I make the specification of non-linux because otherwise this would just become a thread full of obscure distros that do the same thing as a million other distros.
Some lesser known OSs:
- AROS - based on Amiga OS, has some derivatives like IcarOS and MorphOS
- Haiku - based on BeOS
- Redox - Unix-like, made in Rust (might technically count as linux?)
- Serenity - Unix-like, very late 90s look and feel
- Kolibri - Tiny OS, the image is ~44MB. It also has a smaller version that fits in a single floppy.
- PhantomOS - When 3 Russians decide to turn everything about a typical OS upside down.
Maybe minix? Because microkernel.
ReactOS would be kinda fun
Back to the ol’ times of Windows.
That too NT 5.x ! I wish we had stuck with Windows 2000 Professional.
Here’s the link for Redox OS btw: https://www.redox-os.org/
Redox isn’t Linux, it uses its own kernel. I want this one to succeed above all others, just because Rust was born to perform this kind of application: guaranteed memory safety when dealing with tens of thousands of lines of code handling hundreds of moving parts running thousands of different tasks, all at a very low level.
I’ll second Plan 9, just because it sounds like scifi and truly takes advantage of how interconnected all computing hardware has become.
Third place goes to anything based on GNU Hurd. The microkernel architecture intrigues me, and I’d like to know how it effects the end user. Plus I’m just a big fan of the copyleft/FOSS aspect.
Also, I’d just like any mobile device alternative that’s not AOSP, and Linux seems like a bad fit for mobile in general. Why do we need a fully-featured, all-purpose kernel when we’re only gonna put it on a known number of SoCs and therefore a known set of hardware configurations? We could be optimizing the hell out of our privacy-friendly mobile OSes, but instead we’ve shackled ourselves to google or linux
Definitely Haiku, BeOS had a lot of neat ideas in it.
I wish Nokia N900 / N950 with Maemo or Meego OS. And full opensource, full MPL or MIT licensed.
I truly wish SailfishOS could be that replacement but I’ve been burnt too many times already.
Serenity is beautiful, so I guess I would pick that.
Haiku is already pretty great to use in my opinion, despite still being in beta; with the right hardware you could easily daily drive it
TempleOS
So glad to see somebody finally mentioned the only God tier OS.
I run it at home (along with every other OS mentioned here so far).
It’s…really something.
I’d love for FreeBSD to become more mainstream/popular (again)
I really want to use FreeBSD but it doesn’t support my hardware sadly :(
Hear me out
metaverse
This is the only thing we should dream of
HURD, obviously.
I’m happy with any OS as long as it’s GNU.
MorphOS. It’s still kicking.
ReactOS. The “We have Windows at home” OS.
Maybe then it will see proper development to become that which it should be.
I wish I would win top prize of some lottery, I’d donate a good deal of money to ReactOS and pray it finally developed enough to at least manage to make stable installer images
GNU Hurd and Plan9.
Gnu Guix is working on HURD integration.
I am on Guix, so I’m really excited to switch the kernel. But it won’t be available at least for a decade. Or maybe more.
I feel like HURD is the generational starship of operating systems. Will never be completed in my lifetime but eventually my great great grand children may some day use it.
