By Lou Dolinar
Fourth in a series
Updated Feb. 14, 2006

Much as I like the for-fee Xandros version of Linux, longtime readers know I’m basically a cheapskate. And if you are too, you’ll enjoy our parting shot at Linux, namely, how to get one of the free distributions.

Free means free, no kidding. Pretty much everything you get with commercial distributions is included, e.g. word processor, spreadsheet, web browsers, email etc. About the only thing you don’t get is 1) support and 2) some of the emulation programs we talked about last week that allow you to run Windows programs.

There are a ton of free releases of Linux, just take a look at www.linux.org or the reviews at www.distrowatch.com. Much as I’d like to say I’ve tried them all, I haven’t, but I’ve looked at a handful that are suitable for newbies:

--SUSE Linux. Much like Xandros, SUSE sells Linux at various price points, depending on included features. Novell just bought the German firm, and its releases have received the blessings of IBM and Hewlett Packard, which is to say that this is one of the better corporate/adult versions of Linux out there.

Most interestingly, the company makes available a trial version of the software free, for download. It’s not as slick as Xandros (nor is the version you pay for) , but it is a more than adequate introduction to Linux.

(A brief technical aside here: All the Linux releases we’re talking about this week come as .iso image files, e.g. copies of CDs. You need a special program to burn the image onto a CD-R; if you just copy the downloaded file, it won't run. You then boot your computer from the CD to get the install procedure to work. Thus, most readers will have to download a utility that will write .iso files to CD,. Try www.winimage.com or if you have Windows XP, see http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm.)

As for SUSE Linux, both freebie and pay versions are available at the company’s web site. The free version still includes all the software you need to get up and running with Linux. However, if you spring for the $39.95 Personal version, much like Xandros, gives you a manual, CD and 60 days of installation support. There’s also a $79.95 “professional” version, and a $119.95 version for 64-bit computers. Finally, there’s a free “trial version” that runs entirely from CD. This gives you a perfect hardware compatibility test without touching your hard drive. I’m told Xandros will be releasing a similar trial freebie soon.

In general, SUSE Linux has less of a Windows look and feel than Xandros, which may or may not ring your chimes. The free version usually lags a few months behind the pay version.

I had a devil of a time downloading free SUSE via Windows and Internet Explorer, probably because SUSE uses the FTP protocol, rather than HTTP for its downloads. Rather than try to sort that out, it may be easier to install a regular FTP client like Filezilla (http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/).

--Knoppix Linux. (www.knoppix.net). Even if you have not the slightest interest in running Linux, you might want to try this little free gem. Why? Because unlike Windows, it starts and runs directly from a CD--no need to touch your hard drive. If your hard drive is still working, but your copy of Windows goes south (in particular, Windows XP, which can lock you out of the disk if you’re not careful) you can use Knoppix Linux as a recovery disk.

The program detects all your hardware, including the network, then boots up, in minutes. You’ll be able to start up your computer and run a software suite, including Open Office, the Konqueror web browser, email programs etc. In other words, you can browse and search to find files, open them with Open Office, go to your email account; and generally do all the things you normally do with your PC--even though Windows isn‘t working.

If you like what you’s seen, Knoppix lends itself to more permanent installation. You can configure Knoppix to save all your settings, (email logins, for example) to your hard drive, or more intriguingly, to one of those little nifty USB solid-state key drives, at which point you have a fully portable computer system without the computer. Finally, included scripts will install all of Knoppix to your hard drive.

Knoppix is the best demonstration I’ve seen of how bad things are at Microsoft. I mean, wouldn’t it be grand if you could create a pared down version of Windows that you could carry with your and run from any computer’s CD drive? But even were this technically feasible, and I’m not sure it is because of bloated Windows code, it would interfere with various Microsoft legal and marketing strategies. The idea that a bunch of volunteer labor can produce Linux to compete with the Microsoft monopoly is startling enough; that one guy, Klaus Knopper, can produce a wonderful spin-off like Knoppix is truly stunning.

--DSL Linux. In Linux, the GUI (graphical user interface) is completely separate from the underlying kernel and supporting code, and the operating system can run from a command line interface, as in the old MS-DOS c:>. For sheer speed, this can’t be beat, and lots of Linux geeks prefer the antique look, as well as old-fashioned character based editors like VI.

DSL Linux takes advantage of this flexibility to squeeze Linux into a mere 50 megabytes, bootable and runnable from one of those little mini-cds you can fit in your shirt pocket. There have been reports of this version of Linux running in a satisfactory fashion on a mere 486 PC with 16 megabytes of memory, athough a first generation Pentium should be a little more robust.

You still get a mouse-driven graphical user interface, but it is a much stripped down one. The included applications are nothing you’ve ever heard of, minimalist but useable. The word processors are fine for writing letters, but you can forget about fancy multi-column formatting. Still, I think old DOS-heads will like this distribution the best.

What’s DSL Linux stand for? Try the home page www.dammedsmalllinux.org.

Next week, we’ll look at some questions that have been piling up in my mailbox. In the meantime, if you’ve tried Linux yourself, or been inspired to do so by my last few columns, let me know.