Alternative OS Of the Month - November 2007

[splat]

::::: Feel free to post questions, reviews, comparisons to other OS's, etc in this thread :::::

November's AOSOTM is:

GNU Hurd

from the official website:

The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux).

http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Hurd

Past AOSOTM:
October 2007: Darwin
September 2007: Syllable
August 2007: FreeDOS
July 2007: Haiku
June 2007: OpenSolaris
May 2007: PC-BSD
April 2007: Minix3
March 2007: ReactOS
February 2007: Debian Etch
January 2007: FreeBSD 6.1-Release
December 2006: Gentoo 2006.1

 

[splat]

I know it only runs on IA32 machines right now, but I thought it was worthy to point it out

edit: well IA32 = x86 apparently (i was thinking IA64 when I saw that, and not compatible with x86), and I found that Debian has a Hurd port, http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/ there is also an unofficial Gentoo project, http://www.mundurat.net/ggh/

 

[Misfit138]

I hope one day GNU/Hurd gains enough popularity, momentum and development to become a practical desktop option.

 

[VinnyTAMU]

So I believe I understand the purpose of a Kernel, basically communication between hardware and software of a computer. However what is the difference between the UNIX Kernel and the Linux Kernel?

 

[ihrsetrdr]

So I believe I understand the purpose of a Kernel, basically communication between hardware and software of a computer. However what is the difference between the UNIX Kernel and the Linux Kernel?

Here's what "Big Blue" says: Difference between Unix & Linux

 

[VinnyTAMU]

Here's what "Big Blue" says: Difference between Unix & Linux

Good article thanks for posting that.

 

[dirtydawg]

My vote on recent linux distros is opensuse 10.3 x86-64 released 10-04-07. The widgets in gnome are nice with the weather and cpu temps. The dictionary lookup is handy on the task bar area. Openoffice is a adequate replacement for M$ office, The Gimp is pretty cool too (photoshop like prog). I haven't tried KDE yet and must say I liked it in 10.2 but my Gnome install has me wanting to stay and keep playing. Rock on open source!

 

[ryanmartini]

I have to go with mandriva's latest release. Compiz works wonderfully, great built in tools and performance from KDE4 beta.

I cant get off of it...

The powerpack is even more awesome with cedega whcih simulates DX games pretty well.