[whalesalad]

I have so many damn unnecessary problems with OS X that I've resorted to running a lightweight Debian VM with VMWare. It uses ~250mb out of my 4GB RAM and I can just suspend it whenever I'm not coding.

Benefits: I can use apt-get and have all the other conveniences of a true *nix environment. I can update and try out new software easily (I had XHP running in about 5 minutes). Also, I can create snapshots of my OS so that when my environment is just the way I like it, I can always revert right back to it.

I interact with certain paths on my virtual linux filesystem just as though they were local (like my ~/Sites dir) and have various dev domains in my /etc/hosts file pointing to the VM (which has it's own internal ip).

Cons: It's a standalone VM so it consumes a consistent 250mb of memory. Never really looked at what mysql/apache were doing on my Mac previously (I would assume far less) but I haven't really ran into an issue where the VM is a big issue yet. The convenience far outweighs the chuck of memory it eats up :)

I haven't had a single configuration problem yet ;) For developers the popular phrase is reversed, Debian "just works" and OS X is a pain in my ass.