5 FREE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEMS
If you happen to buy one of
those laptops without a pre-loaded operating system, there's no need to pay a
fat sum to buy one or resort to piracy. There are quite a few operating systems
that are totally free (and without any strings attached).
Remix OS by
JIDE
This one is for Android
lovers and one of the prettiest free operating systems around. Built upon the
Android-x86 project, Remix OS is completely free to download and use (all
updates are free too -so there's no catch). It's compatible with a wide range
of computers (including Intel-based MACs), is built for performance with all
your daily tasks in mind and you can choose to keep it portable (boot from a
USB drive) or install it permanently. If you already have an existing OS, you
can choose to dual boot Remix. But by far the biggest advantage that Remix
enjoys over the others is the fantastic app ecosystem of Android and the
inherent customisation and open nature. To start, just head over to the Remix
OS for PC download page on http:www.jide.com and follow the instructions. One
small catch is that the Google Play store is not pre-installed with Remix,
owning to licensing issues. You will need to sideload the Google Play apk
(installer file) to take full advantage of the app ecosystem -but this is a lot
easier than it sounds. If you get stuck, there are a host of video reviews and
tutorials online as well as a Google Group where you can find help support from
other users.
Haiku Project
Haiku OS is an open-source
operating system that is designed for personal computing. To start or to take a
brief tour, you can head over to http:www.haikuos.org . After you download the
files, you can choose to install Haiku to a partition in your hard drive, make
a live CD, boot from USB or use it in Live mode (it will disappear after you
shutdown -to be replaced by your conventional OS if you have one). Instead of a
taskbar like Windows, Haiku has a Deskbar, which is placed top right by
default. The Deskbar gives you access to all settings and apps within the
system. If you like, you can change its location to any corner of the screen.
Haiku has been translated by volunteers into 25 different languages and all the
basics you need to get started are built in: for instance, it has an email
client, web browser, calculator, text editor, disc space monitor, un-archiver
(un-zipper), system monitoring tools, printerwebcam drivers and audiovideo
players.
ReactOS
When it comes to free
operating systems, you're probably thinking `but it's not Windows'! ReactOS is
a free and opensource OS that is based on Windows NT design architecture (like
XP and Win 7).This means that most Windows applications and drivers will work
seamlessly.This also means that for someone accustomed to the Windows way of
doing things, ReactOS won't be a shock. The philosophy is that you should be
able to use it as a free alternative to Windows without having to re-learn how
to use it and without changing software. Honestly, all this means nothing
unless you actually look at screenshots of ReactOS running just search for
images tagged ReactOS and you'll see how similar to Windows it really is. In
fact, ReactOS has also been called a `viable drop-in replacement to Windows'
for people who want to renounce use of proprietary commercial software.To get
started, head to http:www.reactos.org and head to the downloads page. You can
choose to download the installation CD or just get a Live CD and run the OS
from there.
Syllable Desktop
Let's say you have an old
computer lying around -something that's still got functional hardware but its
about 15 years old (or older!). What kind of operating system would you use on
it? The answer is Syllable Desktop. It was designed for computers with Pentium
compatible processors with 32MB of memory (that's Megabytes -not Gigabytes!).
It's a volunteer project and is still in development. To get started, head to
http:web.syllable.org and look for the Syllable Desktop link. They also have
Syllable Server which uses the Linux kernel and is optimised for servers.
Like many others here, you'll get a bundle of built in applications (web
browser, email client, address book, media players) and it has drivers for most
common peripherals built in. To add more applications, you can just head to the
app downloads page on the website. Some of the other things you can download
for free include games, rescue software and a VNC viewer.
Chromium OS
You might have seen or
heard of Chromebooks, Chrome Sticks or Chrome PCs all computing devices that
use the cloud-friendly Chrome OS by Google. You cannot download Chrome OS on
your own you have to get a device that has it pre-loaded. Chromium OS is an
open source project which shares the same code, but you can download it for use
on hardware of your choice. It's ultra-light and there are several versions you
can download and try out. For instance, head to http:chromeos.hexxeh.net to
download a build and try it out for yourself. You can also try out Chromixium (
http:www.chromixium.org ), which combines features from Chrome and Ubuntu into
one beautiful package. You can install Chromixium instead of any existing
operating system or dual boot it with Windows and Linux. Minimum requirements
are quite low too (1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM) which means it should work well
on older computers.
Hitesh Raj Bhagat
ET20JAN16
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