Linux Made Easy: Linspire 5.0

[David Ecklein]

Derek-

I see your point at last.  Of course you are right.  I guess Linspire is a
Windoze Wannabe, and should be compared to that system on "today's" hardware
running "today's" games played by "today's" overindulged teenagers and older
but not necessarily wiser adults.  That's where the market purportedly is.
Both these people will want to see superiority, not mere parity.  What's an
extra hundred bucks for an operating system for someone who spends $200 on a
graphics card, especially if the cheaper alternative does not fully exploit
the card or the system?  That was part of my critique of the review.  There
were no meaningful comparatives.  Maybe I am asking too much...

You are also right that I am primarily intrigued that some variety of Linux
that will rescue these older machines (perhaps for school systems,
hard-pressed inner-city community centers, first-time users trying to live
on Walmart-or-below wages etc.).  Linux to me means low cost (asymptotically
approaching zero as a limit in fact).  High reliability on a wide variety of
hardware and ease of use and deployment are also important, of course.

You and others have given some valuable pointers about where to go for an
appropriate flavor.  Will look at Slackware 3 as you suggest.

Dave Ecklein