What non Linux operating systems out there out there that are free?

Tom-eg

I would love to try out some out of pure curiosity as i have a spare computer. Are there any free Unix OS's out there? I am still unsure whether opensolaris is Unix? I have read about it and have had conflicting info on it being Unix/Unix-like.

Anyway i would just love to try some operating systems other than Linux ones to see what they are like. Anyone have any suggestions? I'd be looking for something i could download online for free. Thanks

Naikon

I would give FreeBSD a whirl.
It's a highly stable UNIX os with probably the best documentation around:pac:

It's not Linux, but as a mostly POSIX complient system, you can compile
generic source to suit freebsd, and it even has translation layer to run Linux
programs by mapping Linux system calls to native calls, and by using Linux libraries.

It has a 'Ports' automatic compilation system, and IMO gives you a nice
set of features not availible on Linux natively( ZFS filesystem being one).
FUSE doesen't count as far as I am concerned : )

I learned quite a bit about general UNIX by using FreeBSD, and would
regard it quite highly....even though it has not taken well in comparison to Linux
outside the server niche.

Very nice *NIX system, woulden't mind getting back into it soon:pac:

Oracle

OpenSolaris thats interesting. I always wondered what that was like. It is a Unix-based operating system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(operating_system) Looks like IBM were going to take over Sun who developed and promote Solaris. But talks have collapsed: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7985274.stm Thats the problem about vendor based OSs, vendors come and go ...... but GNU/Linux is forever!

ravydavygravy

How about:

Brix: http://brix-os.sourceforge.net/
Solaris: http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries_program.xml
Plan 9: http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/download.html
Gentoo: http://www.gentoo.org/ (ok, its linux, but with a twist...)
Aros: http://aros.sourceforge.net/ (Amiga OS Clone)

That should keep you busy.

duffman85

If you want a desktop OS you can also try PC-BSD its based on FreeBSD but has the KDE Desktop.
www.pcbsd.org

Capt'n Midnight

Others
Windows 7 is free till August :pac:
www.openvms.org
www.belenix.org/ OpenSolaris Distribution with a Live CD,
http://www.opensolaris.com/get/index.jsp Open Solaris
http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/ based on Plan 9

still in development
www.reactos.org = Free windows
http://www.haiku-os.org/ = Free BeOS

PogMoThoin

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Others
Windows 7 is free till August :pac:

LOL, Took some balls to sugest M$ on a Unix forum

FruitLover

PogMoThoin wrote: »

LOL, Took some balls to sugest M$ on a Unix forum

Well, the OP did ask for "non Linux operating systems"...

Oracle

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Others
Windows 7 is free till August :pac:
......

I can't believe the cheek! At least he didn't post a link!

ethernet

MikeOS. Very impressive as it's written in assembly! Basic but can understand why. Good for learning if not for everyday use.

+1 on the *BSDs.

And +1 on OpenSolaris. Seems to be making good progress now.

Capt'n Midnight

PogMoThoin wrote: »

LOL, Took some balls to sugest M$ on a Unix forum

Windows NT has a lot of VMS and OS/2 from the early days and probably some Xenix too
The IP stack is from BSD
POSIX subsystem and Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX too

http://www.freebyte.com/operatingsystems/

http://www.freeos.com/top/projects.php

francosp

Tom-eg wrote: »

I would love to try out some out of pure curiosity as i have a spare computer. Are there any free Unix OS's out there? I am still unsure whether opensolaris is Unix? I have read about it and have had conflicting info on it being Unix/Unix-like.

Anyway i would just love to try some operating systems other than Linux ones to see what they are like. Anyone have any suggestions? I'd be looking for something i could download online for free. Thanks

OpenSolaris is a very good *nix operating system, SPARC is "True Unix" or so they say.

Opensolaris boots ZFS by default and includes DTrace also which is nice

Give it a go I say

bushy...

ethernet wrote: »

MikeOS. Very impressive as it's written in assembly! Basic but can understand why. Good for learning if not for everyday use.

http://www.menuetos.net http://www.menuetos.net/043c.png

bit better