Other Free Operating System

Here the list of other free Operating System that may need special processor to run.

Cooperative Linux Freeware and open-source method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft Windows natively. coLinux is a port of the Linux kernel that allows it to run cooperatively alongside another operating system on a single machine. For instance, it allows one to freely run Linux on Windows 2000/XP, without using a commercial PC virtualization software such as VMware, in a way which is much more optimal than using any general purpose PC virtualization software.

FreeBSD FreeBSD is an advanced free and open-source Operating System for Intel ia32 compatible, DEC Alpha, and PC-98 architectures. It is derived from BSD UNIX, the version of UNIX developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals. Very popular Operating Systems for servers.

GNU Hurd Open-source (GNU) Replacement for the Unix kernel. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). Currently only available for x86 machines, but will be ported to other platforms. Advantages: free, object-oriented, scalable, compatible.

Junix A Unix command-line emulator written in JavaScript.

litePC.com Products for customizing, optimizing Windows operating systems. By removing or replacing certain Windows components, performance and stability can be improved.

Minix An open-source, small, reliable and self-healing operating system designed for smaller computers, embedded systems, and applications where high reliability and self-repair are important. Minix was designed initially for educational purposes by Andy TanenBaum.

Nachos Nachos is an educational operating system simulator used for undergraduate, and potentially graduate, level operating systems courses.
Runs on DEC MIPS, running Ultrix, SUN SPARCstations, HP PA-RISC, running HP-UX, 386 boxes, running 386BSD UNIX.
Does not run on Windows, MAC.

Net BSD NetBSD is a free, open-source, secure, and highly portable UNIX-like Operating System available for many platforms, from 64-bit AlphaServers and desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices.

OpenBSD OpenBSD is a free, open-source, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like Operating System. OpenBSD supports binary emulation of most programs from SVR4 (Solaris), FreeBSD, Linux, BSDI, SunOS, and HPUX.

ReactOS ReactOS is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with Windows NT applications and drivers.

Solaris Open-source operating system by Sun, freeware for commercial and non-commercial use. Intel and Sparc versions are available. You can order this OS on CD by Sun by paying only media, shipping and handling costs. Alternatively, to educators, students, and researchers the Aachen University will send a full copy on CD for $20-$30.

Wine Freeware. Wine is an emulator, running on Linux, allowing you to run Windows applications on Linux without the need to pay for a Windows licence (legally).

WinLinux 2003 Linux which installs inside Windows 95 or 98. This means that you can run Linux as an application on Windows 95/98. Not free, but only $ 29.95.

Xinu Xinu was originally designed as a vehicle for teaching Operating System design concepts and is used by many educational institutions for this purpose.
Xinu is also well-suited for teaching advanced programming concepts such as Concurrent Processing, I/O, IPC and Client-Server Interaction. Major advantages of Xinu are its (relative) simplicity, and that the source code can be modified as needed.

DOS and DOS clones

FreeDOS Freeware DOS clone, Y2K compliant.
OpenGEM An opensource graphical user interface for DOS
PTS Russian MS-DOS clone.
RDOS Open source DOS clone, free for non-commercial use.
Seal Open source GUI for DOS.

More Free Operating System
Amkit Go to the site for Amiga-enthousiasts.

Aros AROS is a portable and free and open-source desktop operating system aiming at being compatible with AmigaOS 3.1, while improving on it in many areas.

Atari.org Atari.org is a non-commercial service dedicated to the Atari home- and personal-computer users as well as the Classic Video Game enthusiasts all over the world. Also: the most up-to-date news, forums to exchange opinions, hints and support, a comprehensive search engine, web-hosting for Atari computer or video-game related pages as well as subdomains and email-forwarding.

BOS BOS is a 32-bit Operating System where everything has full hardware access and no protection, no multitasking, no paging, etc. It's meant to be like a modern DOS, useful for development of small games or apps that requires hardware control.

Dex4u A fast and free operating system for the PC (Intel, AMD, etc.). Everything in this operating system is focused on speed: the architecture, it's avoidance of virtualization, and it is completely written in assembly.

EROS 'The Extremely Reliable Operating System', originally implemented at the University of Pennsylvania, but now migrated to Johns Hopkins University. The result is a small, secure, real-time operating system that provides orthogonal persistence.

Jazmyn A freeware open-source 32-bit, protected-mode, multitasking, single-user, operating system which runs on i386 CPU's. Written in C++ and Assembly.

Menuet OS Menuet is a fully 32 bit assembly written, graphical RTOS for assembly programming & distributed under GPL. Since Menuet fits to a single floppy, you only need one blank 1.44 M diskette to install it. Your hard disks are not affected in any way.

Oberon Oberon is the name of a modern integrated software environment. It is a single-user, multi-tasking system that runs on bare hardware or on top of a host operating system. Oberon is also the name of a programming language in the Pascal/Modula tradition. The Oberon project was launched in 1985 by Niklaus Wirth and Jürg Gutknecht. Although the project was originally targeted towards in-house hardware, the language and system have now been ported to many computer platforms and multiple CPU's. Freeware, Open Source.

Syllable A GPL-licensed open source desktop operating system with modest hardware requirements, a 64-bit journaling file system, network support and a GUI.

Visopsys Freeware, open-source operating system for PC's. It is small, fast, has a GUI, real preemptive multitasking, and virtual memory.

BeOS / Zeta

BeOS / Zeta is a very fast, reliable operating system, designed from the ground up for multi-media performance. For example, it boots under 15 seconds. It can run 10 full-screen MPEG videos simultaneously without any problems. Don't try that on Windows!

Zeta
Non-free operating system based on BeOS. It doesn't intend to compete with Windows, but wants to be an alternative for those wanting to run a second operating system - or those and who find Linux too complicated. Zeta is easily installed, and perhaps even easier to use.

BeBits.com
Tons of freeware and shareware programs running on BeOS / Zeta.

Haiku
An open-source effort to first recreate and then extend a most excellent, once-commercially-supported, closed-source, media-oriented desktop computer operating system called the Be operating system (BeOS).

RiscOS
RiscOS Homepage of the RiscOS operating system which was originally created by Acorn Computers in 1988. RiscOS runs on ARM-based processors.

RiscOS 5 Overview Unlike earlier versions, RISC OS 5 runs entirely in the ARM's 32-bit mode making it suitable for the latest ARM processors such as Intel XScale, ARM9 and ARM10 based devices.

IYONIX PC A complete and fast desktop computer with ARM processor running RiscOS.

More RiscOS computers can be found here.

RiscOS Solo:
the Green computer A rugged RISCOS computer, which can run on Solar energy. Intended for use within Third-world countries where its ultra-low-power design enables it to be used far away from sources of mains electricity.

Virtual Acorn You can also run RiscOS on a regular Windows PC using this Acorn emulator.