Bitcoin Forum

Are there any performance/security/etc advantages that would differentiate running Windows or Ubuntu on a dedicated miner?

The main advantage for windows is it's a lot easier to get setup and going, and there's a wider variety of overclocking tools, which are needed for anyone serious about getting good hash rates. An easy windows install would be: Python, GUIminer, ATI Drivers, and MSI Afterburner

The main thing Linux has going for it is the price tag.

You've just announced a new holywar :D!

That's a bit misleading.  Sure, you can download Linux for no cost, but you will be hard pressed to find a PC for sale that does not come with Windows, so you generally end up paying for windows whether you use it or not. (Should be against the law!)

But Windows has a tendency to get bogged down with spyware and malware that's difficult to clean out.  And recently there was the story about the Windows virus that explicitly looked for a bitcoin wallet and stole it's contents. 

Most "computer viruses" are really "Windows viruses" that don't affect Linux at all.  Though a very few run in some form of script that could affect all platforms.

The usual Bitcoin-Mining-Guy won't buy his PC from some hardware stock... at least that's my guess. People buy hardware and build it, mostly with a copy of Windows...

I checked out Linux, but had the same MHash/s as in Windows 7 - so I switched back.

I find that Windows is just easier to use. Power consumption is marginal at best as well.

I have to use Windows all day at my current job and I find it extremely frustrating.  I don't think I'd be able to use it at all were it not for the Cygwin (http://cygwin.com/).  Cygwin is wonderful and highly recommended if you have to use Windows.

Windows has drastically improved in recent years (probably to fend off Linux biting its rear) so it doesn't crash as much as it used to, but it still doesn't rise to the level of Linux.  Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org) and Arch (http://www.archlinux.org) Linux, which I use, seem to release new kernels at least every 2 months, so I reboot my Linux computers at least every 2 months but they almost never crash.  Windows still occasionally crashes, and I don't trust it to run more than a week without a reboot.

But the main things Linux give you are freedom and choice.  If you don't like the file manager, just install another one.  If you don't like the look and feel, just change it.  There are sooooo many applications and varieties of applications easily available for installation.  Not so with Windows.  And Linux and its applications seem to be less frustrating on the tiny details than Windows equivalents.

I haven't considered power consumption.  I assume they are comparable.

I honestly don't remember the last time I had to reboot my Windows machine, it just does that itself whenever it feels like it! Occasionally it comes with a nice warning of freezing up first...

Yeah, actually I have 3 PCs on my own, 2 is under Windows and 1 is under Ubuntu. Don't ever seen any difference for mining among them...

The majority of that spyware & malware comes from installing free or pirated software or from surfing the 'naughty' sites.

If you are building a dedicated rig it shouldn't matter either way because all you will be doing is mining.

No major difference in performance. Use whichever operating system you are more comfortable with. For windows machines and malware follow this good rule of thumb, stay away from "free" pron sites and bittorrent sites and you'll be fine