Distro Review | Freespire 1.0

If you are a Linux newbie or want to pass quickly and smoothly from Windows to Linux, and are ready to sacrifice a few dollars for a complete Linux distribution, then Linspire is for you. Linspire targets the Linux medio-user but does not satisfy the professional. Many Linux users are hostile towards the Linspire project because users most pay to install applications that are free on the net. Linspire sells out a series of extra applications that other distributions do not have like; ATI and Nvclassia video drivers, codecs for DVD reproduction, MP3. With this philosophy the company offers a product that needs little or no extra intervention.

Linspire launched in July 2006 Freespire, is a particular community version of Linspire. The particularity of Freespire is that the user has two options;
Freespire OSS Edition – entirely based on Open Source software, and
Five-0 – the commercial version, uses propriety software, costs 50 dollars. For both, the community version is license free.
Immediately after the installation of the commercial version, the distribution can reproduce MP3, DVD and can read Window Media file formats, Quicktime, and Real Media. Even Java and Flash are supported. Also present are video drivers for ATI , Nvclassia and WLAN.

Whats New: The base version as said only contains free Open Source software, but propriety software like drivers, codec can be subsequently bought using the Click and Run (CNR) Linspire technology. The CNR is unique. No other distribution uses it. Every bought package could be installed just with a simple click.

Real Open Source packages can be installed using the APT (Advanced Packaging Tool) and users have access to the Linspire repository to download software using apt-get. Since Freespire is a Debian based distro, its packages are orientated towards the conventional .deb.

The browser of Freespire is a modified version of Firefox and according to the Mozilla Foundation guclassing rules it cannot be called Firefox so Linspire calls it the LBrowser. Negative Note: LBrowser often blocks when you click on a URL.

The installation is simple, takes about 15min with the LiveCD. Could use Gparted for hard disk partitioning. Really no intervention is needed with the automatic installation. During the installation Freespire creates an Admin-Account that represents a sought of pseudo-root but its a user account that has full administration rights. The real root account is dis-activated by default and can be activated later on at the end of the installation.

The objectives of Freespire is to create an active community of programmers and users. The project has to be maintained by the Open Source community and financed by free donations. If you are a newbie and want to get started without much ado, then this distro is for you. Try it out, you might find it better than Ubuntu 😉 and Let me know if youdid…