I continue to be happy with my decision to set up a “work only” Ubuntu Linux partition on my MacBook. I have been using Linux since I downloaded a mini-Slackware distro in 1992 over a 2400 baud modem. Desktop Linux has come a long way! I did a few things to make my working environment nicer:

• Set the CAPS LOCK key to another control key
• Installed Google Desktop and set the instant search popup hot keys to “Hyper space” (command space, same as popup search on OS X)
• Set up IntelliJ/RubyMine/Eclipse for Ruby, Java, Scala, and App Engine development

I did not even install the developer tools on my new OS X partition. I am just using OS X for video editing, photos, and video conferencing with my family.