While most people are familiar with Windows, MacOS, Linux, or more recenty with Android OS and Chrome OS for PC (with Play Store!... not that sorry excuse of an OS called Chrome OS Flex), there are a number of strange and lesser-known operating systems that have been released over the years.
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From strange command-line systems to graphical user interfaces, made for niche interests and unique hardware, over the next few minutes we will take a look at the most unique, unusual and least user-friendly operating systems of all time.
Collapse OS
The developer of this OS believes that our global supply chain will collapse before we reach 2030. With this collapse, we won't be able to produce most of our electronics because their production depends on a very complex supply chain that we won't be able to achieve again for decades.
To avoid this fate, we need to have a system that can be designed from scavenged parts and program microcontrollers. And this is where Collapse OS comes in.
Collapse OS runs on, get ready, 8 bit chips. And as for why, the developer explains:
"...because I think there are more scavenge-friendly 8-bit chips around than scavenge-friendly 16-bit or 32-bit chips. By 'scavenge-friendly electronic parts', I mean parts that can be assembled with low-tech tools. I mostly mean parts with a 'through hole' munting type".
TRON
Initiated by Dr. Ken Sakamura at the University of Tokyo, TRON (The Real-Time Operating system Nucleus) was designed to be source-agnostic, meaning that it can be deployed on a wide variety of hardware.
The Industrial TRON derivative (ITRON) was one of the world's most used operating systems in 2003, being present in billions of electronic devices such as mobile phones, appliances and even cars.
Although mainly used by Japanese companies, it garnered interest worldwide. However, a dearth of quality English documentation was said to hinder its broader adoption.
The US Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 at one point included language that would heavily penalize any Japanese company attempting to sell hardware with TRON installed here.
Red Star OS
North Korea is well known for its relentless isolation from the outside world, and that goes for computer software as well. Systems in North Korea don’t run on Windows or Mac OS, but their very own Red Star OS.
This Unix-like operating system was developed at the country’s Computer Center includes a modified Firefox-based browser called Naenara, which is used for browsing the Naenara web portal on North Korea's national intranet known as Kwangmyong.
Other software includes a text editor, an office suite, an email client, audio and video players, a file sharing program, and video games. Version 3, runs Wine, a piece of software that allows Windows programs to be run under Linux.
As you’d expect from a paranoid security state, Red Star OS also includes numerous user-unfriendly features like a watermarking system that tags all files with the install’s unique serial number so they can be tracked, as well as backdoor access for the Korean secret service.
Suicide Linux
Installing Suicide Linux onto your PC is like playing a game of Russian roulette, with your typing accuracy as the trigger. If you type any command that the standard Linux operating system doesn’t recognize, the compiler interprets it as you askingto wipe and format your hard drive.
As the developer says:
"You know how sometimes if you mistype a filename in Bash, it corrects your spelling and runs the command anyway? Such as when changing directory, or opening a file. I have invented Suicide Linux...
...Any time you type any remotely incorrect command, the interpreter creatively resolves it into rm -rf / and wipes your hard drive. It's a game. Like walking a tightrope. You have to see how long you can continue to use the operating system before losing all your data."
Sabily
Also known as “Ubuntu Muslim Edition”, Sabily was a customized Linux distribution introduced in 2007 to serve the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims.
In addition to the standard features that the OS shipped with, Sabily included Arabic language support without any additional customization.
The operating system also boasted a number of unique pieces of software to help the devout. Minbar is a tray icon application that plays the Muslim call to prayer multiple times a day, and the Zakat Calc program helps users determine the different amounts of mandatory charitable contribution that Islamic law demands. Sabily was discontinued in 2011, but it's still available on ArchiveOS.
Visopsys
Created by Andy McLaughlin in 1997, Visopsys is first of all not a Linux distribution. Is an alternative operating system for PC compatible computers. This system is small, fast, and open source.
It features a simple but functional graphical interface, pre-emptive multitasking,and virtual memory. Though it attempts to be compatible in a number of ways, Visopsys is not a clone of any other operating system.
After taking a computer science course that focused on OS theory, McLaughlin was bit by the bug and decided to make his own. He spent the first year just getting to “Hello World,” but from there he built a ton of different modules and functions, including hardware drivers, windowed GUI and more.
It’s highly likely that McLaughlin will continue to tinker away on this project for as long as there are computers he can install it on.
PonyOS
The world of boutique distributions is a complicated one, and there are operating systems for seemingly every interest.
One that’s particularly fascinating is PonyOS, which is a hobbyist system built from scratch by and for fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
The creators deny it's is a Linux system—instead, it’s built on top of another very weird operating system, ToaruOS. Like its base, PonyOS boasts support for several open-source programs and utilities, as well as a basic window manager for multitasking.
One of the weirdest quirks of both is that windows cannot only be moved and resized, but also rotated. Plus there are ponies on everything.
Have you ever used any of this strange operating systems? If your answer is yes, then please share with us your experience in the comment section. Please feel free to check out the video below and hit it with a Like and, why not, Subscribe so you won't miss the latest videos to come.
