From: ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com   
      
   On 2026-01-30, CrudeSausage  wrote:   
   > On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:31:05 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 2026-01-29, rbowman  wrote:   
   >>> On Wed, 28 Jan 2026 23:23:57 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> This was back before high speed Internet was everywhere. The CDs were   
   >>>> a great idea.   
   >>>   
   >>> I wish I could remember the name of the company but it didn't sound   
   >>> like it had anything to do with computers let alone Linux, For $7 they   
   >>> would send you a CD of any distro you wanted.   
   >>>   
   >>> I could picture the operation since I'd bought a Compaq laptop from   
   >>> 4G's Plumbing. The owner was interested in computers and that was his   
   >>> little sideline when he wasn't unclogging drains.   
   >>>   
   >>> 'Free' CDs were the great idea.   
   >>>   
   >>> https://archive.org/details/mandrake-7.2-power-pack   
   >>>   
   >>> 7.2 was released in September 2000. iirc the price was around $40, not   
   >>> the $2 tag sale price. SUSE and others also had shrink wrapped   
   >>> offerings like any other software being distributed in the late '90s   
   >>> early 2000s. The experience was a little slicker than a CD from the   
   >>> back of a magazine and they were readily available at BestBuy,   
   >>> FutureShoppe, circuit City, etc.   
   >>>   
   >>> But FREE as in beer? Oh yeah!   
   >>   
   >> I bought SuSE from Best Buy. Corel Linux from (I believe) CompUSA. And   
   >> Caldera a couple times from... I can't remember where for sure, but I   
   >> think it was at the computer stores that used to be in Barnes & Noble...   
   >> Software Etc. I also bought books that had Fedora and Red Hat CDs   
   >> included. And there was another commercial Linux distribution — can't   
   >> remember its name — but it's the one that had to change its name because   
   >> it was too close to Windows. I'm sure there were some others that I   
   >> can't remember.   
   >   
   > You're thinking of Lindows. I remember installing that for my mother on a   
   > used computer I bought her. It did the job, to an extent. In the end, it   
   > wasn't very good. You're much better off with a Linux distribution which   
   > isn't trying to copy an established operating system.   
      
   That was pretty much my experience with it. It installed, worked okay, but   
   nothing special. By the time I bought it, it was already renamed Linspire. I   
   was surprised to see that Linspire is still being sold. It looks like their   
   website is stuck in the 90s, but the current kernel is 6.8 and they're up to   
   version 14, so I guess they're still updating it.   
      
   You can still download Freespire 9.x, but the 10.x beta goes to dead links.   
   So Freespire is currently stuck in 2023.   
      
   https://www.linspirelinux.com/   
      
   --   
   "Not just insane... Trump insane."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)