Ok, this is my last edit/post I swear!!! Everybody with a bone to pick CAN IT AND CLICK HERE! Congratulations! You've all (including myself, I'll admit) been arguing over NOTHING. This proves all the points that I have seen in these forums. Linspire not only supports open source, but it offers it's source code freely. Ok, now can we PLEASE just settle this arguement?

-Peter

well they started it

Every distro is "based on Linux". Linux is the kernel, the distro should be rightly entitled "xxx GNU/Linux" - I think that was pointed out on page one or two.

The GPL does not stop anyone from charging for a distro. Only we, the users, can stop them. How? By not buying it. By buying a distro we are sending the message that we think it's worth the money. Or that we are not cheap. Something like that.

Remember: INTERNET. SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Oh and the quote is "Learn Slackware, learn Linux"

something like that....

Actually I've been looking seriously at Lindows/Linspire over the past few months. I might just take the plunge. My thoughts are that the support is better than other distros (community notwithstanding) and the CnR repository has some nifty items, which include lower-priced commercial products. I - for one - am not a zealot for free software, if I think it has value, I'll buy it. I'm currently running a free verison of SuSE 9.3 but there are a few items which may warrant a paid subscription. For example I use Crossover Office - If I could get updates at a reduced price, I'd like that.

As for the whole "based on Linux" issue - IIRC, Lindows is a Debian offshoot, similar to Xandros, Ubuntu or Knoppix. Hence there is no quesiton that it is or isn't "Linux based". I never understood that.

You know what? I'm actually considering installing Lindows! Why the heck not? Anyone who takes on Microsoft can't be that bad. You know what? With the legal battle they fought they probably need the funds to recover. Anyway, I'll check it out. Hey, if you want the iso from Linspire's website, just type:

I did

-Peter

It looks to me like you are currently downloading the source cds, as in, the cds that have the source code of the apps included, not the actual distro. You will not be able to install with that i think.


Now this is long, but it is semi-interesting

But back on topic. Linspire is linux. Yes, it is a very subpar distro, but it is one none the less. You cannot get updates for free. Ever. That is the problem that i have stated many times. YOU CAN GET NO SECURITY UPDATES EVER UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE TO CNR!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a BIG deal. People say use apt, but when you do use apt, it just pulls the files off of a debian sid server, which is a very bad idea because right now debian sid is actually unstable, and you are slowly converting your distro to debian, which will eventually break completely. And still no updates.

They do offer the source code to their apps on their site and you can download it for free, but the site is poorly organized, and it seems like the link to download the source code is different on some pages as if to "hide" their more exclusive software(their gaim, their lsongs).

Plus their software is coded to include the most obscure things ever meaning that they depend SPECIFICALLY on the exact versions and patches of things like kdelibs so you can't compile lsongs on any other os other than linspire because it requires the exact patches linspire makes to kde(now that was back in the beginning of this year, it may have changed since then, but somehow i doubt it)

Now ethics aside, the os is very poorly made. I installed it on my pc and my parents pc just to test it out.

First thing; the default QT widgets they use may look pretty, but they are awfully buggy and slow. And they use qt-gtk by default, which would normally be okish, but the qt widgets they choose do not work well in qt-gtk causing menu problems in apps like firefox and gaim.

Next you have the use of JACK by default. Why would they do that? Trying to change the settings in kde control center to use arts resulted in the pc freezing completely and i had to do a hard power off.

Next you have the linspire internet suite, which IS mozilla. nothing about it is different except that for some reason it takes 11 seconds to startup on my pc. No biggie, i just go and download firefox(at which point i discovered the stupid, less user friendly than every other linux distro, home directory layout and default konqueror settings). So once i install firefox, everything seems good.(or so i think).

I go and startup firefox, and i get the buggy menus that i mentioned earlier from qt-gtk. Clicking on edit causes the areas that get covered by the edit button to become corrupted once you close the edit menu. Ok i say, so i just switch to a real gtk theme and i'm good to go.

Then i go to newgrounds.com and install the flash plugin, and then it hit me. The JACK audio server is using my soundcard(the linspire dev's half-assed idea to implement software mixing for multiple audio at once, even though dmix is better and easier to implement) causing flash to not play sound at all, and there is no way to get rid of the jack server since every attempt to change it from kde control center causes a hard freeze and there is no way to kill the process(it just restarts) and no way to setup flash to use JACK, i will never have flash audio in linspire.

Now i know that part of this is due to my lack of knowledge of the JACK audio connection, but why would they put a tool like that into a distro that definately doesn't target JACK's target audience? USE.DMIX

Then there is speed. IT is very slow. It is the slowest os i have ever used. ever.

I first cut my teeth in linux on Mandrake 7.2 back in 2000. I KNOW that if i started on Linspire, i would not be using linux right now, as i would think it was just some poor unstable windows imitator, and i would have no idea what linux could really be like.


hmm maybe i should have written a review...

nice post!
sounds about right! Just what I have said, if it works for you then great but if it doesnt then forget it because it probably never will! And trying to fix anything in linspire is almost impossible because of the way they change evrything. You use linspire the way linspire dictates and not much else unless you want it broke! The only freedom and choice you have with linspire is the freedom and choice they give you.....

That being said.....feel free to use it just make sure new users know what they are getting..... stop marketing and just state the truth.....

I was a Windows user, Linspire change my mind, first proof. Now I have also copies of Ubuntu, Xandros, Red Hat, Suse. I have them on my PC and it is showed at least to 4 guys per day, all of them liked Linspire over the others because compatibility with wma, quicktime, java, mp3, dvd, etc out of the box. Easy of install and easy of use, one click for installing apps, not need of synaptic, no need of checking dependencies, forget about difference of deb, rpm, sh, etc. just clik what they need and it installs (no weird names). It works out of the box, any other Linux even if they looks great when a newbie want to install something he gets completely lost.

Till now I had been using Linux for 8 months (my pc is at my home office) and showed my Linux box aprox. to 1,000 guys the ones that converted to Linux now use Linspire, the rest kept their Windows box. Nobody wanted the other distros. (All of them were Linux Newbies)

How about that statistic??...

You do have security updates without CNR..

dpkg -r cpudyn resolves big part of the slowness, that's a known issue that is been working on for 5.1 also the jack server.

The changes to Firefox were not ready for 5.0 release that's why Mozilla Internet Suite was use instead.

It's not perfect yet but is doing a great job,

"You do have security updates without CNR.."
where? and how?

"dpkg -r cpudyn resolves big part of the slowness, that's a known issue that is been working on for 5.1 also the jack server."

what is dpkg? I just want to CNR it, you just said "It works out of the box" so why shoudl I have to do this? I have seen it said that no command line is neccessary in linspire. And as the one thread at the lispire forum stated that helped but DID NOT fix it completely.

"The changes to Firefox were not ready for 5.0 release that's why Mozilla Internet Suite was use instead."
Huh what changes? Firefox has been around a while you know...

"It's not perfect yet but is doing a great job"
WHOA looks like a opinion, call peter the opinion squasher.... peter quick we have a opinion over here - "thats ok, it is a GOOD opinion"

"I was a Windows user, Linspire change my mind, first proof."
oh well, hard evidence there, call distrowatch and tell them to move linspire up to #1 and call redhat, sandros, and the others and tell them to close shop RIGHT NOW!

" Now I have also copies of Ubuntu, Xandros, Red Hat, Suse. I have them on my PC and it is showed at least to 4 guys per day, all of them liked Linspire over the others because compatibility with wma, quicktime, java, mp3, dvd, etc out of the box."
They liked that they still were using closed formats? They liked they are supportting the very people hat would liek to see linux disappear? They like that they have a dictator that says wether they can play their home movies.... Oh, i feel sick already! I wont even ask why four guys come to your house everyday

...I wont bother with the rest, it is tooo funny already...

awww ok..
"Nobody wanted the other distros."
Well I am sure you explained all the pros and the CONS of linspire as well as those other distros fairly then and they chose correctly...... I am sure you werent biased! Of course I could probably dig up a hundred other posts similar to that and insert whatever named distro....

everything just works huh.... well, let me head over to the forums and look at your post history and see if the proof is int he pudding....

When dealing with you, Jake, it's "Peter the fact-checker".

You won't win any converts to your views by continuing to make significant untruths.

Peter

yea i was showing a bit of favoritism So at least YOU really did catch me telling untruths

of course debian is a good learning experience as well....