Browse free open source Operating Systems and projects below. Use the toggles on the left to filter open source Operating Systems by OS, license, language, programming language, and project status.

  • Manage Properties Better For Free Icon
    Manage Properties Better For Free

    For small to mid-sized landlords and property managers

    Innago is a free and easy-to-use property management solution. Whether you have 1 unit or 1000, student housing, or commercial properties, Innago is built for you. Our software is designed to save you time and money, so you can spend more time doing the things that matter most.
  • Make Your Observability Stack Effortless Icon
    Make Your Observability Stack Effortless

    For Software Engineers, DevOps, Data Architects, and IT Leaders

    The progression to modern application stacks and microservices architectures has resulted in orders of magnitude more logs, metrics, events, and traces. Like gravity, data attracts more data, making it increasingly difficult to move and process as it accumulates over time. More than ever, there is a need to be able to stream-process, filter, mask, transform, aggregate, analyze, and route that data to various data tier destinations optimized for specific usage.
  • 1

    PINN

    PINN is an enhancement of NOOBS

    PINN is an enhancement of NOOBS for the Raspberry Pi. It allows the installation of MULTIPLE OSes on the same SD/HDD/SSD device with an OS chooser when booting. Built-in Admin tools allow you to backup & restore your OSes and fix OS problems by including basic disk checking, password changing, and a command shell.
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    Downloads: 77,474 This Week
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  • 2
    Rufus

    Rufus

    Utility to create bootable USB flash drives

    Rufus is a standalone app designed to format and create a bootable USB drive for a large variety of ISOs. The app is just over 1MB in size and is notably faster than similar competitor apps such as the Windows 7 USB utility, Universal USB Installer, and UNetbootin. Rufus can come in handy when you need to simply format a USB drive, install an OS on a machine that lacks a CD/DVD-ROM drive, or when you need to boot an operating system temporarily without intentions of actually installing the media. This can be immensely useful while you're on the go or just need access to an OS for a temporary, isolated reason. The app can even be used to flash firmware to BIOS or other destinations by just using DOS. Even though Rufus is a tiny utility in comparison to other USB creation tools that can be rather bulky in size, it contends easily with the competition and creates bootable USB drives in record time!
    Downloads: 2,348 This Week
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  • 3
    Xiaomi.eu Multilang MIUI ROMs

    Xiaomi.eu Multilang MIUI ROMs

    OFFICIAL mirror of MIUI Multilang ROM by https://xiaomi.eu/

    Included languages: English (en.miui.com, xiaomi.eu) Chinese (miui.com) Polish (Acid, miuipolska.pl) Slovak (ingbrzy, https://miuios.cz) Czech (VMach, https://miuios.cz) Bulgarian (Global) Hungarian (vagyula, miui.hu) French (Global) Swedish (Global) Russian (Global) Ukrainian (Global) Belorussian (Global) Croatian (Masva, MIUI Adria) Vietnamese (Belmont-Gabriel) Italian (miui.it) Greek (Global) Norwegian (Global) Dutch (cueie, mannyribo, redmaner) Spanish (nosijf982) Turkish (suatsari) Brazilian-Portuguese (Global, Feurrado, Lobianco) Portuguese (KcNirvana, Lippe35) Hebrew (Global) Romanian (ashtefan) German (muhamed89, cp82, dahool2016, and more) Catalan (deivids84) Korean (cjhyuky, bradly1, xiaomiqm) Slovenian (bostjan2016) Serbian (dudjaa) Thai (Global) Finnish (dogiex) Arabic (Global) Japanese (ScratchBuild) Burmese (Global) Danish (Global)
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    Downloads: 39,072 This Week
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  • 4
    crDroid Android

    crDroid Android

    Highly customizable Android Platform

    crDroid is a free Android based ROM, bringing a lot of features that are most advanced in terms of customization and stability!
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    Downloads: 32,009 This Week
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  • Precoro helps companies spend smarter Icon
    Precoro helps companies spend smarter

    Fully Automated Process in One Tool: From Purchase Orders to Budget Control and Reporting.

    For minor company expenses, you might utilize a spend management solution or track everything in spreadsheets. For everything more, you'll need Precoro. We help companies achieve procurement excellence and budget efficiency by building transparent, predictable, automated spending workflows.
  • 5
    android-x86

    android-x86

    A project to bring Android to the x86 platform

    This is a project to port Android open source project to x86 platform, formerly known as "patch hosting for android x86 support". http://www.android-x86.org/
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    Downloads: 27,664 This Week
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  • 6
    MX-Linux

    MX-Linux

    MX-Linux project

    MX Linux is a cooperative venture between the antiX and MX Linux communities. It is a family of operating systems that are designed to combine elegant and efficient desktops with high stability and solid performance. MX’s graphical tools provide an easy way to do a wide variety of tasks, while the Live USB and snapshot tools inherited from antiX add impressive portability and remastering capabilities. Extensive support is available through videos, documentation and a very friendly Forum.
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    Downloads: 20,915 This Week
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  • 7
    Wubuntu Operating System

    Wubuntu Operating System

    Wubuntu - Linux with Windows appearance and tools

    Wubuntu is an operating system based on Ubuntu LTS that has a similar appearance to Windows using the open-source themes from the KDE Store and Gnome Store. Wubuntu also comes with a set of advanced tools called PowerTools that allows you to use features such as Control Panel and Windows-style network and general settings, Android emulation interface with video acceleration, synchronization with OneDrive, improved Wine compatibility for applications .exe and .msi and is fully compatible with any hardware. It does not require TPM, Secure Boot, POPCNT or any other absurd requirements imposed by other operating systems. Wubuntu is already shipped with Copilot, Edge, Teams, PowerShell, Skype and much more!
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    Downloads: 14,185 This Week
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  • 8
    antiX-Linux
    antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy to install linux live CD distribution based on Debian Stable for Intel-AMD x86 compatible systems.
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    Downloads: 9,647 This Week
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  • 9
    SparkyLinux

    SparkyLinux

    Lightweight & fast Debian-based Linux Distribution

    SparkyLinux is a GNU/Linux distribution created on the top of Debian GNU/Linux operating system. Sparky is fast, lightweight and fully customizable OS which offers a few versions for different users and different tasks. Sparky is in-between the distros that are beginner-friendly and those, that require some amount of Linux knowledge. Beginning Linux users are advised to consult the project forums regarding any issues or doubts.
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    Downloads: 5,857 This Week
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  • Fully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server Icon
    Fully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server

    Focus on your application, and leave the database to us

    Cloud SQL manages your databases so you don't have to, so your business can run without disruption. It automates all your backups, replication, patches, encryption, and storage capacity increases to give your applications the reliability, scalability, and security they need.
  • 10
    PeppermintOS

    PeppermintOS

    A minimum linux desktop distribution

    Peppermint is an operating system that provides a user with the opportunity to build the system that best fits their needs. While at the same time providing a functioning OS with minimum hassle out of the box. Our mainline desktop Peppermint ships with the desktop environment xfce with the thunar file manager set as default. Peppermint comes with nearly nothing installed other than, the core packages needed to run the system and you have the choice to which packages should best fit your build. We do use the common process of continuous delivery, and we are based on the Debian/Devuan repositories.
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    Downloads: 3,937 This Week
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  • 11
    ReactOS

    ReactOS

    An operating system based on the best Windows NT design principles

    ReactOS is an open source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with applications and drivers written for the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003).
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    Downloads: 3,252 This Week
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  • 12
    Alt-F

    Alt-F

    free alternative firmware for the DLink DNS-320/320L/321/323/325/327L

    Alt-F provides a free and open source alternative firmware for the DLINK DNS-320/320L/321/323/325/327L and DNR-322L. Alt-F has Samba and NFS; supports ext2/3/4, VFAT, NTFS, BTRFS; RAID 0, 1, 5 (with external USB disk) and JBOD; supports up to 8TB disks; rsync, ftp, sftp, ftps, ssh, lpd, DNS and DHCP servers, DDNS, fan and leds control, clean power up and down... and more. Alt-F also has a set of comprehensive administering web pages, you don't need to use the command line to configure it. Besides the built-in software, Alt-F also supports additional packages on disk, including ffp and Entware packages, that you can install, update and uninstall using the administering web pages Alt-F is being developed and tested on a DNS-323-rev-A1/B1, a DNS325-rev-A1, a DNS-320L-rev-A1 and on a DNS-327L-rev-A1 hardware boards. Other models and boards are said to work. Support Forum: http://groups.google.com/group/alt-f Homepage: http://sites.google.com/site/altfirmware
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    Downloads: 2,988 This Week
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  • 13
    blissos-dev

    blissos-dev

    Android for your PC, but more Blissful

    Bliss OS (x86) Android for your PC An Open Source OS, based on Android, that incorporates many optimizations, features, and expanded device support. And it is available for just about any Chromebook, Windows/Linux PC or tablet released in the last 4 years Our support options use Telegram chats. Bliss OS (x86) Support chat: https://t.me/blissx86 Bliss ROM/OS Build Support chat: https://t.me/Team_Bliss_Build_Support Android-Generic Project development chat: https://t.me/androidgenericpc
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    Downloads: 2,993 This Week
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  • 14
    Linuxfx Operating System

    Linuxfx Operating System

    Linuxfx Operating System 11.4 codename "Red Sand"

    Linuxfx is an Ubuntu-based operating system that contains a powerful set of tools and an amazing look and feel. It has compatibility with Windows apps through Wine and also runs Android apps. It's super stable, solid as a rock and very secure. It also does not need TPM or any other requirement for its operation and is compatible with any computer that has 2 cores and 2GB of RAM memory. For Windows theme, please visit: https://sourceforge.net/projects/windows-ubuntu/
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    Downloads: 2,438 This Week
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  • 15
    CachyOS

    CachyOS

    Blazingly Fast & Customizable Linux distribution

    CachyOS - Arch Linux Based Distribution With Heavy Optimizations & Multi-Architectures For Ultimate Desktop Experience Filesystems: - btrfs - zfs - ext4 - xfs - f2fs Our installer will auto detect which micro architecture your machine got, if x86-64-v3 or x86-64-v4 is detected it will automatically use the optimized packages, which is around a 10 % performance improvement. Desktop Environments: - KDE - CuteFish - i3 - Gnome - Openbox - Wayfire - Xfce - LXQT - bspwm All packages are compiled with Full LTO and other optimization flags. Depending on the march your cpu have it is compiled against x86-64, x86-64-v3 or x86-64-v4. For the Desktop Environment we provide basic theming. In CachyOS-Hello can be also security related packages enabled, like: DNScrypt-proxy Firejail apparmor Security and Performance! https://discord.gg/qJqj94uFwE https://t.me/+zCzPX4cAFjk1MTY
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    Downloads: 2,566 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 16
    Linux Lite

    Linux Lite

    A free, easy to use operating system

    Linux Lite is free for everyone to use and share, and suitable for people who are new to Linux and for people who want a lightweight operating system that is also fully featured. With a free Office Suite, Media Player and a choice of Web Browsers.
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    Downloads: 2,315 This Week
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  • 17
    Leader badge
    Downloads: 2,248 This Week
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  • 18
    BluestarLinux
    Bluestar Linux is an Arch Linux-based distribution, built with an understanding that people want and need a solid Operating System that provides a breadth of functionality and ease of use without sacrificing aesthetics. Bluestar is offered in three edtions - desktop, deskpro and developer - each tailored to address the needs of a variety of Linux users. Bluestar can be installed permanently as a robust and fully configurable operating system on a laptop or desktop system, or it can be run effectively as a live installer and supports the addition of persistent storage for those who choose not to perform a permanent installation. A Bluestar Linux software respository is also maintained in order to provide additional tools and applications when needed or requested. Bluestar provides the following features: Up-to-date Kernel Wide Variety of Applications - Always Current Versions Full Development / Desktop / Multimedia Environment
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    Downloads: 10,684 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 19
    Voyager
    I present to you Voyager 23.10 non LTS and 22.04 LTS Edition Explorer in final version. A 2-in-1 version with, for the first time, the Gnome and Xfce desktops unified in a single Voyager distribution, to be selected during your session. All in an old school adventure style completely redesigned for this duo. The Gnome desktop coupled with the Xfce desktop with the promise finally kept, to have 2 unified Gnome and Xfce systems, light, fast, modern, fluid, secure and efficient in a hybrid PC and Tablet environment. The 2 offices are quite distinct and their respective applications are for the most part invisible, for one or the other environment. This release is based on the final Linux kernel and the latest Ubuntu release either in non-LTS 9 months updates or LTS (long term support) 5 years updates. Other Voyager distributions are available such as Voyager 12 based on Debian 12 Bookwarm. And all the old Voyagers to see on the Voyager website.
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    Downloads: 1,877 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 20
    LXLE

    LXLE

    LXDE eXtra Luxury Edition

    Change is good but changing everything isn't always great. Same is true for aging computers and their operating systems. Support is sometimes lost too quickly with a 6 month core release cycle. Graphics & Audio cards and chipsets get dropped along with other miscellaneous functions with programs or drivers that just go missing. We all like having updated software we certainly don't like down time or loss of features and capabilities. I believe most aging hardware just needs the right system on it, and lets face it, it helps keep a couple bucks in your pocket if you can squeeze a few more years out of your current system; without sacrificing, performance, capability, usability and of course aesthetics. http://lxle.net/forums/
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    Downloads: 1,914 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 21
    Rescatux

    Rescatux

    Easy to use Repair distribution for both Gnu/Linux and Windows systems

    Rescatux is a GNU/Linux repair cd (and eventually also Windows) but it is not like other rescue disks. Rescatux comes with Rescapp. Rescapp is a nice wizard that will guide you through your rescue and repair tasks. When the wizard is not able to solve your problem you can also enjoy of Rescatux unique support features: * Chat: Open the chat for asking help directly in Rescatux channel. * Share log: After running an option you can share its log (the action registry that it has done) so that in the chat they can help you better. O better, even, you can help debug and fix Rescatux bugs on the fly. * Share log on forum: Prepares a forum post alike text so that you can just copy and paste it in your favourite forum. Logs are nicely inserted into it with [CODE] symbols. * Boot Info Script: Run Boot Info Script option to share your computer configuration (specially boot one).
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    Downloads: 1,828 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 22
    Redo Rescue: Backup and Recovery

    Redo Rescue: Backup and Recovery

    Backup and Recovery Made Easy

    Redo Rescue Backup and Recovery can backup and restore an entire system in minutes with a point-and-click interface anyone can use. Bare metal restore to a new, blank drive and be up and running in minutes. Supports saving to and restoring from local disks or shared network drives. Selectively restore partitions and remap them to different locations on the target drive. Additional tools included for partition editing, web browsing, and more. Runs from live CD/USB; no installation needed. Website: http://redorescue.com Forum: https://sourceforge.net/p/redobackup/discussion/ GitHub: https://github.com/redorescue/redorescue Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redo_Backup_and_Recovery
    Leader badge
    Downloads: 1,318 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 23
    UNetbootin

    UNetbootin

    Bootable live USB creator for Ubuntu, Fedora, and Linux distributions

    UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions without burning a CD. It runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. You can either let UNetbootin download one of the many distributions supported out-of-the-box for you, or supply your own Linux .iso file.
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    Downloads: 1,200 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 24
    Calam-Arch-Installer.iso

    Calam-Arch-Installer.iso

    Current Release: Calam-Arch-Installer-2024-03 Kernel: 6.7.6

    Now you can easily install pure arch linux from my Arch Live Linux with Calam-Arch-Installer through video instructions, following the steps. Install Legacy-Bios or UEFI, Support Luks Yes There are also 9 selectable graphical environments for installation, Xfce, Gnome, Plasma,Cinnamon, Budgie, Openbox, I3, Mate, Deepin Good Luck!
    Leader badge
    Downloads: 1,295 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 25
    Ufficio Zero Linux OS

    Ufficio Zero Linux OS

    Linux Desktop OS for professionals

    Ufficio Zero Linux OS is a desktop operating system offered in many versions based on PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint and Devuan. We also have created Duplica, a Bare Metal Restore Solution. This distro has many packages for professional use. The project is managed by the Italian company SIITE SRLS. Ufficio Zero Linux OS is trademarked through the Linux Mark Institute. All rights reserved. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. website https://ufficiozero.org forum https://forum.ufficiozero.org wiki https://wiki.ufficiozero.org video tutorial https://odysee.com/$/invite/@ufficiozero:f
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    Downloads: 1,841 This Week
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Open Source Operating Systems Guide

An open source operating system is a type of software that can be modified and redistributed by anyone, as long as they abide by the specific open source license associated with it. Open Source operating systems provide users with access to the underlying code, allowing them to make changes or customize features in order to meet their needs. Some popular examples of open source operating systems are Linux (which powers many mobile devices), Unix, and Android.

Open Source Operating Systems offer many advantages over proprietary alternatives such as Windows or Mac OS X. For starters, users have complete control over how their system looks, works, and performs optimizations that would otherwise not be possible in a closed environment. Additionally, developers who specialize in open source operating systems usually make their work available for free or at a low cost, which means most individuals can afford to use one without dealing with expensive licensing contracts or needing specialized knowledge on programming languages like C++. This also means there’s a massive online community available where people can ask questions about usage and troubleshooting, if needed.

Lastly, open source operating systems are often considered more secure when compared to proprietary ones since bugs are identified much faster since thousands of developers all over the world look into it rather than just one small development team, meaning vulnerabilities get patched up swiftly before any damage is done. Of course this isn’t always the case but generally speaking hardware manufacturers tend to prefer using an open source platform due its flexibility and higher level of security.

In conclusion, open source operating systems offer a wide variety of advantages over the traditional closed alternatives. They are generally considered more secure, less expensive and with many customization options available; making them perfect for those who need to tailor their computing experience or just don’t have the budget to buy an expensive commercial OS. Additionally, with the massive online community that usually gathers around these projects, it’s much easier to find help than you would expect.

Features Provided by Open Source Operating Systems

  • Scalability: Open source operating systems are highly scalable and can be easily adapted for use in large environments such as server farms or computing clusters. This allows organizations to choose the best combination of hardware, software, and network configurations to optimize performance and cost according to their needs.
  • Security: Security is a major benefit provided by open source operating systems. By allowing users to examine the code that makes up its core components, these systems can often receive fixes more quickly than proprietary OSs when vulnerabilities are discovered. Additionally, since they are open source, developers can independently audit the security protocols used within them.
  • Cost Savings: One of the major advantages of using an open source OS is the significant cost savings they offer compared to proprietary ones. They are usually free or low-cost compared to their counterparts and require little financial support from vendors in order to maintain operations.
  • Flexibility: With an open source OS all users have access to its full source code, allowing them full control over how it works, what modifications they make and which applications run on it. This gives users freedom in customizing their system for tasks such as development or hosting specific services without relying on third-party software or restrictive vendor licensing policies.
  • Reliability & Stability: Open Source Operating Systems are generally considered more reliable and stable than conventional proprietary systems due to their large community support which helps fix bugs faster, tests new features thoroughly before release, documents well known issues, etc.
  • Extensibility: As mentioned earlier, because of their customizable nature with access given at kernel level, these open Source Operating Systems have endless possibilities for extensions like adding more drivers/functionality, additional user-space applications etc leading them extendable beyond imagination.

Different Types of Open Source Operating Systems

  • Linux: The most popular open source operating system, Linux is a Unix-like OS that supports an array of architectures and distributions. It is highly customizable and has a wide variety of applications available.
  • BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution): This type of operating system was developed by the University of California at Berkeley in the 1970s to run on DEC PDP computers. It has since been ported to many other architectures and platforms, including ARM, x86, and PowerPC.
  • Haiku: Developed as a successor to BeOS, Haiku is an open source operating system designed for personal computing. It boasts an advanced memory management system and an efficient GUI with support for Windows programs like Internet Explorer or WordPad.
  • ReactOS: Based on the Windows NT architecture, ReactOS is an open source operating system intended to be binary compatible with Windows applications and drivers. Although still in development, it can already run some popular programs like Paint Shop Pro or Nero Burning ROM.
  • FreeDOS: Originally created as an alternative to MS-DOS in 1994, FreeDOS is still actively maintained today and provides full 16-bit DOS compatibility with several hundred utilities included in its distribution package.
  • AtheOS: Initially released in 1999 under the GPL license, AtheOS was one of the first open source alternatives to Microsoft’s Windows OS at that time. Its goal was to provide a true multitasking OS with protected memory addressing as well as numerous custom drivers for hardware compatibility purposes.
  • MINIX: This is a small, Unix-like operating system designed by Andrew Tanenbaum as an educational tool for teaching computer science. It was released under a BSD-style license and runs on x86 processors, with support for up to 64KB of RAM.
  • Syllable OS: Developed from scratch, Syllable OS is a lightweight open source operating system that prioritizes performance and efficiency. Its main goal is to be simple yet powerful at the same time, running on both desktop computers and single board devices like Raspberry Pi or PandaBoard.

Advantages of Using Open Source Operating Systems

  • Cost Efficiency: Open source operating systems are free to use, reducing the cost of software license fees and eliminating the need for expensive hardware upgrades.
  • Reliability and Security: Since open source operating systems are widely used and constantly updated by developers, they offer improved reliability and security compared to proprietary systems. The vast community of users helps uncover potential issues quickly and keeps everyone up to date with the latest security patches.
  • Flexibility: Open source operating systems offer a high degree of customization that allows users to tailor their system to specific needs without having to purchase additional software licenses or add-ons.
  • Scalability: Due to its flexibility, open source operating systems can be scaled easily, allowing them to meet the changing needs of large organizations without having to purchase a new system each time.
  • Compatibility: Because many applications have been designed with an open source architecture in mind, compatibility is rarely an issue when it comes to using open source programs and devices.
  • Innovation: Open source operating systems encourage the development of new ideas, functionality and applications. They are also the foundation for much innovative hardware design.
  • Training Opportunities: The open source software community offers free learning materials and ample training opportunities to help users better understand how to use their system.

What Types of Users Use Open Source Operating Systems?

  • Regular Users: These are everyday users who install and use open source operating systems for a variety of tasks. They may use it to browse the web, check emails, create documents or perform other basic home computing tasks.
  • Developers: Developers are often responsible for actively developing open source OSs and creating applications that run on them. They provide support, write code and help to troubleshoot issues as needed.
  • System Administrators: System administrators maintain the infrastructure required for an open source OS to run properly in a business environment. This includes networking, security, performance monitoring and deploying updates.
  • Security Professionals: Security professionals often rely on open source operating systems to protect their assets from cyber attacks by keeping the systems secure through regular patching and updating of softwares. They also monitor logs, alert systems in case of threats like malware or viruses and set up appropriate access controls.
  • Hobbyists: Hobbyists typically experiment with open source OSs to learn more about how they work or simply just because they enjoy tinkering with technology projects. They often contribute to the open source community by providing feedback and testing new features.
  • Educators: Open source OSs provide a great way for educators to teach students about computer systems and programming. Students can learn how an OS works and gain experience in developing applications for various platforms without spending too much money on software licenses.
  • Server Admins: Server administrators use open source operating systems to support mission-critical IT infrastructure, including web servers, database servers, mail servers and more. They ensure that these systems are secure, reliable and fast performing.
  • Gamers: Gamers can use open source operating systems to play games with great performance due to the lack of overhead from bloated, closed source libraries and applications. They also benefit from being able to modify or customize their gaming experience as needed.

How Much Do Open Source Operating Systems Cost?

Open source operating systems typically cost nothing to download and use. They are available for free, often without the need to register or provide any personal information. Many open source operating systems, such as Linux or Ubuntu, allow users to freely customize their installations with a wide range of applications and software packages. Open source software is developed by volunteers who contribute their time and expertise in order to create a reliable platform for users all around the world. Although most open source projects are provided at no cost, there may be situations where you have to pay for additional support services from the developers in order to gain access to certain features. Additionally, some organizations may require that you purchase a license in order to develop commercial applications based on an open source operating system.

What Software Can Integrate With Open Source Operating Systems?

Open source operating systems can typically integrate with a variety of different types of software, including programs designed for productivity, security and networking. A wide range of applications are available to run on open source operating systems, such as office suites (e.g., Apache OpenOffice), personal finance management tools, web browsers (e.g., Firefox or Chrome) and multimedia players. Additionally, many popular email and messaging clients are available for these platforms, such as Thunderbird and Pidgin. There are also specialized solutions for gaming, graphic design or programming that may be compatible with the platform in question. Furthermore, there is an abundance of security-related software available for open source operating systems that protect against viruses and malicious attacks from outside sources. Finally, many networking solutions exist for connecting devices together over local area networks or the internet at large.

What Are the Trends Relating to Open Source Operating Systems?

  • Increased Security: Open source operating systems are renowned for their enhanced security compared to proprietary systems. This is because open source software allows anyone to view, modify and improve the code, meaning any security vulnerabilities can be quickly identified and patched.
  • Lower Cost: Open source operating systems are generally free to download and install, meaning organisations and individuals can save a considerable amount of money in comparison to proprietary systems.
  • Customizability: Open source operating systems allow developers to customize the system to their exact needs. This means that users can access specific features that are not available in proprietary systems, making them more suitable for specialized tasks.
  • Community Support: Many open source operating systems have large online communities where users can ask questions, share tips and troubleshoot issues. This makes them easy to use for those who are unfamiliar with the system as there is always someone willing to help out.
  • Open Source Software: Along with the operating system itself, many open source projects also come with an abundance of free software that is compatible with their system. This makes it easy for users to find the right program for their needs without having to pay out any additional fees.
  • Flexibility: Open source operating systems are designed to be flexible and easily customizable, allowing users to tailor the system to suit their individual needs. This means that users can add new features or remove existing ones without having to worry about compatibility issues.

How To Get Started With Open Source Operating Systems

Getting started with open source operating systems is relatively easy. Generally, the first step is to do some research and decide which open source operating system you want to use. Once you've picked one, you'll want to make sure your computer meets the minimum hardware requirements for that system.

Next, you'll need to download a copy of the software onto your computer. Depending on the operating system, there may be different ways of obtaining it. Some can be found on specialized websites or forums while others have an official website from which they can be downloaded.

Once you have a copy of the software, it's time for installation. This will involve using a disc or USB drive to boot up your computer. From there, depending on the system and its specific instructions, it may ask questions about what type of installation (home or business) and how much hard drive space should be used, etc., after which point it will begin installing itself onto your device. After that’s completed, you’ll just need to pick a username/password combo and log in.

Now that your open source OS is installed you'll have full access to all its features so don't forget that comes with having an open source OS at hand: the ability for users like yourself to customize almost every aspect of their experience. From changing applications available in menus and task bars, adding themes or skins for aesthetics purposes; down to adjusting memory settings based upon usage level preferences; most things are within reach if desired. The only restrictions tend come from hardware limitations rather than technical ones due to vendors not releasing certain drivers as open source material.

Keep in mind though that with this freedom comes variety though, each flavor of open source OS has something unique about them so don't expect them all work/behave exactly like other two-click ones seen more often online nowadays (i.e professional vs free). As such take some proper time getting familiarized with different offerings right off bat until one feels comfortable enough proceeding then called 'mission complete.'