Free OS

[RyanAndrew88]

Whats the best free OS for someone slower converting from XP. They have Vista Beta 2 right now and it expires in June. I need to get an OS before then and preferably free.

 

[JoeP1990]

try Linux...

 

[computerhakk]

The only really known and favorable free ones you can get are Linux distros as said above. There are many to choose from so find what suites you best. Vista releases were betas, so it's not too good to use it as a main OS.

 

[_simon_]

As well as Linux there is BSD.

Here's a few Linux ones, there really is too many to list though:

http://www.ubuntu.com/
http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org
http://fedora.redhat.com/
http://www.gentoo.org/
http://www.mepis.org/
http://www.mandriva.com/en/individuals/products
http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php
http://www.debian.org/
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
http://www.slackware.com/
http://www.gentoo.org/
http://www.knoppix.org/
http://www.zenwalk.org/
The list goes on!

BSD
http://www.pcbsd.org/
http://www.freebsd.org/
http://www.openbsd.org/

 

[RyanAndrew88]

Any personal preference on the best one?

 

[Mattu]

You can download these older OSes (for free) considered to be "abandonware" here: http://vetusware.com/select-by/category/OS/?cat=1

I think they have everything from Windows 1.0 to Windows 95 and DOS, OS/2 too.

 

[_simon_]

Any personal preference on the best one?

Personally I use Ubuntu. I try others now and again but keep coming back to it.

The support forum is excellent: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

 

[Parky_007]

I second Ubuntu.
Although I'm tempted to try debian.