MadPenguin features a review of Libranet 2.8. And he seems to like it.
Mad about Libranet 2.8
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
MadPenguin features a review of Libranet 2.8. And he seems to like it.
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I’ve been bouncing around the decision to try Libranet for awhile. I hear nothing but good things about it, but I have a hard time getting around the fact that there’s no preview edition, or free download.
This particular review, when combined with other reviews, make me think I’m going to be spending $40.00 this weekend.
Good job to the Angry Bird! (er… Mad Penguin, that is).
8)=
It comes with XFree 4.3 but no 4.3 dev packages, headers and such. Or did I miss something? I was having a hard time getting KDevelop to compile even the template apps it generates.
The only thing reminiscent of dev packages with header files for XFree, is versioned 4.2, which requires XFree 4.2, which means I have to downgrade?
this distro rocks. ’nuff said.
There is a preview edition available. It is version 2.0 and would be available here http://www.linuxiso.org/viewmirrors.php/316
It is only one CD so you would need to download the extra programs you need. It also uses an older version of adminmenu, but it is not bad if you are trying to see what they offer.
but if you know what you are doing, debian is no more difficult to get installed and tweeked. at least for the price it is worth the inconviniences of running around and installing patches and recompiling kernels etc.
now, if the distro was Xandros, that gives actual benifits over vanilla debian.
libranet is good but only for those that are intimidated bu vanilla debian but know how to use a computer.
I have had my doubts about this distro, but I have changed my mind. After reading the review I think that the work put into this distro is worth the money. My general feeling is that all the work I would do with the fonts, etc. is worth the money vs. the time I would put into it. So, there ya go, I will be purchasing the download edition next week.
Apart from vanilla debian, i have been wracking my head to find even ONE debian distro that complies with the GPL and allows mirrors and public access to the compiled code, ie binaries.
Can anyone reccomend even one. Cmon… even ONE. Last i checked these distros were supposedly base on technology developed by the free software community under the GPL. Where can i find a simple, free, debian distro?
These distributions are perfectly legitemate in their use of GPLed code. Any parts of the GPLed code that they modify, they redistribute. Sure, they use free stuff, but that doesn’t mean that they have to give their stuff (installation, XAdminMenu, etc.) away for free too. These people have to make a living too.
I’d imagine one reason why a free Debian based distro doesn’t exist is that if people REALLY want free (i.e. aren’t willing to pay for easy installation/configuration), they will just use Debian! FYI, a friend of mine used Libranet 2.0 (which is available for free download – through mirrors now) and then upgraded to Woody on top of it. Worked great for him.
“. Where can i find a simple, free, debian distro?”
When your journey ends you will find yourself arriving at
the very place you departed from.
In other words, Debian itself. That is your answer.
As far as I know the bits of Libranet that are proprietary
(eg, adminmenu)aren’t gpl. The rest is.
Look , Libranet is for people who don’t know how, or for
whatever reason aren’t inclined to take Debian Testing
add the latest packges,and tweak configurations for
sound, fonts, printing,etc.etc.
They aren’t trying to pull a fast one.
They never say that all the things they do you can’t do
yourself. They are just saying if you want a bunch of
this stuff already done for you, for a very nominal
price here’s Libranet.
Besides they call it gnu/linux so even RMS should be happy.
I think I will stick with SuSE, I have the best luck with it and it just works. Not saying Libranet is a bad distro.
Libranet 2.0 had stable as it’s default sources in sources.list. What about this one….anyone know?
sarge
Try KNOPPIX, http://www.knopper.net/knoppix.
Yes, it’s a bootable, live CD-ROM Linux distro, but you can also install it to your harddrive, and then apt-get to your heart’s content!
Are there other sources other than the sarge sources in there?
Their XAdminMenu (which, last time I checked, comes with a console version too, which is nice) is a set of Perl scripts. What I have a little trouble understanding is how one keeps Perl scripts proprietary. After all, the executable code is the source code, is it not?
But those scripts for HW detection are really interestingly written. Is Knoppix’s code C-based?
This reviewer seems to be more of a “cheer leader” than a “scientist.” In other words, I think he had his mind made up before he started investigating the distribution. The fact that the distro did not run on his low-end platform is not conclusive. He should have employed a hack and informed the readers about it. That it installs flawlessly on a reasonably-good AMD system goes without saying. I am skeptical of this reviewer because he reviews (mainly) the KDE Desktop option and not the GNOME or IceWM. All in all, I would recomend it myself to those who don’t mind a high memory load. Regular Debian offers more learning opportunities and more freedom. Go with that.
Just use debian woody with backports. If you think that configuring Xfree is too hard, download mdetect and discover before you install x-window-system. Just read some documentation and save yourself $70. The gnome backports are amazing. They even just backported Moz 1.3 and Galeon 1.3.4. Check it out, save yourself some money, and keep software free.
I hate these “ALL MY HARDWARE” was detected perfectly, reviews. Evidently all these reviewers remove their pc-tel,intel,agere, and conexant chipset modems before they “REVIEW” a linux distro. 75% of the worlds dial-up modems use one of these chipsets. I never see a pci modem being detected on any of these reviews, yet most computers have them. What gives EUGENIA?
Glad to see this out. Unfortunately I as never been able to get the 2.0 to install properly. MAybe I will give it another shot this weekend.
I don’t think she has ever reviewed one.
I would like to see Eugenia review Libranet.