I run Ubuntu.  Over the weekend (a three dayer for me) I spent most of my free time running back and forth to my laptop computer upgrading from Ubuntu 8.04 to 9.10.  It took all three days to complete the process, doing three full upgrades and having to fight during one of them to correct a video driver issue that essentially rendered the computer useless until I killed some proprietary driver that was resetting X-windows to an incorrect resolution. Yuk, what a pain that was.

In other news though - I think I have decided that because of the robustness of Linux as an OS I'll most likely use that on the boat as my computer OS.

I have used several programs under Linux and Windows and they both work, Linux just seems quicker and cleaner to use.  Unfortunately, it's also more Geeky than most people want to be.  I'm a Geek from way back (my first computer was a slide rule and my second one was a single board computer I built myself with 4K of RAM and switches and LEDs for programming).  So, personally, I have little problem with using it as an OS.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to convince the First Mate though.... I'll work it out, flowers and chocolate usually help.