"Out of Vancouver comes very neat little distro called Libranet. Based on Debian but with an emphasis on ease-of-use, this is a powerful yet stable distribution that although isn't a major name, has loyal followers.The version I'm currently reviewing is 2.7 Classic Edition, the freely downloadable version, as opposed to the newer Flagship Edition, 2.81." Read the review at LinMagAU.
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I installed Libranet 2.7 Classic a couple of nights ago.
I wanted to like it, but I found that the fonts were horrible. Looking at pages in Mozilla was nauseating.
Now, I knew 2.7 was old and that I was supposed to be able to update it to more recent Debian packages. That was going to be good. Except each attempt I made to do that ended up breaking halfway.
Knoppix or Xandros are much better debian based distros.
When will the full deluxe all bells and whistles version be available for free? Will it be outdated by then? Does RMS approve of charging money for a GNU / LINUX distribution? Isn't that a violation of the "free"ness of IP protected by the GPL copyright?
Ummm... Let's see... RedHat, SuSE, Libranet, Lindows, etc. They do have to make some money, you know.
Of course, it seems all you have to do to get a free 2.8.1 is write a review of 2.7. I can't remember all the times I've seen the 2.7 review end with, "They just sent me a free copy of 2.8.1, so I'll be reviewing that next month."
Know what an even better Debian based distro is? Debian.
Free as in freedom, not price. If you read the GPL, you will be hard pressed to find a clause which Libranet is in violation of.
carbon-12
How can you tell from a review? Especially an older one.
undeadpenguin
Nice one. Although Libranet only adds to Debian, it does not take away anything.
nunymous
That's totally subjective. I could argue that Lindows is better than Gentoo, but that would have nothing to do with the technical merits of Libranet 2.7, now would it?
If you messed around w/ XAdminmenu, you have found a nifty little installer for fonts. Or perhaps if you did 5 minutes worth of Googling.
A while ago as I was still a RH 8 user and looking for packages on the net, most of the time I ended up getting the feeling that there are much more updates available for Debian... or perhaps it's the software that I use...
so tried Debian Woody, install and so on was nothing like RH, but still rather simple... but coming to the usability part of it... well, I felt like I had owened a mercedes for years and now suddenly switched to a daewoo, it still drives but somethings is not right 
Then a searched the net debian packages in mind... and found Libranet, got the 2.7 Classic edition... and from the first look I was convinced this is not a daewoo but as I proceeded and came to the usability I realized that its not a mercedes either....
so here I'm back with my (updated) mercedes, using RH 9.
There are many thing that I don't like about RH and that's probably why I will try out Gentoo, but I doubt it gives me the same comfort and eas of use....
One comment was moderated down which referred to Gentoo. Another comment which absolutely mirrors the moderated down one but which refers to Debian remains.
What gives?
eheheh was I modded for saying something pro-gentoo? ah well, really doesnt matter as it didnt relate to the article at all... just replieing to teh post about using Debian instead of Libranet.
I've been using Libranet GNU/Linux since I discovered 2.0. I than decided to actually spend 39 USD(however much it is) and buy version 2.7. I can not complain at all! Both versions were excellent. Stable just as the regular Debian GNU/Linux but the ease of use for installing.
I am a little bummed out that 2.7 was released for free eventually but hey, I am proud to have gotten my monies worth. They did a good job.
Libranet 2.7 classic is a somewhat reduced version of the original 2.7. What was once two CDs is now one. 2.7 is what a well designed distribution looked like over a year ago. The fonts look rotten. Things generally work, but look and act slow. KDE and Gnome were buggier than they are today. I would not pay money for it again. Indeed, I stopped using it after a few months and went back to Windows 2000.
Version 2.8.1 reflects where Linux has gone in a year. Programs are generally stable, the desktop looks good, and the kernel actually handles ACPI in some laptops, some of the time. :-) Adminmenu can now be updated, and in general, every thing is smoother and more fixed up.
Libranet 2.7 would rank as one of the worst distributions out there today. Back then, it was one of the best. I like Libranet. I don't regret the money spent on 2.7 or the upgrade for 2.8.1. It is a well thought out distribution with good support.
I liked it, end of story. 
Dl some new fonts though....
Kernel compilation boys, beautiful.
