Freespire

Freespire is a community-driven Linux distribution currently owned by PC/Open Systems LLC. It is derived from Linspire and is composed mostly of free, open source software, while providing users the choice of including proprietary software including multimedia codecs, device drivers and application software.

Freespire
DeveloperPC/Open Systems LLC
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateRevived/Current
Source modelOpen source (with optional proprietary components)
Latest release9.0[1] / 23 January 2023 (2023-01-23)
Repositorynone
Available inEnglish
Platformsx86-64[2]
Kernel typeMonolithic kernel
Default
user interface		KDE Plasma (versions 1.8.2 onward)
LicenseFree software licenses (mostly GPL) with optional proprietary-licensed components
Official websitewww.freespire.net (former www.freespire.org)

Freespire 1.0 was based on Debian, while Freespire 2.0 was based on Ubuntu. Linspire was bought by Xandros, who originally planned to switch back to Debian for future Freespire releases.[3]

On January 1, 2018, PC/Open Systems announced it had purchased Linspire from Xandros and released Freespire 3.0. While Linspire is available for $29.99,[4] Freespire 3.0 is free.[5]

History

In August 2005, a distribution Live CD based on Linspire's source pools named Freespire hit the web by accident.[6] This distribution was created by Andrew Betts and was not produced or released by Linspire Inc. Freespire was confused by some users to be an actual product from Linspire, and at the request of Linspire the distribution adopted a development codename Squiggle and began looking for a new name. Linspire then, on the back of the generated publicity, offered users a "free Linspire" (purchase price discounted to $0) by using the coupon code "Freespire" until September 9, 2005. Squiggle OS is no longer in active development.

On April 24, 2006, Linspire announced its own project named "Freespire".[7] The new Freespire distribution was announced by then Linspire President and former CEO Kevin Carmony. This follows to the model of Fedora being supported by Red Hat and the community since 2003. Novell had also started a similar community project by the name of openSUSE for its SUSE Linux product line in the second half of 2005.

Xandros acquired Linspire/Freespire in the Summer of 2008.[8] Xandros had plans to keep Freespire as a community developed distribution similar to that of openSUSE and Fedora for their respective commercial distributions.

Freespire 2.0.8, released on 30 November 2007,[9] and based on Ubuntu 7.04, was the final release until the distribution was revived with 3.0 in January 2018.[10]

Features

The distribution is a Debian-based, community-driven and -supported project tied to the commercial Linspire distribution. Freespire includes previously proprietary elements from Linspire, such as the Click N' Run (CNR) client, while other elements, which Linspire itself licenses but does not own, like the Windows Media Audio compatibility libraries, remain proprietary, closed source. Consequently, there are two versions of Freespire, one with the proprietary, closed source libraries, and one, called Freespire OSS Edition, that includes mostly open-source components. Freespire has a number of in-house programs written in Haskell and OCaml, such as its ISO image builder, its hardware detection and autoconfiguration, its package autobuilder and "Debian library", and also the programs managing the CGI.

Releases
VersionRelease dateNotes
1.0 Release Candidate (1.0.2)2006-07-28[11]Release candidate
1.0 (1.0.13)[12][13]2006-08-04[14]Public release based on Debian, Linux kernel 2.6.14, and KDE 3.3.2[15]
2.0 RC (1.9.0)2007-07-10[16]Release candidate
2.0[17]2007-08-07[18]Public release based on Ubuntu 7.04, Linux 2.6.20, and KDE 3.5.6,[19] with the built-in CNR 7 plug-in
2.0.82007-11-30Fixes and Beta CNR plug-in[9]
3.0[5][20][21][22][23][24]2018-01-01Have Linux kernel 4.10.0-42, Mozilla Firefox Quantum web-browser, and other software updates.
3.0.1[25]2018-01-14Meltdown and Spectre fix.
3.0.6.5[26]2018-02-08Linux kernel updated to 4.13.0-32, added new UI tweaks for feedback about distro, removed GParted, updates until February 7, 2018 are applied and more.
3.0.82018-03-19
4.0[27]2018-08-20Migration from Ubuntu 16.4 LTS to 18.04 LTS base
4.5[28]2018-12-20Security updates
4.8[29]2019-05-03Various Updates
5.0[30]2019-10-15Various Updates
6.02020-02-10Various Updates
6.0.3[31] 2020-06-22
7.0[32] 2020-10-30
7.1[33] 2020-12-28
7.5[34] 2021-05-09
7.7[35] 2021-07-30
8.0[36] 2021-12-05
8.2[37] 2022-03-02 Swap desktop from MATE to KDE Plasma 5.
9.0[38] 2023-01-23 Swap desktop from KDE Plasma 5 to Xfce

See also

References
  1. "Freespire 9.0 released".
  2. "Downloads". freespire.net. 2020-01-01. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  3. "Back to Debian: Freespire returns to Debian Roots". practical-tech.com. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  4. "Linspire - The easiest Desktop Linux". Retrieved 2022-12-23. 1 license - Self Support $29.99 USD
  5. PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0 and Linspire 7.0 released
  6. FAQ Category: About Freespire and The Freespire Project - Freespire
  7. "LinuxPlanet: Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution (New Distro Comes in Free and Proprietary Flavors)". Retrieved 2008-12-15.
  8. "July 2008 Linspire news release".
  9. "Freespire 2". Freespire wiki. freespire.org. 2007-11-30. Archived from the original on 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  10. "Freespire". DistroWatch.com. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  11. "Release Notes/1.0.2 - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  12. Review: Freespire 1.0, OSNews
  13. "Free Agent: The Latest Free Linux | PCWorld". Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  14. "Release Notes - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  15. Freespire 1.0: first impressions :: Linux Format :: The website of the UK's best-selling Linux magazine Archived October 1, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  16. "Freespire 2.0 Schedule - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  17. Freespire aspires, but falis to inspire | Linux.com | The source of Linux information
  18. "Download Freespire - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2010-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  19. "Freespire Roadmap - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org. Archived from the original on 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  20. Black Lab Software Releases Freespire 3.0 & Linspire 7.0 Linux Operating Systems, Softpedia News
  21. OpenNews: Возрождение дистрибутивов Freespire и Linspire (in Russian)
  22. Lindows Linux Distro Is Back From The Dead: Linspire 7.0 And Freespire 3.0 Released, FossBytes
  23. Lindows rises from the grave! Freespire 3.0 and Linspire 7.0 Linux distros now available, BetaNews
  24. DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 749, 5 February 2018
  25. PC/OpenSystems LLC: Linspire 7.0.1 and Freespire 3.0.1 Released - Meltdown and Spectre fix
  26. PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0.6.5 released
  27. "Freespire: Freespire 4.0 Released". Archived from the original on August 26, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  28. Freespire 4.5 Released[Usurped!]
  29. Freespire 4.8 Released[Usurped!]
  30. "Freespire 5.0 Released". Archived from the original on October 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  31. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 6.0.3 Released". Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  32. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.0 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  33. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.1 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  34. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.5 released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  35. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 7.7 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  36. Dohnert, Roberto J. "Freespire 8.0 Released". Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  37. Download, Full Version (2022-03-02). "Freespire 8.2". Full Version Download. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  38. ""Freespire 9.0"".
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