Libranet 2.8 gets helpful tweaks, and now Libranet is Jim Lynch’s new best friend. Read the review.
ExtremeTech Review: Libranet 2.8 Gets Even Better
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Libranet 2.8 is an awesome Desktop or Sever Distro!
and now!! with XD2 what does LN offer over standard Debian + XD2?
Best kept Linux secret no more! Kudows to the Libranet creators! Out of Sight!
A usable installer that actually has drivers and hardware support for mainstream hardware?
Debman, when are you going to get the fact that Libranet is a very good implimintation of Debian? Don’t get me wrong, I like standard Debian Woody, I run it on a sparcstation 20. But Libranet is very good from the desktop setup. Everything get’s detected and installed so you don’t have to fiddle with it for 2 day’s.
What’s so bad about that?
Oh, plus it runs faster out of the box! Got to love that.
alan:
Debian supports all the hardware I throw at it so I don’t understand where you are coming from
Cyber:
I am using debian on my laptop….rip, mix, and burn…I can watch DVDs with as good a quality as I get on my OS X box, I am sharing my OS X printer via Cups, I have a high performance kernel with all the nice ck patches applied to 2.4.20…infact, I have arts buffer set to the minimum and I get almost no dropouts (if I do get them it is at log in or log out and that is with the 2.5 O(1) interactive scheduler that still is in need of some fixes, and I have flash and Java 1.4 going in Konq (flash in mozilla…no Java as Mozy has issues with that for some reason)
debian makes a great desktop machine and I see no reason to pay 68 bucks for the same crap.
That same crap is Debian, watch what you say about the distro you like!! j/k.
Dude, I’m not saying you can’t get it all running in Debian Woody. What I’m saying is Lib 2.8 does right then and there. It’s a very nice distro, before you bash it to much you should try it, unless you have. There is NO way you could think that it is crap if you like Debian. That just doesn’t make sence.
Libranet/Xandros/Lindows/etc = Debian for morons, no point debating the matter… if you know what you are doing, use Debian, if Debian is too hard, and you need your hand held… use any of the above…
Whats worse, everything Libranet claims to offer you can get at http://www.apt-get.org for debian too
– cept each of the above charges around $100 for the same things…
Funny what lazy people will spend money on to remain lazy…
Just a small example, a short time ago, I tried to install debian on my machine, unfortunately I have a 3c905 3com nic. After finding out that there was no module on the install cd for this card, I spent a few hours reading mailing list archives of debian users/developers arguing with each other about this subject. Some said we need to fix this, some said there is no problem, some even said there was no reason to as no one uses 3c905 cards (Cyclone is the name for the card I think). It was a little frustrating.
I like debian and prefer to use it, I just do not want to waste days configuring things. If I did, I’d probably use Gentoo, but even they have hardware autodetection in the installer now. Debian needs to take the good of Knoppix and create a bootable cd you can install from with a more complete installer than what Knoppix currently has, a fewer bugs.
First of all I’d like to say that I am far from a newbie with Linux and other free Unices…with that said…I could not get mouse support AT ALL under Debian. Maybe I missed something, but I attempted for two days to get mouse support up and running and was unable to do this. As you know, X is damn near useless without a mouse, and as a desktop, Debian is damn near useless without X.
I realize that it must be possible, but if an experienced computer user like myself (I use FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Red Hat, Mandrake, and Slackware on a regular basis) cannot get something as basic as mouse support running in 2 days, then there is something just plain wrong here. Oh and by the way my mouse is a generic PS/2 mouse, which has worked beautifully under ever other single operating system I’ve tried it under (see above list) without jumping through any hoops whatsoever.
So I would be one of those people that are willing to “pay 68 bucks for the same crap.”
-bytes256
Whats worse, everything Libranet claims to offer you can get at http://www.apt-get.org for debian too
– cept each of the above charges around $100 for the same things…
What about Libranet’s Adminmenu? Show me a good replacement for that.
cyber:
I call eveything crap….even if it is not :-), and I am not bashing Libra Net, I just don’t see the point in paying that much for what it gives you (a few scripts?)
beatadikt:
I agree totaly
alan:
if Knoppix or LibraNet or any one else got it working then Debian can get it working…..you just might have to compile a new kernel.
big deal…it is actualy kind of nice to be able to add or take out features and to improove the system performance with out having to upgrade everything else.
Bytes:
you can run Slack but you cannot get X working with a ps/2 mouse under Debian?
a good replacement for it?
XD2 🙂
Hello.
I have used Libranet 2.0 that I downloaded and it was really cool. The only thing is in my own humble opinion there are plenty of other free downloadable distros that do just as good a job.
For example Slackware and FreeBSD do a great job.
In the spirit of linux I don’t think paying all that money is a good thing – especially when I don’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out.
Funny what lazy people will spend money on to remain lazy…
I guess you never thought that some people (that can include your parents, some of your friends, etc) don’t know shit about computers (and even less how to configure them) and would prefer tech support from a company rather than from a bunch of elite geeks telling them to RTFM. Yes, they could try to learn how their computer works, but do you believe they all have the time?
I have nothing against Debian, but IMO you can’t really compare both distro together as they ain’t targetting the same category of users.
Hehe…. I’m downloading Libranet 2.8 ISO’s now from eDonkey… And I bet this isn’t pirating…
You asshole. Yes, I agree, downloading music does not really hurt the musician, and it’s not stealing. But the Libranet developers make their living from it. There’s just a couple of them. They’re not some big company. Wow, I bet you feel so 1337 about screwing them over. Good one, dipshit.
Hi,
I think for many people it makes perfect sense to pay
a few bugs for distros like Xandros, Libranet or Lindows.
I make a living as sysadmin and use debian on
our servers at work and my machines at home.
But if someone with little linux experience,
the first debian installation is tough stuff.
The other day my manager asked me which linux
distro he should use at home, I recommanded Xandros.
Xandros/Libranet etc are easy enough
for a beginner to use and to install.
And they are debian based which I prefer.
Some people have not too much spare time and earn
enough money to not care about a 100 bucks.
The one or two hours manpage-reading they save
when they use something like Libranet is often
worth more than the price of the distro.
Kind regards
Gunnar
I have been using this distro for about a week. I absolutely love it to death. I have to say it is THE best distro I have used since 1994. I have a nice screenshot of my libranet desktop using VNC to connect to a Red Hat box over at http://www.darkambient.org/os/index.html
enjoy Libranet and it will enjoy you!
Ummm…slack is actually EASIER to install than Debian at this time. I installed and configured Slackware 8.1 in about an hour, first try, no major issues. Debian took me 2 days, and at least a dozen tries, and I still had no success. Also, Debian won’t even load the installer on one of my machines because the hardware is too new for it, so hardware support IS an issue with Debian, whether you care to acknowledge this or not. I AM NOT A NEWBIE, I’ve been programming computers since I was 12 for God’s sake!!!
I’m not one to belittle OSS projects, but let’s face it, that installer has gotta go, it’s a huuuuge piece of garbage. I don’t care if it stays text-based, in fact i’d prefer it did…but it’s so cumbersome and lacks any hint of hardware autodetection. Even for l337 users like yourself, what does a little hardware autodetection ala Red Hat, Mandrake, or Knoppix hurt?
Also, I searched the USENet Newsgroups and I found that several other people shared my mouse configuration problem. I guess I could have attempted to use a serial or USB mouse, but I didn’t feel like buying another mouse just to use Debian.
Playing ostrich and sticking your head in the sand everytime someone mentions a flaw in your OS of choice doesn’t do anyone any good. Also being a pompous @$$hole and degrading users of fellow OSes certainly does not help your cause.
-bytes256
I’ve been using Linux for the last six months or so. Without any prior knowledge of *nix I dumped Winodos entirely from my computer and installed Redhat 8.0; as expected I had to ride this enormously steep learning curve, and for all intents and purposes have negotiated it pretty well. Recently I’ve grown pretty dissatisfied with Redhat – RPMs, broken packages, non-standard libraries blah blah… I’d thought of installing Debian, but then I don’t have broadband access and updating all the apps would prove a major headache; Gentoo and Slackware were options but I have a pretty old laptop and I cannot wait for everything to compile. Browsing around I read all these rave reviews of Libranet, so I’ve asked my aunt in the States to get me a copy and send it to me…
Now getting at the issues: From what I’ve read, Libranet doesn’t seem to be dumbed as some of you make it out to be; if a distro gives me access to the console and allows me to edit every bloody file in /etc at my pleasure/risk then I don’t see how it can be labelled dumb, and if it offers one an easier way to configure one’s system while offering all the freedom to do the same stuff by hand I don’t quite see what the problem is.
And I just wish some fellow Linux users would get off their high horses be less elitist and less condescending towards users with less experience and/or knowledge: everybody was a newbie once, I suppose… I learnt most from mailing lists (archives) where people weren’t insulting towards my obvious ignorance and they didn’t just go “RTFM arsehole” unless it was absolutely required…
Regarding the commercial issues, I don’t suppose it’s too difficult to comprehend the fact that Libranet developers are making a living out of the distro and that they have neither the comfort of a day-job nor the stability of a large corporate distribution to allow them to distribute the stuff for free. I wonder if some of you have an issue with Redhat and SUSE charging for their enterprise-level distros… Or does the “if it ain’t free it ain’t Linux” philosophy only apply to average desktop users?
Cheers!
Can some one sum up what XD2 is?
Ximian Desktop 2
http://www.ximian.com
Available 6-9-3
debian makes a great desktop machine and I see no reason to pay 68 bucks for the same crap.
I suppose whether or not a person would be willing to pay $68 depends on how much they enjoy screwing with Debian. For me personally, I like playing with Linux, so I plan to try both Debian and Libranet
But if I just wanted something that worked, assuming it would take more than 2-3 days to get Debian up and running, I’d just say screw it and pay the $68 – that’s less than 4 hours of overtime for me vs. 3 days with Debian. Of course, as I said, I like playing with the OS so I’ll try it both ways and see if Libranet has anything more to offer than a fully configured Debian setup.
Hehe…. I’m downloading Libranet 2.8 ISO’s now from eDonkey… And I bet this isn’t pirating…
Cool, I was trying to find it on Usenet and couldn’t
And before the rest of you blow up at me – I am on a mission to try out all the major Linux distros, and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to pay for every one of them that aren’t free just to test drive the latest versions. Whatever distro I decide to use full time, I will most certainly pay for at that time – the rest of the unpaid for distros will be discarded.
Well thank you for insulting me… You really touched me… I’m blushing…
Anyway… I’m young and I don’t work and I’m sick of windows (although it’s almost perfect) and beleive me that when I’ll be able to support companys by purchasing software I’ll be more than happy. I hate stealing and there’s nothing “1337” in downloading from eDonkey (and I hope nothing 1337 in installing Libranet
Have a good day… ohhh…. and I like to try before I buy
*hint*
I would just like to point out to you that being a programer has nothing to do with knowing how to install or run an OS, not that I am saying that you don’t know how, just that it has nothing to do with it.
what installer were you using? Debian maintains their installer as a ncurses one so that it does work on all systems from i386 ad up. if you were trying out the sarge cd, I can tell you that there are problems with the new installer that they are testing on the sarge cd.
It’s quite an achievement to rob the guys who make Libranet, considering the number of distros freely available for download or included with Linux magazines. Also, there are a lot of websites where you can order a CD just for the cost of the media plus shipping.
You’re probably among the few elites who waste time trying to get a Linux iso through edonkey.
If you’d really like to try Libranet before buying it, just install Debian. There is no need to embarrass yourself.
I don’t understand all the posts regarding Debian taking up to 3 days to install. I find installing Debian a trivial task, and I can usually have the base system and X running in under an hour. Installing everything else I want takes a little while in install time, but I usually install a web browser first, and then read OSNews while I’m installing everything else. I have never had Debian take 3 days to install, even the first time I ever installed Debian it didn’t take that long.
The reviewer complains about the lack of utilities to configure a VPN. Isn’t it a feature mainly used by businesses, not home users ? Myself, I would have thought about installing OpenSSH and VNC.
Libranet 2.0 got me started with Linux, so I owe a debt of gratitude to it. I like the distro, but the numerous minor flaws (like the crippling of the Debian Menu; hope they fixed that) led me to eventually install regular old Debian sid. For some reason, sid runs faster in KDE than Libranet in IceWM, for me at least.
The hardware support is great; the Adminmenu’s Perl-based direct (not a frontend) HW configuration really makes it easy.
I think, however, that a Knoppix HD install would be better. Knoppix is probably my favorite Debian-based distro. Its polish is on par with XP’s, in my opinion, and the nifty touches (“Initiating startup sequence”, things like that) have made my day. The installer (sudo knx-hdinstall) is great, plus Knoppix’s kernel even has full XFS and JFS support.
“Funny what lazy people will spend money on to remain lazy…”
LAZY you got to be joking, I don’t doubt I would have no problem setting Debian up, never had problems with Slackware in the past, however the question that remains is not how LAZY you are but what your time is worth?
Say it takes a weekend to get Debian up to Libranets level, then that $69 is looking like a real bargin, unless of course your time is only worth $1 an hour or less, then your much better off setting debian up yourself!
I don’t know what you are talking about. Debian took me one hour to set up the base system and start downloading KDE and necessary desktop stuff. I then went to take a nap. When I woke up, I was up and running with KDE 3.1.2, Mozilla, AbiWord, Gimp and XMMS. How is this difficult?
I had verything I needed up and running in less than one hour, well couple of extras like games and ts2, but aa fonts, usb, nvidia drivers etc all done for me saving heaps of time!
You had debian anywhere near as complete as Libranet in an hour? a first time ser of debian get anywhere near that, including required reading? I think not!
don’t know what you are talking about. Debian took me one hour to set up the base system and start downloading KDE
Well, either you are lying your ass off or else you’re most certainly a better man than I. Hell, it took me over an hour just to figure out how the damn jigdo program works. (Ok, I don’t profess to be the brightest light on the Christmas tree either).
I’ve been fighting with Gentoo for almost a week, as it so happens that when my USB Intellimouse is plugged in, the keyboard doesn’t isn’t detected at boot (Took me awhile to figure out why that was happening) and now I am trying to compile support for my NIC into the kernel.
As far as Gentoo goes, at least the shit it comes with is relatively current, so I can’t imagine how long it’s gonna take to get Debian up and running, but I would say 3 days at the very least.
No, I was not a first time user of Debian (libranet was my first, so things are similar), but it was the first time I tackled its installer.
Jigdo? Pah! You, I see, have broadband as well. Just wget the Netinst CD image, pop it in, then select the source. The installer is really very simple. As for currentness, just set the sources to point to “unstable” not “stable” and you’ll be all set. In fact, from my experience several things that were out of date/masked on Gentoo are already in Debian unstable for a while. This did actually take an hour, honest (downloading the Tasksel “desktop” and “unix server” tasks took a few more hours).
Okay, true, what I have now is not as complete as Libranet. I don’t need OpenOffice on this Cel433 anyway. But I do have GNOME, KDE, the aforementioned Mozilla, Gimp, etc. I have Gaim, Galeon, Moz Firebird (I’m a browser freak), Pan, XVnc, K3b, Webmin all working. Debian software installation is (download time) + (a couple of seconds). Not a problem at all.
I think I like my pure Debian better than Libranet now (Gentoo is good, but Debian and its programs are way more stable for me for some reason). Only problem is XFree86 4.2.1-6 (is that what it is?), but it’s possible to find 4.3 debs through google.
xfree 4.3 in libranet 2.8 was a very nice addition, was asked for on the beta list ‘ask and you shalt receive’
P.S. the beta process for libranet was a great experience too, I find much less arrogance among libranet users than debain users. I guess the fact that we have a lot of relative newbs helps a bit?
The time and stress libranet saved me (have 3 pcs at home that all run it) was invaluable. One day I may play around with debian itself and not use libranet to install it, but at the moment I honestly don’t have the time!
OSNews itself has a very good walkthrough for installing Debian, called the “Very Verbose” something or rather to installation Debian, by a Clinton somebody IIRC.
The installer isn’t all that bad once you have done it a few times, the first isn’t the easiest, but it’s very flexible I think.
Lighten up guys. Libranet is the most debian of all the debian derivative distributions. They just added better detection of your components, an easier way to manage your system, as well as mixing in some newer packages. Other than that, its just debian. I do use libranet and it works for me. I am not a programmer or a sysadmin but I can set up my computer and maintain it easier than I could with other distros that I tried. If you think the price is too high, then use something else. That is what I like about Linux. I have the choice of many distributions, each having something a little different from the other, but underneath they are all the same. Linux gives us choice that we don’t have with any other operating system. In my opinion, choice is good. There is room for multiple distros of Linux as well as other os’s. We should spend more effort fighting for more compatibility in file formats than we do in my (distro/os) is bigger than yours. Then we can give everyone a choice of os and programs and let people use what works best for them.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Debian took me one hour to set up the base system and start downloading KDE and necessary desktop stuff. I then went to take a nap. When I woke up, I was up and running with KDE 3.1.2, Mozilla, AbiWord, Gimp and XMMS. How is this difficult?”
Um, how is Libranet aimed at YOU then?
It’s fairly obvious that boxed sets of most distros aren’t aimed at the seasoned admin. Most of them will go out and download whatever they need. Or do a basic net install. This isn’t aimed at you.
Hell, I’d MUCH rather pay 100$ to have the damned OS install itself easily and have the software I want installed. Debian has never worked well for me despite the times I’ve tried it. I’m rebuilding my windows machine right now, and it just sucks. I’ve already wasted several hours installing everything only to find out that it didn’t partition correctly ( it wants to use my D drive to boot ) so I have to rebuild the thing from scratch.
How about the obvious analogy? You can either a) build your own damned kitchen cabinets or b) have someone prebuild them for you so all you need to do is install. Obviously you’d choose option a. Care to guess how well that’d look and work? Most of us have much more useful things to do with our time than become experts in installing an OS. Paying for something that saves us aggravation and time is NOT stupid. Although wasting my time typing all this probably was, but hey, I’m not doing anything else other than watching the progress meter on the other machine….
I wasn’t calling anyone stupid. I was just mentioning that Debian wasn’t all that difficult (no, I am not a seasoned admin). Libranet works well, but Debian is really not that tough (again, for me).
I have been using linux since ’93. My first linux install was pre-slackware, never even got x windows running. Later I used slackware 3.0. I switched to SuSE in ’97 and used it until 2001. Since then I have been a ferverent gentoo user-although I also have SuSE 8.2, Mandrake 9.0 and Redhat Phoebe installed on my machine. I first came into contact, via the net, with “deb” people somewhere around 97. My first impression of these people, for lack of a better word, the “debs”, was that they were horribly arrogant, extremely unfriendly and all suffered from a holier-than-thou mentality. This impression has stuck with me since then-6 years now, and it has only become more entrenched with time. “Debs” are not mere mortal geeks, they are in a sense beyond geekdom. “Debs” are a phenomena, a subculture which arose out of geekdom, yet which transcended geekdom, in becoming the defintion of post-avant-garde oberlinux coolness. “Debs” are so self-assured-they don’t need any friends. The mailing lists which “Debs” frequent are not what they appear to be. The naieve could be mislead that one could find help and guiadance on such mailing lists in navigating the turbulent waters of linux installation/configuration. No no. No the “Debs” maintain these mailing list such that new users can come to them for a show of ritualized humiliation-RTFM you f*!$%%& idiot. The “Debs” however can’t really help it-their noses were born at a 60° angle. They don’t “mean” to be obnoxious, rude, stubborn, and arrogant- they are in dire need of social counseling, after all “Debs”, even in denial, need friends too. And when suddenly people start liking Debian, by virtue of exposure to Debian-based distros, which allow them to use Debian without consulting with the “Debs”, this is an affront- this cannot stand, for now the “Debs” are even more isolated, and alienated – they are now self-alienated because they even hate the “debianness” of Debian-based distros.
Hats off to the programming work of the Debs. Hats off to the ultra-ideological pseudo-philosophy of the Debs, which has done more for opensource development than anything else. Thanks to the Deb developers who have share their genius with us mere mortals. I will never use Debian, until the Debs have grown up and become more civil.
I think you are wrong. Debian users and developers have been more helpful to me than anyone, and I have rarely if ever seen an RTFM. I read the mailing lists, and they’re always helpful.
I’m a Gentoo user too, but I must say that Gentoo users are worse than your “debs”. Yeah, they have a good forum. But then they run around EVERYWHERE on the Internet plugging their damn distro where it’s not appropriate. Boo hoo, you compiled your own system. Gentoo users are good in one place: the Gentoo forum. Remember when they posted that link and hordes of them came over here and voted for it? Astroturfing, they call it.
I think you only read one mailing list post by a bad apple, and now you’re extrapolating to everyone. Gentoo users I have seen do this regularly.
I have to agree with Greg. I found Debian users very easy to work with. To be honest though, I have never received a RTFM response during my entire time using Linux (since the first version of Slackware) so I would say that about any distro centric Linux users. Maybe I don’t ask the right questions.
Anyway, I think there are a lot of people driving vehicles in my vicinity everyday who are selfish, inept rectal orifices but I’m not going to refrain from using my car over it. I think you need to look at Debian in the same way. It is a good distribution regardless of the atitudes of those using it. I think you are missing out, Infwis, by applying your distaste for a few Debian users to the OS itself.
Oh, and Greg, I do seem to recall Debian users spouting off their undying love for Debian in much the same way Gentoo users use to (you don’t hear much from them anymore). Perhaps all those Debian users just switched to Gentoo and continued the same bombastic proselyting for their new, favorite distro.
(Mmm…nice to see intelligent discussion around here)
I have noticed that the first answer given to a newbie in a forum is always “switch to Debian” or “switch to Gentoo.” These two systems are obviously better that SuSEMandrakeRedhat because of one thing: dependency handling (Yes, I know about URPMI). Why did UnitedLinux choose RPM as the standard? DEB is much more advanced.
Hrm.
i’m actually thinking about purchasing libranet, what are the restrictions on it? i couldnt find it on their webpage… can i install this on any number of computers?
http://cheetah.libranet.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=643&highli… http://cheetah.libranet.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1395&highl… forum posts about licensing (not definitive or from Libranet, but it’s a start)