1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,320 Windows, macOS, or Linux. If you use a desktop or laptop computer, you're probably using 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:10,000 one of these three operating systems. But did you know that they don't have the market 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:17,280 completely cornered? There are, in fact, alternatives you can use on your PC right now. 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,320 React OS is a good place to start if you're a Windows user and don't want to dive into 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:26,880 something completely unfamiliar. It started all the way back in 1996 and was intended 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:32,680 to be a clone of Windows 95 with React referring to how the project was meant to be a reaction 7 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:38,560 to Microsoft's market dominance. React OS looks and feels a lot like Windows and has 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,240 much of the same functionality. Many Windows applications run on it without needing extra 9 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:48,080 layers of emulation. Hold on a minute, if it's so much like Windows, wouldn't Microsoft 10 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:52,640 try and shut it down due to copyright infringement? Well, the folks behind React OS avoided running 11 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:57,640 a foul of the law using a technique called clean room reverse engineering. Basically, 12 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,160 they're taking the code apart, looking at it, and then writing their own code, which 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:08,240 is based on it, but not the same. One unintended side effect of this approach is that React 14 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,600 OS exists in a perpetual alpha state with features several generations behind the current 15 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:19,440 version of Windows, along with very shaky hardware support. But it's free, so if you 16 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:24,320 only needed it for some basic tasks and you have a deathly allergy to Linux, it might 17 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:31,520 be worth checking out. Or maybe not. I think Microsoft hasn't gone after it because they 18 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:36,800 just don't see it as a serious threat. Up next, let's talk about Haikou. Free and 19 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:43,000 open source. It's not a Japanese poem based on BOS. BOS was an operating system initially 20 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,400 designed for power PC CPUs, the same ones Apple used before 2005. The idea was to have 21 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:55,120 a media editing optimized OS intended to run on the Mac. One small problem though, Apple 22 00:01:55,120 --> 00:02:00,200 decided not to buy BOS' parent company, so instead the project was modified to work on 23 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:06,440 Intel and AMD x86 processors instead. By this point though, they had a much bigger problem. 24 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,320 Windows had already dominated the x86 space. BOS was ultimately bought by the same people 25 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:18,120 who brought you the Palm Pilot who also did not do much with it. So Haikou was born, yay! 26 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:23,880 An open source re-implementation of BOS that's still being updated to this day. Haikou is 27 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,400 currently in beta and might not be a bad option if you're looking to accomplish simpler tasks 28 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,880 with it. There are a number of apps written specifically for it you can download from 29 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:36,800 a dedicated package manager, similar to desktop distributions of Linux. Despite its circa 30 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:42,160 2000 retro look, it can render modern webpages properly if you're looking just to browse 31 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:48,200 the web. Hardware support is hit or miss, but it runs on even low spec systems, so it's 32 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,200 quite lightweight, just like a real Haikou. To wrap up today's episode, we've got free 33 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:57,320 BSD. Based on the Berkeley software distribution, that is where they got the BSD from and also 34 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:02,560 the name of my new hippie rock band. The original BSD was based on Unix, a famous OS developed 35 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,600 in the early 70s that gained popularity due to its portability, meaning it could be used 36 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,640 on different types of hardware configurations, which was uncommon at the time. BSD ended 37 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:17,360 up becoming common in workstations, and later free BSD became a popular open source descendant 38 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:23,800 that's much more than just an alternative desktop operating system. In fact, iOS, macOS, 39 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,880 and the software for the newer versions of the PlayStation all incorporate large amount 40 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,400 of free BSD's codebase. There are a couple of other places you might have seen free BSD 41 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,320 or even used it before without knowing it. Both FreeNAS, a free network storage operating 42 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,040 system with ZFS support, and PF Sense, which you can use to transform your commodity computer 43 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:47,960 hardware into your own network router, are based off free BSD. And although free BSD has 44 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,640 tons of other applications, you can still use it as a desktop operating system, and 45 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,520 it's a lot more refined than Haikou and ReactOS, for whatever that's worth. Now, your NAND 46 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,280 isn't going to be installing it anytime soon, it doesn't even come with a graphical 47 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,080 interface by default, but that doesn't mean that you're completely out of luck if you're 48 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:10,360 a novice. There are free BSD based solutions such as Furry BSD, name of your sex tape, 49 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:15,600 and Ghost BSD that come with their own GUIs. Is there another alternative OS that you're 50 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,800 interested in? Let us know in the comments and we'll see if we can cover it in a future 51 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,720 episode. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got an urge to dig out my HDDVDs and Betamax tapes. 52 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,760 Well thanks for watching guys, get subscribed, and I'm off to apparently get HDDVDs.