As a web developer, I’m open source all the way (LAMP 4 LYFE!). For home computing and consumer electronics though, I’m all Microsoft all the time:

• Vista Home Premium desktop (mine)
• XP Media Center 2005 desktop (Nadia’s)
• XP Home notebook (shared)
• Windows Home Server (shared)
• A few Windows Mobile devices (my smartphone, two PDAs)
• Xbox 360s (shared)
• Zune 30 (mine)

While there are a few maddening limitations regarding video codecs, all this equipment plays well together.

Every once in a while I feel the urge to break this self-imposed monopoly MS has over my home network. This phase of technological exploration usually starts with a trip to Apple’s site. I think about how cool it would be to have an iMac flanking my dual-monitor Vista setup, or how I could have a MacBook so both Nad and I can be on the Web while watching TV. Then I see Apple’s prices and I frown, then close the browser tab.

The second part of this phase is typically the last: sad that I don’t have Apple money, I go to Ubuntu’s site to download the latest version of their flavor of Linux. Every time I tell myself it will be different. Whenever Engadget or any other tech site discusses some failing in Windows or OS X, the Linux guys rush out of the woodwork and talk about how installing Ubuntu will fix all the problems. They say that it is ready for prime time, and best of all, it is free. I work with Linux all day, every day, so I feel comfortable with it. It sounds like a recipe for awesome.

Every time, hours later, I end up where I am now. I hate Ubuntu.

Last time, I battled with video card drivers. The OS seemed to install fine, but within a few days the screen resolution reverted to 640×480 and offered no option to go higher. Apparently this is a common problem (or was, at the time) and many threads were dedicated to it. There was no simple solution; diving into configuration files was usually the proposed answer. After a few attempts, I found my own solution: rm -Rf /*.*. With the hard drive wiped, I gave Ubuntu the finger.

As I type this, I am battling with Hardy Heron, version 8.04 of the operating system. I’ve reinstalled it a few times now due to the fact that Ubuntu doesn’t know that my 80GB hard drive is the primary drive, not one of the other two 120GB drives. Never mind the fact that the BIOS knows which one to boot from, or that Windows had no problem with this setup, or that I installed Ubuntu on that drive, or that I flagged that drive as the bootable one. Nope, the only solution is to yank the power cables from the two 120GB hard drives.

This has been a rocky start, but maybe this time will be better than the last few times I struggled with this OS. Have any of you had similar experiences? Or better yet, what can I do to afford that iMac?