Free and recommendable Operating Systems
 is the first Operating System on my list and I HIGHLY recommend it cause it's my favorite system. Download the ISO image, burn a CD and start working with Ubuntu. Cause it's a Live-CD you can test Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu and Gobuntu, too) right from the CD and if you want you can install it after testing enough. Just click on the icon in the upper left corner and you'll be supported with an graphical install wizard in many languages but you can select your language with F2 when the CD starts. If you have a Windows system installed on your machine: Don't worry! Ubuntu doesn't touch other systems, you only need enough free space on your hard drive. After the installation progress you must reboot the computer and you can chose (use up and down arrow keys) between Ubuntu and Windows.
The complete OpenOffice Suite and applications like a viewer for images and documents (including PDF), an image editing program
(Gimp), Firefox
(web browser) and more are already integrated.
View some Screenshots to get a picture:
The Ubuntu GNOME Desktop
File Browser 1
File Browser 2
Add/Remove Applications
Control Center
Look & Feel
Ubuntu is Debian based
Open Source software.
Visit the Homepage of
Ubuntu, get it and feel the spirit! ;)
 works with the KDE desktop environment.
Some Screenshots:
Desktop
Konqueror
Adept Installer
Visit the Homepage of Kubuntu.
 will give you the facility to use the xfce desktop which is very useful if you have older and slow computers or if you want to have a faster desktop environment.
Visit the Homepage of Xubuntu.
 is a special system for schools but you can also use it at home.
OpenOffice and educational applications for e.g. math and science are built-in. Edubuntu uses the GNOME desktop.
Visit the Homepage of Edubuntu.
 contains absolutely NO restricted software or drivers.
Visit the Homepage of Gobuntu.
Skolelinux - is another educational system which is really easy to install and the network interface is pre-configured so that you can setup a network without advanced knowledge about (Linux) network technology. Skolelinux uses the KDE desktop.
KNOPPIX - The first time I used this great Debian based system from Klaus Knopper (Live CD) was in 2004 and I found it to be very useful.
Mandriva - is another Debian based OS (Live CD) which you can get with GNOME or KDE Desktop. Furthermore there is a pure free version without any proprietary software and drivers.
SAM Linux - is based on
PCLinuxOS and is a great system which used the xface Desktop, supports approximately 60 languages and is (like KNOPPIX) developed in Germany.
ReactOS - is very recommendable for people who accustomed too much to Windows over a lot of years and don't want to switch to
Linux cause it's too difficult for them. ReactOS is nearly the same like Windows and switching from Windows is easy. A Live-CD image is available, too.
FreeBSD and
OpenBSD - are based on BSD, the UNIX operating
system which was created at the University of California,
Berkeley.
NexentaOS and
BeleniX - are based on OpenSolaris which is based on the Solaris Operating System from Sun Microsystems.
Puppy Linux - is not only a Live CD system. It's also a multi-session CD or DVD but you can install it on hard drives, USB hard drives and USB pen drives, too. To create a multi-session CD or DVD you must burn the image as track-at-once and you can burn all the changes and personal settings you make during the live session to the multi-session CD/DVD.
SystemRescueCD - is what the name promise, a Live CD (Linux) which you can use to repair your systems and recover sensitive data.
DamnSmallLinux (DSL) and
INSERT - are based on KNOPPIX and both fits on business card CDs and small sized USB pen drives but naturally you can burn the ISO image on normal CDs. Therefore I searched for my old 128 MB USB pen drive and installed DSL on it. You can run DSL also as embedded version from within Windows and the install process on hard drives is also easy. INSERT is especially qualified for data recovery and network analysis. Browser, File manager, FTP-client and more are integrated in both systems. To boot from an USB pendrive, select Removable as 1st Boot Device. Unfortunately not all mainboards support booting from USB devices but you can create a bootable Floppy to boot the USB pen drive (or hard disk) thru the Floppy.
Some more recommandable Operating Systems:
As you can see, there are various and very good Operating Systems which you can download and use free of charge. Why buy expensive ones??? Here are two large lists with Linux distributions at
Linux.org and
Distrowatch. I'm sure you will find one which fits your needs if I presented not the right one for you.
There are computer manufacturers where you can buy computers with pre-installed Linux Operating Systems. Have a look around the web!
Two lists with vendors all over the globe:
Linux.org and
Debian.org
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