List of Free Operating Systems: Download Now!
There are an increasing number of equipment manufacturers and technology groups that provide operating systems (OS) for free personal and commercial use without any cost or fee. You are sometimes even free to use them, change their source code and redistribute them as well.
Like Anything that comes for free, do not expect fancy printed manuals and CD-ROMs and technical support. Yet you can count on the community that uses these OS to provide you support through chat rooms and forums and mailing lists.
You will also note that the size of these OS range from 1 to 10 GB so if you don’t have decent broadband connection, paying for a DVD/CD-ROM might seem reasonable. Also if you are not that techie, some of these companies offer helpdesk and support contracts, which can be bought at a reasonable price.
FreeDOS
FreeDOS aims to be a complete, free, 100% MS-DOS compatible operating system (mostly achieved except Windows compatibility – Windows standard-mode works on FreeDOS, but 386-mode / WfW 3.11 does not.)
These days, there are three main uses for FreeDOS:
- Running classic DOS games
- Running business software that only supports DOS
- Supporting embedded DOS systems, such as a computerized cash register or till
FreeDOS should run on any standard PC, but if you are new to DOS, we recommend you use a PC emulator to install and boot FreeDOS. You can find PC emulators for all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac.) You can even run FreeDOS using a PC emulator written in Java, right in your web browser!
RxDOS
RxDOS is a fast MS-DOS clone that supports very large disk drives, FAT32 volumes, and Windows 95/98 Long Filenames. its source code is also available free at sourceforge.
React OS
ReactOS is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows® XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows® architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture.
ReactOS had its origins in an older project known as FreeWin95. FreeWin95 aimed at being binary compatible with Microsoft® Windows® 95. It was founded by Yannick Majoros around 1996. But the development never took off substantially due to endless talks on design and thoughts of following the NT architecture.
The main goal of the ReactOS project is to provide an operating system which is binary compatible with Windows. 
This will allow your Windows applications and drivers to run as they would on your Windows system. Additionally, the look and feel of the Windows operating system is used, such that people accustomed to the familiar user interface of Windows® would find using ReactOS straightforward. The ultimate goal of ReactOS is to allow you to remove Windows® and install ReactOS without the end user noticing the change.Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.7 is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is not recommended for everyday use.
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris is an operating system (OS), an open source project licensed under CDDL, and a community. The project’s goals are innovation, collaboration, and the extension of OpenSolaris technology.OpenSolaris is free, open source, and well-suited for desktops, laptops, servers, and data centers. The quality requirement of OpenSolaris is perhaps best stated as Production Ready All The Time.
OpenSolaris technical communities maintain kernel and userland consolidations and launch new technology projects. OpenSolaris is developed by communities working in the different projects. Each project focuses on one or more specific areas of the system. The OpenSolaris developer project is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Darwin
Darwin is the UNIX technology-based foundation of Mac OS X. Darwin integrates several technologies. Among the most important are
4.4BSD-based operating-system services (built on the Mach 3.0 microkernel), the I/O Kit, networking facilities, and support for multiple integrated file systems. Developers can use Darwin to port UNIX/Linux applications and create kernel extensions.
In addition to being part of Mac OS X, Darwin is a standalone, BSD-based operating system. (BSD, short for Berkeley Software Distribution, is a family of UNIX variants descended from Berkeley’s version of UNIX.)Darwin is also occasionally used to refer to the Darwin Streaming Server, also known as the QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS).
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible (including Pentium® and Athlon™), amd64 compatible (including Opteron™,
Athlon™64, and EM64T), ARM, IA-64, PowerPC, PC-98 and UltraSPARC® architectures. It is derived from BSD, the version of UNIX® developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals. Additional platforms are in various stages of development.
FreeBSD offers advanced networking, performance, security and compatibility features today which are still missing in other operating systems, even some of the best commercial ones.
FreeBSD makes an ideal Internet or Intranet server. It provides robust network services under the heaviest loads and uses memory efficiently to maintain good response times for thousands of simultaneous user processes.
Debian Linux
Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux. Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.
Fedora Linux
Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that showcases the latest in free and open source software. Fedora is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. It is built by people across the globe who work together as a community: the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is open and anyone is welcome to join.
Koppix 
KNOPPIX is a bootable CD or DVD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it. (over 8 GB on the DVD “Maxi” edition).
Mandriva
Mandriva Linux is a community-based Linux distribution, suitable for a wide range of situations from typical desktop use through development and server roles up to clustering.
Mandriva Linux is based on the Cooker development project sponsored by Mandriva. Hundreds of passionate free software developers work openly on the core of the distribution. This open, community-driven development system has been in place since 1998, making it one of the longest-standing open source development communities around. The involvement of the Mandriva development community helps us to make Mandriva Linux one of the largest, most up-to-date, integrated, internationalized and standardized distributions available.
Slackware
Slackware Linux is a complete 32-bit multitasking “UNIX-like” system. It’s currently based around the 2.6 Linux kernel series and the GNU C Library version 2.7 (libc6). It contains an easy to use installation program, extensive online documentation, and a menu-driven package system.
A full installation gives you the X Window System, C/C++ development environments, Perl, networking utilities, a mail server, a news server, a web server, an ftp server, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, Mozilla Firefox, plus many more programs. Slackware Linux can run on 486 systems all the way up to the latest x86 machines (but uses -mcpu=i686 optimization for best performance on i686-class machines like the P3, P4, Duron/Athlon, and the latest multi-core x86 CPUs).
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you’ll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools.
Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.
Click here to Order a Free CD (Free Shipping anywhere on the planet)
PS: This is by no means a complete list of Free operating systems… but that is all for today folks… I will be updating this list through out this week. My aim is to make this the best resource for finding a free alternative to Microsoft Windows and other proprietary Operating systems.
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Ah, goodie, goodie. It's always great to see new open-source alternatives in times of recession.
I wasn’t aware of the react os and darwin os. Time to quadruple boot my machine I think.
http://www.pardus.org.tr/eng/index.html
Pardus project, in active development by the TÜBİTAK/UEKAE since 2004, is once again one of the participants of the Google Summer of Code project this year.
Pardus 1.0 was officially announced in 27 December, 2005. About one year later, Pardus 2007 was ready to be downloaded from servers (18 December, 2006).
Developers are currently working on Pardus 2009.
Good info. Thanks
It’s such a great thing that we can get all the open source OS and i foung all the OS here that i want…..really it’s great..thank’s u all…..
thanks for the list
check out haiku: http://www.haiku-os.org/
based on beos, extremely fast boot time. it’s not quite ready yet (still an alpha build) but looks exciting
waiting for chrome os
Nice List, thanks for pointing that out. How much time did it took you to obtain the list?
can i get one free cd for windows 7 by ordering like ubuntu is available? please reply..
great list yaar…
please keep it updated ……
i am using ubuntu but i wouldn’t recommend it for people with slow net connection..it requires lot and lot’s of pluggins ,even for the tiniest of things…
but i would recommend dabian
Help my xp os crashed and i dont have the orig cd and not able to find the recovery disk. any help would be gratefull would any of these os work to help me recover hard drive?
You could try installing one of these free OS, preferably React OS, as it is much similar to windows XP. After you install, try to recover the hard drive.
Thank you for sharing the tip.
i like ubuntu
i will also like in this site
Nice list
http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/os-liste.htm
sports all OSs
++
http://visopsys.org/index.html
http://web.syllable.org/pages/index.html
fine
I love Ubuntu! I recently installed Jolicloud, a version of Ubuntu customised for netbooks, on my ancient EeePC 701.
You should try Slax Live CD, when you’re tired of Windows.
http://www.slax.org/
i want drivers (like-lan card,modem etc.) site kindly suggest name of the sites
hi i am dhilep i want linux os plz help me friends
(dhilep@yahoo.in) its my id plz rply for all
Ubuntu, Mandriva, Debian, Slackware, Knoppix, and Fedora are all just customizations of the same GNU/Linux OS. While I see the intention of this post as offering differences, users should be aware that underneath the different appearing window managers (and desktop managers), the same GNU/Linux software is at work.
yeah!! try ubuntu.. i love it.. its very good os..
Do we still need windows OS. Na………… Guys let we try a new free OS’s
Alas! I was not aware of this free OS, come-on guys let have the knowledge of other OS rather than windows.
you all make windows look like crap! I mean this is a great website, but you all prefer operating systems I never heard of. Besides Ubuntu SUCKS because the 5.10 version crash several times on me, and to tell you all this MAC and Windows are the best operating systems got it? (Linux, ReactOS, and Wolvix are also okay.)
I like this website, because I really need ISO files.
ya..its nice site i like it very much…but i want to know any site which gives us free cd or dvd at home without money…if anyone know plz mail me maulikparekh2@gmail.com waiting……………………….
very nice list but what about the red had linux??
I want Blackberry Operating System Like Windows Mobile XP 5.0. Wher I can Find?
I want UNIX OS free software. Please help me………..
i do admire ubuntu i like it way better than windows xp. but my goal is to have a diffrent operating system on all my hard drives which rite now i have a total of five!
Microsoft is no stranger to having companions galore in the telephone business, however its lineup of manufacturers for the upcoming, surprisingly promising Windows Cellphone 7 launch isn’t any much less impressive. After loads of rumoring, Microsoft has confirmed that Dell and HTC can be making Home windows Telephone 7 phones, in addition to ASUS, LG, and Samsung who had already been confirmed. All of those corporations should have their stamp on hardware by the top of the yr, with the launch of the OS nonetheless vaguely slated for the “holidays” We have no doubt that every one 5 producers can build some compelling, sexy hardware, but we’re significantly enthused to see Dell actually moving into the sport after the impressive Streak and that drool worthy leak a short time back. read more at http://www.wp7forum.com fans group.
any one have windows 2008RT server OS please sent me
or give the link to download it.
you can always get these software through torrent links. search for windows 2008RT torrent
i want free windows 2008 sever
This is the website i want actually coz windows OS is not free So, i like to try linux….Thank you for the website Admin..
Thats good site..
I would prefer Ubuntu 10.4….As other OS are build on the same base, just the GUI is different.
But its better to give try for other OS to check which will suits the best for our needs….
Ubuntu Lucid Lynx is the best
hmm all depends on user’s experience!
your welcome Rajesh!
I use FreeDOS to run some of the games that were favorites of mine throughout my youth. As silly as it sounds, it can be quite enjoyable to relive some of those old games. Although I am not doing anything too fancy, FreeDOS seems pretty stable.
yup! freedos is one simple interface for old, classic games. It’s good to go back to old times…….
This is really a good site for os. fedora linux is too good os.
i just installed ubuntu after reformatting my pc what do i use to install other stuff like antivirus and stuff like when its not a zip file ? can someone plzz help i need to get my pc back up and running asap
where can i got free cd of operating system various….send me link on ymgask@gmail.com
Its bit bad set of choices really.
Either use a crap bloated insecure system from ms which drivers can usually be obtained for or use a decent OS without neccesary drivers being available for stuff like printers and modems for example. OR use one of these smart phones which drop to bits all the time and are sold by unscrupulous vendors eg crap phone hare house, phones for poo, the stink, etc. And when youve finally got on the net its becoming more and more difficult to find what you want due to how search engines do there listing, even meta search ones and of course you have to select a decent browser which will take a good ad blocker extension or see your download/usage limit reached before your very eyes
This is a great list, I was not aware of two of these operating systems. I will be sure to download the operating systems I do not yet own and quintruple boot my pentium 4. How is React OS with server software does anybody know?
Its good everyone will test this OS
hi good site you know
looks cool , but the MAIN specifications shud b mentioned 2 make it easy 2 decide d one 2 download …. bt otherwise its awesome !!!
Very Good Information
It will be useful if special features of each of these Operating Systems were listed (for example, compatibility with present-day browsers, etc.)
well it really helped but the download speed is 2 cheesy, do something abt it…….or else it rockssssssssss
really nice
a valuable information
!!!!!!!!!!!!
HI,
Nice Information..
Pl make comparable information so that people can compare the same & choose for them suitable OS.
hi
does mac osx snow leopard will be compatible in hp pro book 4420s
plz anybody can give me reply but recently it have pre installed windows 7 ultimate with 32 bit
Very Good information…..
I want z/os .Please help me.
Please give me Linux Red Hat 9.0
@ Oasen – No you won’t be able to install a Mac operating system on a PC as they are two different types of hardware, therefore ‘mac’ software will be incompatable with PC’s and vice versa. You could however install a virtual computer on your system, (like Virtual Box) and then run whatever system you choose. I have VB installed in my PC and run several Linux based OS’s along with OSX and other Windows (build) OS’s.
goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddddddddddd
We would like to operate windows linux. Would tou please let me know wheither are able to help us? Thanks a lots.
Sincerely,
hasan_baraja
Thanks for great information and download
i am using linux because it is free and friendly easy to use actually we are an agricultural family make all indipendently we wanted everything with own handmade use linux and tell your all friends for using linux it is devolop your mind as confident, free, self help and humanitty, and hate monopoly
i think ubuntu is better yhan xp
This is a great list of Operating Systems. We will be using some of these for future projects.
Nice packaged I will try a few of them, anything on Google ( Droid )? I hear there was a desktop OS out.
…put more details so that users can understand what are you trying to say…
hey i am intrested in getting react OS or open solaris but i
dont know with one to chose …any suggestions
any way ive herd some badrap about linux free operating systems from some people considering its wide veriety of bugs running with the
operating system my uncle installed ubuntu and it tore up his hole system
.rfeliciajordan@yahoo.com
iNEED A FREE DOWNLOAD OF XP OR WINDOWS 7 ANY EDITION WILL WORK THANK YOU RICHARD
plzzzzzzz add windows evolution xp or windows xp ice version plzzz add
please give me a open salaris new version operating system
Its very decent and glad to know that such decent people still exists on this planet and especially in the present world where there is no place for humanity. People make programs that destroy data and harm computer across the globe. Some people are distributing free Operating system Cd that is free from Viruses.. May god bless such people involved in doing noble deeds!!!! Iwould like to be associated with any such software project…my email id is aniruddhak2@rediffmail.com
ahhhhh…. do you, guys, have free kondara installer? it was based from redhat linux … i guess… ,please help, i just really need it
May be you will to give Free Windows a try. It is a new one, Linux-based OS. Free software and powerful antivirus are good benefits as well. http://free-windows.com
can you ship me a free linux cd?
i need a free copy of windows 7 with a 32 bit for my older dell thank you. my college gave us access to download a copy but the site never sends any of the students the free os.
help me to download os software
give me wi-fi hack software
android işletim sistemi varmı???
tell me i complete download mac os but it is dmg format its can not extract windows tell me solution
I have been surfing online greater than three hours today, yet I by no means found any fascinating article like yours. It’s lovely value enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the net might be a lot more useful than ever before.
I m very much interested to install Ubuntu as it is free from malwares and it is very attractive to do any task…. Really i liked it very much…..
Thanks 4 providing this free on net…
Will one of these operating systems run software designed for windows. I know one was in devolopment called “Lindows”, have heard no more. It was supposed to run both Linex and windows programs. I have programs I do not wish to loose.
can anybody provide the link of UNIX operating system.
guyz u can order latest versions(12.04) of ubuntu from its site without any cost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!