Installation

Linux is the fastest OS, and easy to install.

DOS 6.22 overwrites the Master Boot Record and will only install on drive C:. No OS should care what drive it is being installed on. This is a monopolistic act in itself, and while Microsoft might think it's k001 to play stupid tricks, I find it extremely annoying.

Win95 is similar, but worse because re-installing Windows means re-installing most of your programs too.

Linux tells you exactly what’s going on all the time, and will install on any kind of drive. You can put it on:

CD

Zip disk

hard drive

floppy disk

anything your computer thinks is a drive.

This is a real OS. For $0 I can:

Use hundreds of consistent commands, that can do all kinds of stuff. You won't use all of it, but its there if you need it, and directions if you need it. You type "man command" for a manual page on a command.

Telnet

IRC, either graphical or text.

Netscape, they even make the new one for Linux, mail, page composer, etc. also.

Run 132x60 text mode on text screens, something DOS doesn't allow without problems. This helps you maximize your screen's ability, and you can pick other modes, like 132x25 or 80x60 depending on your gfx card.

Color-highlighted directories and files, you can pick the colors it uses too.

Windowing interface that can look and work exactly like you want it too.

Lots of other stuff like Photoshop clone, programming languages and tools, etc., that you don't have to pay for.

You get all the source code too, so if you want to change it to your liking and know how to program you can. You can also run web servers and almost any other internet app for free. It won't crash whatsoever under normal circumstances. It's not perfect, but it's more perfect than Win95, especially if you don't need to run Win95-only programs. Usually to install a program you type:

make all
make install

and to uninstall you type:

make uninstall

This is ideal, but it's not usually hard to get things working if you read the directions.

Offered by Joe.