is there a Free Operating System that:
- support Networking
- compatible with Windows

Thank you.

In what way compatible with Windows?

Try the live CD version of Knoppix [linux]. Auto detects hardware pretty well, and reads windows formatted disks. Picks up an address from DHCP, proxy config easy to configure. Has a windows emulator built in.

If your not at all comforatable with the Linux environment there's KUbuntu - designed to simlify things for Windows users - orLinspire[but I'm not sure if this is completely free].

Linspire is not free anymore.

I think its free. However, try THIS site. It has every distro to download.

If u need any help, use the Linuxiso Forum

Hope this can help.

when you say "compatible with Windows" do you mean an OS that can run Windows software? If so then you could give ReactOS a try. It can run some windows software. You could also try Linux with Wine which can run some windows software. Dont expect much though. If you need to use Windows software, then Windows is the only answer.

i meant with compatible with Windows that it can run windows programs...

Thank you for all of you, i'll try.

..... well there is a free 180 day trial of Micro$oft Windows x64 Professional Edition.




Get the trial software today.

Thank you, but i hadn't got a 64bit processor

lol, me nethier , but I thought it might help

There is (was?) also a trial edition of Windows Server 2003...

Windows Server 2003 TRIAL download: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003...al/default.mspx

Thanks a lot...

Thanks a lot, but this is a trial 180 days... so do you mean that i run it for that period and then what ? reinstall again

thanks

what ?

is it legal to do so and can i activate it more than one time?

After 180 days Windows basicly Locks Up, not allowing you to contuine using it, Unless you purchase a Serial Number from Microsoft. $$$$

If you were to to do a clean install of Win 2003 and use the same Serial number I don't know if that same serial number would be good for another 180 days - hence you have to activate Win via the net.... Of curse if Windows didn't need to activate via the net, then the same sreial number would work for another 180 days...!!!


Sorry I don't have an true answer on that, I have never used the trial versions from Micro$oft. (I have a MSDN Account )

I know on a normal license for windows you may use the same serial number on the same PC and activate it 3-5 times before you have to call it in. At that point it takes a really long time over the phone. You may also request another serial number.... but I don't know if that will work with the trials.


(don't read\|--__ ```~~~7878787there{-}{.>??.""might1010101'be.))))==+ways **<><%$$around@@!@!that^^^<><>/*/`!activation~&,;&^*crap.... ??::::']{^>\/ |-|but~don't~ask~here. ?_+-=_|later 2 U|>.<

You can re-install Win2k3 TRIAL with the SAME serial after the 180 days have passed.

Cool, didn't know that! Of course windows will never survive a full 180 days without it going currpt or a virus wipes out your system.

So after 6 months, it is probably time to re-install Windows Again. lol

Ubuntu has a excellent Live CD.

But the theme and user interface is sh*t.

Right now my Win2k3 Server runs for over an year now without any problems. No virii, no spyware...no nothing. Runs like a fresh install.

You couldn't be any more wrong...

I got 2 years uptime... And I am not talking about my rock-stable MS servers

... sounds like a system with no fixes installed over the last years

Since Win2k MS-Operating Systems have gained a lot of stability, compared to their older OS'es. It's not uncommon for Win2K, 2k03 and XP to run a few hundred days even if they are heavily used, so it's simple wrong if someone says anything else.

So if someone has to reinstall his OS after 180 days he must have done something wrong or not carefully maintained his system ...

Egon

2egrath: Nope It is fully patched, including office, .net and sql patches I just take care about him

I had one system for "destroy" operations - beta software, beta SP2 etc... What really surprised me, that system hold on for more then one year! After that I decided to give him mercy shot - I began with kernel live debugging, system handle kills etc...

About patches - I must say that peridically patched systems are much less vulnerable to "mass patch death"... So if you force patches every few weeks, the system wont have problems... If you dont patch for few years and you will try to generate one big pfr package, it will knock the system down on knees

is there a Free Linux distro that's like XP in performance and nice looking or may be near it ??

There are many free distros out there:

*) Debian (www.debian.org)
*) Fedora (fedora.redhat.com)
*) SuSE (www.suse.com)
*) ...

I would recommend Fedora.

Egon

Thank you
but i'd recognize that most downloaded versions of Linux are in iso format,
and i hadn't a CD writer but i can extract it to hard drive, so can i install from
hard drive ?

As far as i know for all of those three there are bootdisks supported, with you can use to boot the system and the install from the net (direct from their ftp site or a local mirror)

go to their ftp site and look around for a folder named bootdisks and write the images with rawrite.exe to the floppies.

Egon

I was speaking sarcastically