I quickly burned the ISO file of Linspire Five-0 to a CD and then proceeded to start my Linspire Five-0 adventure. But before I share that adventure, here's what Linspire Five-0 has to offer on the surface.
Linspire Five-0 is the long-awaited product of a primary goal to make Linux practical for home, school and work environments. It took three years and $20 million to get the OS to the point where it is now. And as they say, "It's come a long way, baby!"
Linspire Five-0 includes more than 1,200 enhancements. The desktop environment received a complete overhaul and more file types are recognized. It now offers an all-in-one solution CD that combines its live, bootable CD with the installation CD, and update has been added to the options for existing users.
The OS features the latest 2.6.10 Linux Kernel, KDE 3.3, X.org 6.8.2 and a new Supermount feature for use with removable media. It has added support for 802.11g wireless use, as well as support for Intel Centrino and AMD PowerNow. Other wireless enhancements include a wireless control panel, a WiFi Profiles Manager and a WiFi Access Point Locator.
Linspire Five-0 includes new enhancements for Internet such as "Hot Words" for embedded searching, an inline spell checker, a new AOL dialer and enhanced firewall protection. Other cool features include a built-in VPN, better networking, Nvu Web authoring software, the new OpenOffice 1.1.3 suite, Lsongs for music, Lphoto for photos, RealPlayer 10 and PhoneGaim, which combines instant messaging with free phone calls.
Linspire Five-0 presently is available as a digital download in two versions - regular is $49.95 and the CNR Edition, which includes a CNR warehouse subscription, is $89.95. Current Linspire users with a CNR membership can download the ISO for free. The web site is www.linspire.com.
More next time about my Linspire Five-0 adventure.
Free online courses
* CNET's Help.com will offer a "See Clearly: Optimize Your Computer's Video Display" class beginning Monday through April 22. This free course will teach you how to choose monitors, video cards and other components to enhance your computer's display. It will teach you how to optimize your settings for the best results and show you how to fine-tune power settings and more. Learn more or sign up.
MSN Live online events
March 22: Southern rockers Trust Company chats at 8 p.m. Go; actor Ashton Kutcher chats at 8:30 p.m. Go.
E-mail me at sheila@amnews.com; fax me at (859) 236-9566; or write me snail-mail at The Advocate-Messenger, P.O. Box 149, Danville, KY 40423-0149.
