Lindows

[matt32145]

Hello all, I recently installed LinSpire. I've tried a few different Linux distro's, Mandrake, Red Hat, Fedora, Damn Small Linux, Dyne:Bolic, Knoppix, and a few others. Hands down I am very impressed with LinSpire. The OS is polished, easy to use, stable, Flashplayer is installed, the default Web Browser is very clean and comparable to IE, and Mozilla. The Click and Run program seems truly revolutionary, it removes the need to do complicated command line typing, and would seem to bridge the gap for people that want to use Linux as opposed to Windows. The only negative I could find is the DVD player wont run by default, you have to install the DVD codecs ( this is because of the laws for decoders I'm pretty sure ) ...and configuring LILO to default Windows to Boot is a little bit of a pain. Also, you have to cough up some cash for the Click and Run service, but you do seem to get some very usable software for this service, I found Quake games, Wolfenstein ( ah the memories of this game ) and alot of other programs. So, I am trying to figure out ....how succesful is LinSpire? I see on Distrowatch's website that its nowhere near the top Linux Distro, but this Distro of Linux does seem to be the most polished and easy to use I have seen. Can anyone fill me in on LinSpire? Is it a succesful OS? Will it be around for a while? Is it gaining in Popularity? Are there reasons LinSpire isnt one of the most popular Linux OS's? I would hope it sticks around and helps bring people over from M$ . Thanks for any info.

[ozdream]

G'day mate, I have never tried Linspire / Lindows but give Suse a go or even Knoppix you will be impressed.

Suse: http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=2

Cheer's Glen and Welcome to Open Source :cool:

[timothykaine]

I second the Suse recommendation. Its the best polished distro Ive seen so far. I dont recommend Knoppix, very buggy.

As far as why it isnt one of the most popular, there are a few reasons I know of and Im sure many more I dont.


Pay for click-n-run
The stigma that follows the Lindows name
Other commercial distributions have been around longer

[ozdream]

Originally posted by timothykaine
I dont recommend Knoppix, very buggy.

What?

A mate and myself have installed Knoppix on well over 30 systems from laptops to old P2 desk top systems no worries we found no bugs granted we had to tweak some monitor settings and some sound cards.

[BaVinic]

Linspire/Lindows is a good OS for the person who wants to run Linux, but does not want to ( or doesn't have time to) learn how to run Linux.

in my opinion, the main reason Linspire will never be "the top Linux" is it breaks one of the biggest rules of Linux, it makes you run as root by defualt, this is something that NEVER should be done for many reasons.

There are ways around this issue, however the type of person who would install and run this OS would not know how to.

I have installed and used Linspire for a bit, it was nicely layed out, easy to install and quick, had almost everything a windows convert could want, and I believe if they lost the Root by default, it could be a much better os.

As far as Click n run, nice idea, works well, but people are paying for free open source software, that can be installed in any other distro without hassles, installing games and applications in any Distro is made much easier today, than it was even a year ago, so paying Linspire for pre packaged (not up to date) software, to me, is just plain silly. but again, the new comer to Linux would not know this, so they charge for it. Apt-get, yum pacman are all very good application installers, and almosts every distro has some form of this installation available for it.

To sum it up, Linspire is a good entry form into Linux, helps the novice get his feet wet, but I think it really does need to do some refining before it will ever be accepted in the Linux community.

Of course, that is just my opinion.

:)

BaVinic

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by BaVinic
it breaks one of the biggest rules of Linux, it makes you run as root by defualt, I thought they fixed that in one of the earliest releases of Lindows? (back before Microsoft threatened to sue them over trademark infringement, that is, so before it was called Linspire)

matt32145 -- were you told by the installer to create a non-administrative user, or is the only user on your system named "root"?

[matt32145]

Thanks for the feedback on Linspire, you answered many of my questions. I will definately try Suse , I havent tried that Distro yet. Regarding Root as default, I did notice that when I installed Lindows, I was Logged in as Root. I went into the users setting and added a second, non - Root user, and logged in as non root . Thanks again for the info.

[El_Cu_Guy]

I thought they fixed that in one of the earliest releases of Lindows? (back before Microsoft threatened to sue them over trademark infringement, that is, so before it was called Linspire)

matt32145 -- were you told by the installer to create a non-administrative user, or is the only user on your system named "root"?

Later versions included a message that users should create a "regular account".

[bwkaz]

Ah, OK. They don't force you, they just recommend it, is what it sounds like.