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revford blog
Red Warrior shot the food!
FSF Campaign on Secure/Restricted Boot
Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:19:12 GMT
Another important campaign over at the Free Software Foundation, a new security feature that Microsoft are pushing for PCs marked as Windows 8 compatible could lock you out from installing any alternative OS.
Alternatives including GNU/Linux distros like Debian, Slackware or Ubuntu and really really alternative OS choices like Haiku, ReactOS and FreeDOS. All projects I have a special love for.
Implemented correctly this doesn't have to screw people over, so the FSF are rallying people to raise awareness of the issue and make the community voice heard by the hardware manufacturers.
Please take the time to have a read of the link below, and if you give a fuck, please sign.
Alternative OS you may not have heard of
Wed, 06 May 2009 22:34:51 GMT
Linux seems to be the OS of choice about here now, a few Mac users and one or two still hanging onto Windows.
However Linux isn't the only Free and Open Source OS about these days, where Linux and is a Free version of UNIX, there are Free and interesting versions of other popular OS designs in various stages of development. This post is about FreeDOS, ReactOS and Haiku, Free versions of DOS, Windows and BeOS.
FreeDOS
FreeDOS is the most complete of these three Operating Systems, it's already solid, usable and spot on for running all those classic old DOS games.
Currently at version 1.0 the FreeDOS installer includes tons of software much like you'd expect from a modern Linux distro, but with all the wonders of the C:\ prompt and with, by modern standards, trivial system requirements and a functional but fugly GUI. But let's be fair, if you wanted a GUI you wouldn't think of DOS as a first choice of OS.
ReactOS
Using elements from WINE, the Windows compatibility layer used on Linux and the BSDs, and adding a new and free Kernel and other underlying elements written from scratch, ReactOS has reached version 0.3.9 and is really starting to come to life.
The goal of the ReactOS project is to create a Free OS compatible with Windows NT, that can run software designed for Windows on hardware designed for Windows.
While the website points out it's still very much a work in progress there is already a working installer, that can give you a Windows like desktop that can already run popular software like Firefox, ScummVM and AbiWord.
Graphics and Network seem solid but sound isn't quite there yet.
Definitely an impressive project that's going to be a big deal down the road.
Haiku
Haiku is a Free OS for Desktop computers, inspired by BeOS.
BeOS was a an alternative OS for Power computers, it looked good to replace MacOS on the PowerPC clones when Apple pulled out of the clone market. Sadly for Be, when Apple pulled their OS from other hardware manufacturers all the PowerPC builders called it a day and there was no home for BeOS. Be did port the OS to x86 but that market was carved up between the dominant Windows and the emerging Linux and BeOS once again failed to find a home.
The BeOS was eventually bought up by Palm who didn't seem to do anything with it, so several other groups decided to use the good ideas and try and build a new BeOS. Haiku is the most advanced and it's Free.
Currently there is no installer, but they do provide disc images that work nicely in emulators like Qemu so you can give it a spin already.
There is no fixed date for a proper release yet, but with Google setting about it in their Summer of Code again and steady progress being made already I'm looking forward to seeing where Haiku can go.
All these Free Operating Systems run nicely under Qemu, a Free x86 PC emulator, so you can try them all out without needed a stack of spare PCs or partitions. Linux users can install Qemu from their package manager.
Mac users should check out Q.
Windows users have a look here:
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