Lindows.com is continuing its experiment of offering software via peer-to-peer networks. The company said Thursday that it is set to distribute its LindowsOS through P2P networks for $25, half the normal price, from its web site. However, OSNews readers will be able to get the OS for free via BitTorrent if they follow this link (thanks to Lindows.com for the kind offer to our readers)!
Lindows Routes OS over BitTorrent; OSNews Readers Get it for Free
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
But even with it being free they require my credit card information, which I refuse to give for a product I’m about to download from a p2p service for no charge.
OK, so that’s why they still require my credit card. Yep, not quite free.
Their page states you should get Developers Edition of Lindows OS. OK. It’s $59.95. But I’ve got a $49.95 discount. So I had to pay them $10. It’s certainly not free despite what they’re stating on their web pages. Maybe because I’m not from US ? Maybe because they did something wrong or they are just plain assholes trying to convince customers using some dirty tricks ? Whatever. I don’t like them at the moment… sorry.
IT IS free. Only the boxed version costs $10, the Bit-Torrent P2P version (electronic version) is FREE for all OSNews readers.
I didn’t have to enter any credit card btw. Just make sure you select the right product.
Which product on their list did you grab. I grabed number two on the list Lindows 4.5 Developers Edition and made sure digital. Price 59.95
I downloaded the laptop edition the other day and was shocked at how there seemed to be no Lindows-made tools to configure the system. The only thing they seem to have spent time producing was their moneymaker, Click and Run.
Someone could make far more money by taking, say, a regular distro and then ironing out ALL of the kinks and then providing security updates and periodic upgrades for the next few years.
We see this in the server space but no one does it in the desktop space.
or free as in “free to tap your phones” a-la the Patriot Act? Perhaps they mean free as in “Free! (small type) *$19.95 for shipping”
Free as in, I almost clicked? I almost let the scheme work! I was damn near buying Lindows Developer for $10! I don’t have $10 to blow on something that may well, er… ah, blow. Nicely done, because if it kicks butt and everyone loves it, I will have to pay $59.95, ’cause I’m SURE the special will be gone by then.
Truthfully, I need another distribution like I need a hole in the head, so it’s a good thing that it wasn’t completely free, otherwise I would be trying to scrounge another box together. I’m certain that the default install won’t run good on my P166/64MB
-FB
Eugenia: did you try it? There’s only one option in the drop box, ‘Digital’ The product page says it costs $59.95, the discount is only $49.95
Application Description: LindowsOS 4.5 Developer Edition
Qty: 1
Fullfilment: Digital
Price: $59.95
Sub Total: $59.95
Discount Total: $49.95
Total: $10.00
I meant to say there were almost no Lindows-made config tools. There are some, but most of them are just the KDE ones.
Eugenia,
Do you have an account with them already? Maybe that’s why they’re not requesting your card information, if they have it already.
Also, the price confusion is because the page with the instructions tells you to get the developer edition and that the coupon won’t work with anything else. The developer edition is $59, the coupon is for $49. The coupon DOES seem to work for the basic $49 edition though; however I still haven’t been able to get around the request for a credit card number.
well, they do spend a bit of time helping KDE, what with kde-apps.org, kde-look.org and such…
Not that I’m saying they shouldn’t have equivilent programs for Gnome, just trying to explain why it might be the way it is…
Someone needs to get their math straight.
I applaud the effort, and I’d love to get my hands on a copy to play with, but I’m not willing to pay for it. I’m not the target market for this product. If this package were freely available to geeks, it might build up some momentum among the people that _are_ in their targeted market. I’m sure they realize this, hence the ‘free’ download. Only problem is, they messed up on the math somewhere.
I sent Lindows.com an email, I am sure they will be fixing the glitch very soon!
Thanks Eugenia, your a star
Any chance you could find out about the credit card thingy? I’m assuming you have to give them a number to create an account, and you have to create an account to get the download; but I thought I’d ask.
The last time I downloaded the freebie verison there was no need for a credit card. I am sure this is just a glitch in their system asking for the $10 (the system is confused that the user asked for the boxed version instead of the P2P version).
i couldn’t download it on my products just the source package is listed not the os itself…am I doing something wrong ?
No, you don’t need a credit card to make an account. I signed up and got a free download of LindowsOS a while back. I remember you had to create an account, but when you were checking out if the balance of the order was $0 then they didn’t ask for a credit card.
Look carefully, though. They will ask you to sign up for Click-n-Run, which costs money and therefore needs a credit card. Once you are at that point, you don’t have to sign up for Click-n-Run, you can just go download your free LindowsOS iso file.
Am I the only one who doesn’t seem to see the “Coupon Code” that is “lised below”
Yes. Check the red text.
Pardon me while I go have my eyes cheked again!
their math doesnt add up. are these guys trying to beet microsoft, or be microsoft??
I respect what Lindows is doing for the open source community, but this free download hype, and then asking for ten sucks, waisting my time. I posted help on their board to see what happens. Most part their on my good books for sticking it to the man, hmmm, the borg!
Some one reply here when it works. TY!
Give us a link to your post on their board. I’m having the same problem as everyone else. PS, expired debit cards don’t work
Just in case anyone is wondering… I tested the page in Mozilla with lack of an input box for the “Coupon code.” It appears just fine in IE however. Aren’t they supposed to be anti-Microsoft?
I’m running FireFox 0.8 and got the coupon code input box fine. The sight does seem to be running slow though.
The only available item that I can see to download is the source code. Why do they bother if you cant download the bittorrent file. Does anyone have a link to the actual bittorrent file?
Lindows has become some what of an online OS whore. In that last month I’ve seen about a dozen sites with their own Lindows promotional code to get the Dev edition for free.
Heck, even DeviantArt.Com got in on the action!
They really do wanna give this away to as many people as they can in the hope that a decent percentage of folk will be “clever” enough to use the CNR so they can rake in the dollars!
I’m sure they will put out sooner or later
They really do wanna give this away to as many people as they can in the hope that a decent percentage of folk will be “clever” enough to use the CNR so they can rake in the dollars!
Are you implying there is something wrong with that? Obviously their end goal isn’t to lose money.
Kevin,
I’ve sent your PR department a notice about this, but it went unanswered and unresolved.
All emails originating from Lindows.com like Michael’s Minutes, and Lindows.com Press, all (*every single one*) are missing spaces in almost every sentence. I looked at the html behind the email and the spaces aren’t in there either, so I doubt it’s just rendering it improperly. My email account is a free one through excite.com. No other emails are messed up…just Lindows.com ones.
You guys should check it out. It’s been like this for over a year. Here’s a sample/typical paragraph from the latest Michael’s Minutes (Notice, ownershipwill, iflaptops, volumesof, andrunning, tohit, target.This):
“Many want this to happen because they believe that PC ownershipwill explode iflaptops can hit this price point. The greater volumesof laptops being sold will enable lower costs for components, andrunning desktop Linux is the only factor that will allow these units tohit this price target.This would be great.”
they should let this coupon apply to any product!
> they should let this coupon apply to any product!
Or at least to the dev edition so that we can get it for free as the article promised.
Sorry, we messed up. It was working right, then we made a unrelated change that goofed this up. We’re fixing right now and it should be working right in a minute.
Kevin
Sorry about that. We have fixed this. If you had tried it before, simply delete the product from your shopping cart, re-add it, and re-apply the coupon code and it should show a $59.95 discount now (free for digital).
Again, our apologies for the mix up!
Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc.
If you follow the instructions correctly this works fine. Originally it was asking for 10 dollars, but that was because I pushed continue rather than update. If you push update first then continue as the instruction instruct, it offers you a 100% discount.
The instructions are clear, we’re all just idiots.
Lindows, I like you
I just downloaded it, the coupon was for the entire amount, and they did NOT ask for any credit card info. And no, i did not previously have an account with them.
Thanks Mr. Carmony. See, this is why I like Lindows. Lindows seems to be active in the community. I don’t recall the president of Mandrake or Redhat posting at OSNews, or apologizing for a mistake in a promotion. Yeah, maybe Mandrake or Redhat would issue a press release if they screwed up a promotional discount, but that just doesn’t have the same credibility and appeal as a personal post at OSNews by the company president.
So I for one like Lindows. I may not run LindowsOS on my desktop, but I did go buy a $100 ChoicePC membership to show my appreciation. As for my own computer, I’ve finally got Mandrake set up exactly the way I want it, so I am loath to make any changes to the system. I did play around with LindowsOS using VMware, though. I am impressed. I would definitely recommend LindowsOS to a newbie.
Now if I could just convince my dad to give up all his fancy custom-designed Windows-only linguistics and language applications… *sigh* But I guess he isn’t in the Lindows target market.
Thanks to Lindows for giving folks an opportunity to try this distibution. I use LindowsOS exclusively on my IBM Thinkpad. It’s the only distro that works the first time right out of the box.
I meant to say that it’s the only distro that has worked the first time right out of the box FOR ME. 🙂
I can only see the source code downloads. Where’s the ISO I keep reading comments about?
Okay I’m a newbie. I’d like to give this Lindows a go. I know how to burn ISO’s. But all I see is a link to the source code files version 3 or 4. I chose 4. Now all I get are hundreds of DSC and Winzip files. As a newbie I’d like an ISO please. Otherwise, can someone please tell me which files I should download, in what order, and how I go about creating the Lindows distribution from these hundreds of files I seem to have access to.
This is definitely not designed to appeal to beginners.
i cant download it im swedish so i got in the no chocie group.
so i cant try it
pherhaps they should fix the website so it mentions sweden along with luxenburg and the netherlands on the
http://clicknrun.com/killchoice/ webpage
***See, this is why I like Lindows.***
Thanks!
The first time we did a give-a-way to OSNews readers, we didn’t have the P2P BitTorrent piece in place, so our servers were slammed really hard and we were only able to leave the coupon code up for a day or so before having to shut it off. So, with our new use of BitTorrent (announced today) as an option to get the software, I figured we should come back to the good people of OSNews and give them the offer again. I’m sure the queue on our servers will still get fairly high, but it’s nice to know you have an option to start a download immediately using BitTorrent. (Can you tell we dig P2P technology? =)
***Where’s the ISO I keep reading comments about?***
If you follow the directions at http://lindows.com/osnewsfreebie you should find your way to the .iso files.
*** Okay I’m a newbie.***
Downloading an .iso file, burning a CD, and then installing an OS is never going to be easy, especially for a “newbie.” Keep in mind our main market never installs LindowsOS, they simply get it when they buy a low-cost LindowsOS computer (http://lindows.com/featured).
You might want to pay the extra few bucks to get the retail box and have it shipped to you.
*** pherhaps they should fix the website so it mentions sweden along with luxenburg and the netherlands on the http://clicknrun.com/killchoice/ webpage***
We do mention Sweden on the top of all our web pages, but yes, we can add it to the /killchoice page too.
Thanks to OSNews for sharing this coupon with their readers, and again, my personal apologies for the goof up earlier!
Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc.
silly me i dint read on the top on the page.
and i did se that i can download it.
exelent it will be nice to try it tomorow when i get my dual
mp setup.
its really sad that you cant call it lindows in sweden
i hope that mess will be solved.
and i cant possible se how someone could confuse it with windows since it was in the linux section of the shop that sold lindows
I did my part to purchase a ChoicePC membership supporting Sweden…. hopefully choice will return to your country very soon dizz.
I am using firefox 0.8 as well with no luck. wierd
Just follow the directions, click buy now, click developers electronic, apply coupon code, type it in, click update, click checkout, and you’re done.
No other distro has been able to get my nic working in linux(olicom gocard 2250, tulip driver). Time to give lin a try, i really doubt it, but should it work, youll have a happy camper/user.
Mr. Carmony, I just thought you should notice that the laptop edition of Lindows on the download page doesn’t have a corresponding torrent link. You might want to add one, for the same reasons that you provided the others. Great idea, by the way – I use BitTorrent quite often and have been quite pleased with it.
I look forward to trying your products.
***the laptop edition of Lindows on the download page doesn’t have a corresponding torrent link.***
Our plan is to use BitTorrent for all our .iso’s. Stay tuned.
Kevin Carmony
President, Lindows.com, Inc.
I followed the steps and I everything went alright but when I went to my.lindows.com and clicked on My Products then CD Downloads and I had more then just the developer edition CD available to me (there was also a laptop edition and a live CD edition along with two or three others). I didn’t know which one to click so I just went for the first one on the list: “LindowsOS 4.5 Installation CD”:
version 4.5.316
released: Mar 3rd, 2004
File Size: 489.41 MB
How long can I get the ISO images for free through my.lindows.com now?
Can I hand my copy off to someone else if I don’t use it?
BTW. I don’t really like all the programs being renamed, nor do I like the idea of the root account being unprotected out of the box, but last time this happened I was trying to find a new distribution and I had just missed the download by a few hours, at least now I can give it a try next time I decide I want to change distros.
Ok nevermind, I just got the e-mail with the instructions, looks like I did everything right 🙂
Well, I finally got a PC clear that I can install this on and play with the offered 4.5 Dev edition from some time back.
It’s a real super duper box that I installed it on: VIA Eden 533/512MB/30GB HDD, Liteon CDRW, build in NIC, sound, GFX. Yep, a real performance beast.
It installed first time without a problem. I let it use the entire HDD and apart from asking for a machine name and security password that was it. The install wasn’t exactly fast but neither is hardware but it did work flawlessly.
I’m currently typing this just now from “Lindows Internet Suite” browser and I have to say I’m damn impressed. It’s perfectly useable even on this quite basic hardware, not exactly fast but not turgidly slow. The tutorials are so well presented; brilliant for the market.
I’ve got my MSN account logged in, talking with some people there, reading and posting on my favoured sites (including this one) and yeah. Java and Flash I see were both setup already. I CNRed to get Realplayer (some of them are accessible without signing up). I could now actually use this box to do my browsing and internet “stuff” without any issues.
CNR I have to say impresses me no end. I loved the idea and now having played with it a bit more seriously, I love the practice. Clicked on Realplayer and that was it. I looked away and the next I knew it was installing (download and install) it. Very nice.
To be honest, I’m surprised it is this useable on the hardware. I can only imagine how it will be once they get a 2.6kernel/kde3.2 setup. (For comparison Windows XP was a joke on this box, 2000 probably about similar to this)
I’m impressed.
Please download it. Lets get this thing going!! More Torrent users please!!
“We’re sorry, but the choice of registering, creating an account and purchasing Lindows.com products and services has been taken away for residents of Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. See http://clicknrun.com/killchoice for more details.”
Shit!
so i decided to try an anonymizer in Germany and it still didn’t worked. Then i changed my e-mail address to a (non-existing) .com address and then i got throught.
I thought this was the real free download via torrent
http://www.suprnova.org
You can always skip CNR and use either apt-get or one of its frontends (after uncommenting the sources in /etc/apt/sources.list), such as Aptitude/Synaptic (and synaptic has a nice X interface)
It won’t need your cash either
I’ve used Synaptic and yes it is a very valiant attempt at a GUI frontend to a nice system (apt-get) but…
it’s generic. CNR is single click installs that you know will work and will integrate into your system properly and consistently.
Yes there are repositories per distro but the convenience, the setup, the handholding and extras that CNR provide are imo worth it.
A big thank you goes out to Lindows.com from my family. We’ve been wanting to try LindowsOS for a few months now, but we’re on a very low budget and can’t spend money on software that may or may not meet our needs. We’ve tried other freely available distributions (Mandrake, RedHat, and Debian), but I had various problems with each one.
But now I’ll know within a few days (I’m on dial-up) whether or not LindowsOS is right for us. I look forward to trying out Click-N-Run and the improvements for laptop users.
Is the freebie thingy over?
All I see on the page is:
For an explanation of an ISO file, as well as how to burn them using LindowsOS, visit http://www.lindows.com/installhelp
Source Code:
Modified source code.
No download links though.
I downloaded the same offer about a month ago. Just out curiosity. The common user will find a valuable cheap alternative OS. The linux geek will notice that Lindows is selling freeware. But support has a price. Lindows is shipped with an easy software installation/update system called click and run. A kind of repository where you can by additional programs. As the OS lackes some key multimedia features that anyone can’t miss on the long run, one might think this offer is just a free ticket to access their cnr shop.
> No download links though.
You have to “check out” first.
I see I’m not the only one unable to download anything. As I said previously, I know how to download and burn an ISO, but there is no download link once I get to the download page – just links to download the source files.
Could I please have a link to download the ISO now that I’ve signed up for it?
Is the developer edition laptop compatible? Or do I need to download the laptop edition? Is the download (for laptop edition) free with the OSNews coupon?
Thanks!
teghem (IP: —.telenet-ops.be) wrote:
<quote>one might think this offer is just a free ticket to access their cnr shop.</quote>
Would you prefer Lindows make no money at all and disappear? I think the concept behind this distribution is fabulous. It never ceases to amaze me when people find issue with a company not giving out “free beer.” Visit this webpage to your astonishment: http://www.gnu.org/order/deluxe.html
CNR is a service. It’s for those people who want an easy way to install linux software or those who don’t want to deal with the hastle. I would imagine that Lindows spends alot of money on full time employees who are finding decent software, packaging it, and probably spend one heck of alot of time testing it all to make sure it works smoothly. Is this not the essense of how Linux companies intend to make money? Selling service? Is CNR not a “pre-packaged delivery service”?
If this is a marketing tactic to give away their quality work for free with the possibility of making their user friendly CNR service available, more power to them.
So what is the difference with the Laptop Edition, the Dev. Edition and the regular LindowsOS 4.5 install cd all of which are listed on my downloads page. I can understand the LE is for laptops but I mean how does it vary from the other 2 versions (more/less software..etc)
I see I’m not the only one unable to download anything. As I said previously, I know how to download and burn an ISO, but there is no download link once I get to the download page – just links to download the source files.
Could I please have a link to download the ISO now that I’ve signed up for it?
Yeah, exactly, just a link to an ftp server with the sources.
No bittorent file.
Cliff – I believe the laptop version includes better PM integration for sleeping your laptop and stuff. Also, the standard 4.5 build includes apps that the developer edition doesn’t have and vice versa. Maybe Kevin Carmony can clear that up for us.
Incredible how to the average Internet user proves to be a lazy, indolent selfish and incompetent bastard everytime. Even when he goes after the freebies, probably the only thing that manages to get him excited…
Unknown Error
There’s a reason why I don’t like distros which obscure the truth about what their doing from you, I could probably easily fix this problem myself without calling tech support, but NOOOO. So much for trying LindowsOS.
yes, it crashes when you run it using vmware 4.0.5.
I want my $10 back now
My girlfriend’s win98 box has been BSOD’ing more than usual lately, so figured maybe this is the time to see if Lindows is ready for her. The upshot — not yet. Read on for why…
I download and burn Lindows. But the installer has no partitioning tools, and I don’t want to wipe her single windows partition.
So I reboot from a damnsmalllinux CD & use parted to resize windows down a bit, and create a new partition from the now free space.
Now back to the Lindows installer. It requires almost no input. Good so far.
Only after rebooting do I see the EULA. Nothing scary in there, but I’d have rather seen it before the install. Boot is graphical and hides the details. Good.
First thing that pops up is some kind of welcome/tutorial using Flash. It’s called “audio help” or something like that, but there’s NO AUDIO. Ok, now I know something isn’t right. My gf would never figure this out.
Exiting the tutorial, the Lindows desktop appears designed to make windows users at home. This is good. In some ways it looks less slick than, say, Fedora. But it’s decent and well-organized.
Before investigating the audio, a browser pops up and can’t find lindows.com. (Maybe I clicked something, not sure.) Networking is notworking. Strike two.
I play around with the networking control panel (easy to find for a windows user), to no avail. I open a konsole, eth0 thinks it’s up. wtf? I read the handy help files. No joy. It’s a home LAN with a dhcp serving NAT box, should be cake.
Then I hear a key in the lock — oh crap she’s home! Quickly I reboot into windows.
Later she tries to use the PC. “How come the network is down?”
While she’s not watching I power down, then cold boot into Lindows. Networking is up now. Probably Lindows hardware detection borked the Netgear card, and it just needed a cold boot to recover. GF would have solved that one by accident.
What about audio? Nope. Retry hardware detection, no help. Yet lspci does show her soundblaster.
While I’m futzing with the audio the “Lindows update” lets me know that there are security updates available. I use the CNR thingy to download them, but the installer says that winbind failed to install. I tried to scroll for details, no luck.
Time to punt. Too many problems that gf or grandma just wouldn’t know how to deal with.
Overall impression is that Lindows is heading towards having a thoroughly branded product that is comfortable for windows users, but with similarly tenacious commercial lock-in. (“Click N Run” subscriptions are hawked at every turn.)
A proper final test would be to access Lindows tech support to see if they can resolve the audio problem. (Better yet, have HER try to do it.)
I’m sure these things are solvabe, but I’m gonna save this for another day. For now I’ll set her default boot back to windows…
Good review man. I’m sorry you had some trouble with it but I’m glad you were fair. Lindows has some polishing left to do but I think we’ll see most of these issues resolved when they release v5 of their OS, due out sometime this year.
I finally got my ISO files.
I had to go through the whole sign up process again. This time it worked.
Thank you Lindows.
Now to see what it’s like.
Downloading now…
Its about time they was able to let people download lindows, via p2p. It’s bad enough they have been offering it for dowlnoad but unable to deliver from their servers. lol. Maybe this will work.
Jason — thanks man, I agree they’ll get the kinks worked out as they get more of us testing it on non-Walmart boxes.
A followup: the next time Lindows booted it automatically re-installed the failed winbind security update and was successful this time. Good going.
Audio still hasn’t healed itself.
I’m terrified that my gf is running the browser (a re-branded Mozilla) and everything else as root. That’s the default setup.
Apps like the browser and file manager are noticeably slow to start (256MB rambus, 1.6GHz P4), but app performance is OK once loaded.
So far she isn’t freaking out. She even said the clock reminded her of Mac OS.
I hope other downloaders will come back and post their experiences…
Eugenia,
Rather than a half-million emails to Michael Robertson (et al) thanking him (them) for this generous offer, would you thank him on the behalf of those of us who very much appreciate this?
I’m using BitTorrent to download the ISO and find it – like the few times before I have used it – kinda slow, but reliable.
No problem man. I wonder if something else is going on with your box. I run Lindows on a 700mhz P3 with 25bmb of ram and it runs WAY faster than W2K which also runs on the same box. I am dual booting. Check the Lindows forums when you get a chance on the sound issue. Create a user other than root for your GF. Lindows has fixed a problem with CNR running under a user other than root. I created a user and everything is working fine. The only problem you may run into is that the Lindows theme for Mozilla doesn’t copy over when you create a new user. I ended up copying everything from the root mozilla folder over to my new user and editing the prefs.js in order to specify the new locations for the new user. I’ve heard from Lindows on this issue and they will have it fixed in their next release. Good luck man.
Got a lindows account, just in case I want to try it out(unlikely, since downloading is painful on dialup). Anyway, tried Lindows on a friend’s laptop on Friday. Seems polished, but noticed a problem w/ changing hostname from standard user account from GUI (doesn’t ask for root passwd like other utilities, and fails; had to edit manually). Also, bootup takes a long time (10 minutes). However once it boots, the UI feels quite responsive on a PII laptop. Keramik/Geramik seem gaudy, but I hope they’ll be replaced by the next release.