# The Best Open Source OS?



## Delfire

Okay, I know you guys probably get this a lot and maybe the question is a bit too broad, but IN YOUR OPINION, what is the IDEAL open source operating system to use. I did some research (wiki, google, & etc) but I prefer some user opinions. Should I go with Suse Linux? Redhat? BSOD? There are just so many to choose from! 

The only I've tried so far is Knoppix on my fairly new HP DV1420us laptop, if I like it, I'll also switch it for my desktops. And does all of them supports dual boot with windows??

So please just tell me your favorite and why, a few lines of explanation would be much appreciated. I'm tired and tired of using of windows.


----------



## uhaligani

I am really a Windows fan, but have experimented with Linux. I have tried SUSE, Redhat, Fedora Mandriva. The best one I found, which to me was way ahead, was Xandros. It is an easy install and very stable. I had no driver difficulties and, a bonus, at the end of the install it offered me about 4 gigs of open source software from its own site. With a click of the mouse , almost, you can download and install the whole lot!!


----------



## linuxphile

Yes, all versions of Linux and BSD support dual booting with Windows. The key is to have Windows installed prior to installing Linux/BSD. 

I am currently using Ubuntu. I feel it is one of the most complete and easy to use distros out there for the desktop. In addition to the packages provided with Ubuntu there are widely available third party software repositories that make it a snap to install some of the proprietary software that can be a bit more of a pain in other distros (Java, Flash, etc). 

Any time someone asks about the best distro I inevitably point them to distrowatch.com.

Cheers


----------



## Delfire

Wow thx a lot guys the distrowatch.com website was really helpful, I guess I just need someone to point me in the right direction to search.

Hmm....I did hear a lot of good things about the user-friendliness of Xandros before but I'm not willing to shell out money yet, maybe I'll get a trial version first but I'm more likely to stick with a free distro.

thx for the website again!


----------



## saikee

I am on my way to fill up the 147 partitions of my 4 hard disks. The majority of the 114 occupied partitions each has an operating system inside.

I still couldn't answer which is the best.

There are horses for courses. 

One thing for sure though a large number of them are a lot better and more powerful than MS systems. The time spent in learning on them will not be wasted as the systems will only be improved on and not replaced like the commercial products do. One can learn from one Linux and survive in all of them including BSD, Solaris and Darwin X86.

So to me anyone from the Open Source will do. No need to chase the best. Just have them all!


----------



## tragek

I'm a huge fan of the BSDs. FreeBSD is my personal favorite, as it was the first I ever tried. That said, it's also my prefered OS because it's ACPI support is second to none. It's the only OS whose ACPI implementation was written by Intel, as far as I know.


----------

