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Format drive and install one of the following operating systems:

• BeOS
• Syllable
• AROS
• Plan 9
• Minix
• FreeDOS
• DR-DOS
• OpenVMS x86 port is coming!
• Visopsys
• SqueakNOS
• Haiku
• Kolibri
• ReactOS
• Tizen
• SkyOS
• MorphOS
• MenuetOS
• CP/M 86
• Multics, also see Multicians
• Erlang as an Operating System

There have been a large number of more or less obscure operating systems and not all have been ported to x86. Unfortunately the architecture has become a de facto standard even though it's not the best architecture or the most efficient but instead a patchwork of solutions to retain backwards compatibility. We have lost many interesting architectures over the years that would have deserved a better fate to the Intel bandwagon.

You can find a solution(s) to your problem at one or more
of the following locations:

http://www.centos.org

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/

http://en.opensuse.org

http://www.opensolaris.org/

http://www.ecomstation.com/

http://www.redhat.com

http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/

http://www.openbsd.org/

http://www.freebsd.org/

http://www.netbsd.org/

http://www.dragonflybsd.org/

http://www.osfree.org/doku/en:start

http://www.skyos.org/

http://www.freeos.com/

http://www.minix3.org/

Added to bypass the stupid slashdot lameness filter which apparently doesn't like a post full of links. WTF is wrong with the
stupid lameness filter? Jeez, what does it want, for us to type paragraphs of meaningless drivel just to get past the lameness filter?
Sheeesh. OK, this is really stupid. Why don't ajfajf al;djal a fa fa lkdf jaa fal ja;ljf af af ajf;lajf alfjalf a fjal;fjafl; jaflakjf af;laj
jalkfaj fjf af af fajjjajal jajfa f afjdlakej2233 2235t2352 dsfalkfjal f 222j2 afdkja f23 2 2 2t2352322 233252352 2323232.

I am supprised noone has mentioned http://www.skyos.org/
While not purely "Closed" it is a commercial OS that runs only what has been programmed just for it, all which is included in the OS

• The Sky Operating System, or SkyOS, is an operating system written for x86-based personal computers.

I personally find it kind of lame that in the "BROWSING" section of the screenshots http://www.skyos.org/images/browsing.png they've got a window open to steampowered.com. I'm pretty sure there's no way in hell that valve is going to port their stuff to a beta OS that almost nobody is going to use so why even show this page? It's borderline implying that Valve software will run on it and that's BS.

As for the viability of the project (assuming that it's legally clean) - no, it is not viable. As simple as that. ISVs will not develop software for it and people are confused enough with Windows vs OS X vs Linux - the market is saturated. I'm sure SkyOS will have it's share of dedicated followers and users (all 23 of them) but that's pretty much it's niche.

Do you actually know someone who wants to use their computer to videochat at the same time they're talking to someone and IMing a third while downloading something?

I've actually video chatted with one person while IMing a second and downloading something. And I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore.

It's an easy usage pattern to fall into. You have a camera plugged in, someone wants to chat from a 'net cafe overseas (which frequently have IM cameras). You have a friend who is making fliers for an event, and wants to show it to you. Done. A video chat, an IM, and a download going.

If you want to see something really pointlessly cool, check out Scribis in SkyOS. Not only can you chat, you can send video links as live playback.

Then you should switch to SkyOS. They have a really small market share.

Why is there this feeling of Windows has to die, Linux must take over? okay its fair enough to monitor the linux uptake, because it can spark confidence in the community, and also encourage developers to take into account the rapidness of the uptake, however these figures should not be compared to other OSs.

We also have to remember, the majority of users don't switch OSs just because they think Windows is Evil, its almost always down to the "User Needs".

As for all this media coverage over Linux Vs Windows, and TCO Campaigns, when will see news of NEW and INNOVATIVE operating systems, like i recently stumbled on SKYOS(http://www.skyos.org/) which looks promising, and is commercial, none of the usual UNIX FOSS dervatives.

Bad news for Microsoft, good news for other operating systems.

That's because Linux is trying really hard to mimic Windows-isms

True enough. Even the screenshots for SkyOS and Syllable, the two discussed in the article, look like conventional GUIs (using GTK and Be respectively).

Cheers.

1. And what exactly can you do with apt-get under OS X? Yeah, you can run many Linux applications under it. Only those that don't touch anything else except X11. Btw, there is Bash available for Windows alongisde cygwin.
2. Actually I don't think anyone took this seriously when you mentioned Finder. Even the greatest Mac zealots don't praise Finder.
3. Point taken, although I will mention OpenBSD.
4. iMovie - Movie Maker, iPhoto - Image viewer (not the same, but there's still ACDSee), iTunes - wow, I don't think I can download that, GarageBand - point taken (but it's not nearly what people preach about it), Mail - Outlook. Right Movie Maker is crappy and doesn't count, but hey it can export to an open format. I won't even mention all the apps that are available for Windows.
5. Is this even a point? Exactly how hard is it to download Java for those 30% of people who actually need it?
6. Again, I just can't take this seriously. Would Windows score higher if it had an assembler bundled?
7. Right clicking and setting permissions is difficult?
8. If you say Sys Pref is better then it must be. What? You mean it's hard to run a FTP service? Windows already has a built-in firewall.
9. How about if I prove you wrong? Notice that this trojan was released for Tiger even before Tiger officially shipped? But wait, there's more! I wonder why Slashdot doesn't post news about this :)
10. There are a lot of articles written about this so I won't bother. To put it short: it doesn't use the graphics card for rendering windows, it deosn't use PDF and it doesn't use vector graphics. Simply put - not a whole lot better then Windows already does. Check arstechnica if you don't believe me.
11. Everyone's personal opinion. Although Apple locks you in on that theme wihtout any (legal) way for you to change it, it does (to me) look better than Luna. Maybe I'm to used to Luna? Anyway, maybe I should download the ac conversion pack for Windows...
12. MSN, Yahoo, Google toolbars. There I said it. And no, Spotlight is _NOT_ what WinFS is supposed to be.
13. Explain to me how can a Windows PC be slower because of Registry? You seem to have no idea what the Registry really is. Is you Mac slow, because you have to many config files?
14. And Windows doesn't? Try looking inside Documents and Setings\User\Application Data\
15. Explain to me what are real, actual UNIX permissions? /home is \Documents and Settings. Moving from one Windows machine to another is also very simple. Try running the Files and Settings Transfer Tool some time.

Again, I must say this site is really something. I don't have a negative feeling against OS X, but give credit where credit is due. Don't be a fuckup and actually admit it is not perfect. I mean, you Apple zealots are really something. _NO_ Windows user will ever tell you their system is perfect. There are many things in every OS that are superior to some other, but spreading FUD and acting like a child isn't really helping you.

Try looking at "home projects" like SkyOS. Look specifically at their implementation of "Spotlight" (http://www.skyos.org/downloads/indexing.avi, codec: http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/codec.asp ). I'm sure the real Spotlight is way better.

I don't need to use it to know it's shit. The pitiful documentation available highlights it's shittyness nicely. For example the amazing threads API, which looks like something a third grader might come up with in a BASIC program. Or the lack of horizontal scrollbars (!) in the GUI.

Add in the fact that the number of people who have problems even getting SkyOS to boot far outweighs the number of people who have successfully installed it, the shit toolchain (A cross-compiler for Windows? Nothing should be allowed to call itself an Operating System until it's self-hosting!), the 14 year old clueless fanboys that infest the SkyOS forums and OSNews every time SkyOS is mentioned..SkyOS is a clue black hole. It is shit.

I don't need to use it to know it's shit. The pitiful documentation available highlights it's shittyness nicely. For example the amazing threads API, which looks like something a third grader might come up with in a BASIC program. Or the lack of horizontal scrollbars (!) in the GUI.

Add in the fact that the number of people who have problems even getting SkyOS to boot far outweighs the number of people who have successfully installed it, the shit toolchain (A cross-compiler for Windows? Nothing should be allowed to call itself an Operating System until it's self-hosting!), the 14 year old clueless fanboys that infest the SkyOS forums and OSNews every time SkyOS is mentioned..SkyOS is a clue black hole. It is shit.

http://www.skyos.org

... does it run SkyOS?

Darn, guess I'm going to have to use something less mainstream like SkyOS.

From the FAQ on the skyOS.org site:

1. What is SkyOS?
The Sky Operating System, or SkyOS, is an operating system written for x86-based personal computers. SkyOS was created in 1996 by Robert Szeleney as a small bootloader. In the past 8 years, SkyOS has evolved into a full-featured, modern operating system, with a goal to be the easiest to use desktop operating system available for the average computer user. The development staff has also increased to include business, software, and graphics developers.

2. Is SkyOS a Linux distribution? Is SkyOS a *nix? Is SkyOS BeOS?
No, no, and no. SkyOS is an operating system written from scratch. It isn't based on any other operating system.

The odd thing is that I did see the mention of them using DLL's for instance, and a screenshot which was apparently showing a text editor had a piece of code open in which something called MSCORLIB was being used. It might mean nothing, as the screenshot is titled " Security configuration and DotGNU (.NET)" and afaik MSCORLIB is a part of .Net.

Make the switch today! Runs on x86/Power Mac G5! Get rid of Windows/OS-X, install SkyOS!

I had used Opera a number of times, and was quite interested in making it available for SkyOS. I initiated discussions with Opera representatives, trying to see if we could get them to port it to SkyOS. They said (abbreviated version) no, that they weren't interested at this time, had other priorities, etc.

In the meantime, Firefox started picking up steam. I had tried Firefox a long time ago, and was not very happy with it. However, we needed a real browser, so I gave it a shot. Wow. Things had really changed (this was about...maybe version .7). I was splitting my time between Firefox and Internet Explorer. I found myself more and more relying on Firefox. I started putting bookmarks there instead of Internet Explorer. I changed my shortcut for the web browser to point to Firefox instead of Windows. Pretty soon, all that was left of Internet Explorer was a link buried in the Start Menu, for access on the rare occasion (once a week, maybe) that a site refused to render with Firefox.

We decided that since Firefox was now so robust, and Opera was not interested in working with us, that we would start the long process of porting Firefox to SkyOS. After weeks of work, Firefox has successfully been ported. You're welcome to our website for screenshots.

As for Opera? I made the prediction to others on our team that they had very little direction, and that within two years, they would just be remembered as an "also-ran" in the browser world. Call it sour-grapes, but either way, I still think I'm right, and we were right for stopping any further pursuit of Opera and going full-speed for Firefox.

You'd better get everyone to stop using their NVidia cards then, can't run that closed-source driver.

Or just use the X.org driver. Hell Operating Systems you've never heard of have nVidia drivers.

You just confused a lot more people. I'll try to help you a bit.

"The OS that was written in pure assmebly was, I think, SkyOS."

Wrong. SkyOS is coded completely from scratch. It was written in the 'C' language (except for small necessary parts, written in ASM). What you are thinking of is MenuetOS.

Syllable's web browser is based off of KHTML, the engine that runs KDE's browser, as well as Apple's Safari. This engine is also used in SkyKruzer, SkyOS's current web browser.

Best of luck to the Syllable team though. Prove me wrong.

SkyOS =)

Well, that was a joke, but you're right.

The market is already overloaded:

• SkyOS
• GNU/Fiwix

Did anybody write a nice free exokernel yet? That's something I'd be interested in messing with. Different personalities could be plugged into it depending on the application.

The BFS lives on in a few other places, most notably in a rebuild by the OpenBeOS team. This file system is also being used by SkyOS for their new file system, SkyFS. They are already making use of the attributes in a number of ways.

OpenBeOS's clone of the Be File System has been selected recently by the folks creating the SkyOS.

The BFS replacement has been one of the fastest progressing parts of the OpenBeOS project. Dominic Giampaolo has actually commented to the team lead of OpenBFS, and complemented the team on the good work they accomplished.

I predict they will merge with SkyOS and truly create SkyNet!

Robert: The core OS itself is closed source. This way I can make sure that no forks of SkyOS will be made, and that there is always only a single SkyOS distribution. Furthermore, keeping the core OS closed source makes it possible for me to control and change any kernel function as fast as possible without waiting for other developers to checkout/checkin due to different time zones and other considerations.

And yet, on their main page:

We are looking for some good software developers to join the SkyOS Software Development team. Their duty will be to port or write some good applications and drivers before our 5.0 release. In order to join the team you must have:

(...)

This is not a paid position. There are, however, some benefits that come with it:

(...blabber about access to dev s/w, duh!...)

Clearly, something monumental must be going on in the world of computing for these technology titans simultaneously to discover something that is so profound and yet so hard to name.

I think it's clear they are all refering to SkyOS. It's been rumoured that HP is planning on dropping HP-UX in favor of SkyOS sometime in 2004.

Apparently much of SkyOS is built on GPLed Software.

From reading your link, it does seem that there is a question about some of the SkyOS licensed software being modified from GPL sources.

I also found few references to SkyOS as an open-source project on Google, as well as more than one article about possible gpl violations.

It may be all a big misunderstanding, or it may be that SkyOS is indeed built of modified PGL sourcees.

Does anyone have a link to the SkyOS license? It is refered to on thier download page (see above link), but I haven't been able to find a copy of it anywhere.

While SkyOS 4.0 does not include a written offer for the source code (as the author of SkyOS was not aware he had to do this), SkyOS 5.0 will include such an offer.

Looks like SkyOS is pretty much GPL compliant....are you sure you're not just trolling?

Its a free OS, they just dont give the source code.

Actually, I was referring to software freedom. However the proximity of the word "free" to a cost reference may have been misleading.

Even OSNews had an article about the using GPL'ed tools doesnt open the OS.

Using GNU GPL-covered programs (in the US) doesn't compel one to ship source code for the OS because merely executing a program is not an activity regulated by US copyright law. The page I pointed to referred to an "ES1371 driver from Linux" as being something copied from the Linux kernal into SkyOS. Including a driver from the Linux kernal would most likely not be fair use, so one would have triggered source code distribution.

And licensing under the GNU GPL has nothing to do with "open[ing]" programs source code. The GPL was written by the Free Software Foundation years before the term "Open Source" was coined.

A poster to the SkyOS forums ("Adam") says that:

"The GPL requires that GPLed software (such as VLC and GRUB) either be distributed with the source code, or contain a written offer for the source code. SkyOS ships with neither."

If you want to verify that I'm citing Adam's claim correctly, you'd better read their archive of posts quickly; SkyOS' admins have already deleted some posts written by Adam (making it impossible to determine if they are editing out spam, silencing criticism, or something else).

Kelly (who appears to speak for SkyOS) erroneously believes that SkyOS' distributors has to distribute source code for a GPL-covered program (or a promise for the source code to this program) only if they distribute a modified version of a GPL-covered program:

"SkyOS itself does not include any GPL'd source code. We are not obligated to open source any portion of it.

SkyOS's binary iso distribution does include some GPL'd apps. We fully understand the law and nature of the GPL and comply with it fully. Any application that has been modified in any way and is included with the SkyOS package can be obtained by us via mail. Our obligation to offer written documentation of such an offer can be found here:

http://skyos.org/downloads/packages.php#GPL

According to the GPL, in order to include modified GPL software packages in binary format, we must both offer a written statement extending users the offer of obtaining source code for modified GPL source from us, and provide said source code via the postal service (or, alternatively, an FTP, though postal service is preferred and is the option we use). We have fulfilled both of these requirements."

Taking Adam and Kelly's posts together, it's clear that SkyOS' assessment is wrong and this might be why they aren't shipping what they are required to ship under law--the promise for source is not shipped with the binaries, and neither is complete corresponding source code.

Too bad your reply had nothing to do about ATI Drivers, and slaming the authors of SkyOS.

Then you must have misread my post. As for SkyOS' authors, I take a dim view of people who react to a relevant point (such as Adam's) by hiding a critic's words from public view.

SCO Thinks linux[sic] has copied code too, should we believe SCO?

I think SCO has filed suit against IBM, not a computer program. SCO's charges should be taken very seriously and examined at face value, just as a court would. This appears to be just what the Free Software community is doing (more productively on Groklaw than on Slashdot

Its a free OS, they just dont give the source code.

Actually, I was referring to software freedom. However the proximity of the word "free" to a cost reference may have been misleading.

Even OSNews had an article about the using GPL'ed tools doesnt open the OS.

Using GNU GPL-covered programs (in the US) doesn't compel one to ship source code for the OS because merely executing a program is not an activity regulated by US copyright law. The page I pointed to referred to an "ES1371 driver from Linux" as being something copied from the Linux kernal into SkyOS. Including a driver from the Linux kernal would most likely not be fair use, so one would have triggered source code distribution.

And licensing under the GNU GPL has nothing to do with "open[ing]" programs source code. The GPL was written by the Free Software Foundation years before the term "Open Source" was coined.

A poster to the SkyOS forums ("Adam") says that:

"The GPL requires that GPLed software (such as VLC and GRUB) either be distributed with the source code, or contain a written offer for the source code. SkyOS ships with neither."

If you want to verify that I'm citing Adam's claim correctly, you'd better read their archive of posts quickly; SkyOS' admins have already deleted some posts written by Adam (making it impossible to determine if they are editing out spam, silencing criticism, or something else).

Kelly (who appears to speak for SkyOS) erroneously believes that SkyOS' distributors has to distribute source code for a GPL-covered program (or a promise for the source code to this program) only if they distribute a modified version of a GPL-covered program:

"SkyOS itself does not include any GPL'd source code. We are not obligated to open source any portion of it.

SkyOS's binary iso distribution does include some GPL'd apps. We fully understand the law and nature of the GPL and comply with it fully. Any application that has been modified in any way and is included with the SkyOS package can be obtained by us via mail. Our obligation to offer written documentation of such an offer can be found here:

http://skyos.org/downloads/packages.php#GPL

According to the GPL, in order to include modified GPL software packages in binary format, we must both offer a written statement extending users the offer of obtaining source code for modified GPL source from us, and provide said source code via the postal service (or, alternatively, an FTP, though postal service is preferred and is the option we use). We have fulfilled both of these requirements."

Taking Adam and Kelly's posts together, it's clear that SkyOS' assessment is wrong and this might be why they aren't shipping what they are required to ship under law--the promise for source is not shipped with the binaries, and neither is complete corresponding source code.

Too bad your reply had nothing to do about ATI Drivers, and slaming the authors of SkyOS.

Then you must have misread my post. As for SkyOS' authors, I take a dim view of people who react to a relevant point (such as Adam's) by hiding a critic's words from public view.

SCO Thinks linux[sic] has copied code too, should we believe SCO?

I think SCO has filed suit against IBM, not a computer program. SCO's charges should be taken very seriously and examined at face value, just as a court would. This appears to be just what the Free Software community is doing (more productively on Groklaw than on Slashdot

Its a free OS, they just dont give the source code.

Actually, I was referring to software freedom. However the proximity of the word "free" to a cost reference may have been misleading.

Even OSNews had an article about the using GPL'ed tools doesnt open the OS.

Using GNU GPL-covered programs (in the US) doesn't compel one to ship source code for the OS because merely executing a program is not an activity regulated by US copyright law. The page I pointed to referred to an "ES1371 driver from Linux" as being something copied from the Linux kernal into SkyOS. Including a driver from the Linux kernal would most likely not be fair use, so one would have triggered source code distribution.

And licensing under the GNU GPL has nothing to do with "open[ing]" programs source code. The GPL was written by the Free Software Foundation years before the term "Open Source" was coined.

A poster to the SkyOS forums ("Adam") says that:

"The GPL requires that GPLed software (such as VLC and GRUB) either be distributed with the source code, or contain a written offer for the source code. SkyOS ships with neither."

If you want to verify that I'm citing Adam's claim correctly, you'd better read their archive of posts quickly; SkyOS' admins have already deleted some posts written by Adam (making it impossible to determine if they are editing out spam, silencing criticism, or something else).

Kelly (who appears to speak for SkyOS) erroneously believes that SkyOS' distributors has to distribute source code for a GPL-covered program (or a promise for the source code to this program) only if they distribute a modified version of a GPL-covered program:

"SkyOS itself does not include any GPL'd source code. We are not obligated to open source any portion of it.

SkyOS's binary iso distribution does include some GPL'd apps. We fully understand the law and nature of the GPL and comply with it fully. Any application that has been modified in any way and is included with the SkyOS package can be obtained by us via mail. Our obligation to offer written documentation of such an offer can be found here:

http://skyos.org/downloads/packages.php#GPL

According to the GPL, in order to include modified GPL software packages in binary format, we must both offer a written statement extending users the offer of obtaining source code for modified GPL source from us, and provide said source code via the postal service (or, alternatively, an FTP, though postal service is preferred and is the option we use). We have fulfilled both of these requirements."

Taking Adam and Kelly's posts together, it's clear that SkyOS' assessment is wrong and this might be why they aren't shipping what they are required to ship under law--the promise for source is not shipped with the binaries, and neither is complete corresponding source code.

Too bad your reply had nothing to do about ATI Drivers, and slaming the authors of SkyOS.

Then you must have misread my post. As for SkyOS' authors, I take a dim view of people who react to a relevant point (such as Adam's) by hiding a critic's words from public view.

SCO Thinks linux[sic] has copied code too, should we believe SCO?

I think SCO has filed suit against IBM, not a computer program. SCO's charges should be taken very seriously and examined at face value, just as a court would. This appears to be just what the Free Software community is doing (more productively on Groklaw than on Slashdot

Hey Bruce, do you know if anyone is doing anything about these violators?

Off the top of my head they've modified GRUB, VideoLan, and KHTML and aren't distributing the source code or including a written offer for the source code in the distribution.

Dinivin

If anyone has any ATI contacts, call them up and ask them to support the project with some hardware and any documents they can provide.

Why would I want to help a non-free OS get support? Can't the SkyOS team spend money on the parts they need to build their business (after all, they charge money for their system)? Can't they learn what they want to know from the XFree86 source code? That source code is licensed under terms that allows proprietary derivatives (unlike the GNU General Public License which SkyOS might be infringing). I'm reminded of what RMS said he told developers a while back about non-free Unix source code--(paraphrasing) AT&T is not a charity, don't donate your effort.

Sometimes we can bypass all politics, lets see if someone out there can do it.

Sometimes people ignore real issues (like software freedom) to pretend they're irrelevant. Abiding by copyright law has serious consequences. If the SkyOS team is found liable for copyright infringement, they'll learn just how unwise it is to ignore politics.

There's some discussion of licensing in the project's forums. The sentiment appears to be "open source bad".

Also, in this thread, the project's author states in a message dated January 2002 that, "for now", SkyOS is freeware.

Meanwhile, allegations of GPL violations are already arising.

There's some discussion of licensing in the project's forums. The sentiment appears to be "open source bad".

Also, in this thread, the project's author states in a message dated January 2002 that, "for now", SkyOS is freeware.

Meanwhile, allegations of GPL violations are already arising.

There's some discussion of licensing in the project's forums. The sentiment appears to be "open source bad".

Also, in this thread, the project's author states in a message dated January 2002 that, "for now", SkyOS is freeware.

Meanwhile, allegations of GPL violations are already arising.

Linux's original 10,000 lines of code are gone. I am anti-Bill myself .

Get a grip though.

Do you want to see a one man show OS ?

sykos operating system

Amazing os .

try finding atheos os too .

Both amazing achievments.

yes. my typo.

I meant minux type.

If you want to see real independent programmer that deserves all the attention try -

skyos operating system

More impressive than Linux's beginnings. Andrew skezelzny.

I found the following version of their EULA in the SkyOS forums. It's dated 8-27-2003, so it's fairly current, though not quite as current as the 9-5-2003 google cache the parent linked appears to be. I don't know if this is official or not, but it bears a strong resemblance to the parent's link. I post it here for your reading enjoyment. I'd like to point out that there are no clauses that stipulate acceptance of the EULA, nor anything prohibiting me from posting it (this is a general discussion)

SkyOs 4.0.0 EULA By Andrew Youll (Youlle Owner Of deNUX)

SkyOs is a registered Trademark Of SkyOs Inc. and as such anyone who wishes to use the Name SkyOs, must apply for usage, the only way this can be ignored is if it is for a editorial, review or in general discussion, but any person / company is forbidden to impersonate SkyOs or SkyOs Inc in any way shape or form, impersonating SkyOs or SkyOs Inc will result in court action.

SkyOs is a product of SkyOs Inc. and is such only SkyOs Inc. has the right to the source code, this means that by continuing to use SkyOs or continuing with the installation of SkyOs you agree to the following; you will not de-compile SkyOs to gain access to the source code, you will not disassemble, and if you do come across SkyOs source code by continuing you agree not to re-compile SkyOs and claim it as your own, as this is in breach of the agreement above.

SkyOs is not Open source, and as such you are not entitled to view the source code and you can not demand to see the source code as SkyOs is a Closed Source Os produced by SkyOs Inc. the only time you are allowed to view or use the source code is if SkyOs Inc. gives you explicit Permission to do so.

SkyOs is a i386 or x86 Os, this means it is designed to be run on IBM-Pc Compatible systems, based on Intel Compatible CPU's if this Os is found on any other platform such as PPC, M68k, C64, etc please contact SkyOs Inc. immediately as this may be illegal port of the Os, this does not affect your statutory rights.

If Linux Code / Applications are used in SkyOs you can not claim that this makes SkyOs open sourced the only code you have the right to view is the Linux code / other open source code included in SkyOs. If you agree to this EULA and claim that SkyOs is open source because of the Linux code / open source code you will be liable for slander against SkyOs Inc.

SkyOs Inc. reserves the right to place charges on SkyOs Inc. services, it also reserves the right to change the system requirements at anytime with out prior warning this also goes for features and app support, also the exclusion of applications in further releases is at the soul discretion of SkyOs Inc. and its contributors.

SkyOs includes ported software that is GPL'd this means that it is open source, these binaries/drivers/libraries are widely available on the internet, and as such you should not harass SkyOs Inc. or any contributor for the Source code of these ported apps, also these GPL'd binaries/drivers/libraries do not in anyway affect the SkyOs Kernel or SkyGI and as such you have no right as a user, developer or other party to demand to view the Source Code of SkyOs.

SkyGI is a registered trademark of SkyOs Inc. and should be held in context to the same usage as SkyOs mentioned in the above. SkyGI is a Closed Source system, and as such you have no rights under the law to view any of its code, SkyGI uses designs / widgets / graphics from contributors or from SkyOs Inc. it's self and you do not have the right to use these graphics / widgets / designs with out SkyOs Inc.'s expressed permission. Failure to request permission may result in legal action on the behalf of SkyOs Inc.

SkyFS is a part of SkyOs and as such is property of SkyOs Inc. SkyFS support maybe dropped in future releases of SkyOs but the File System is still the property of SkyOs Inc. and as such any one wishing to incorporate it into their own Os must ask SkyOs Inc. first and must give credit to SkyOs Inc. for development and creation of the FS.

for those of you who have no idea what SkyOS is(and I'm sure there are many), check out this page.
What I find the most interesting about it is that OpenGL and SDL are both ported, along with many of other GPL'd projects like MySQL.

Nope. Khtml has also been ported here and here.

Maybe we should check out alternate operating systems that may not have this problem?

-dk

Looks like a rerun of the AT&T lawsuit that threatened BSD. Time for the masses to move to the next worthy operating system

-dk

Do the install demo the last day. Show them all the wonderful things non-Micr0s0ft platforms can achieve first, then show them how to harness all that power on their own system at home by demonstrating how to dual boot a box. NOT! Be sure to include a big disclamer - write letters to parents to back up their data, etc. Or give out demo CD's like the Knoppix distro and maybe figure out a way for people to store their data somehow. Messing with people's parents' hard drives would not be advised for a bunch of high schoolers. Fried hard drives are not the right way to send a good message about Linux and other alternatives to parents, etc.

Use debian for the majority of your demos. Debian is used as a base for a lot of other distros out there, so this would be a terrific learning platform. apt-get is extremely popular and easy to use and would be a great way to build confidence. "Gee! That's even easier than windows!" It is, again, used in a number of debian-based distros and this is a plus. Messing with RPM dependencies I would say would be less conducive to learning. It should be experienced, but you don't want to spend a lot of time with a headache like this. Let them figure it out when they get to a real RPM based system and they overload their harddrive with unnecessary packages. We needn't worry their little minds with this now.

I would suggest, if you've got a bunch of spare computers for your use, installing a selection of operating systems. Maybe just have them around, for kids to explore on their own time if they seem interested. A selection of the common Linux distros would be good - Red Hat, Mandrake, etc. If you've got the money, do some installs of Xandros, Lindows or Lycoris. Show an install of Gentoo and demonstrate the portage build system. Put YellowDog or LinuxPPC on some older Mac machines that the school is sure to have laying around. Install something fun on a new G4. You're wide open here. If you've got the time, do installs of NetBSD, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD. Actually, I'd move FreeBSD up the ladder a bit, even into the linux distros above. This one I think is going to become pretty important in the next few years. It's clean, stable and very security concious. It also runs linux binaries and, all in all, is a tremendous platform. The flexible workhorse.

Linux and *BSD aren't the only alternative operating systems. Try doing an install of SkyOS, AtheOS, or MinuetOS. Read about those here.
There's also Syl-la-ble, QNX[review], and, lest not forget, the Wonderful! the Amazing! MacOS X. Amiga, Minix, VMS, on and on. Find a local LUG with someone in it that likes these obscure operating systems. See if he (she?? --nahh...) will lend a hand. No. Not that hand.

Show them the GUI. Copy some files around or perform some other common tasks using the GUI's helpful tools. Then show them how much faster and more efficiently they can do the same after clicking on gnome-terminal (or Kterm or whatever). Show them the virtual terminals that are availible if X isn't around. Show them that you can start up two instances of X, each with a different user, and switch between them [after you have one going, type "startx -- :1" in a virtual terminal as the user you want running the second instance, then Alt-Fx to find it. Switch back and forth). Then ask them if they can do that on dad's windows box. Give them a printed reference of some of the more common unix command and have them figure out how to perform a selection of tasks. Do the shuffle about pipes and redirection and all that and have them do some "homeworks," maybe working together. Then tell them to use the man pages for command xxxxx and yyyy, integrate the knowledge found there with the printed references you gave them, to complete another task. Do speed trials. Ask them to try the same task with only the GUI. Point made.

Hand them a Knoppix disk. Let them find debian if they are feeling adventerous. Suggest to them if they think they know what they are doing, and can stand being grounded or whatever if they break mom's computer, to try an install of Mandrake - with the easy repartitioning and all built in so nicely. Easy to use from the get go, but quite fully functional linux distro as well. Easier still, and based on debian, would be Xandros. Apt-get to your hearts content, and can even resize NTFS partitions.

"Am I wearing my pants?"

Don't forget this one before you walk into your first day of class.

Although...

AtheOS (Seems to be down mostly these days)
Syllable (Carries on where AtheOS left off)
SkyOS

Read OSNews for more :)

Who's the cutie?