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Free OS are there any out there?


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#1
hugh9d

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Please can you help me as I want a free OS for my computer and not just a shell.

I've tried Freebsd, etc, etc but nothing
:tazz:
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#2
Ojoshiro

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TANSTAAFL.
( There ain't no such thing as a free lunch )

You 'free' means that you don't have to pay for it in cash? You will pay for it in time.
There are free (well, illegal) copies of windows everywhere. I'm not suggesting anything, but I'm sure you could lay your hands on one. :tazz:
Then there are free OSses like linux. These come in many flavours (distributions) varying from almost-but-not-quite-windows to just-plain-unusable-unless-you-haven't-got-a-life. ;)

Running a google:cool: I found this

But remember... When it's free, you have to do what normally a developer would be paid for. It's not free for no reason.

Success,
Ojo
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#3
linuxwannabee

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I agree with previous post - everything has a cost.

Cheap distributions of Linux are out there, but the learning curve will require time - whether you have a life or not - not unlike Windows when that was new :tazz:

Mandrake Linux is generally accepted as the most user friendly - look out for scaled down versions of Linux distributions on magazine cover CDs/DVDs.

Don't trust your work to pirated software - could be full of security holes/back doors - not including the ones Microsoft distribute with the product ;)

daveB - LinuxWannabee
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#4
goladith

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yea, i personal love my Fedora Core 3 64bit, it is nice, very windows like i terms of look and usage, but no NTFS readable support, and it comes bundled with free software, i orderd the DVD from a linux distro site
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#5
Hemal

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Never use pirated software as sometimes it is embedded with its own nastys that can effect your system...for more linux information go to www.linux.com and look at each "Flavor" it has and choose which one is right for you :tazz:
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#6
appleswitch

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Heres a list of free alternatives

http://www.microsuck.com/
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#7
Ojoshiro

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And free paranoipaganda :tazz:
Ojo

Cheap distributions of Linux are out there, but the learning curve will require time - whether you have a life or not - not unlike Windows when that was new


That was when? 3.1? What I'm trying to say is, when you want to use your computer for something besides fiddling and tweaking an OS. You want the OS to be the base you can do other things on. Maybe you're not all that interested in pishing away time on trying to get a grasp on your OS.
Maybe , like me, you see the OS as a necessary evil that you don't want to get into too much.
If the nextdoor neighbour kid is linux-savvy ans bribable with cookies, go for it.
Give him a week, a wheelbarrow full of mentioned cookies and you're rolling (if you can get your favourite applications on it, forget about Illustrator or photoshop, whatever the church of linux may tell you, the Gimp is no match for those.)

Linux is great, I love it in machines stacked on top of eachother in a server-rack, in a server-room, behind a closed door. That's why it can have multiple users working on it at the same time. This is obviously not a feature you need on a desktop machine. For a desktop machine you only need something that can deal with one user at the time, the user behind the console. And preferrably in an easy, friendly, fast and helpful manner.
Sure you can drive a tank on the public road. Sure you probably can get pink fuzzy dice to swing from the rearview, probably even a working soundsystem. But it isn't a car meant for public roads. And it will never be one. No matter what colour you paint it.

Anything free is worth what you pay for it.
Lazarus Long. (From Robert Heinlein's 'Time Enough For Love')

;)

So...
Don't believe the hype, list your wishes, get the facts, weigh the pro's and cons and choose wisely.
No OS is perfect. One is created by satan, the other by a student, a third by a bearded fellow with glasses. One is free, one is expensive, one is only available on certain (expensive) hardware... There's no yin without yang.
Whatever you choose, I hope it serves you well.

Good luck! ;)
Ojo
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#8
appleswitch

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easy, friendly, fast and helpful manner.

Not windows

I think hes saying you should buy an OS. Installing a bought version of linux Is the easiest installation ever. I Installed redhat, easyly used the OS (something I can't say about windows), and loaded a .exe game on it without knowing anything about linux. But for something even simpler check out Linspire.
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#9
Ojoshiro

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but certainly not linux...
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#10
appleswitch

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Redhat and linspire are both linux
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#11
Ojoshiro

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And I know that. No I wasn't saying he should buy something, I was warning him for the church of linux who have preachy zealots everywhere who yell "LINUX!" as the answer of every question.
Beware of those screamers.
There will be 1000 people who will yell "Get linux" at you. When you do choose linux and get stuck, maybe, if you're lucky, you will find 1 person of those 1000 willing to help you out. A 100 of them will just sit there and point at manuals and mutter "Learning curve" all the time. 899 yellers will go quieter than space.
The loudest yellers are usually most wrong and least informed.

I have worked with linux for 10 years. I happily made the switch to windows. The interface is better, applications just click, install and run. Things can be found easily in the gui. One standard puts all the buttons and menus in the same place for different applications. And best of all. You can do things without having to bang out a bible in some 24*80 term. I now have the only computer that doesn't behave like a dumb terminal when one of the servers dies. I find my printers without fiddling for I don't know how long with FU-CUPS. That took even our most fanatic preachers weeks to finally smoothen out. Samba still doesn't run smoothly ( 2 years now, but I guess the church of linux can't be arsed to connect to the rest of the heretic world, it must be that, cos linux is so easy. You can even make a beginner use it... ). there goes your windows compatibility.

And why buy linux? It's worth what it costs when it's free. I certainly wouldn't spend a penny on it. If I was going to buy something I would buy something that works. That works with the majority of stuff out there.

But as I said, the loudsest screamers are usually the most wrong. So forget everything I've said and be converted to the church of linux.
That's the only true way...

I have to go now, there is a bunch of penguins burning a window in my front yard. :tazz:
Ojo

( before the site crashed I had a lot more written down... Guess it was an inferior windows box somewhere that made me rewrite some of it... :mad: )
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#12
appleswitch

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The interface is better, applications just click, install and run. Things can be found easily in the gui. One standard puts all the buttons and menus in the same place for different applications. And best of all. You can do things without having to bang out a bible in some 24*80 term. I now have the only computer that doesn't behave like a dumb terminal when one of the servers dies. I find my printers without fiddling for I don't know how long with FU-CUPS[/quote]

It seems you have alot of the same reasons I choose my OS but I took It a step further. I don't want to have to Install a secure browser with tabs. I don't want to have to download a google bar, I don't want to have to download a secure, decent mail application, I don't want to have to download something to organize all my photos, I don't want to have to buy anti-virus software, I don't want to have to buy firewall software, I don't want to have to download an AIM client, I don't want to loose weeks of data because I got a virus, I don't want to have to download a good music organizer, I don't want to have to spend my money on stuffit, I don't want to have to download acrobat, I don't want to have to download quicktime, I don't want to spend my money buying DVD, CD, and data burning software, I don't want to spend christmas day downloading windows drivers, I don't want to spend my money on video editing software. I don't want windows, I like my OS to work without taking away my time, money, and data. I use a Mac.

P.S. Sorry I left out GarageBand, I don't even think there is a windows equivalent to it and I hope everyone got my Janie Porche reference :tazz:

List of apps

Download or buy > Already Installed and free

Firefox > Safari
google bar > Safari
Thunderbird > Apple Mail
Picaso > iPhoto
Norton > Macs virus free
Firewall software > Mac OS X
AIM/Trillion > iChat
iTunes > iTunes pre-Installed
Stuffit > Stuffit pre-installed
Acrobat > Preview
Quicktime > Quicktime pre-Installed
DVD Burning > iDVD
CD Burning > iTunes
data Burning > Mac OS X
Drivers > Mac OS X Plug n Play not plug n get mad
Video editing > iMovie
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#13
Ojoshiro

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Oh but for Apple you're preaching to the converted ;) .
I've been pro-apple since I got my first DTP-training...
No wait, even before that. The first computer I got (myself, not make daddy get me) was almost a 2e. It became an amiga however, later.
Wanted the mouse with the most buttons :tazz:

When I'm fed up with upgrading this machine I'll go to apple.
Until then, there is no way to get OSX running on this hardware... I'll stick with the gus who did their best to rip Apple's interface ;)

Ojo
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#14
jacobusmatthew

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OK...............so all this compare this to preinstalled this yadda yadda......well you have to think that there are programs better than there apple equivelants...and there is a reason for it lemme go down your list

Firefox > Safari
google bar > Safari
Thunderbird > Apple Mail
Picaso > iPhoto
Norton > Macs virus free
Firewall software > Mac OS X
AIM/Trillion > iChat
iTunes > iTunes pre-Installed
Stuffit > Stuffit pre-installed
Acrobat > Preview
Quicktime > Quicktime pre-Installed
DVD Burning > iDVD
CD Burning > iTunes
data Burning > Mac OS X
Drivers > Mac OS X Plug n Play not plug n get mad
Video editing > iMovie


1) Firefox > better than safari.....lets not dwell on that
google bar > unessesary if you have Firefox
2) Thunderbird > better than apple mail (actually i have no evidence im just mocking you)
3) Picaso > never heard of it don't use so you got me there
4) Norton > Macs virus free ( i faintly remember posts where apple users where complaining of viruses)
5) Firewall software > Mac OS X ( dont know enough about MAC firewall to argue
6) AIM/Trillion > iChat (you cant compare Trillain to iChat so stop trying its infinitely better........)
7) Itunes > Itunes..........(i don't like itunes because all of your songs are listed in a huge list, and cant be organized into folders......also itunes is one of those apps that is picky about everything........also it comes bundled with Quicktime....i just want quicktime, not Itunes is that such a hard concept!!)
8) Acrobat > Preview (yet again unfamiliar with preview)
9) Quicktime > Quicktime pre-Installed (quicktime supports one vid format .mov....and AVI i think) Window Media supports like 20 and comes preinstalled.....BAM!!!
10) DVD Burning > iDVD
CD Burning > iTunes
data Burning > Mac OS X (are you high these are all basically the same thing, and they all are built in to WINXP SP2)
11) Drivers > Mac OS X Plug n Play not plug n get mad (shut up Douche your an idiot)
12) Video editing > iMovie (dont know enough about imovie, and movie maker sux so you got me there)

In conclusion..........shut up your a stupid douche zealot.....no.....but, honestly pre-packaged software usually sux..thats y you dl better software to take its place!!!

Apples are ok ive used em.....i think apple anc PC should begin to coexist a little better.......and Apple should stop making it so hard to use an apple........only apple things work for apple computers......and i still cant get over how expensive they are!!!!
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#15
transkinetic

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I have to go now, there is a bunch of penguins burning a window in my front yard. 
Ojo


Haha, that's brilliant!

I use linux (ubuntu flavored) about 90% of the time. Windows the other 10%. It's about as easy to learn as windows was. Gnome is definately better than explorer (although I think you can get gnome for windows). I use windows when I want something to "just work" and it's fine for that. The Gimp is definately something cool. I can't think of anything any other graphics program has that I'd want in it except for painterIX's amazing ability to simulate real media. Gimp's one of the reasons I installed linux in the first place. It really dosen't work satisfactory in windows. Synaptic makes installing things more of a no brainer than it is in windows. I've never have a windows installer auto-detect required dependancies and offer to download those aswell. I keep hearing really good things aboout macs. I've hardly used them as I just couldn't get passed their interface. That ripple effect (affect?) when you minimize something? That get's old FAST.

Edited by transkinetic, 06 May 2005 - 01:00 PM.

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