I've needed a new desktop for a while now. As I'm primarily a Unix user, I typically buy a cheap PC and put Linux on it. This involves doing a bunch of research into available hardware to make sure that everything is going to work, like accelerated graphics for any games I'd like to play, supported network drivers, etc. Over the years it's gotten easier and easier to get Linux working on a box, but sometimes I still have to work to get something working.

The end result is a working Linux workstation that I can use for work, and my basic computing needs, often involving fighting with the fact that noone wants to support it or any software that I'm using. That part does get old year after year.

For example, I bought a Kobo ages ago, and I had to use a Windows box to run the Kobo desktop software, to patch its firmware and put books on it. Later I found out that I could just copy .epub books into it like a flash drive, which is awesome by the way Kobo, but you get the idea. For my iPod shuffle, I copy mp3s onto it and run the rebuild_db Python script to update the db on the iPod. There are workarounds for these issues, but sometimes it's nice to just plug something in and have it work. And fighting with my devices isn't as much fun as it used to be. I'm too damn busy.

So, based the recommendations of various friends and colleagues, I decided to take the plunge with my new desktop, and try a Mac Mini from Apple, running Mac OS X 10.8, "Mountain Lion". I figured that it's a lot better supported in commercial software land, while being BSD Unix underneath, so maybe it's the best of both worlds.

I need to customize the crap out of it, and get used to the interface and keybindings, and do a lot of reading. I hope to post my experiences here, so stay tuned if you're interested.

Sure, I could have just thrown Linux on another box, and maybe I still will, but I've done that. I felt like doing something new.