Today I began looking into alternative opearting systems. To make a ridiculously convoluted story short, I have a Mac tower that is in need of an OS. I may detail those attempt furhter in the future, but suffice it so say that both Windows and MacOS were not working w/ this particular machine.

I recalled from my high school days that there was a system I used previously that enabled a user to run an entire operatin system from a USB memory stick (e.g. flash drive, thumb drive, pen drive). After a bit of searching, I found that system which I re-discovered was called Portable Apps.

Rather than stick w/ the familiar (albeit forgotten due to time), I decided to look around and see what other options existed. Many of the results I found were some flavor of Linux stacked on top of Ubuntu, but despite that fact, a few options stood out to me.

• Element OS - Built on Ubuntu, but looks and feels like MacOS
• FreeDOS - A Microsoft DOS clone (yes, the terminal), for a really old OS experience
• FuryBSD - Built on FreeBSD (which itself is derived from BSD, which is a version of UNIX)
• ReactOS - An operating system that aims to be able to run Windows software w/o being Windows

I’ve run a trial using Element OS on a laptop that could easily run Windows 10. I picked Element OS because it looks very aesthetically pleasing and is the closest to MacOS visually. Since the end goal of this process is to have an OS on my troublesome Mac tower, this one seemed to be the best fit.

The install process was painless (much like any Ubuntu install w/ a graphical interface) and the OS came with enough drivers to be able to use the machine immediately. I am going to attempt to replicate this success on my troublesome Mac tower and will post a future update