Free computer operating systems software for linux

J Operating System is primarily intended for programmers.
Target Users:
- Hobbiests--You used to buy computers to do programming. They didnt do much else. Windows doesnt even come with a compiler, which is ironic since Bill Gates wrote BASIC. The "J" operating system is primarily intended for programmers. Ive attempted to lower the bar, so amateurs can contribute. I hope to recreate the dynamic environment that used to exist when the Commodore 64 was around and everyone was creating odd-ball software.
- Researchers--Im sure many lab researchers still use DOS because they have to interact with hardware, which is difficult with Windows.
Main features:
- No security! You can access all ports, memory and disk blocks to your hearts content. When youre working with your own computer, security just gets in the way and makes things slow--I hate anti-virus and anti-spyware because they just slow things down. When you know you dont have a risk, have no secrets and do regular back-ups, who needs security?
- Uniformity
- There is no virtual memory and everyone is on the same address-map. You can easily communicate between tasks, passing addresses. Addresses start at a base of zero and, essentually, segment registers are not used.
- There is basically one language to learn called "C+" which is a little more than "C", but less than "C++". You dont need to learn a scripting langauge because everything uses this syntax.
- There is an extension of ASCII called "J" rich text which allows colors, links, graphics and various widgets in your documents. This format is used in source code, documents, help, menus, etc.
- Support for compressed, encrypted and contiguous files.
- FAT32, FAT12 and ISO9660 filesystems.
- Blazing-fast compiler which can recompile everything in 5 seconds. It doesnt optimize.
- All source code is included and its still around a Meg.
Hardware:
- PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- VGA graphics
- Some hard drives. Must be on the primary or secondary IDE controller and support LBA28. Drives of 120Gig are the limit.
- Some CD-ROM/DVD drives, including burning.
- Some floppies. Just 1.44Meg and not all types.
- No USB support yet
- No network support yet
- ASCII printers on the parallel port are supported.

Inferno is a compact operating system designed for building distributed and networked systems on a wide variety of devices and platforms.
Inferno was originally developed at Bell Labs (the research division of Lucent Technologies).
Inferno Operating System is a well-designed, economical operating system particularly suitable for use in networked devices such as advanced telephones, hand-held devices, TV set-top boxes, and many other embedded applications.
Inferno can run in native mode on an embedded system or in emulation mode under many different operating systems. Inferno has many features in common with Plan 9.
Cross-Platform Portability
Inferno can run as a user application on top of an existing operating system or as a stand alone operating system. Most of the popular operating systems and processor architectures are supported:
Host Operating Systems:
- Windows NT/2000/XP
- Irix
- Linux
- MacOS X
- FreeBSD
- Solaris
- Plan 9
Supported Architectures:
- Intel x86 (386 & higher)
- Intel XScale
- IBM PowerPC
- ARM StrongARM (ARM & Thumb)
- Sun SPARC
Inferno also runs as a plug-in under Internet Explorer version 4 and higher. Each Inferno system presents an identical environment to the applications, irrespective of the underlying host OS or architecture, allowing the developer to work with a truly homogeneous environment across multiple different platforms.
Portable Applications
Inferno applications are written in Limbo, a modern, safe, modular, concurrent programming language with C-like syntax. It is more powerful than C but considerably easier to understand and debug than C++ or Java. Limbo code is compiled into architecture independent byte code which is then interpreted (or compiled on the fly) on the target processor. This means that any Inferno application will run identically on all Inferno platforms.
Transparent Resources
Inferno offers complete transparency of resources and data using a simple but powerful namespace system. By representing resources as files and having one standard communication protocol, resources such as data stores, services and external devices can easily be shared between Inferno systems. A resource interface may be imported to the local system and used by the applications without them knowing, or needing to know, whether it is local or remote.
Security
High level security is an important part of the Inferno system. By using one standard protocol for all network communication, security can be focused on one point and provided at a system level. Inferno offers full support for authenticated, encrypted connections using a certificate based user identification scheme and variety of algorithms including:
- IDEA, 56 bit DES, 40, 128 and 256 bit RC4 encryption algorithms
- MD4, MD5 and SHA secure hash algorithms
A Complete Solution
Inferno is not only an operating system, it is also a complete development environment, providing all the tools necessary for creating, testing and debugging the applications that run within it.
- Acme IDE: includes editor, shell, advanced pattern matching tools & more
- Fast Compiler: with full syntax and compile time type checking
- Graphical Debugger: with full stack trace for currently executing threads
- Powerful Shell: with sophisticated scripting capabilities
- UNIX like commands: including bind, grep, gzip, mount, ps, tar, yacc...
Enhancements:
- New licence terms (a `dual licence scheme allowing use as Free Software)
- Styx revision based on 9P2000, and consequent changes to Sys
- Authentication changes
- Improved colour graphics support, including compositing
- Scalable fonts using Freetype
- Revamped Tk implementation
- Window management moved out of Tk to a separate window manager in Limbo
- Limbo: exception handling and fixed-point
- Limbo: other possible changes
- Dis VM changes
- More commands and library modules
- Better network service configuration
- /net/dns served by host and native DNS resolver
- Hosted kernels configured from a parts list as for native kernels
- Signed modules
- Internet Explorer plug-in revised and in source form
- Expanded documentation

CUPS provides a portable printing layer for Unix(r)-based operating systems. Common UNIX Printing System has been developed to promote a standard printing solution for all Unix vendors and users.

CUPS provides the System V and Berkeley command line interfaces, and uses the Internet Printing Protocol ("IPP") as the basis for managing print jobs and queues. The Line Printer Daemon (LPD) Server Message Block (SMB), and AppSocket (a.k.a. JetDirect) protocols are also supported with reduced functionality.

CUPS adds network printer browsing and PostScript Printer Description ("PPD") based printing options to support real world printing under UNIX. It includes an image file RIP that supports printing of image files to non-PostScript printers.

A customized version of GNU Ghostscript 7.05 for CUPS called ESP Ghostscript is available separately to support printing of PostScript files within the CUPS driver framework. Sample drivers for Dymo, EPSON, HP, and OKIDATA printers are included that use these filters.

Aurora-Glass 0.1 provides you with another nice Aurora-based theme for GNOME users. It is actually a GTK theme that requires the Aurora engine and the patched pixbuf engine.

Enhancements:

• Added transparent glass scrollbars

Requirements:

• Aurora Gtk Engine
• Patched pixbuf engine

Core is a minimal distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system designed to be the basis for a complete system constructed by the end user. A fresh installation of Core will boot into a console and provide the user with the tools needed to download, compile and install other applications. Core contains nothing beyond what is required to perform these tasks.
Core is primarily designed for experienced Linux users, though it has found an audience with those looking to learn about the internals and operation of a Linux system. Core requires the user to manually configure, compile and install applications and expects the user to consult man pages and other documentation.
Installation:
These instructions are incomplete, but should be sufficient:
- Download, burn and boot the ISO.
- Partition, format and mount the hard drive.
- Run install_core [mount point of hard drive].
- Optional packages in /pkgs/optional can be installed with corepkg(8).
- Copy the kernel from /pkgs/kernel to /usr/src of the hard drive.
- Run chroot [mount point] bash -l to chroot into the new system.
- Compile and install the Linux kernel [be sure to run LILO].
- Review and modify the files under /etc.
- Reboot and start constructing the new system.
MD5 sum: 5da52af0d4b0a599cc119afcace77c9c

CPOINt is a new way to create slideshows that can be viewed on many different operating systems. Most slideshow creating programs (not mentioning any names) are designed to only work with the operating system that they were created on. Some effort has been made to remedy this, but there are no fully cross platform solutions.
One of CPOINts purposes is to create a new type of slideshow that can be viewed on older computers and newer. The software is split into three projects: A light viewer, which can run on older machines such as pentiums and 486s. A "heavy" viewer for the newest computers, with all the animations and special effects you could need. And finally, a GTK based WYSIWYG editor.
Enhancements:
- Button and font support was fixed, and an autotools-based package and a Debian Etch package have been created.
- Support for default fonts was added, a bug was fixed in the CString library, and the rest of the source code has been added to the archive.

USB Pen Drive Linux is portable Linux compilation that is based purely on Debian Linux. The project can be installed to a portable hard drive, USB flash pen drive or even an ipod or other portable device.

USB Linux installation enables you to install a portable Linux operating system on a flash drive no larger than your thumb. This portable Linux version can then be run from any computer that can boot from a flash device.

This process allows you to bring your operating system, desktop, applications, files, e-mail, personal settings, favorites and more with you. It’s like having your own personal operating system you can carry in your pocket. On this site, we provide many simplified portable Linux flash drive tutorials.