You Develop On A WHAT?

RedHat 7.2.  That's right.  I have done all my own programming for my coursework on a homemade server.  Why did I choose RedHat?  Because it was what I had around.

You see, I was using my old computer, a 600 Mhz Dell as a server for a while.  The newer versions just had too much overhead to allow the computer to run fast enough to even compile my code.  Now granted that I'm not doing any heavy database or graphics rendering software.  This is just stuff for my classes in Computer Science...  you know, data structures, trees, threading, etc.

Anyways, RH 7.2 just seemed to run quick enough for me to get my projects done.  In addition, I can remote in through an SSH connection to my server and do maintenance or code from school.  It just loaded it with all the server and development software that I could and disabled all unnecessary services.  By the way, vi sucks because I can't figure it out.  Pico for the win!

Since it probably cost me more in electrical costs to run a separate machine, and my main computer is not being used to it's full potential, I used Microsoft's Virtual PC to clone the RedHat machine and it runs terrifically.

So, you wanna code?  Build your own development box.  Linux rocks, it's fast and extremely reliable and stable.  I've never rebuilt or had any problems with it.  Ever.  And I've been using it for over....  6 years now.  Same build, just updated. (Which in 7.2 is kind of a pain, but still.)  Free.