intercitylinux:Freespire(the undiscovered country)

The web is kind of a big place yet its very small at the same time. Some of are seeking info others love. The web has made it eazy to keep in contact with others.

"Freespire: the undiscovered country" I like that. It's a little something I picked it up from the intercity Linux blog, which is very pro Linspire/Freespire. The maintainers are from a midwest city; a one horse known as the Saint Louis area. I know it well.That blog is right about one thing. Linux users are busy working on Linux, and therefore understand the ends and outs of Linux. On the other hand most PC users are busy working as housewives or bus drivers i.e. they don't have time to learn Linux the way Linux-geeks have.

I would agree with that point. And with Freespire CD's being free of cost it may make it much easier to spread the word.Other distros require users to either track down and install the proprietary device drivers or programs, or rely upon experts to walk them through the process. In the default SLED 10 install you get all the Firefox plugins for Java, Flash, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), RealPlayer, and Citrix. Missing is the ability to play video files through Firefox. The absence of such a plugin could be a deal breaker for some. It prevents people from viewing product demos or participating in computer-based training programs. Countless users, the ones looking to make a move from that other O.S., just want a Linux system that will let them watch Windows Media files, play DVDs, and connect with their WiFi.
Freespire is venturing into new territory. It the First no-cost Linux distro I know of that has "legal" support or has one-click access to legal support for things like Windows Media, DVD, MP3, QuickTime, Bitstream fonts, Java, Flash, Real, ATI graphic drivers, NVIDA graphic drivers, Win-modem drivers, proprietary WiFi drivers, etc.
You don't need to use CNR. Freespire is a Debian-based distribution. That means any DEB-compliant installer program, such as apt-get or Synaptic, will work. Of course, I was able to and did install many programs in Linspire 5.0 without CNR. Google Earth runs just fine on Linspire and so does NeroLinux, two programs that are NOT available through CNR.

The Unofficial Freespire Blog wants to get the word out to people, who are now using Windows ME. He believes that some users may decide to switch to Linux instead of upgrading to the "high priced" XP. Hardest hit by the cancellation of (Windows ME) support has been home users and schools. Those users are not going to want to go to forums and search for an answer on how to get their media player to work with what format file they are trying to view or listen to. I have even installed Linspire 5 on a Pentium 2 sub-500mhz system. Try doing that with XP.

So before you throw out that old Pentium 3 first download Freespire 1.0 or Freespire 1.1 run the live CD mode. You never know, that old system might be worth saving.