Would running Windows in Virtualbox be an option? Then you have the full power of a unix-like system, yet, you still have access to windows. If not, and you re

Would running Windows in Virtualbox be an option? Then you have the full power of a unix-like system, yet, you still have access to windows. If not, and you really wish to go the other way around, then Debian is the distribution you're looking for. It has all the basics, apt included, without all the bells and whistles you don't neccessarily need (but, if you do want them, they're an apt-get install away). I do believe that a linux host, with a windows guest would feel superior, if you were missing the unix background.