Name some OS other than Windows, Mac and Linux

from WinCustomize Forums

I guess I'm one of the very few folks that didn't realize that there are other Operating Systems out there that you can run. :O

It doesn't look like they will or would ever be more popular than Windows, Mac or Linux.  Still, it is interesting that out there the spirit of providing an alternative to the main stream goes on.  Check the link below and see if you have heard of them.  :sun:

http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/09/26/10-amazingly-alternative-operating-systems-and-what-they-could-mean-for-the-future/

 

86,673 views 42 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

um.... DOS?

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

um.... DOS?
End of quote

Yep DOS was and I guess still is an OS, but I don't think it's be updated in ages.  Was talking about OS that are currently available as atlernatives.  :blush:

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

:P   DOS, UNIX, OS2 Warp? ;P

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

OK, here's some real list for hardcore OS history.

BTW, Linux isn't really an OS per se. It's sort of like the technology or kernel or whatever upon which the founding of an OS is built.

So when you say Linux, you say Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, DS Linux, Puppy Linux, etc, and the list goes on.

And when you say Windows, you say Windows Mobile, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server, etc.

And when you say Apple...

 

Well you get the point ^_^'

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Did anyone bother to click the link.  :S

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

RISC

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Menuet looks interesting.  I may have to install that in a VM.

Thanks!

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Did anyone bother to click the link.
End of quote

Sure!  Never heard of any of them personally!

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

GEOS (Graphical Environment Operating System):http://media.arstechnica.com/images/gui/18-geos.gif

Commodore 64 FTW :grin:

 

BTW RISC stands for "Reduced InstructionSet Computer", so it's processor architecture, not am Operating System.[/KnowItAll]

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Heard of AmigaOS and ReactOS

I'll throw in NetBSD, although technically it a derivative of Unix, but then so is Linux

Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Lantec, reply 6
RISC
End of Lantec's quote

Not an OS, that is a chip design.

But a couple BeOS, and netware (that is really a NOS, but still an OS).

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

BTW RISC stands for "Reduced InstructionSet Computer", so it's processor architecture, not am Operating System.[/KnowItAll]
End of quote

RISC OS is an operating system originally created by British manufacturer Acorn Computers for their ARM based computers ranging from Archimedes to Risc PC, replacing Arthur which was shipped on the first models.

 

Wikipedia is your friend... :)

 

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

How about Solaris, I believe its unix based.  I ran if for a short time on one of desktops.  The computer I ran it on was a p4 1.8ghz and I only used it for internet and word processing.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

How about Ecom Station the successor to OS/w Warp. It has slowly been upgraded where it stands now, I am not sure but it has a website www.ecomstation.com

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

BeOS....QNX...;)

Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top

There are lots of home computer systems many of us have used in the 1980s. I also remember CP/M 3.1 from back then.

My neighbour has an Amiga in the 90s. I run RISC-OS in a virtual machine (just out of curiosity).

In the mid-90s I used OS/2, then BeOS, then Linux, then Mac OS X. At university I used Solaris. At home I use a Mac, at work Windows NT (Vista).

I ran Linux, Windows, BSD, Netware, and Solaris servers.

It's not so difficult to run into operating systems other than Mac OS, Windows, and Linux.

BSD is very common on Internet servers. Solaris is very common in company networks. Netware was very common in the 1990s, more common than Windows servers.

Out of curiosity I also at some point installed Plan-9.

And in an operating system class in university I used Minix 2.0. I installed Minix 3 for fun a few months ago.

Solaris was the most robust system I remember.

 

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

I think IRIX hasnt been named yet. Its the SGI *NIX, loosely BSD-ish.

Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top

I think IRIX hasnt been named yet.

End of quote

Have you ever used it?

SGI workstations and servers were always very expensive. Plus SGI kept changing their apparent strategy even more often than Sun in the last ten years. You never knew if they wanted you to buy MIPS or Itanium; IRIX, Linux, or Windows NT.

A few years ago I found that an IRIX workstation was in fact ten times more expensive than a comparable Sun workstation.

The chemistry department in my university had SGI workstations in their labs. The maths department (where I was) used Sun workstations. One professor in the chemistry department actually used a surviving VAX running an old version of VMS.

Apart from the odd session in the chemistry computer lab I have never used IRIX. I have also never used VMS.

A few other Unices I have never touched are AIX (IBM UNIX), HP-UX, DEC/Compaq/HP Tru64 UNIX, and some of the more obscure BSD distributions.

I was also an Atari user for a while. Newest version of the OS I have is Multi-TOS/N.AES from 1998 (on CD-ROM). Multi-TOS could multitask and had some support for POSIX APIs (i.e. could run a few UNIX programs including X11R_5_ if you had a 68030 CPU or better).

Don't forget Java and .NET. While they are not operating systems from below (i.e. they don't run hardware), they look like operating systems from the point of view of applications. Likewise, but without the virtual machine, this applies to Cocoa (i.e. OpenStep).

And then there is Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware, which look like operating systems from the hardware's point of view but not from applications' point of view. I use VMware to run Windows Vista 64 on my iMac. And I use Hyper-V at work. (It's very good.)

 

Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top

Only remotely via SSH and very briefly - a friend of mine pickup an old (10yrs+) SGI box and I had a look around inside.

And yes SGI boxes are very expensive. As to the processor, MIPS > Itanic, obviously :P

Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Garnet OS: Palm OS's supposed replacement.

Windows Mobile: What really replaced Palm OS. Palm's newest devices use Windows Mobile.

Android: Supposed to be the next-generation OS for handhelds. Brush up on your Java if you want to create apps for it.

iPhone's OS: Dunno if there's a real name for it, but lots of third party apps are starting to be made for it.

FreeDOS: Open source alternative to DOS.

Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Heard of AmigaOS and ReactOS
End of quote

Remember Workbench? Does it even qualify as an OS, i guess it would.

Ahh those were the days......

Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Lantec, reply 14

BTW RISC stands for "Reduced InstructionSet Computer", so it's processor architecture, not am Operating System.[/KnowItAll]
RISC OS is an operating system originally created by British manufacturer Acorn Computers for their ARM based computers ranging from Archimedes to Risc PC, replacing Arthur which was shipped on the first models.

 

Wikipedia is your friend...

 
End of Lantec's quote

 

Never heard of that one. This was the RISC i was referring to, a flashback from my hardware theory lessons.

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting CobraA1, reply 22


iPhone's OS: Dunno if there's a real name for it, but lots of third party apps are starting to be made for it.
.
End of CobraA1's quote

It's called Mac OS X. Steve Jobs said it at MacWorld when introducing the iPhone for the first time.

Apparently it was the breath-stopping fact he said so dramatically that people began to applaud him :rolleyes:  

 

@Everyone looking for other OS names: 

Let's set a criteria for looking for OSs: If they can't be skinned, they're not worth it ;P