Name an obscure OS

[Frak]

I've been doing as most do and try more OS's within a VM, and I was thinking, I know there is more than Linux, Unix, and Windows, but what?
So I would like to know some obscure OS's, that are around but not very popular.

Format:
OS
Short Description
Strong point(s)
Weak point(s)

I'll start off
eComStation
Basically OS/2 bought from IBM and slightly modified and improved
Speedy, works great on older hardware
Cost money, pretty old and outdated, only runs older Win32 executables

:guitar:

[mouseboyx]

ZotOS
Zero Obfuscation Tactic Operating System
no discription no info

[lisati]

One I heard of in the 1980s was "CHAOS"......don't know anything about it though

[mouseboyx]

AROShttp://www.aros.org/download.php
AtheOShttp://www.atheos.cx/download/list.php3
Cefarixhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/cefarix
Chaoshttp://chaosdev.org/index.pl?chaos/Download
CP/Mhttp://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm/software/index.html
Darwinhttp://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/release.html
DCPhttp://www.kc85.de/downloads.html
Debian GNU/Hurdhttp://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-cd
E.R.I.K.Ahttp://erika.sssup.it/download.shtml
eCoshttp://ecos.sourceware.org/getstart.html
ELKShttp://elks.sourceforge.net/download/
ERaMShttp://erams.sourceforge.net/distrib.
EROShttp://www.eros-os.org/project/build.html
Fiascohttp://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/fiasco/download.html
Free-VMSftp://freevms.nvg.org/pub/vms/freevms
FreeBSDhttp://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html
FreeDOShttp://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/
FreedowsNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
Linuxhttp://www.linux.org (http://www.linux.org/)
Menuethttp://www.menuetos.org/download.htm
Minixhttp://www.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/
MorphOShttp://www.morphos.de/fileslinks.php3
NetBSDhttp://www.netbsd.org/Releases/
Oberonhttp://www.oberon.ethz.ch/native/
OpenBEOShttp://sourceforge.net/projects/crux/
OpenBSDhttp://www.openbsd.org/ftp.html
Plan 9http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/download.html
PowerOShttp://www.poweros.de/download.html
QNXhttp://get.qnx.com (http://get.qnx.com/)
ReactOShttp://www.reactos.com/index.php?tab=software&section=reactos
RTEMShttp://www.rtems.com/RTEMS/Source/source.html
S.Ha.R.Khttp://shark.sssup.it/download.html
SkyOShttp://www.skyos.org/downloads/
Solaris 8http://www.sun.com/solaris/binaries/get.html
UnununiumNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
V2_OShttp://www.v2os.cx/
VSTahttp://vsta.sourceforge.net/
Winmachttp://sourceforge.net/projects/winmac
xMachhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/xmach/
Yamithttp://yamit.sourceforge.net/download.html
ZotOShttp://members.tripod.com/~zot_os/public_html/download.html (http://members.tripod.com/%7Ezot_os/public_html/download.html)

[stmiller]

QNX

I have no idea, but I think UNIX-like.

[laxmanb]

FreeBSD because nobody(almost nobody) uses it...

PS: Solaris 8 was obscure? when?

[slimdog360]

windows vista

this is a new OS which no one uses.

cons
Its buggy and doesn't run older .exe files very well.

pros
to be able to run it you need a new computer. The pro here is, is that you get a new computer.

[SunnyRabbiera]

laxmanb: well solaris was not wide known back then, its less obscure now

oh and mouseboyx please edit your post, you make my bowser stretch over 9 miles

[Sporkman]

THEOS (http://www.theos-software.com)

A home security company I worked for back in college in the 90s ran it on their systems.

[~~Tito~~]

Freespire.
Really buggy and super hard to install printers and other things.
Everything on there (http://www.freeos.com/download.php) I haven't heard of except for Debian.

[Zzl1xndd]

I think I'll pick up the banner for React OS.

A Windows like OS still in Alpha.

Pro's: React is trying to be 100% binary compatiable with Windows XP so the same pro's/cons as XP. It is also open source and free.

Con's Being that its in Alpha it isnt ready for the desktop and it will always be at least 1 generation behind Windows.

[Sporkman]

pros
to be able to run it you need a new computer. The pro here is, is that you get a new computer.

:lol:

[igknighted]

windows vista

this is a new OS which no one uses.

cons
Its buggy and doesn't run older .exe files very well.

pros
to be able to run it you need a new computer. The pro here is, is that you get a new computer.

How is this different from Dapper packages not working on Edgy or Feisty? Honestly the only difference, and you are agreeing to this when you buy the software, is that when you want a new version you have to buy it. MS users might not have to deal with it as much due to a slower release cycle, but breaks in backwards compatability have to happen. You cannot support that much legacy code and still improve the OS.

As for a lesser-known OS, how about the yet uncompleted shellfish OS? LOL

[Frak]

GNU Hurd
Pros: 20 years of effort have gone into making this as Unix like while retaining its Linux functionality
Cons: 20 years and still incredibly buggy! With the following (unwanted) error messages such as "Computer bought the farm" i.e. its dead :(

EDIT
Also called the GNU Mach Kernel

[mangar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix

[Frak]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix

Ha, I bought that off of Ebay, three floppies.
Installation
Extra Languages
Extra Packages
:guitar:

[slimdog360]

How is this different from Dapper packages not working on Edgy or Feisty? Honestly the only difference, and you are agreeing to this when you buy the software, is that when you want a new version you have to buy it. MS users might not have to deal with it as much due to a slower release cycle, but breaks in backwards compatability have to happen. You cannot support that much legacy code and still improve the OS.

As for a lesser-known OS, how about the yet uncompleted shellfish OS? LOL

lucky then we get packages for dapper, edgy, feisty etc of the same program.

[Frak]

lucky then we get packages for dapper, edgy, feisty etc of the same program.
Good point, unlike Windows, if we need the program to what we have now, we have full freedom to either port the program or create a compatability layer.

[tombott]

Novell Netware (http://www.novell.com)

Ok not that obscure but i love it!

Still using this on many client sites - 6.5 Open Enterprise Server Netware, not the linux version. Fair better than Windows Server and Active Directory. Have just sold the linux version to a new client and am looking forwarding to installing.

Had heard about ReactOs just doing a Virtual of it now.

[Frak]

Its going to crash 8/10, its not very stable at all, but they did finally make it blue screen when it crashes :)

[juxtaposed]

FreeBSD because nobody(almost nobody) uses it...

PS: Solaris 8 was obscure? when?

You're saying noone uses FreeBSD, but solaris isn't obscure? Odd.

[jviscosi]

PC-MOS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-MOS)

Back in the early 90s, we had one machine that ran this OS at the company where I used to work.

[w4ett]

GEOS

Graphic Environment Operating System

Native 8 bit OS for the Commodore 64 and 128...Still available on the net....

Oh, and let's not forget CP/M. I ran this CLI OS on my Commodore 128, and my Kaypro boxes.

Control Program for Microcomputers

[Frak]

GNU/Minix

Nearly identical to the Linux Kernel, what the Linux Kernel is based off of
Pros: full choice of packages to install, very lightweight, some of the packages Linux has, porting is easy due to such close makeups
Cons: due to about a 10 year gap in development, development is still to be done

This OS has definately two directions to go, stop development and only be known in a history book, or develop madly and it could become a very close competitor to GNU/Linux.

[tcpip4lyfe]

Novell Netware (http://www.novell.com)

Ok not that obscure but i love it!

Still using this on many client sites - 6.5 Open Enterprise Server Netware, not the linux version. Fair better than Windows Server and Active Directory. Have just sold the linux version to a new client and am looking forwarding to installing.

Had heard about ReactOs just doing a Virtual of it now.

I love it too. 3.12 was the best :)

[Nezing]

How about:

http://www.uv.tietgen.dk/staff/mlha/Download/DOS/

Download DOS.My dad talks about "those days",when programing was for the purist.Thank god for Windows 95,years later.

I'm kidding,I'm kidding :)

[tigerpants]

Plan 9

[Frak]

Plan 9
I was waiting for someone to say that one.
Personally, AT&T crap.

[Sporkman]

Aren't most of the OS's mentioned here simply Unix derivatives? :?

[DM was on fire!]

Freespire.
Really buggy and super hard to install printers and other things.
Everything on there (http://www.freeos.com/download.php) I haven't heard of except for Debian.

You may want to look into Linspire instead, especially Five-O. Freespire is basically like Feisty for Ubuntu. It's still really buggy because it's not an LTS.

And FreeBSD...yeah, not obscure. At all. Neither is Solaris. The National Weather Service (in my area) actually uses Solaris.

[Frak]

@sporkman So far, yes.
But I don't think there are many others.

[oldos2er]

Ecomstation.

[Wugglz]

MenuetOS
(http://www.menuetos.net/index.htm)

MenuetOS is an os written entirely in 32/64 bit assembly. It has no relations to UNIX or POSIX standards.
(The 32 bit version is under the GPL, while the 64 bit one is freeware)

Pros- Fast and fits on one floppy disk since it is written entirely in assembly. Comes with a full gui, pre-emptive multitasking, IDE for assembly language, web browser, web server and more.

Cons- Very little hardware support. Hard to use e.t.c.

[Quillz]

If you can find it, BeOS was supposed to be well ahead of its time. There is also NEXTSTEP, first released in 1989. It's not very pretty to look at, but it was the precursor OS to Mac OS X.

[Bungo Pony]

TRS-DOS :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-DOS

I tried out MenuetOS. Nifty little thing considering it can run off a floppy. Maybe I'll be mean and install that on my laptop when I sell it :twisted:

[Frak]

If you can find it, BeOS was supposed to be well ahead of its time.

Or use Haiku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_%28operating_system%29)

[muguwmp67]

OS/400 aka i5/OS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/400

My favorite OS ever, but proprietary and doesn't run on PC's.

[embed_bread]

AROShttp://www.aros.org/download.php
AtheOShttp://www.atheos.cx/download/list.php3
Cefarixhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/cefarix
Chaoshttp://chaosdev.org/index.pl?chaos/Download
CP/Mhttp://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm/software/index.html
Darwinhttp://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/release.html
DCPhttp://www.kc85.de/downloads.html
Debian GNU/Hurdhttp://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-cd
E.R.I.K.Ahttp://erika.sssup.it/download.shtml
eCoshttp://ecos.sourceware.org/getstart.html
ELKShttp://elks.sourceforge.net/download/
ERaMShttp://erams.sourceforge.net/distrib.
EROShttp://www.eros-os.org/project/build.html
Fiascohttp://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/fiasco/download.html
Free-VMSftp://freevms.nvg.org/pub/vms/freevms
FreeBSDhttp://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html
FreeDOShttp://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/
FreedowsNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
Linuxhttp://www.linux.org (http://www.linux.org/)
Menuethttp://www.menuetos.org/download.htm
Minixhttp://www.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/
MorphOShttp://www.morphos.de/fileslinks.php3
NetBSDhttp://www.netbsd.org/Releases/
Oberonhttp://www.oberon.ethz.ch/native/
OpenBEOShttp://sourceforge.net/projects/crux/
OpenBSDhttp://www.openbsd.org/ftp.html
Plan 9http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/download.html
PowerOShttp://www.poweros.de/download.html
QNXhttp://get.qnx.com (http://get.qnx.com/)
ReactOShttp://www.reactos.com/index.php?tab=software&section=reactos
RTEMShttp://www.rtems.com/RTEMS/Source/source.html
S.Ha.R.Khttp://shark.sssup.it/download.html
SkyOShttp://www.skyos.org/downloads/
Solaris 8http://www.sun.com/solaris/binaries/get.html
UnununiumNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
V2_OShttp://www.v2os.cx/
VSTahttp://vsta.sourceforge.net/
Winmachttp://sourceforge.net/projects/winmac
xMachhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/xmach/
Yamithttp://yamit.sourceforge.net/download.html
ZotOShttp://members.tripod.com/~zot_os/public_html/download.html (http://members.tripod.com/%7Ezot_os/public_html/download.html)
RTEMS and eCos are real time operating systems (RTOS).
They are mainly used for embedded applications. Those are the only two I recognize on that list.

[Daishiman]

z/OS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z/OS
The standard Mainframe operating system, successor of OS/360, OS/390, and MVS. Supports a crapload of features, including virtualization, binary compatibility for over 40 years, POSIX system calls, JAVA, an astoundingly, incredible high IO throughput capacity, etc. The license costs for this OS are at least several thousands of dollars a month, running on hardware worth at least a quarter million dollars, so don't bother trying this one at home.

VMS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS
The standard operating system for Alpha midrange computers. Has nothing to do with UNIX, and supports an interesting feature set, including file versioning and a capabilities-based security model.

Multics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MULTICS
An ancient operating system, inspiration by example and counterexample for UNIX.

[ezsit]

L4 Micro Kernel -- http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/L4/
Kernels based on the L4 API are second-generation µ-kernels. They are very lean and feature fast, message-based, synchronous IPC, simple-to-use external paging mechanisms, and a security mechanism based on secure domains (tasks, clans and chiefs). The kernels try to implement only a minimal set of abstractions on which operating systems can be built flexibly.

Mungi -- http://www.ertos.nicta.com.au/research/mungi/
Mungi is an operating system designed to simplify distribution in cluster and grid systems. It does this with a single address space, shared by all nodes in the system. Along with other ERTOS projects, the current Mungi implementation makes use of the L4 microkernel and user-level device drivers. Mungi's single-address-space approach and capability-based protection system have been adopted by the Iguana project.

K42 -- http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/k42.index.html
The K42 group is developing a new high performance, open source, general-purpose research operating system kernel for cache-coherent multiprocessors. K42 is designed to scale to hundreds of processors and to address the reliability, fault-containment, and fault-tolerance requirements of large commercial applications. K42 supports the Linux API and ABI. K42 is portable; it currently runs on PowerPC systems (both native and using Mambo).

A/UX -- http://www.aux-penelope.com/
Apple Unix (A/UX) is Apple's port of Unix to the original Macintosh. Specifically, it's a port of AT&T Unix System V.2.2 (with a handful of BSD-extensions) to Macintosh systems that were based on the Motorola 680x0 line of processors. You might be asking, "Another port of Unix... What's so special about that?" Well, A/UX combines the stability of Unix System V with the friendly graphical-user-interface (GUI) of the Macintosh Operating system. This hybrid-environment allows you to run both Macintosh and Unix programs on a single system. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it?

[init1]

QNX

I have no idea, but I think UNIX-like.
It is.

[Spr0k3t]

IRIX
Developed by SGI
Pros: Uptimes for these systems are seen as some of the top contenders for the uptime champs. System V based.
Cons: No longer in development.

This was my first major Unix system I ever used... Loved every minute of it.

VAX (aka: OpenVMS)
Pros: RTOS (Real Time OS)
Cons: Pwn'd by Compaq and now under HP who does nothing with it.

I loved the editor Eve_Screen which was the default text editor in the original VAX.

OMG... showing my age here.

[Shakkaa]

OpenBSD (Fork From FreeBSD and NetBSD)

Pros:
-Possibly the most secure server software out there. It was once banned from Defcon for being considered unhackable.
- They're the ones who developed OpenSSH which pretty much all linux distributions use now.
- It's the most open software that I know of. Their practices are way more open than GNU which is why there's a con below.

Cons:
- Very low hardware support and it's almost impossible to make a good desktop environment with it. The Development team is not that big, but they definately have my respect on their practices.
- As they state on their site, security over ease of use, so unless you know what you're doing, it's hard to set up and maintain.

It's funny cause Linus Tovats (the developer of the linux kernel) and Theo (developer of OpenBSD) almost hate each other hehehehe, it's hillarious to see them talk on the same interview about the same things..

[blithen]

Slax

A stripped down version of Slackware. Very cool little O/S
Fits on my 256mb jumpdrive.

[Bachstelze]

- Very low hardware support and it's almost impossible to make a good desktop environment with it.


Wrong. Totally and absolutely wrong. I suggest you read the "Is Linux ready for the desktop ?" thread, as it applies to every other OS too.

I'm running OpenBSD on my laptop right now, by the way. Oh, and OpenBSD is not a fork of FreeBSD, and Linux's developper is called Linus Torvalds.

[Iandefor]

GNU Hurd
Pros: 20 years of effort have gone into making this as Unix like while retaining its Linux functionality
Cons: 20 years and still incredibly buggy! With the following (unwanted) error messages such as "Computer bought the farm" i.e. its dead :(

EDIT
Also called the GNU Mach KernelLet's be fair. They're just being fussy with their kernel. The rest, like coreutils and gcc, is releasable and has been for a decade and a half.

I heard that they're working on giving Mach the boot and moving everything over to L4, by the way. Brilliant idea. Bash your head against a kernel for 20 years, then drop it and move on. They should've just not bothered with a microkernel in the first place if it was going to give them such trouble.

[Frak]

OpenSSH was actually created by a Linux developer also I believe.

[Bachstelze]

OpenSSH was actually created by a Linux developer also I believe.

Nope. OpenSSH is entirely developped as a part of the OpenBSD project. It's main developpers are Markus Friedl, Theo de Raadt, and Niels Provos, which all are OpenBSD developers.

[Quillz]

AROShttp://www.aros.org/download.php
AtheOShttp://www.atheos.cx/download/list.php3
Cefarixhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/cefarix
Chaoshttp://chaosdev.org/index.pl?chaos/Download
CP/Mhttp://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm/software/index.html
Darwinhttp://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/release.html
DCPhttp://www.kc85.de/downloads.html
Debian GNU/Hurdhttp://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-cd
E.R.I.K.Ahttp://erika.sssup.it/download.shtml
eCoshttp://ecos.sourceware.org/getstart.html
ELKShttp://elks.sourceforge.net/download/
ERaMShttp://erams.sourceforge.net/distrib.
EROShttp://www.eros-os.org/project/build.html
Fiascohttp://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/fiasco/download.html
Free-VMSftp://freevms.nvg.org/pub/vms/freevms
FreeBSDhttp://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors.html
FreeDOShttp://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/
FreedowsNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
Linuxhttp://www.linux.org (http://www.linux.org/)
Menuethttp://www.menuetos.org/download.htm
Minixhttp://www.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/
MorphOShttp://www.morphos.de/fileslinks.php3
NetBSDhttp://www.netbsd.org/Releases/
Oberonhttp://www.oberon.ethz.ch/native/
OpenBEOShttp://sourceforge.net/projects/crux/
OpenBSDhttp://www.openbsd.org/ftp.html
Plan 9http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/download.html
PowerOShttp://www.poweros.de/download.html
QNXhttp://get.qnx.com (http://get.qnx.com/)
ReactOShttp://www.reactos.com/index.php?tab=software&section=reactos
RTEMShttp://www.rtems.com/RTEMS/Source/source.html
S.Ha.R.Khttp://shark.sssup.it/download.html
SkyOShttp://www.skyos.org/downloads/
Solaris 8http://www.sun.com/solaris/binaries/get.html
UnununiumNone (http://www.freeos.com/None)
V2_OShttp://www.v2os.cx/
VSTahttp://vsta.sourceforge.net/
Winmachttp://sourceforge.net/projects/winmac
xMachhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/xmach/
Yamithttp://yamit.sourceforge.net/download.html
ZotOShttp://members.tripod.com/~zot_os/public_html/download.html (http://members.tripod.com/%7Ezot_os/public_html/download.html)
Minix isn't obscure, a new version was released fairly recently, and it's popular in classrooms, because it's designed to be easy to learn and use, as it's more of an educational OS than one you'd use everyday. Not to mention it's what inspired Linus to make Linux.

[Frak]

Minix isn't obscure, a new version was released fairly recently, and it's popular in classrooms, because it's designed to be easy to learn and use, as it's more of an educational OS than one you'd use everyday. Not to mention it's what inspired Linus to make Linux.
Yet X is a pain in the a** to configure on Minix.

[ashvala]

Probably Windows Vista is the most OBSCURE OS.
Only bugs sit in that OS

[popch]

If you can find it, BeOS was supposed to be well ahead of its time. .

is now called ZETA

[Bachstelze]

is now called ZETA

Not really...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS#Projects_to_continue_BeOS

[mips]

Wrong. Totally and absolutely wrong. I suggest you read the "Is Linux ready for the desktop ?" thread, as it applies to every other OS too.

I'm running OpenBSD on my laptop right now, by the way. Oh, and OpenBSD is not a fork of FreeBSD, and Linux's developper is called Linus Torvalds.


Why don't you write a guide on how to make it useable, stuff like auto starting KDM, getting nice fonts, multimedia etc.

I would love aguide like that but never found one. I had OBSD on my laptop as well and I'm sure if you know all the tricks you could make it a pretty good desktop.

[SunnyRabbiera]

TeaOS: an operating system powered by a cup of tea :P

[Woodgar]

DomestOS (http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/homecare/domestos.asp)

Description: Quick and easy to use for a guaranteed clean and bug free environment.

Pros: Kills all known germs, dead.

Cons: Doesn't do much for the unknown germs.

[init1]

Mona OS
Pros:
Free
Fast
ISOs available

Cons:
Still in development


http://monaos.org/

[Frak]

DomestOS (http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/homecare/domestos.asp)

Description: Quick and easy to use for a guaranteed clean and bug free environment.

Pros: Kills all known germs, dead.

Cons: Doesn't do much for the unknown germs.
:lolflag:

[Chymera]

Backtrack2

Follow-up on backtrack1, a linux network "security" distro
Pros: really good for "security" stuff
Cons:really sucks for anything else

[Frak]

Backtrack2

Follow-up on backtrack1, a linux network "security" distro
Pros: really good for "security" stuff
Cons:really sucks for anything else
One of my favorite distributions.
Use it daily, and my neighbor doesn't suspect anything :lolflag:

[moffatt666]

TeaOS: an operating system powered by a cup of tea :P

Ah yes! NOW I know what I run :p

[RAV TUX]

I'm surprised I have yet to post in this thread:

The DeadCD....currently Dead but I have a Live CDof the DeadCD.

The development was dropped, many say that it is now Olive Linux but Olive Linux is a completely different product....

The Dead CD rocks!

[Frak]

I just noticed Rav, your the one that started the Other OS forum.
And do you know where I could get a DeadCD at?

[Chymera]

One of my favorite distributions.
Use it daily, and my neighbor doesn't suspect anything :lolflag:

ye olde package sniffing?

[Frak]

Didn't hear it from me... (pulls out old Dell Inspiron 2500 and RT2500 and starts up BT2)

[ghowells]

Name: AtheneOS
Short Description: Linux-Based commercial OS
Strong Points: Fast, pretty, has an alternative graphics server (X compatible)
Weak Points: Not really X compatible, x-apps run badly, no support really

[jrusso2]

Wrong. Totally and absolutely wrong. I suggest you read the "Is Linux ready for the desktop ?" thread, as it applies to every other OS too.

I'm running OpenBSD on my laptop right now, by the way. Oh, and OpenBSD is not a fork of FreeBSD, and Linux's developper is called Linus Torvalds.

OpenBSD is a fork of NetBSD

[Wobedraggled]

I've been doing as most do and try more OS's within a VM, and I was thinking, I know there is more than Linux, Unix, and Windows, but what?
So I would like to know some obscure OS's, that are around but not very popular.

Format:
OS
Short Description
Strong point(s)
Weak point(s)

I'll start off
eComStation
Basically OS/2 bought from IBM and slightly modified and improved
Speedy, works great on older hardware
Cost money, pretty old and outdated, only runs older Win32 executables

:guitar:

68k/PPC
Amiga Workbench
Multitasking OS under very light hardware requirements
Fast
Pretty much dead at this point.

[fuscia]

ubuntu - even though it's one of the best known linux distros, most normal people have never heard of it.

[Sporkman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systems

[jimcooncat]

Running through the list to see what the most obscure thing I used to run. KERNAL was my first, on my Commodore VIC-20. CP/M was on my first work computer. But both were very popular at that time.

I had a job at a printing press factory, and used QNX to dump statistics and used the terminal programs. The engineers there made awesome control programs with it. It's actually popular in machine control.

A Burroughs TACCS computer, running some type of AT&T Unix, provided me countless hours of exploration during Desert Storm. When we got back to the states, I used it as a terminal and got my first CompuServe account. But there were a lot of these i386 machines -- every battalion had three or four of them.

So I'd say the most obscure OS I was excited about, as much as I am about the next Ubuntu LTS release was:

DESQview

Then Windows 3.0 came out and everyone switched to that. Bah!

[-grubby]

beeos
amiga os
-no description

[yabbadabbadont]

I had a job at a printing press factory, and used QNX to dump statistics and used the terminal programs. The engineers there made awesome control programs with it. It's actually popular in machine control.

Large portions of the nation's ATM infrastructure are run on QNX. It is a real-time unix variant and still quite alive.

Edit: For an obscure OS, how about MMURTL.

Edit2: Cool, it appears that the author has released all the code into the public domain. http://www.ipdatacorp.com/mmurtlpd.html

[shrimphead]

TeaOS: an operating system powered by a cup of tea :P

Hmm I think that's what my body must be running! :lolflag:

speaking of which... think the kettle's just boiled

EDIT: Damnit beaten to it, that'll teach me to not read the whole thread :(