Freespire 2.0

[jml]

This is meant to be neither flame bait nor a troll, just a few observations. I use Etch as my main distro, but I like to experiment with other stuff just for giggles. I recently installed Freespire 2.0 on my test rig; an HP/Compaq nx6110 laptop which has integrated Intel graphics and the dreaded Broadcom 43*** wireless chipset. I was somewhat impressed with the progress this distro has made since 1.0.

It has lost the "Fisher Price" look that earlier versions of Linspire and Freespire 1.0 had. Since the release anouncement mentioned improved hardware support for wireless cards, I was interested to see how it would handle my Broadcom card. To my suprise, my card was recognized out of the box! (I know I can get it running in Etch, and I have done so in the past.) I was able to establish a connection with my WPA encrypted wireless access point in just a few minutes after installation.

Their new "free" CNR service for installing additional software was not yet up and running, which has generated a lot of comments on the Freespire user forums. But, luckily, Freespire does include apt, so I was able to apt-get install Synaptic and install most of what I wanted with it. libdvdcss2, and W32codecs were not suprisingly, unavailable from the supported repos, (one is expected to purchase a licensed copy of PowerDVD to play movies in Freespire,) but by adding the Medibuntu repo I was able to get what I needed and was watching my copy of The Matrix without any problems.

While, I won't be switching to Freespire as my day to day distro anytime soon, I was impressed with the progress they have made. If you have a free parition on your computer, I encourage you to try it and post your thoughts here.

Joe

[e1even1]

I use Etch as my main distro, but I like to experiment with other stuff just for giggles.

me too. but debian has ruined that for me. i went up to distrowatch and saw the freespire release day before yesterday and normally i would have had it in a virtual machine by now. but i'm spoiled to the point that i can't get excited by anything else now.

[llivv]

'

[hellfire[bg]]

one is expected to purchase a licensed copy of PowerDVD to play movies in Freespire

Why is that. Could you give more details. I didn`t know about this.

[jb]

Great post on the new release of Freespire 2 jml ...
If you're comfortable using it to watch your DVD('s) and use your wireless that is great.
My only concern is with the price that was paid to get some of the functionality into the new release.
To have things work out of the box is really really nice.
If on the other hand to make such things work "out of box" we have to use proprietary code,
we than have to make our own choices about just which hoops we want to jump through.

m

most of us want a system that just works, we leave the nuts and bolts for the pros
after all !! choice!!
jb lenny user!

[Lavene]

one is expected to purchase a licensed copy of PowerDVD to play movies in Freespire

Why is that. Could you give more details. I didn`t know about this.

That can't be right. PowerDVD is Windows only and it's no mention of it in the Freespire wiki. All they say is that you need the libdvdcss2 and warn about the possible legal implications.

Tina

[Eck]

Actually that is right. The Linspire/Freespire folks have always had the ability to purchase PowerDVD through CNR. Cyberlink only makes it for them though. I don't think it's possible, without some major wizardry, to get it or to use it on other Linux distro's.

[craigevil]

PowerDVD

[Lavene]

Ah, some more searching reveal that PowerDVD is sold as OEM software for commercial Linux distros. Turbolinux is another one...

How unlinuxy of them. Not that I would buy it if it was available, libdvdcss does the job nicely (and it's legal in Norway too).

[Eck]

Yes, that is unLinuxy.

I guess they can't get it on the new Freespire 2.0 until they get that new CNR up and working. I've been doing some reading over at their forums (got some time to kill here) and see that most are apt-getting Synaptic and adding the Medibuntu repository for now. Seemingly, those Ubuntu Feisty repo's won't mess up their systems since the release combined with updating right away should bring them up to date with the Ubuntu updates. They could apt-get everything but I suppose most Freespire users prefer a GUI. I wonder how Aptitude would work for them, if they even have it available? But then, it's Ubuntu based now and those folks are kind of anti-aptitude.

Hey, did you see that spec page for PowerDVD? It lists a bunch of distro's, including Debian, that it will work with.

Hmm. I haven't had any problems with libdvdcss2 either, but PowerDVD gets updates for compatibility for new formats, copy protections, and some nice audio stuff. It's what I use in Windows, not that I boot into Windows that much these days. It also would give folks the nice, all properly licensed and legal feeling. I already have that feeling since I've spent plenty on PowerDVD Deluxe through the years and upgrades. I've said this before, but my feeling is it's not my fault they don't offer it for Linux. And so, libdvdcss2 gets installed on my system.

I mostly watch DVD on my computer with headphones for the better audio. I can't use stereo systems and loud TV's here in this condo with paper-thin walls.

I suppose that if Debian gets CNR, there will be folks interested in buying PowerDVD.

I also noticed that most folks discussing the issue over there feel that they wished Freespire had stuck with being Debian based rather than switching over to being Ubuntu based, but then it's too early to tell what they'll think when they start using it.

I never checked out Free/Linspire, but one guys screenshot of the desktop looked nice. It's kind of a weird Ubuntu KDE without Kubuntu. It's incredible how much Linux software can be customized.

It looks to me like the deal they have with Microsoft and the noted changes to what they do with Linspire (one computer license) isn't even mentioned on the wiki's. They still say stuff like free to share, copy, develop on, etc, etc. Perhaps it's just whatever upgraded CNR license they purchase that will come with strings, or if they use Linspire instead. Linspire's new restrictions look a lot like purchasing a Windows license to me. That seems rather nasty, eh? Novell isn't doing stuff like that with OpenSUSE.

[llivv]

'

[Bro.Tiag]

Why is it unLinuxy?

[llivv]

'

[hellfire[bg]]

Ah, some more searching reveal that PowerDVD is sold as OEM software for commercial Linux distros. Turbolinux is another one...

But can`t you use xine or totem to play dvds? Even in windows you can chose the program you use to do certain things - for example except powerdvd there is also wind dvd and windows media player. If they can chose which player to use, why Freespire`s user can`t?

[Lavene]

Ah, some more searching reveal that PowerDVD is sold as OEM software for commercial Linux distros. Turbolinux is another one...

But can`t you use xine or totem to play dvds? Even in windows you can chose the program you use to do certain things - for example except powerdvd there is also wind dvd and windows media player. If they can chose which player to use, why Freespire`s user can`t?

The problem is that DVDs are 'encrypted'(see http://www.dvdfllc.co.jp/ ). You need a special library (libdvdcss2) to decrypt them and that is illegal in many countries. So if you want to stay legal in these countries you need to use software that's licensed to decrypt the DVD which of course make it both expensive and closed source.

Tina

[Bro.Tiag]

Ah, some more searching reveal that PowerDVD is sold as OEM software for commercial Linux distros. Turbolinux is another one...

But can`t you use xine or totem to play dvds? Even in windows you can chose the program you use to do certain things - for example except powerdvd there is also wind dvd and windows media player. If they can chose which player to use, why Freespire`s user can`t?

Well in fact once you purchase a DVD player with not only the legal, but the copyrighted stuff from someone whom is authorized to re-distribute the codecs to play DVD's, you can use any player. I bought the XineDVD player (for Lindows4.0) back in the day and once I installed it mplayer would also play my DVD's.

Cheers

[Bro.Tiag]

old schoolly like. You remember when, not every new piece of computer hardware had to work before the installation even finished. Plus, it was all secure because you had to know how to use the keyboard as well as the mouse.

That explains things, I came to linux via Lindows. Everything just plain worked from the get go, still does.

[hellfire[bg]]

Well in fact once you purchase a DVD player with not only the legal, but the copyrighted stuff from someone whom is authorized to re-distribute the codecs to play DVD's, you can use any player. I bought the XineDVD player (for Lindows4.0) back in the day and once I installed it mplayer would also play my DVD's.

What about repositories like debian-multimedia and the contrib and non-free debian repositories? Is it illegal to use them? I`ve heard that it is illegal in the USA but i don`t know that for sure. And what is this XineDVD player? Is it the same as xine? And if it is why did you have to buy it?

[Bro.Tiag]

Well in fact once you purchase a DVD player with not only the legal, but the copyrighted stuff from someone whom is authorized to re-distribute the codecs to play DVD's, you can use any player. I bought the XineDVD player (for Lindows4.0) back in the day and once I installed it mplayer would also play my DVD's.

What about repositories like debian-multimedia and the contrib and non-free debian repositories? Is it illegal to use them? I`ve heard that it is illegal in the USA but i don`t know that for sure. And what is this XineDVD player? Is it the same as xine? And if it is why did you have to buy it?

Well, Lindows did not utilize any debian repositories, Linspire/Freespire are now using ubuntu's repositories, but I doubt that any legal stuff is coming from ubuntu, but rather Linspire's controled repositories. Therefore I have no idea regarding debian-multimedia and the contrib and non-free debian repositories.

To the best of my knowledge it is illegal to play DVD's in the US unless you have purchased DVD play back software and abide by that software's EULA.

As I remember things, Lindows offered a DVD Player with the ability for DVD playback. When downloaded via CnR it was originally Xine. Later on Linspire offered their DVD playback via the Linspire DVD player. So I am not sure that a Xine-DVD player was ever on offer commercially outside of CnR.

Well I did have Xine installed, but in order to play certain DVD's legally, I bought the DVD Player. For me it's a matter of integrity.

Cheers

[hellfire[bg]]

To the best of my knowledge it is illegal to play DVD's in the US unless you have purchased DVD play back software and abide by that software's EULA.

Why is that? I mean if you are obligated to do so by a law why was this law accepted in the first place? What is the reason for such law?