Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Microsoft, Commercial, Open Source
Linspire 6.0 release: Linux for the Windows set
by Brad Linder Oct 10th 2007 at 6:00PM
So you want your Linux and your proprietary software too? Not a problem. Linspire 6.0 was released today. The software formerly known as Lindows is built on the open-source Linux kernel. But it includes support for proprietary components including MP#, Real, Java, Flash, ATI, and nVidia software, codecs and drivers. Linspire is based on Ubuntu 7.04, but unlike Ubuntu you'll have to pay $50 for a full version of Linspire. Your money buys you support for the aforementioned proprietary components.
Earlier this year, Linspire and Microsoft announced a technology-sharing partnership. And sure enough, the latest version of Linspire supports Windows Media audio and video formats, True Type Fonts, and the ability to open .docx formatted documents using OpenOffce.org.
If you'd rather not cough up the $50, you can always try Freespire 2.0, which includes many, but not all Linspire 6.0's features.
[via Slashdot]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
random said 2:02PM on 10-11-2007
uhh i can do that on ubuntu and fedora core for free, linspire seems like a ripoff to me..
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Shiva said 9:13AM on 10-11-2007
total waste of dollars.
when ubuntu or any other distro can act as a drop-in replacement for my work laptop, then i'll look. until then, these are toy distros.
~
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dennis p said 10:31AM on 10-11-2007
Linspire might not be a total waste of $$$ for everybody. I have an old IBM ThinkPad T40 (14" display, 1440x1050 resolution) that wouldn't run WinXP anymore. It would run Ubuntu 7.04 (and reasonably well too) and with VirtualBox I managed to make Photoshop work OK too.
what finally caused me to switch to a Mac was the fact that the free fonts that come with Ubuntu (and presumably most of the Linux distros) were problematic for this 50 year old's vision. many blogs I read got rendered in such tiny font sizes it was just too hard on my eyes.
the main difference between Linux distros and either Mac OS X or Windows are the fonts they have licensed and distribute with their OS. secondarily, Mac OS X and Windows have invested in software technology to help make fonts "look better" on the screen (...for some vendor-established value of "look better"...).
linux does not ship with $1000 worth of fonts like a Mac does ($1000 = price for you to buy those fonts from the foundry). if linspire were to include both a great set of fonts and some better LCD display font rendering software it very well could be worth the $50 to people like me whose eyes can no longer read fonts rendered at very small point sizes.
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alex3305 said 10:49AM on 10-11-2007
And stil, Photoshop CS3 won't run on a *nix box, so I am not going to go to Linux when PS isn't running on it!!
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vardeman62 said 11:32AM on 10-11-2007
You don't need PS when you have GIMP
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Abscissa said 4:46PM on 10-11-2007
@#2:
"many blogs I read got rendered in such tiny font sizes it was just too hard on my eyes."
Solution: "View" -> "Text Size" -> "Increase"
As for the text in GUIs, I'm pretty sure the size of those is adjustable too. If not, quit using Ubuntu's default "1600x1200" resolution.
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Abscissa said 4:36PM on 10-11-2007
@#5: That's what I was thinking. And who gives a crap about the RealPlayer formats anyway? And what in the world is MP#? And just who did frame Roger Rabbit? And why won't the voices leave me alone? And...and...oh nevermind.
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Papa said 11:44PM on 10-13-2007
This might be a necessary baby step for some to leave behind Windows. However, having been free and clean of Microsoft for over six months, I can personally say, "Just Do It!" Sure, I may have lost a couple of DirectX-dependent games, but I've gained stability, security and freedom. The first step is scary, but well worth the effort.
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Abscissa said 10:41PM on 10-14-2007
@#8: I've tried to get into Linux for the second time lately (I had tried Mandrake and RedHat a few years ago and gave up out of frustration with shit constantly breaking and just being a general PITA to get anything done, and yes I'm well versed in bash). So I've been using Ubuntu 7.04 on one of my systems (also tried Kubuntu and Xubuntu). My experiences this time have been...better...but certain things have still been a general PITA. (For instance, I can't find a file manager nearly as nice as Win Explorer or a media player nearly as nice as Media Player Classic. Plus a lot of Windows annoyances have invaded Linux lately, like AutoRun, nag bubbles, automatic post-burn disc ejects, etc. Stability has been no better, I'm having apps crash much more often than I ever have on XP. Documentation is better than it used to be but still spotty. I do find bluetooth support to be much better, though.) It's been enough of a pain that I plan to switch the system back to WinXP very soon. Which is a shame, since I'm not exactly thrilled with MS either (and the last time I liked Apple, Woz was still there).
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