Freespire

Freespire

Freespire

Linux distribution

Freespire is a community-driven Linux distribution currently owned by PC/Open Systems LLC. It is derived from Linspire and is composed mostly of free, open source software, while providing users the choice of including proprietary software including multimedia codecs, device drivers and application software.

Quick Facts Developer, OS family ...

Freespire 1.0 was based on Debian, while Freespire 2.0 was based on Ubuntu. Linspire was bought by Xandros, who originally planned to switch back to Debian for future Freespire releases.[3]

On January 1, 2018, PC/Open Systems announced it had purchased Linspire from Xandros and released Freespire 3.0. While Linspire is available for $29.99,[4] Freespire 3.0 is free.[5]

History

In August 2005, a distribution Live CD based on Linspire's source pools named Freespire hit the web by accident.[6] 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 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" until September 9, 2005. Squiggle OS is no longer in active development.

On April 24, 2006, Linspire announced its own project named "Freespire".[7] The new Freespire distribution was announced by then Linspire President and former CEO Kevin Carmony. This follows to the model of Fedora being supported by Red Hat and the community since 2003. Novell had also started a similar community project by the name of openSUSE for its SUSE Linux product line in the second half of 2005.

Xandros acquired Linspire/Freespire in the Summer of 2008.[8] Xandros had plans to keep Freespire as a community developed distribution similar to that of openSUSE and Fedora for their respective commercial distributions.

Freespire 2.0.8, released on 30 November 2007,[9] and based on Ubuntu 7.04, was the final release until the distribution was revived with 3.0 in January 2018.[10]

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 the Windows Media Audio compatibility libraries,[clarification needed] 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 and OCaml, such as its ISO image builder, its hardware detection and autoconfiguration, its package autobuilder and "Debian library", and also the programs managing the CGI.

Releases

More information Version, Release date ...

See also

References

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    Roberto J. Dohnert (7 December 2023). "Freespire 10 Released". Retrieved 8 December 2023.
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    "Back to Debian: Freespire returns to Debian Roots". practical-tech.com. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
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  5. [5]
    PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0 and Linspire 7.0 released
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    FAQ Category: About Freespire and The Freespire Project - Freespire
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    "LinuxPlanet: Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution (New Distro Comes in Free and Proprietary Flavors)". Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  8. [8]
    "July 2008 Linspire news release".
  9. [9]
    "Freespire 2". Freespire wiki. freespire.org. 2007-11-30. Archived from the original on 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
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    "Freespire". DistroWatch.com. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
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    Review: Freespire 1.0, OSNews
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    "Release Notes - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
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    Freespire 1.0: first impressions :: Linux Format :: The website of the UK's best-selling Linux magazine Archived October 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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    DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 749, 5 February 2018
  25. [25]
    PC/OpenSystems LLC: Linspire 7.0.1 and Freespire 3.0.1 Released - Meltdown and Spectre fix
  26. [26]
    PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0.6.5 released
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    "Freespire: Freespire 4.0 Released". Archived from the original on August 26, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  28. [28]
    Freespire 4.5 Released[usurped]
  29. [29]
    Freespire 4.8 Released[usurped]
  30. [30]
    "Freespire 5.0 Released". Archived from the original on October 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  31. [31]
    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 6.0.3 Released". Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  32. [32]
    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.0 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  33. [33]
    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.1 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  34. [34]
    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.5 released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
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    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.7 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
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    Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 8.0 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
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    Download, Full Version (2022-03-02). "Freespire 8.2". Full Version Download. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
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    ""Freespire 9.0"".
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