Freespire 2.0 Review

[Des]

My first review. Be easy on me now :p .

We all know there are 3 main OS's available in this world. Windows being the most common in Home & Business use, Linux being most common among the Server world & Mac OS the second most popular in the Home & Business world. Now lets face it, it can be a little tricky to switch over from one system to another without prior experience, none can be harder than a Windows user switching to a Linux OS. This is why there is Freespire, a open source & free version of the popular Linspire. Freespire is a Linux distribution that is aimed at recruiting Windows users to Linux. We all know Linux can be scary and a bit of a hassle at first, this is why Freespire is here to help introduce Windows users to Linux. Freespire is a extremely Windows user friendly Linux OS, with a very clean and sleek look. It's based off of the KDE GUI (Graphics User Interface) so its very straightforward and allot like the Windows UI.

First up, the Start up screen.

It's clean, sleek and friendly. It shows you exactly what the OS is loading up and configuring as it does it.

Second, the main Desktop.

It's very clean and friendly looking. You got your Icons on the left, Taskbar on the bottom, with your Start/Launch menu on the far left of the taskbar. On the right you have your running tasks and Date/Time. This should be already 99% familiar looking to any Windows user.

Now one of my favorite parts.

CNR. CNR is a huge online catalog & database of Self-Installing Programs, Applications & Drivers for Freespire. This is really where Windows user friendly come in. In most Linux distros, it can be rather difficult to install a application. You have to open the Terminal, and know all the commands to extract, and install your program. CRN makes it so you shouldn't have to do this. This is by far one of the coolest and most useful features of Freespire in my opinion.

....and now the conclusion! I really liked this OS. It's fast, reliable, user friendly, easy, & a great way to introduce Linux to a Home Windows user. I give it a 8/10 haha!

Check it out for yourself @ Freespire.org

Edited June 25, 2008 by Dez3rt.Eagle

[The2]

Link to try it would be nice

[Impact]

It looks easy enough but the interface looks really ugly and clunky to me. I hate the look of KDE. For me, Ubuntu is the way to go for a new windows user because it's really easy to learn, has a big userbase, and is based off of gnome, which looks better to me.

But hey, whatever floats your boat :)

Good review.

[Des]

Yeah, maybe its just me with the KDE. But thanks for the feed.

:)

[Farstrider]

Nice one! It looks nice and simple, but then so is Ubuntu in its various forms! What is the size of the download and perhaps a link would be helpful for the lazy buggers like me! Cheers.

Sorry I have not slept for a while I see the link now, thanks!

[Des]

Oh, Okay. Its about 683.94 MB and can run from Live CD & Install.

[markwolfe Veteran]

...

Now one of my favorite parts.

CNR. CNR is a huge online catalog & database of Self-Installing Programs, Applications & Drivers for Freespire. This is really where Windows user friendly come in. In most Linux distros, it can be rather difficult to install a application. You have to open the Terminal, and know all the commands to extract, and install your program. CRN makes it so you shouldn't have to do this. This is by far one of the coolest and most useful features of Freespire in my opinion.

...

Ok... So Freespire uses a branded package manager similar to Synaptic. I don't see the need to rave over CNR as much as you did, when the same function (minus the pictures and the ability to pay money) exists in Ubuntu and other distros.

[Impact]

^ Maybe he didn't know that. Still, it's nice to be able to buy software from a central place and download it without having to go searching around for a new user.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Aren't these the same guys who brought us Linspire a few years back? I remember it was pretty good, but I preferred Ubuntu, still it's good (if it is based around Linspire) for newcomers as all drivers etc are already built in.

[markwolfe Veteran]

I didn't have a problem with the rest of the review, but to claim that "most Linux distros" are difficult because "you have to open a terminal and know all the command to extract and install your program". You don't have to. Synaptic exists. And even if one chooses to use the terminal, it is one command to install your program. yum install celestia installs the program "celestia" in Fedora. No special 'extract'.

Just seemed to be misleading.

[Des]

^ Ya they brought Linspire, so its based around it.

[tsupersonic]

Bleh, KDE, I personally hate KDE. I knew about this distro from very long ago, and I actually got Linspire for free. Never bothered to install it... Is there a Gnome version of Freespire?

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Bleh, KDE, I personally hate KDE. I knew about this distro from very long ago, and I actually got Linspire for free. Never bothered to install it... Is there a Gnome version of Freespire?

had a quick look on their forums, there is no official gnome version, however there is this ...

http://forum.freespire.org/showthread.php?t=9426

[Panacik]

I knew Lindows... i mean linspire would release a free version some day :p

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I like KDE more than Gnome, in general. But I've always hated the ugly humongous taskbar. So I tend to use Gnome whenever I'm using a Linux system.

[k311]

i agree. personally, i think that KDE is bloated and tacky. the new version looks better, but still, yeech, i cant bear to use it