- Freespire
Infobox OS
name = Freespire
caption = A screenshot of Freespire RC1
developer =Linspire , Inc. and the Freespire community
family =Linux
source_model =Free software /open source with optionalproprietary software /closed source components
license = Free/open source licenses (mostly GPL) with optional proprietary components
latest_release_version = 2.0
latest_release_date =August 7 ,2007
kernel_type =Monolithic kernel
ui =KDE
working_state = Current
website = [http://www.freespire.org www.freespire.org]
supported_platforms =x86 [ [http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/HCL_Processors HCL Processors - Freespire ] ]
language = EnglishFreespire is a community-driven
Linux distribution which is composed mostly of free/open source software, while providing users the choice of includingproprietary software includingmultimedia codec s,device driver s andapplication software as they see fit.Freespire is originally derived from
Linspire . Freespire 1.0 is based onDebian , while Freespire 2.0 is based on Ubuntu. Linspire was bought byXandros , who decided to switch back to Debian for future Freespire releases. [http://practical-tech.com/operating-system/back-to-debian-freespire-returns-to-debian-roots/]History
In August 2005, a distribution
Live CD based on Linspire's source pools named "Freespire" hit the web by accident. [ cite web | url = http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/FAQ_Category:_About_Freespire_and_The_Freespire_Project#Wasn.27t_there_a_Freespire_project_released_towards_the_end_of_2005.3F_Is_this_the_same_project.3F | title = Wasn't there a Freespire project released towards the end of 2005? Is this the same project? | work = Freespire FAQ | publisher = Freespire.org | accessdate = 2006-05-04 ] This distribution was created by Andrew Betts and was not produced or released by Linspire Inc. Freespire was confused by some users to be an actual product from Linspire, and at the request of Linspire the distribution adopted a development codename "Squiggle" [ cite web | url = http://www.squiggleos.org/ | title = Squiggle OS website | accessdate = 2006-04-27 ] and began looking for a new name. Linspire then, on the back of the generated publicity, offered users a "free Linspire" (purchase price discounted to $0) by using the coupon code "Freespire" untilSeptember 9 ,2005 . Squiggle OS is no longer in active development.On
April 24 ,2006 , Linspire announced its own project named "Freespire".cite web | url=http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/24/1951201&from=rss | title=Newsforge: Linspire launches Freespire, open-sources CNR | accessdate=2006-04-25] The new Freespire distribution was announced by then Linspire President and former CEO Kevin Carmony. This follows to the model of Fedora Core being supported byRed Hat and the community since 2003.Novell had also started a similar community project by the name ofopenSUSE for itsSUSE Linux product line in the second half of 2005.Xandros acquired Linspire/Freespire in the Summer of 2008 [cite web | url = http://www.linspire.com/lindows_news_pressreleases.php | title = July 2008 Linspire news release] . Xandros plans on keeping Freespire as a community developed distribution similar to that of Open Suse and Fedora for their respective commercial distributions.
Features
The distribution is a Debian-based, community-driven and -supported project tied to the commercial Linspire distribution. Freespire includes previously proprietary elements from Linspire, such as the
Click N' Run (CNR) client, while other elements, which Linspire itself licenses but does not own, like theWindows Media Audio compatibility libraries, remain proprietary/closed source. Consequently, there are two versions of Freespire, one with the proprietary/closed source libraries, and one, called Freespire OSS Edition, that includes mostly open-source components. Freespire has a number of in-house programs written in Haskell andO'Caml , such as itsISO image builder, its hardware detection and autoconfiguration, its package autobuilder and "Debian library", and also the programs managing the CGI.Unlike Linspire version 5 and earlier, Freespire does not enable the root account by default. Instead, it gives
rights to all members of the admin group. However, some people claim that this is not a security improvement due to the fact that the admin user can become superuser without entering a password. [cite web | url = http://forum.freespire.org/showthread.php?t=1523 | title = Criticism of Freespire's use of sudo]sudo Releases
ee also
*
Linspire
*CNR (software)
* UbuntuExternal links
* [http://www.freespire.org Freespire Website]
* [http://www.cnr.com/index.seam CNR.com]
* [http://www.freespire.fr Freespire alternative Website] (fr)References
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