Well, for the BeOS Hardware, as I said, I've got the same issue, because the version I have, which is the boxed and paid for copy, is REALLY old now, and so even though I don't have a bunch of new hardware, the machines I DO have, are all basically from like at least 5 or more years ago. I've got one machine I'm using as a Server right now which has Slackware Linux on it, and THAT one I actually had BeOS installed on for a long time. I eventually started using it as a server when the video card started to die out on me, so, now, it's only used as an FTP Server and Storage.

The other machine I have from around the same time frame, sadly, isn't working. And because it's so old, it's going to probably be pretty hard to get new hardware for it, other than trying Ebay heh. I'm pretty sure it needs a new Power Supply, new video card, and possibly some other stuff. So I'm not really Happy about it dying on me.

Then, I have one other machine, which is actually around the same age as those, but, it was my Aunt and Uncle's Computer, and the machine basically died out years ago. Now, I can PROBABLY put the HD I had in my old test machine in there, but I don't really know what all is wrong with it yet as I haven't looked much.

My Laptop, my Compaq, and my Medion PC, are all from around the same time frame too... Lol, I ugess I'd go on Computer buying sprees every few years haha. I have like 3 machines from like 2000, and then, I've got the Compaq Presario 6000 which has an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Processor, at like 2.13 GHz or so, and that one came with XP, but I have Slackware and Mandriva on it right now (I decided last night / early this morning, after being awake for 47 hours, to try Mandriva again to see if the newer version I have here is any better lol).

Then, there is my Medion, which has an Intel Celeron Processor at about 2.40 GHz, and that has the 80 GB HD it came with, and I then installed a 160 GB HD in it, and it too came with XP, and, it's running FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE and nothing else. I'm not dual booting or anything, it just has FreeBSD on it and that's it. The Compaq is the same too, it only has Linux, no Windows there either.

My Laptop also came with Windows XP, but I haven't used Windows on it in a long time. It's currently got FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE on it, and nothing else, as I'm not dual booting that either. It has an Intel Pentium 4 - M Processor at 3.06 GHz in it.

So those are my main machines other than my new one I got for Christmas in 2009, which is an Intel Processor too, and it has a huge drive in it, and is running Windows 7, and Slackware. It's the only machine I have with Windows on it lol.

Now, of all those, the ones that I could install BeOS on, would basically be my Server, but since it's my Server I can't. My test machine is my Mom's old Gateway Essentials. It's a total POS and wasn't even that great when it was purchased lol. It had FreeBSD and Slackware on it, but then it stopped working, and it's hardware, so I can't really fix it right now. I'd totally put BeOS on that though.

For the other stuff you asked, I'll answer in sections to make it easier for you to read instead of being all smashed together lol:

OS/2 -

Mostly it's my personal opinion that makes me not like it. I don't use it, and I know a lot of the history behind it, and I really think had IBM done more to get Microsoft out of there earlier before they just dropped IBM on it's head to go for DOS and Windows, I think it would have probably been WAY better than it turned out.

The system may very well work good for you, but I just personally don't like it for what I do is all. So I won't do a huge technical review of it, since, again, I don't use it and would probably have to research most of it lol.

Anyway, like I said, if you like OS/2 and it works for you, then go for it, don't ever let anyone tell you that you shouldn't use something if it works for you. That's actually important I think; If you find something that does what you want it to do, and works good for you, then anything anyone says really doesn't matter

I think I already went over most of my Opinions on PC-BSD, and how I think it's a great OS based on FreeBSD. So basically, I'd say go for it too. BSD in general works REALLY well.

As for obscure OSs and all that, you might want to look into something like PicoBSD or something like that... Actually, I'll see if I can find the link for you and that way you can look at a couple things which may help you find exactly what you want. I'll post some links here for you, and this way, you can look into everything, and see how it looks, read about it, and then decide if you'd like to give it a shot.

I don't mind doing it and finding this stuff, because really, I collect OSs, and I think OSs in general are really cool, so, I have a LOT of crap here lol. I've still got PC-DOS 6.2 or something like that on Floppy from IBM even though I got my very first Computer ever, in September of 1999, but I find stuff sometimes and grab it when I can.

I also have screen shots of things like Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows Chicago, and other weird things I've found over the years.

OK, I'll describe what I know about some of these if I've used them, but I haven't used all of them, so, if I haven't, I'll let you know I haven't, because some of them I've downloaded, and just haven't been able to install them yet so if I've used it, I can tell you my opinion on it, and if I haven't used it, I can tell you what I do know about it. Some of it I can just link you to and you can check it out to see what you personally think of it, which is the only thing that matters anyway, so, check these out, and, if you see something you do like, look into it, and, if you want to, download it and give it a try


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BSD -

GhostBSD -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ghostbsd

This is based on FreeBSD as it says, and from what I've seen, it's awesome. You can't install it yet, but, hey, with how fast development of BSD happens, this could change quick.

PC-BSD -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pcbsd

I know you already probably have a lot of these links since you seem to be interested in it, but I figured I'd give you this link too because it has a LOT of information on it, and some good links to read more about it.


Dragonfly BSD -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?dis...n=dragonflybsd



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Linux -

Unity Linux -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=unity

This looks pretty cool, and it's based on Mandriva, which, for a long time was a great distro. I do like Mandrake and Mandriva, and even though Mandrake is the old stuff, I liked it. It worked pretty well, and now, I'm not so sure. I do have a fresh install now to try out, so I haven't made an opinion yet, but it looks cool so far.



Saline -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=saline

This is based on Debian, which is great, and from what I've read, it looks nice.



Fusion -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fusion

This is based on Fedora and seems to have some really good support for more apps. I was reading up on it not to long ago, and when I read how it seems to have a smart way of adding more apps, and even has the firmware, I was kind of pretty impressed. The site says "adds all the best software that is available for Linux (free, non-free and even some non-open source firmware and applications for better user experience). It is an installable live DVD image that includes multimedia functionality out of the box, with added desktop tweaks for better usability, and additional software. Fusion Linux is 100% compatible with Fedora, including packages from Fedora and RPM Fusion software repositories.".


Legacy -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=legacy

This looks kind of cool too. I like how it has all the extra apps, and yet can work on older hardware too.


E-Live -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=elive

I for sure would look into this one. I'm a HUGE FAN of Enlightenment. So basically anything that lets you try it out, is probably good lol.

Elive, or Enlightenment live CD, is a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution and live CD featuring the Enlightenment window manager. Besides being pre-configured and ready for daily desktop use, it also includes "Elpanel" - a control centre for easy system and desktop administration. Elive is a commercial distribution; while the live CD is available as a free download, those wishing to install it to a hard disk are asked to pay US$15 for an installation module.


PC/OS -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pcos

PC/OS is a user-friendly desktop and server Linux distribution based on Xubuntu. Some of its most interesting features include support for popular browser plugins, addition of packages for multimedia production, content creation and software development, and a BeOS-like desktop theme. PC/OS comes in several editions, including OpenDesktop, OpenWorkstation and WebStation.



Mac Pup -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=macpup

I had to add a link to this one for you; It uses Enlightenment lol.



Linux Console -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?dis...n=linuxconsole

Linux Console is actually pretty cool; I downloaded this like a few months ago and tried it out on my Laptop, and I was actually pretty impressed with it. It's got low system requirements so you don't need a super fast machine, and it's got a nice interface too. I like it.


Pinguy -


http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pinguy

Pinguy OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution targeted at beginning Linux users. It features numerous user-friendly enhancements, out-of-the-box support for multimedia codecs and browser plugins, a heavily tweaked GNOME user interface with enhanced menus, panels and dockbars, and a careful selection of popular desktop applications for many common computing tasks.



Quirky -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=quirky

Quirky, a sister project of Puppy Linux, is a Linux distribution built with a custom tool called Woof. The underlying infrastructure, such as boot-up and shut-down scripts, setup tools, hardware detection, desktop management, user interface, speed and general ease-of-use are common across all distributions built with Woof, but a specific build will have a different package selection and further customisation (even totally different binary packages). Quirky is developed by the founder of Puppy Linux and Woof to push the envelope a bit further, to explore some new ideas in the underlying infrastructure -- some of which may be radical or odd, hence the name Quirky.



Absolute -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=absolute

This is actually based on Slackware, and I have it here. I installed it on my Laptop and actually liked it. It's a nice Distro. Some of the tools it has, are awesome. "Absolute Linux is a light-weight modification of Slackware Linux. It includes several utilities that make configuration and maintenance easier and it has many common desktop and Internet applications installed and configured with tight integration of menus, applications and MIME types. Absolute Linux uses IceWM and ROX for its window and file managers."


MoonOS -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=moonos

MoonOS is a Live CD, and I think you can install it the machine too, and I actually use this one too. It's REALLY nice! Even if you don't want to install this on your machine, I recommend at least looking at it. It's SO pretty, and has a lot of really nice art work, and the whole design is all around amazing. I was seriously amazed when I first saw it. "moonOS is a complete, Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the LXDE and Enlightenment 17 desktop managers and imaginative, original artwork. A project created and designed by Cambodian artist Chanrithy Thim, moonOS is intended as an operating system for any desktop, laptop or virtual machine."


gOS -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=gos

gOS is an easy-to-use, Ubuntu-based distribution designed for less technical computer users. Its main features are the use of Enlightenment as the default desktop and tight integration of various Google products and services into the product.



vector Linux -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=vector

This is another one I wanted to link you to, because it's actually a REALLY nice distro. It's based on Slackware, and it's actually really nice. I've used it a lot over the years, and it's basically made to be fast and work on hardware not many others work on.



Back Track -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=backtrack

This is basically a Security Distro of Linux; It's got a lot of Security tools on it, and it's actually pretty cool too.

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Solaris -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=solaris

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Minix -

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=minix
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Anyway, I know this is a SUPER long post, but I figured this would possibly help you out if you decide to go with BSD or Linux. Hope that helps!