Isn�t linux freely available anymore?
Isn�t linux freely available anymore? I have been away from linux for at least a year and now that I want to get it back I don�t find that many choices to download it as before. I don�t think that install it from an FTP server is a choice for me because: I am installing it just in a small partition from my hdd which is also W2K. My only internet access is dial up. I will like to know which version can I just download, burn into a cd and install it from there? Where do I find it? SuSE is my first choice, but I also looked at red hat site and it doesn�t seem to be as easy as before to download it with out paying. Is it because it has become so popular that linux distributors don�t let you have it for free anymore? Are they getting ready to compete in a capitalist world with M$? I will appreciate your comments or suggestion about how and where to get free linux if possible SuSE, if not, red hat. Thnx. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
Ricardo Rodriguez wrote:
Isn’t linux freely available anymore?
I have been away from linux for at least a year and now that I want to get it back I don’t find that many choices to download it as before.
I don’t think that install it from an FTP server is a choice for me because:
I am installing it just in a small partition from my hdd which is also W2K. My only internet access is dial up.
I will like to know which version can I just download, burn into a cd and install it from there? Where do I find it?
SuSE is my first choice, but I also looked at red hat site and it doesn’t seem to be as easy as before to download it with out paying.
Is it because it has become so popular that linux distributors don’t let you have it for free anymore? Are they getting ready to compete in a capitalist world with M$?
I will appreciate your comments or suggestion about how and where to get free linux if possible SuSE, if not, red hat.
Thnx.
--------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
I don't know what planet you are on.....but redhat still has ISO's available for download from their site or their mirror sites. Suse is the better choice in my opinion....but these companies need our support....which means $$$. There are a lot of open-source projects that are very good and need user support to continue to survive and develop. If we as users don't support them by buying their products, they will have grim prospects for the future. A business can't survive if it doesn't make money. Suse provides a great product for much less money than microsoft, so does Redhat and other open-source companies. If we want them to survive we need to support them.....look at what is happening to Mandrake. Since you have dial-up....why don't you go to a Comp-USA or a BestBuy near you and buy a redhat or SUSE CD pack. You can also purchase them online as well if you don't mind waiting a while to get them by mail. That is the responsible thing to do, that is the power you have as a consumer. Consumers have a lot of purchasing power....this can make or break a company. Study some auto history from the 1970's and you'll see a perfect example of this with the american car companies..... Oskar
If we as users don't support them by buying their products, they will have grim prospects for the future. A business can't survive if it doesn't make money. Suse provides a great product for much less money than microsoft, so does Redhat and other open-source companies. If we want them to survive we need to support them.....look at what is happening to Mandrake.
Agreed, last I checked SuSE8.0 personal version was available for $40 which is nothing considering what you get. What I do typically is I do an FTP install make sure it works for my application. Then I will go ahead and purchase the boxed version which comes with support. Ofcourse by then I know all my potential questions and problems. My only wish is that a better packaged server version was available with no X, just a good kernel, bash, apache, netfilter,and so on. With a old school config. Not all this Yast stuff. Which is good however by the time you customize a server/firewall Yast SuSe firewall and all Is more of a nuisance.
Oskar:
Thank you for your response. I will find some information to see what exaclty happened with the car industry back then, even though I wasn't around yet in 1970, but I guess that it had to do with economic issues of supply, demand, marginal cost, marginal revenue, consumer power, etc.
Frederick, Fred:
I understand very well the concept of "FREE" software, is just that I have bought some other linux packages before (RD5.1, Su 6.0-7.1) and instead of keep buying software which I only use to learn for a couple of months, I though I could get it as many people use to do it in the old days and see what's new.
You guys, are right, seem like I've been away too long and some things have changed around here, but it wasn't my intention to offend anybody, in which case I apologized for that. Living under a student budget is not easy, and when you realized how the economy is doing now days and how hard it is going to get a good job after school, sometimes you try not to spend extra money.
Oskar Teran
Isn�t linux freely available anymore?
I have been away from linux for at least a year and now that I want to get it back I don�t find that many choices to download it as before.
I don�t think that install it from an FTP server is a choice for me because:
I am installing it just in a small partition from my hdd which is also W2K. My only internet access is dial up.
I will like to know which version can I just download, burn into a cd and install it from there? Where do I find it?
SuSE is my first choice, but I also looked at red hat site and it doesn�t seem to be as easy as before to download it with out paying.
Is it because it has become so popular that linux distributors don�t let you have it for free anymore? Are they getting ready to compete in a capitalist world with M$?
I will appreciate your comments or suggestion about how and where to get free linux if possible SuSE, if not, red hat.
Thnx.
--------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
I don't know what planet you are on.....but redhat still has ISO's available for download from their site or their mirror sites. Suse is the better choice in my opinion....but these companies need our support....which means $$$. There are a lot of open-source projects that are very good and need user support to continue to survive and develop. If we as users don't support them by buying their products, they will have grim prospects for the future. A business can't survive if it doesn't make money. Suse provides a great product for much less money than microsoft, so does Redhat and other open-source companies. If we want them to survive we need to support them.....look at what is happening to Mandrake. Since you have dial-up....why don't you go to a Comp-USA or a BestBuy near you and buy a redhat or SUSE CD pack. You can also purchase them online as well if you don't mind waiting a while to get them by mail. That is the responsible thing to do, that is the power you have as a consumer. Consumers have a lot of purchasing power....this can make or break a company. Study some auto history from the 1970's and you'll see a perfect example of this with the american car companies..... Oskar --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
Alle 19:03, lunedì 20 gennaio 2003, Ricardo Rodriguez ha scritto:
Frederick, Fred:
I understand very well the concept of "FREE" software, is just that I have bought some other linux packages before (RD5.1, Su 6.0-7.1) and instead of keep buying software which I only use to learn for a couple of months, I though I could get it as many people use to do it in the old days and see what's new.
You guys, are right, seem like I've been away too long and some things have changed around here, but it wasn't my intention to offend anybody, in which case I apologized for that. Living under a student budget is not easy, and when you realized how the economy is doing now days and how hard it is going to get a good job after school, sometimes you try not to spend extra money.
This is not exact. Linux, referring to the kernel, is still freely downloadable. If you're speaking about the distros, then the answer is 'it depends'. If you want a totally free (the price meaning) distro, you should go with Debian or similar, which is a great distro (no cost for every purpose, great download system even from dialup, ...). If you want Suse, then you have to accept that some software created by SuSE, noticeably Yast, is not opensource, and is bound to a license that prohibits media distribution and duplication, except for non commercial purposes. Suse is a commercial entity, and it is quite obvious they have to find a way to earn money. But it is obvious that Suse it the most difficult distro to obtain at no cost, because you can download just from ftp (ridiculous), and there is no chance to find it in a magazine, for example. So, you have to buy it, or find someone who let you copy the cd for free. Redhat and others are easier and more 'opensource', if this expression could be applied. It is your choice, it depends on your needs. Andrea Negro -- andrea@alessandria.linux.it andrea_negro@it.ibm.com jabber andrea@jabber.linux.it
Quoting Ricardo Rodriguez
Isnt linux freely available anymore?
from the gnu site: `Free software'' is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.'' -- m vr gr Frederik Vos VosBerg@SuSE & L4L http://www.vosberg.be
On Monday 20 January 2003 16:46, Ricardo Rodriguez wrote:
Isnt linux freely available anymore?
Yes.
I have been away from linux for at least a year and now that I want to get it back I dont find that many choices to download it as before.
I dont think that install it from an FTP server is a choice for me because:
I am installing it just in a small partition from my hdd which is also W2K. My only internet access is dial up.
So how did you afford W2K? SuSE's a good deal cheaper, no?
I will like to know which version can I just download, burn into a cd and install it from there? Where do I find it?
If your only internet access is dialup, how are you using less bandwidth and phone time to download isos than you are to do the SuSE ftp install?
SuSE is my first choice, but I also looked at red hat site and it doesnt seem to be as easy as before to download it with out paying.
Is it because it has become so popular that linux distributors dont let you have it for free anymore? Are they getting ready to compete in a capitalist world with M$?
It's because the people who assemble Linux distributions, at considerable expenditure in time and effort, have to eat, pay rent and clothe their children. This is really very easy to understand - they can't go into shops and say 'I work on free software, can I fill my trolley for free?' Trying to send them on some kind of guilt trip by implying that they've somehow 'sold out' is deeply unfair and doesn't help anyone. You're paying to have a polished, well-organised and integrated distro delivered to you on nice CDs with useful docs. You're not paying for the Linux kernel, GNU binutils, etc. You can download all of those absolutely gratis. It'll just be up to you to make them work.
I will appreciate your comments or suggestion about how and where to get free linux if possible SuSE, if not, red hat.
You have several options, including: 1) The SuSE ftp install. 2) Get an old Sun box or similar, for which free isos are available from SuSE - only i386 arch has the limitation about downloading isos. Sun hardware is nice, and still quite powerful but ageing machines are to be had cheaply. 3) Get Debian CDs. Debian is a well-respected distro, and their stuff is very much free beer as well as free country. You can get the CDs cheaper than you can download them over dialup. http://www.debian.org 4) Ditto with FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org), OpenBSD (http://www.openbsd.org), NetBSD (http://www.netbsd.org). Not Linux, but you'll love it. At least one of these has an easy ftp install. 5) Using whatever Linux distro you still have around, go to http://www.linuxfromscratch.org and follow their install routines. This way, you can use a basic 'host' Linux system to build your own distro; their instructions are really, really well done, even I managed to get a working system up, including KDE3, without breaking too much of a sweat. However, I won't be stopping buying SuSE cds because of the enormous added value they give me. HTH Best Fergus
Thnx.
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-- Fergus Wilde Chetham's Library Long Millgate Manchester M3 1SB Tel: +44 161 834 7961 Fax: +44 161 839 5797 http://www.chethams.org.uk
participants (6)
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Andrea Negro
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Fergus Wilde
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Frederik Vos
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Oskar Teran
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Ricardo Rodriguez
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Rowan Reid