are there any desktop os that isnt windows, linux, mac os?

[whm1974]

On 11/8/2021 at 2:58 AM, Kevitivity said:

https://www.freebsd.org/ and

Does that even count?

[Dat Guy]

On 9/8/2021 at 5:07 AM, RONOTHAN## said:

FreeBSD and the other BSD-based operating systems exists, though they barely qualifies as a desktop OS.

Having used FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD on laptops, I disagree with this very strange post.

 

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systems

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

Having used FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD on laptops, I disagree with this very strange post.

 

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systems

I never said you can't, but BSD based Operating systems definitely don't have desktop usage as a focus. They're awesome on servers, my main server was running FreeBSD up until 2 weeks ago and it was great. That said, considering you have to install your own desktop environment if you do end up using it on a desktop, and the documentation for running desktop BSD being less most Linux distros (a fairly low bar to begin with), you can use it, but it does require a lot of legwork to make it so. I respect anyone who can make it be their desktop OS, but you have to admit desktop use is more of an afterthought compared to making it an incredibly stable web/email server OS.

[Dat Guy]

2 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

BSD based Operating systems definitely don't have desktop usage as a focus.

 

macOS - which started as a renamed NeXTSTEP - definitely does have desktop usage as a focus, and it literally grew out of 4.3BSD (later, 4.4BSD).

 

4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

my main server was running FreeBSD up until 2 weeks ago

 

What happened?

 

4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

considering you have to install your own desktop environment if you do end up using it on a desktop

 

Both OpenBSD and DragonFly BSD come with a preconfigured (minimal) desktop, and you might even agree that MidnightBSD, GhostBSD and NomadBSD - all of which are FreeBSD distributions - come with a more complete desktop that works just fine out of the box.

 

8 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

you can use it, but it does require a lot of legwork to make it so

 

It obviously depends on which BSD you compare to which Linux distribution.

[RONOTHAN##]

19 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

macOS - which started as a renamed NeXTSTEP - definitely does have desktop usage as a focus, and it literally grew out of 4.3BSD (later, 4.4BSD).

Fair, but it's been decades since it was forked, so while there may still be some remains of BSD in MacOS, it's far enough away that I wouldn't say MacOS is BSD anymore. It's the same way that birds evolved from dinosaurs: a chicken may technically have the same ancestor as an alligator, but that does not mean that they have many similarities. 

 

25 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

What happened?

It crashed and would do registry dumps every time it tried to boot to the OS drive. Eventually I gave up on fixing it and installed ProxMox instead, imported my ZFS pool and remade the Samba shares.

27 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

Both OpenBSD and DragonFly BSD come with a preconfigured (minimal) desktop, and you might even agree that MidnightBSD, GhostBSD and NomadBSD - all of which are FreeBSD distributions - come with a more complete desktop that works just fine out of the box.

That's fair, I haven't heard of those other forms of FreeBSD until today.

 

29 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

It obviously depends on which BSD you compare to which Linux distribution.

Very true. Ubuntu server I feel is the closest to actual FreeBSD, yeah you can make it a desktop OS, but it's not worth the effort. Also, for reference, I only barely consider Arch to be a desktop OS, and that's only because there are so many install scripts/derivatives to get it working with a GUI, and basically no one in there right mind would run Arch on a server (yes, I know there are a few people that do and they have their reasons, but it only applies in extremely niche scenarios)

[Dat Guy]

3 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

it's far enough away that I wouldn't say MacOS is BSD anymore.

 

Much of macOS's current userland is still identical to FreeBSD's.

 

3 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I haven't heard of those other forms of FreeBSD until today.

 

You're welcome.

[weekdays133]

FreeBSD I guess

[whm1974]

There was PC-BSD which renamed itself TrueOS and lost it's Focus, and alas no longer. It should have stayed geared toward desktop use. This may have changed, but for some reason BSD Kernels have to be recompiled to Read/Write to Linus Extn. At the time anyway.

 

It was derived from FreeBSD. IMHO? Stick with Linux. Even LMDE, I'm quite sure has more Folks working on it then desktop geared BSDs.

[Dat Guy]

On 12/30/2021 at 10:28 PM, whm1974 said:

I'm quite sure has more Folks working on it then desktop geared BSDs.

How many people does an operating system need to be good?

[whm1974]

9 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

How many people does an operating system need to be good?

The OS needs to have steady development, support, and updates.

[Dat Guy]

All of the larger BSDs do - even 14 years more than Linux.

[apostlkpl]

There's also Redox OS:

https://www.redox-os.org/

Which is a promising idea, but still small and irrelevant.

 

Other that BSD (which is used by MacOS, iOS and many other proprietary systems), I don't think there's another OS that is relevant today. Tbh, Linux kernel is nearly universally used and kind of a "monopoly" now (and probably in the foreseeable future).

[whm1974]

19 hours ago, apostlkpl said:

There's also Redox OS:

https://www.redox-os.org/

Which is a promising idea, but still small and irrelevant.

 

Other that BSD (which is used by MacOS, iOS and many other proprietary systems), I don't think there's another OS that is relevant today. Tbh, Linux kernel is nearly universally used and kind of a "monopoly" now (and probably in the foreseeable future).

Well Redox only has a small group of developers to begin with. I only know about it due reading an Wikipedia Entry on Rust, the Programming Language. Rust is intended as a  replacement for C. Redox is written in it.

 

The last I checked, Redox didn't even have a USB Stack. So you have to use a PS/2 KBM. Pretty much Alpha. But it has been awhile since I looked at the Website.

[Dat Guy]

14 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Rust is intended as a  replacement for C.

 

It is not.

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

It is not.

Every time I look up Rust(along with Redox OS) they describe it as a replacement for C. They always claim how bad C is...

[Dat Guy]

I doubt that anyone in the Rust team would claim that Rust was intended to replace C. It can be used to write kernels, that's about it.

[IronJaeger]

On 9/8/2021 at 4:59 AM, LloydLynx said:

Haiku. It's basically an open source BeOS clone. The development has really been speeding up these past few years and I really want to see the project succeed in making a fully daily drivable desktop OS. It (BeOS) was designed from the ground up to be a desktop OS. Using it reminds me a lot of classic Mac OSes and that NeXT operating system, but it's totally different. It's gotta be my favorite OS in a vacuum.

  Reveal hidden contents

Yep, I wanted to mention Haiku as one of the kinda-usable. get an old intel Atom netbook with a compatible wifi card and run this beauty on it

[LloydLynx]

1 minute ago, IronJaeger said:

Yep, I wanted to mention Haiku as one of the kinda-usable. get an old intel Atom netbook with a compatible wifi card and run this beauty on it

Ohh yess, I really wanna do that now. 

[IronJaeger]

7 minutes ago, LloydLynx said:

Ohh yess, I really wanna do that now. 

I tested it on a mono core Atom with 1GB of RAM. It runs like a charm 

[LloydLynx]

Just now, IronJaeger said:

I tested it on a mono core Atom with 1GB of RAM. It runs like a charm 

Which netbook exactly? 

[IronJaeger]

10 minutes ago, LloydLynx said:

Which netbook exactly? 

It wwas an HP Mini. Not sure about the model. maybe a 700

[OmamoriIchika]

Plan 9……you will love it. 
 

Also give 9front a look, it’s a fork of plan 9, their official site is a big rabbit hole.

[Dat Guy]

14 hours ago, OmamoriIchika said:

Plan 9……you will love it. 

For the wrong reasons, I'm afraid.

[whm1974]

On 1/5/2022 at 9:59 AM, Dat Guy said:

For the wrong reasons, I'm afraid.

It's unusable?

[Dat Guy]

Depends on what you need.