Linux Orbit has reviewed Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7: “Other Linux distribution companies have tried to create commercial Linux products based on Debian GNU/Linux, but few have achieved long term success. Progeny Linux comes to mind as a commercial Linux distribution company whose Linux product met with good reviews, but couldn’t remain in business. Libranet is a rare exception to this rule. Libranet GNU/Linux has been around quite a while and continues to build a devoted Linux user base on a commercial product based on Debian GNU/Linux. With their most recent release of Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7, Libranet continues to improve on an already solid Linux distribution.”
Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7, Debian with a Kick
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I’ve been using Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7 for about a week and so far it’s pretty good. It’s perhaps not as slick as the familiar commercial distros, but I think total newbies could get the hang of it. The support is good, and discussions on the mailing list and user forums are freindly. For those of us that don’t balk at paying for software, Libranet has a lot to offer.
I think Redhat will be fine. They can fix their issues in no time. The breakup from 100% OpenSource is not un-resonable. I guess other Linux vendors can not redistribute RedHat stuff but the stuff can still be downloaded for free so… I think this will get other Linux vendors to innovate as well.
ciao
yc
I’m a somewhat experienced Debian user. Why should I pay for this instead of using good ol’ Debian?
“Friendly install app” is not enough. Debian install is fine for me, and I already installed it in various i386, an Alpha and a laptop.
Can we just add the libranet packages into sources.list? It would be kick ass to use debian with the Gnome 2 and kde 3…
Is it free or not? I thought Linux was supposed to be free (as in beer) for everybody. Only Libranet 2.0 is a free download.
… only free as in speech. If you like what 2.0 has to offer, lay down the money for 2. and you’ll be even more impressed.
And sure, if you like the old debian way, stick with it. If you’re looking for something more, get Libranet. I like choice. I chose to pay for Libranet (even though I have plain vanilla on another machine). And the easy admin tools are a nice bonus (Libranet isn’t just an easy to install distro).
Anyway… just my couple of pennies.
CP
Free software means that you if A gives B a binary, A also has to give B the source code and the right to modify it and compile it. It doesn’t matter whether B pays for the software or not.
If B is allowed to redistribute, under a free software license s/he is required to also distribute any modifications s/he have made to the source code.
So Libranet is allowed to charge for their distribution. If you decide to buy, Libranet is obliged to give you the source code of the GPL (or similarly licensed) portions of the distribution. This includes any modifications they have made to e.g. the kernel, or GNOME, or the Debian installer etc.
But they don’t have to give you anything if you’re not willing to pay them.
Thanks for the clarification. Makes me wonder if someday, most Linux companies will do things this way.
gentoo stays free, im linux for life
I already tried the ones listed in the article to see if that would work, with no luck, they are only security updates. I assume once they release a security fix for kde or gnome then you would be able to, but not untill then.
As a matter of fact, when I ran it the only new files that were there and not already in unstable was their admintool. While nice enough, I’d rather stick with doing it a way I know will not break my system (because it is debian, not libranet I don’t know if everything is setup the same, although I assume it is and wouldn’t break anything)
The admin tools are mostly a GUI shell for tools that are available in standard debian.
For example, I was trying to set up my DSL connection last night, so I used the admin tool, clicked on the network tab, and a few more buttons and eventually the pppoeconf (curses based) utility was launched.
Basically, the admin tool saved me from google-ing for what kind of tool I need to use to set up a PPPoE connection.
It’s one of those nice things to have, but you can certainly live without it.
I ordered Libranet last week but couldn’t find any info on what version of GCC it uses.
My main concern was file location, if it was writing to a file that was not there (for example). That is not a big deal. I acutaly have no use for it anyway, I was just curious what was on their apt server. The basic answer to that was “nothing that wasn’t already in sid except admintools”.
Having tried wuite a few linux distros in the past (more as a hobby, though) I can say confidently that so far, I have liked two distros the most: Slackware (8.1) and Libranet (2.0).
I found both to be easy-to install; easy-to-use systems. I also had a winXP/Slack/libranet machine for a while.
each has its advantages, but I felt tha tthe amount of time that I spent learning the “jargon” for each system (read: package management tools; etc.) was quite a bit; so I finally decided not to use more than one distro at a time …
I chose to stick to Slack for the following reasons:
a. My school has a mirro site for Slack (so less time spent in downloading packages!)
b. My roomates (non-linux usera to the core) are happy to find an ‘icon’ for each application in the KDE menu –something that Libranet 2.0 lacks
c. If I DO decide to give Debian-based systems a try, I would rather try THE ORIGINAL itslef.
Both Libranet 2.7 and 2.0 use gcc 2.95.4 (you can also find this inormation on Distrowatch)