Submitted by The first development build of Freespire 2.0 has been released: “Freespire version 2.0 Alpha (1.1.57) is now available for download. New features: KDM login manager; KDE 3.5.5 with user switching and SuperKaramba; kernel 2.6.18; desktop directory names (no spaces); Lbrowser with Flash Player 9 beta; Lmail including FreeLinuxEmail; Gaim 2.0.0 beta4; OpenOffice.org 2.0.4.”
What is Lbrowser?
Basically a re-branded version of Mozilla Firefox.
must be something like iceweasel.
rough alpha so watch out!
http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/Release_Notes
Its all good, I love BackBox & Fluxbox added too with hot themes to go and Sony PSP Support and Nin DS Lite Support. f–k Ipods and Nano’s.
Edited 2006-11-23 20:05
I hope their installation bug that hangs it on the boot screen is fixed. Last time i tried, darn thing didn’t even install on my laptop.
I would consider using Freespire if it had a decent way to install Gnome, though it may have changed since I last tried it (when the 1.0 came out).
If you want Gnome, why don’t you use Ubuntu?
I see posts such as yours all the time and frankly they add very little. Why? Because you fail to see that most distributors have made a choice about which desktop they are using and they have done so because they believe that desktop is better suited to their development model, brand identity and long-term goals.
When someone makes a remark such as yours, it comes off as little else than a shallow attempt to propagandize your desktop of choice at the expense of a coherent argument about what this article is actually about, which is the release of a new version of Freespire.
Whine whine, I DO use Ubuntu, but Freespire appeals to me for OTHER people. I don’t want to support KDE (since I don’t use it enough myself) and Freespire also (due to some lawsuits between Microsoft and Lindows) has the right to distribute the Microsoft codecs, which makes for a nice out of the box install.
And yes this is pertinent to the article, since in their forums (remember that Freespire is a “Community project”) that there are a lot of requests for gnome packages for Freespire.
It is not a shallow attempt at propaganda, I was having a coherent argument. Simple fact of the matter is, it’s easier to support one type of DE than two (or three or four, etc). Why else do you think that every distribution has chosen ONE DE as default.
When I install Linux on someone’s PC, I know I can expect questions, and it’s much easier to answer if they are using Gnome. I would just like to see Freespire be all it can be.
Then again, maybe I’m crazy, but I personally prefer Debian out of all of them, unfortunately I also like the latest Gnome, so I use Ubuntu. But I’m always looking for another distribution to help out with or become a part of, but I do prefer Gnome for it’s simplicity.
Why every Gnome fanatic wants every KDE distribution to become something dumbed down/ugly ubuntu-alike (I am not talking even about violation of Debian Social Contract here)? If you don’t like/use KDE, then DON’T USE IT! period
Why every Gnome fanatic wants every KDE distribution to become something dumbed down/ugly ubuntu-alike (…)? If you don’t like/use KDE, then DON’T USE IT! period
Then why do you add fuel to the fire by implying Gnome is “dumbed down” and “ugly”?
How is it that the flames get voted up and yet the actual informative posts aren’t?
Who said I was a Gnome Fanatic? I just prefer a user interface where you don’t have to look for 5 minutes at all the configuration options for one specific thing.
I don’t use KDE. I do try it every release to see if it’s fixed some of the things I don’t like about it. Besides, in my opinion the QT themes are ugly, and whenever I try out KDE on my laptop, the fonts are HUGE.
Some people just blow things way out of proportion. Perhaps I should show a screenshot of my desktop, it looks far from ugly.
Since everyone looks busy flaming you instead of giving a freaking simple answer, here I go:
Technically, you can install GNOME. AFAIK, Freespire supports the APT package manager, so it would be possible to use it to install GNOME. The problem is that, last time I checked out, using APT tend to break Click N’ Run, so it may not be a good idea. Moreover, I guess you’ll have to do some tweaking to get GNOME up and running nicely.
But don’t taka just my word, try asking in the Freespire forums.
Yeah, go figure, all I asked was a question and everyone just started to flame.
The last time I tried Freespire, that’s the impression I got as well, that Apt broke Click N’ Run.
Go figure that the flames got marked up in score, yet yours did not (I just voted for ya though)
GNOME packages were available from their repos, but had problems in dependencies, so a complete set was not available. This Alpha release was made right after a synch with the SID repos, so GNOME is now what SID has and should function on apt-get install gnome (insofar as the Alpha functions, given reports from the forums over at FOS).
The “release” here talks about KDE, an already released kernel, openoffice, gaim and a Mozilla based browser.
Then the comments here talk about the browser, kde, and other windowmanagers.
Is this all there is? Is this truely an innovative Linux release?
No, it is not an innovative Linux release in the general sense, but it IS innovative insofar as Lin* goes. The community-building attempts are moving forward with this release.
I like the theme… kind of somewhere between Swing Metal, Windows XP and Vista, yet much lighter and airier-feeling than any of them…
Breaking news. Linux distributions are only about the window manager or desktop environment chosen. Shameful.
The real problem is that a Linux distribution should not be judged upon what Desktop Environment or Window Manager it happens to use, but upon what features it has that other distributions do not, and things that it doesn’t have that other distributions do. In this case, I was asking if they had fixed the Gnome packages for Freespire with the new release, and all I got was attacked. I didn’t suggest that Freespire should change their default DE / WM, all I asked was a simple question, then I got voted down for it too.
It’s called a preference, I guess I will be damned to hell for asking for Gnome packages in a community based distribution like Freespire, eh? Seriously, some people shouldn’t let their children live in the basement for so long, or if they do take away their Internet accounts. Just because the basement dwellers have no proper religion, they have to think that choice in a desktop environment is one….