Free Operating Systems

Most of the listed Operating Systems are Open Source and you can get ISO images of so called Live systems which could be used by everyone who know how to burn ISO images and to boot up the computer from CD/DVD or other bootable media like USB flash drives. You can also create bootable USB-Sticks and Windows Live Systems (WinPE) or start a Linux image under Windows thru the program MobaLiveCD and other tools. Read more some lines below!

Linux Operating Systems

is an often used and popular Ubuntu and Debian respectively, derivative. It works very well, is easy to install, easy to use and it looks really pretty. The Mint MATE start menu could be replaced easily with the splitted or the well-known standard menu from GNOME 2. When you start the system for the first time after installation you'll see a welcome screen which provides a list of features and a user guide in PDF. Featured Linux Mint Editions: Mate (GNOME 2 based) 32/64-bit, Cinnamon (GNOME 3 based) 32/64-bit, Xfce 32/64-bit), KDE (32/64-bit) and LMDE = Linux Mint Debian (Mate and Cinnamon, Xfce, 32/64-bit). Advantage of 64-bit: No RAM limitation which is only important if you have more than 3 GB of RAM and a 64-bit compatible CPU. Otherwise, use the 32-bit edition!

Linux Lite - Based on Ubuntu with Xfce like Xubuntu but with it's own nice tools and LibreOffice instead of AbiWord and Gnumeric. Firefox, Thunderbird, VLC video and music player, an image viewer, GIMP for image editing, Xfburn for CD/DVD burning, PDF viewer and more apps are included. Additional software is available and easily installable.

From this point on, the systems are more recommendable for advanced users!

KNOPPIX - The first time I used this great Debian based live system from Klaus Knopper was in 2004 and I found it to be very useful. Since ADRIANE started with KNOPPIX 5.3, the distro is also very recommendable to partially sighted and blind users. You can run the Live-CD (Screenshots) also embedded under Windows thru qemu! KNOPPIX works with the pretty looking LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment). It's not only fast, it also eats less memory and CPU than other environments like KDE and GNOME do!

Systems for Kids

Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) - OS for Kids installable on USB flash drives.

Pupils and Students

DebianEdu - is an educational system for schools and pupils at home which is really easy to install and to use. It's directly based on Debian and works with the K desktop environment (KDE). The network interface is pre-configured so that you can set up a network without advanced knowledge about (Linux) network technology.

Mobile Operating Systems

Ubuntu Touch - Try it if you have a Fairphone 2 and consider to buy a Fairphone 2 if you want a cool and fair Smartphone. Other phones are also supported by Ubuntu Touch.

There are also alternative Appstores out there:

Final Informations

As you can see, there are some very good Operating Systems which you can download and use without of charge and it's mostly Open Source. Why buy expensive ones. If you didn't find it here, I'm sure you'll find a system which fits your needs at Distrowatch, where you'll also find a list with vendors where you can buy computers with Linux OS pre-installed.