For the last few days, Windows 7 is just about the only OS anyone has been talking about. I figured it was high time for us to share the love and take a look at some other interesting free, downloadable operating systems.
we bring you a collection of 20 that are worth checking out. There are plenty more, so if you’d like to add your favorites, share them in the comments!
Fedora 10
(pictured) - One of the few live distros that didn’t have any trouble with the hardware on my MSI Wind netbook. My acid test: can it properly suspend and wake? Yes - and it does it faster than Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. OpenSUSE and Ubuntu both failed to resume properly.
Damn Small Linux - I wouldn’t feel right not listing Damn Small. It’s pretty amazing what you can do with a whole OS that’s not much bigger than most Windows antivirus applications. 50mb gets you Firefox, XMMS, VNCViewer, MS Office Viewer, and much more. It’s also easily extendable through the MyDSL service or by using the apt command.
Linux Mint - While it’s based on Ubuntu, Mint has some features that I think make it a bit more user-friendly. For starters, there are several easy ways to find and install new software including the dead simple Mint Software Portal. Find an app, click the install button, bada bing!
64 Studio - If you’re into digital content creation of any kind - audio, video, or graphics - 64 Studio is a distro worth downloading. It’s packed full of awesome multimedia apps and, contrary to the name, is available for 32-bit platforms as well.
live.linux-gamers.net - One of the big complaints about Linux is "Where are the games?” If you’d like to see some, why not download a live DVD that contains a truckload that you can run without even installing anything? FPS, racing, platformer, you name it - this disc has it covered.
Slax - This has always been one of my favorite light Linux distros. It’s about 200mb and includes plenty of great apps. It includes a really slick boot option as well: to act as a PXE server, allowing other machines on your LAN to boot Slax over the network.
NimbleX - If you’re looking for a lightweight base to run virtual PCs on, check out NimbleX. It’s the smallest distro I’ve seen that comes with Sun’s Virtual Box. You can even customize your ISO on the web site before you download it if you want. Awesome.
