Can I download a Operating System for nothing or cheap?

Question

I am building a computer for a gift to my neighbor from parts I have laying around,the hard drive is blank and i need to have something to put on it,95,98 anything will do,just let it breath.

Answer 1

Linux is mostly free and wicked awesome. DSL Linux http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ or Puppy Linux http://www.puppylinux.com/ are small distros that are easy to install on the fly. for a bigger and better Linux distro, Freespire http://freespire.org/ is a good one, it's alot like Windows XP and is free.

Answer 2

Yes you can install Windows 95 or Windows 98 on it. But you will have to give the original Windows CD to your neighbor along with the computer for it to be legal. Good thing WPA (Windows Product Activation) wasn't around back in the Windows 95-98 era.

Answer 3

Most Linux Operating Systems are totally free.

Answer 4

Hey there,
If you want to download Ares you can download it here for free http://bitly.com/1xTDBCv
It's a good free solution.
Hope it helps.

Answer 5

DOS is not dead, only its critics are.

What you'll find below isn't even a fraction of what's available for free. And remember, unlike Windows, DOS programs are battle tested and reliable. They work.

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You can download several versions of DOS for free. All three of these are current and are still being developed. You can also still buy IBM's PC-DOS 7.0, but it is two years old and is no longer supported.

FreeDOS 1.0
http://www.freedos.org/

DR-DOS 7.0
http://www.drdos.net/

PTS DOS
http://www.phystechsoft.com/

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USB devices can be attached and run in DOS: drives, input devices, flash RAM, printers, CD drives, PDAs, and others.

Bootdisk.com: DOS USB Drivers
http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

Yes, there are USB drivers for DOS...
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=10215

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CD RW drives can also be used in DOS.

DOS CD Roast:
http://doscdroast.freeweb.hu/index.html

Goldenhawk:
http://www.goldenhawk.com/dos.htm
http://www.goldenhawk.com/download.htm

CDRTools (scroll down to "Other Version"):
http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?CDRTOOLS_with_DVD_Support

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There are also several free good GUIs to run overtop of DOS:

ReactOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReactOS

Seal
http://sealsystem.sourceforge.net/

Gem/3
http://www.deltasoft.com/

OpenGem 5
http://gem.shaneland.co.uk/index.html

There is a web browser for Gem....

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Setting up a computer for an internet connection is possible in DOS. If one uses a modem, then Kermit is all that's required. If the user has a cable connection, you simply need the Crynwr drivers and a browser (Arachne or Lynx), a mail program, and maybe an FTP program. TCP/IP and PPP are both possible.

Crynwr
http://www.crynwr.com/

Arachne 1.90
http://www.cisnet.com/glennmcc/arachne/

Lynx 2.8.6
http://lynx.isc.org/

Pine DOS Email
http://www.washington.edu/pine/

Pegasus Mail for DOS
http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_pmail.htm

Barebones DOS email version 3.5beta
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jchap/tvde.htm

NCSA's Telnet/FTP
ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/PC/DOS/Telnet/tel2308b.zip

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Users can also run Basic Linux. It's not a full distribution, but it's VERY easy to set up and run. It also handles X windows.

Basic Linux 3.40
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/

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Also check out these other sites for freeware and shareware:

Nigel's (unfinished) list of PPP & Internet Applications for DOS
http://www.tropinet.com/ppp.html

The Garbo PC Archives
http://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/

MS-DOS TCP/IP Programming
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~dank/trumpet/

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Borland's Pascal and C DOS compilers can be downloaded for free:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/pascal.shtml

Power Basic still makes (and will make) a current version of their DOS compiler for years to come:
http://www.powerbasic.com/products/pbdos/

Answer 6

A unix Operation system would do the trick.

Answer 7

Linux, but unless your neighbor understands it, it'll be a bad choice.

Answer 8

go to www.ares.com download it there from the programs listing.