[Annorax]

I'm eager to learn Unix commands and am looking for a way to do so. I've tried Unix Tools and Cygwin, but those aren't really what I want.

I want a separate Unix environment to learn on. I will probably screw stuff up and I don't want it to be my main OS. I have Vmware. Can someone recommend to me a Unix version to use on Vmware for this or an emulator of some sort? Preferably a small, GUI-less distro.

Thanks for any help.

[Squashman]

I dont know of any true FREE UNIX operating systems. You can try version of BSD or Linux that are free. I can't really say which is the best. Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, Slackware, Ubuntu are all very popular. There are also live Boot CD's that you can use to learn on as well. Knoppix is a very popular choice. There is also a live BSD boot cd out there as well.

[CouchMaster]

A good Unix based OS is PC-BSD

[jiml8]

You can usually compile any Unix code to run in Linux, since Linux is a Unix workalike. The standard Unix environment is found in Linux.

You also could use a BSD, which is the "Berkeley Standard Distribution" of Unix.

[brendandonhu]

What exactly do you want to do that Cygwin doesn't support? Cygwin IS a Linux environment.
If you want more of a traditional UNIX- try one of the BSDs.

[Annorax]

Thanks for the suggestings, I'm trying OpenBSD in Vmware.

Now if I can only get it to install. I get all the way to the packages, but there's only one: BSD.rd, though the install guide says there should be more. Without the others, it won't install. I got cd37.ISO (about 4meg) and mounted it but I am at a loss, where are the rest of the packages?

[codejockey]

Can someone recommend to me a Unix version to use on Vmware for this or an emulator of some sort? Preferably a small, GUI-less distro.

Try slackware -- and make sure you answer "no" to the offer to set up a GUI/X-Windows login during installation. Of course, you can install all of the other GUI stuff (Gnome, KDE, X-Windows, etc.) but you don't have to use it. If you decline the GUI login, you will be presented with text-mode terminals and login prompts, a command-line environment and the stark reality of Unix/Linux. GUI mode is still available, but the default is command-line. Go forth and conquer! ( ).

Disclaimer: I have not tried Slackware with VmWare.

Hope this helps.