hard drive into 2 partitions, reinstall Windows and necessary software onto one partition and then install Linux on the other?

On and I''m pretty sure I will just run to the store and pick up a copy of Red Hat Linux unless there is one that I can actually download for free. Even so I might still go with Red Hat simply because of the documentation I will get that is bound to make installation a lot easier.

Will probably backup my stuff tomorrow and begin the partitioning if that''s what I have to do.

VMWare works great for that kind of testing if you can get your hands on it as well. That way you don''t have to repartition or mess with your main OS at all and have a nice clean install with nothing else on the vistual machine.

RedHat is free dude! Go to their site, and download it. All you get by paying for it is already burned cd''s and a manual...nothing special. Their site should list a few mirrors that you can find it from. Sure this will take some more time, as there are at least three (right?) cd''s times 640 some mb each. But hey, its free! There really aren''t any versions of linux that cost money (ok, few exceptions, but no one cares about them ). VMware is a lovely program, and you can get a trial version off of their website! Or get a copy of Partition Magic by PowerQuest. That''ll allow you to change your partition size and add a new one for linux. Just remember that you can''t run both at the same time, so perhaps VMware is the way to go, then you *can* run them both at the same time, making testing a snap.

BTW, linux distros are not hard to install. Most now even have a GUI, and others probably just install it for you. You don''t need a book!

quote:

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Original post by mikeyrb
RedHat is free dude!

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Only if you don''t value your time.

OMG !!!! LINUX !!!!!
FUCK MIRCOSOFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ssh matrix -l root
cd /home
cd microsoft
rm -rf *
cd ..
cd gates_bill
rm -rf *
cd ..
cd baloogan
echo "infinite money" >> bank.account
shutdown -h now

quote:

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Original post by WebsiteWill
In either case I still want to be able to use this computer for my general work and play so I am guessing that I will have to partition my hard drive into 2 partitions, reinstall Windows and necessary software onto one partition and then install Linux on the other?

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You won''t necessarily need to reinstall Windows. You can get away with defragging your HD, then resizing your Windows partition down and installing your new Unix in the free space. Windows won''t care that its HD got smaller... probably. Knowing the quality of MS software you can never be sure of anything...

Peace,
Doc

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The following statement is true. The previous statement is false.

VMWare would be just about the sweetest thing I can think of having right now. However, at $300 a pop I''m SOL. Not to mention that I would have to upgrade from ME to XP...I know, I know...ME is teh suck but until now I haven''t had necessity to upgrade.

I''ll have to research this a bit farther. I think for now though I''ll just have to partition and do the old dual boot hoedown

At least until I learn something and get some code running that would justify the upgrade and new software.

That is a really sweet piece of software though.

Thanks,
Webby