Download VirtualPC. Download Ubuntu Desktop. These are not actually my personal preferences but a very common setup.
I'd imagine most of the screenshots in the Rails tutorial will be command line stuff.
I'd imagine most of the screenshots in the Rails tutorial will be command line stuff.
I have a Xubuntu VM running in VirtualBox on my Windows 8 laptop that I keep around for coding; it's actually a pretty nice setup. I run the VM on my external monitor, and can use the Windows host to do web browsing, play music, etc. while I'm working - I've even made my Dropbox a shared folder with the VM, so the guest OS can use the files but the host OS handles syncing them so there's no edit conflicts.