Freespire 2.0.3

In KDE You can easily create another panel, put it, let say, on the left edge of the screen, make it smaller, shorter, and apply auto hide function. Like this You have a launch bar that doesn't ocuppy space on the screen, neither in the (main) panel.

You should try PCLinuxOS too !!

Thanks for the great review! You got me excited to try it out at least in VM. Although I was going to mention that the latest version directly linked from their website is 2.0.8 on torrent.

Great review, finally Freespire gets the praise it deserves.

Here come the FOSS nerds!

I have tried freespire a short time ago as expirimental distro for me,but now i use Ubuntu very well for a long time because that´s my faforite distro.
Freespire has a very nice polished desktop that statisfies me.
But if you want to install freespire on your hd,then your choice of how to partitioning your hd is not so good.
That´s my opinion.
By Ubuntu you have all the freedom to partition your hd very simple,the same way if you had whith installing windowsXP.
Also you have a easyer choice in formatting your partition whith your chosen filesystem.

Great review, although the most current release is 2.0.8. I especially like the control Freespire allows you to have. I like that they don't restrict you from logging in as the root user, which many other distros such as ubuntu do. This distro doesn't treat you as an idiot. I'm fairly new to Linux (been using it for about a year) and using this distro has been a awesome experience. I've recommended it to all my friends and family.

I find it amusing that you praise the driver selection, when Freespire does not recognize my NIC (most distros do) or my wireless card.

I would agree with many of the comments made by the reviewer, but I do not completely share all of his conclusions.

When Freespire 1.0 first came out, I was extremely excited about it. Lindows.com and then Linspire, had fallen behind in the rapidly changing landscape of software, and in the Debian world of free software, at times it seemed that Linspire was even trailing Debian Stable - which is rock stable, but crusty old to run on anything but servers. Linspire was feeling that way. With Freespire, I felt a fresh jolt of energy in the project.

Unfortunately, however, Freespire has not been able to sustain that momentum. Both Freespire 2.0 and Linspire 6.0 were months late getting out of the gate, and in the meantime, some very nice alternatives have appeared, including Linux Mint, which includes the plugins just like Freespire and Linspire, PCLinuxOS, an RPM based system that nevertheless uses the Debian apt packaging system - it also includes those non-free add ons, has easy package management, and really does not ask you to do a whole lot. Then there is SimplyMEPIS 7.0, which has been the model of stability and great packaging for free Debian systems for several years now. Finally, there are updates to the Ubuntu versions themselves, and additional tools, which make those versions easier to use than ever before.

I would agree that both Linspire and Freespire are about as easy as you can get in providing non free proprietary add ons so that consumers can just use the computer without worrying about all of the details. I would also agree that the language used in Linspire and Freespire installations caters more to the consumer than other releases.

There is one other vendor who also caters to a very similar audience: Xandros. These two vendors really stand out in ease of installation and use. Unfortunately, they also stand out in the industry as being the most tardy to keep their software reasonably up to date.

For the non-informed consumer, perhaps this is not a big issue. What is a bit disconcerting, however, is an uncertainty about whether the latest security updates are getting applied or if they are as tardy as the rest of the application software.

For these reasons, though ease of use it at the top of the industry, three or four other vendors are extremely close in ease of use, but much better in other aspects of software maintenance. Kevin Carmony, former President of Linspire, after leaving the company, questioned the need for either Freespire or Linspire, especially since they cannot seem to keep up. Sadly, I have to agree. Linspire ought to focus on rapidly improving and extending CNR and offering it across diverse free and commercial systems, and use that as their business model. I'm sorry, I just cannot see consistently using the base system. I can get the same with those other vendors with very little effort. If I were giving or selling systems to un-informed consumers, I would prepackage hardware and software, and this would not even be an issue, therefore it is not a strong selling point.

So while Freespire is still on top in ease of use, it is in the lower tier in most other areas and I can no longer recommend it for those reasons. Instead, I recommend SimplyMEPIS 7.0 plus Automatix2 to get that media capability, with alternates of PCLinuxOS or Linux Mint.

Personally, as more of a geek type, I use sidux, which can also acquire all the non free extras very easily. Not a newbie distro, but a true cutting edge distro. Different audience than the Freespire audience, but great software.

For those who do not mind old software, then yes, Freespire still makes a great choice.

Thanks seopher for another great review. It seems that it's Freespire it's a .deb version of PCLOS :)

I didn't try the latest version of Freespire, but I hope they get rid of almost unfindable username&pass for life cd (it's live, so I like distros, which have it on login wallpaper). Another thing is that Ubuntu 7.04 if far behind 7.10 (in functionality and userfriendliness), I hope we'll see Freespire based on 8.04 soon.

I've tried lots of Linux distro's in the last year and the one I keep on my PC is Freespire 2.
I'm a newbie to Linux and find that Freespire just Works!
Quick and easy to install. Fast to start up and not too resource hungry ( I've used it to breathe new life into an old Pentium III 866MHz PC ).
I find I can get everything working without having to tinker with command line stuff in a terminal. It detects Modem/router settings OK for easy Internet access. It works well with other ( Windows ) PC in a network. I can control it easily with VNC from another PC, play videos etc.
I've seen some criticisms of Freespire from some of the Linux purists, but I would recommend anyone to try it before judging.

Anyone who says PCLOS or Mint or any other distro using illegal codecs is better than freespire, really needs to think that through. You only say that because in your mind you are getting a more up to date distro with the same media codecs. But the biggest thing freespire should be touted for is its LEGAL use of codecs. It licenses all codecs. Take away the illegal use of codecs in PCLOS, Mint, and a host of others, and I bet the tune changes quickly. I personally will not even use a distro that includes illegal codecs, just like I don't download illegal music. It's stealing, plain and simple. I never see this talked about in the FOSS community. It's like all the geeks don't realize that when they watch their videos on PCLOS that is illegal if it is a MS codec, MP3 codec, and a host of others. The only company doing it right is freespire! Name a legit distro (one that charges money for one version, and has a free version) that includes licensed codecs on the free version?? None, except freespire. That is because codecs cost money, and cannot be given away for free, freespire can only do it because of CNR. Giving them away for free by the other companies that have income, opens them up to law suites, which is why they don't do it, that and they would lose money. Grow up FOSS community, one day MS and others are going to sue the pants off most of these distros, and they will have every right too. In life good things cost money, this is a fundamental law of the universe. Quite using free stuff that hasn't paid for the right to distribute the paid stuff.