Hey isn't linux supposed to be a free open source OS? How come when I go to redhat.com they want me to pay $40 for redhat linux 9? And when I try to download it off of their ftp site it says that it will take like 2-4 days to finish the dl. I have a cable connection so I don't see why it would take so long to DL. Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy of redhat linux 9 for free?

As all the readme documention that talks about free software explains, free refers to the freedom you are granted to modify as you choose. You are also allowed to sell or give away your changes as long as you do it under the same license you obtained the software. You are allowed to charge for media or the convenience of downloading. This applies to the RedHat people as well. You can download the iso images for free without paying $0.01. 3 600 meg images should finish over night. If you would like to give them $40 and support the development of this OS, please do.

You may get the .iso files of RH 9.0 from: http://61.141.32.72:8080/view.asp?id=379

http://61.141.32.72:8080/view.asp?id=379 You can get the .iso files of RH 9.0 from the above website.

You can also go here..this is where I go to download the iso(s). All distros: http://www.linuxiso.org/ Red Hat: http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=7 I'll give you a hint. When you click on the download icon(reddish cd), and after you select which folder you want to download to, check the download speed. If the speed is slow and the download windows tells you it's going to take over 1hr+, cancel the download and click on the download icon again. It will select another ftp to download from and check the download speed again, etc. It took me about four tries x 3 to find a ftp to download from to download 3 650MB iso files, which took only 3hrs total. Also, make sure you check the MD5SUM to make sure your downloaded iso file is not corrupt. If you are still on Windoze, you can go to http://www.md5summer.org/ to download the MD5summer sum generator before you burn the iso(s) to disk(s). HTH estatik

You do realize that there is a link directly to RedHat's FTP right on the main page titled "Downloads" on the top right hand side of the page. It links you directly to the Shrike CDs --- i386 and SRPMS --- the first 3 (all of which you need).

You'll probably find that the $40 redhat want goes towards paying for the packaging and documentation. You may find it worth while buying at least 1 distro so that you can get a hard copy of any books that come with it.