Great answer and totally agree! I started my Grandparents on Linspire and ultimately they hated it and move to SuSE, but it was a starting point for something different.

For those continual "knockers" of the distribution I think every single one of you should go and read what The Mad Penguin has to say.

I won't steal any of his thunder by posting any of it here.

However, he was resolutely set against Lindows and Linspire, and then approached the company and asked if he could evaluated 5-0 just released.

Please go and read at http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/3717.html exactly what he found, and decide for yourself if he had previously been wrong, maybe, just a tiny maybe, your closed mind might have been too?

I don't say this to insult anyone, nor to cause a flame. Just to ask you, please, to accept that opinions can change, and change for the better

My husband, a Microsoft-free software engineer who loves Linux, had been after me to try Linux after years of using and enjoying Macintosh. When I saw the computing power I could get for five hundred bucks with Linspire loaded, I went for it. This was about six months ago. I have had no trouble with Linspire 4.5; it is fun to use. I foolishly downloaded 5.0 as soon as it was available, loaded it, and found most of my downloaded software evaporated and CNR disabled. It took about ten days to get everything restored, and I'm still having trouble with Japanese fonts on the Web; I get the Unicode boxes. Now I am the proud owner of a Sharp Zaurus 5500. Hubby spent an hour trying to get it to sync with my Linspire desktop, without success. If this doesn't work soon I think I'll get another distro. He doesn't have unlimited time to give me tech support and I have better things to do than learn all that code.

I have run Linspire 4.5 since its release, and enjoy the product even though it isn't the fastest kid on the block.

Did you by any chance consult your husband, as the knowledgeable Linux person (in your words "Microsoft-Free") in the household, before you even contemplate the download and installation of the new version? In hindsight it might have been wise, and he may well be thinking the same things right now. I'm not putting you down personally, it's just that he might have prevented some of the disasters with a word in advance.

All Linux updates of a major nature will run the risk of killing your existing one. Even Microsoft Windows updates are seldom smooth, which is why most MS technical people recommend you do a clean installation and reinstall the applications. Really.

If you have ever tried to update MS Windows98 to MS Windows2000, you would remember that after it has wiped all your useful DOS like scripts etc, it will post a text file to the root directory saying what it has deleted. Without your really knowing there are pitfalls placed in your way. And no way of recovery because it has overwritten them.

Linspire does give you advance warning each step of the installation, depending on which route... update or clean, take-over computer or advanced, etc.

As an exercise for the Linspire beta test program, I upgraded an earlier version when I installed 5.0.59 for the first time.

I had saved the /home directory to another partition, just in case. It wasn't needed, fortunately. But it could have been.

However I then wiped the HDD. I use removeable HDDs (which are NOT hot swap, btw) and installed Linspire 5.0.59 as a clean installation with absolutely no problems. It runs much faster and seems to use resources better.

I noticed that the CNR ran very slowly during the initial mad scramble by every man and his dog to install the product as soon as the release was announced. As an "insider" (beta tester) I noticed this as well, and I understand it was even more hectic as bandwidth demands were placed on the CNR server and its connection that were greatly in excess of the expected.

CNR exhibited some problems during this period and was adjusted, adapted and fine tuned several times. When I felt it was fixed I tried again and reinstalled nearly everything, which was a breeze.

The reason you have to reisntall most of the programs is simply that new versions that will run with the newer Linux kernel and/or version of the KDE desktop manager have to be installed. The older ones won't run. And the older version of the OS won't run the newer versions of the software. There is also the question of associated applications needing updating. Currently I know digikam isn't working - it fails to install because of this problem. But it will be fixed. Sooner or later

And using grub (which I have used with two linux OS's in the past) it may be possible to dual boot between another Linux distro (perhaps Linspire 4.5.xxx) and this one.

This updating all programs is a Linux thing, not a Linspire thing.

I had exactly the same, but to a lesser degree, when I updated SuSE from 9.0 to 9.1 - both of those were great distros as well.

Actually, Linspire is one of the few distributions that does not require you to understand how the OS works... or understand and memorise command line stuff to type into Konsole windows.

May I just make an observation. Fine if you decided to change to a different distro. Be aware, though, that when your new distro needs to be updated, you could end up with just the same problem, but with a less helpful supportive crowd. A quote from a signature I saw once "Your mileage will vary"

And there is no doubt that if you go through the same update process with any Linux distribution, you can end up moaning that you are in trouble again!

In conclusion, Linspire may not be a particular individual's choice. If you are looking for a perfect distro, I'm sorry, but you will never find one!

But it works nicely. And The Mad Penguin thinks so too

Did you by any chance consult your husband, as the knowledgeable Linux person (in your words "Microsoft-Free") in the household, before you even contemplate the download and installation of the new version?
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Of course not! Now I know better.
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All Linux updates of a major nature will run the risk of killing your existing one. Even Microsoft Windows updates are seldom smooth, which is why most MS technical people recommend you do a clean installation and reinstall the applications. Really.
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Macintosh spoiled me.

____________________

Linspire does give you advance warning each step of the installation, depending on which route... update or clean, take-over computer or advanced, etc.

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I don't remember it doing that; I do remember specifying it was an update, not a clean install.

__________________________


Actually, Linspire is one of the few distributions that does not require you to understand how the OS works... or understand and memorise command line stuff to type into Konsole windows.

May I just make an observation. Fine if you decided to change to a different distro. Be aware, though, that when your new distro needs to be updated, you could end up with just the same problem, but with a less helpful supportive crowd. A quote from a signature I saw once "Your mileage will vary"

______________
You have a point. I'm not as conversant with this OS as I was with Mac. If I can get it tosync with my new Zaurus, I think I'll keep it. Thanks for the comments!

You're very welcome

I hope I didn't come over as an expert, or like I was tearing you off a strip for not knowing, lol!!

btw DigiKam now works in CNR in 5.0 - just been told by someone and when I went to try it, it installed, so the dependencies problem was fixed

It still doesn't know my camera but accepts it as a "Directory Browse" which is cool, it sees it as a USB HD drive

I think we all learn things as we go along, and I'm no exception myself. I've been involved in various areas of technical support - used to be called "service" in the days before computers.

It has been a delight meeting you... you know we all post "help" threads for different reasons, and usually we have contributed something to the problem without realising it, even if in the specific case you didn't know the right questions to ask of the right person first

Sounds daft, but it is actually true

Also, thank you for being honest and not heaping blame on some faceless person among the developers of the product!

So please keep returning, let us know what you did to fix it, or ask more questions. There are many people here with great knowledge (I'm a learner BTW), sometimes of specific things, sometimes of general things.

I read through the posts here and it really makes me laugh. Firstly let me say that I am fairly new to Linux, I have installed it off and on my PC's for the last 5 years to track its "user friendliness". I really hate Microsoft for their predatory business practices that stifle innovation, their buggy software, and the fact they have purposefully sabotaged competitor software on their OS.

The main good they have done is brought computing to the mainstream. Installing software and printers (the basics) is fairly easy. I have tried Fedora, Lycoris, Mandrake, Gentoo, and SUSE (latest downloads within the last month). Only Linspire 5.0 worked on my HP ze4560 with internal wireless. The ATI graphics adapter I don't think is working 100% due to the fact the fonts look strange and are not always spaced uniformly. I have noticed this on all of the distros I tried.

Anyway, if you want Linux to really catch on, you will have to accept that the general population will not put up with UNIX command lines. The more acceptance Linux gets, the more programs that will be available. I love Openoffice, it works great but I can't run my Pinnacle Systems software on Linux yet or some of my statistical software.

You Linux purists should be thankful that Linspire/Lindows is appealing to the general population. I too think the CNR is too high at $50 per year. I have suggested to them that if they charge $20 or even less, the economies of scale will come into play and more people will try Linspire. It was the easiest Linux to install and configure that I ever used. It is not totally what I want, if I could blend Linspire, Suse, and Mandrake, I would have perfection. I hate to admit that my version of 5.0 is bootleg because I did not want to plop down the money before I tried it but I am impressed.

Thanks, I am learning a lot.

I think we are well aware some people are really adverse to ever typing anything and others are militant against anyone the would consider doing otherwise but the "general population" will do as it pleases whether you or I attempt to speak for them.

The thing is is that people will try linspire, and think that it is not that good of an OS, and then confuse it with thinking that LINUX is not a good os.

I had the same problems with all my friends.

A good friend of mine tried out redhat linux back in the day, and found it slow, bloated, and less stable than windows, so in term, he thinks linux is slower, more bloated, and less stable than windows.

But if he started out with debian/slackware/or gentoo, he would have had a different opinion, and would have liked it. But now he won't even try those distros because redhat left a bad impression on him of being way too bloated, so he thinks that all of linux is that way.

Linspire is a good operating system. It is the best Linux IMHO for users. I consider myself a power user meaning I use my computer mostly for work, email, Internet, analysis, graphics, website designing, etc. Everything but programming.

Having tried the other distros I mentioned previously, Linspire is much more user friendly and I have not had to go to the command line and type a bunch or commands and switches. It works with my wireless on my laptop and has a wireless tool that I have not found on other distros (gives strength and connection status). I remember back in the DOS days, I stayed in command lines. I do not want to go back now that I know what living without command lines is like. As a matter of fact, I am very rusty on my command lines and whenever I have had to revert to them (very infrequently) I have had to look them up.

If it is not Linux, then what is it?

Thanks for the response.

Scott

linspire IS linux people, get over it.

i think we need to stop feeding the troll(s)

i know alot of people like to bash on Linspire, and most (defenitly not all) of it i would agree with, but i think if you saw it for the good of what it is, you all wouldnt dislike it so much. so, Linspire is.....

1. a way to sell boxes with a OS without paying licenseing fess (good because $MS doesnt profit from this)
2. a way to introduce newcomers to linux without completely overwhelming them (KDE)
3. a crappy distro (IMO) that doesnt demand you pay anything, but those who dont know better probally will.


.... i could go on for awhile but i just dont care enough, but please feel free to. ok back to fc3.

There have been so many articles on this foum regarding Linspire. Do a quick search and you will get some results. Personally I wouldn't use it but I think its a good distro to introduce people to Linux and its visually appealing. I think Click and Run is a bit expensive though, but that doesn't mean I believe it should be a free service.

There are many many good arguments in the "Linspire (Lindows OS) isn't Linux" thread. So I am merging this thread into that one.