Free vs. Free

[Shibblet]

I still am having a bit of problem understanding this. I was looking over Mandriva Free, One, and Powerpack, and not understanding the differences between Free and One.

All I can gather is that if you download Mandriva One, you have to buy the drivers. And if that's the case, why don't we have to purchase drivers for Ubuntu?

Also, what do they mean as "free as in beer" ?

[Techsnap]

Nope Mandrive One just comes with proprietary drivers and some other goodies. Free comes with only opensource software.

[MasterNetra]

Mandriva One, essentially comes with proprietary drivers and such along with the open-source while Mandriva Free only comes with the free open source. Thats at least one difference. Probably the main one.

---Beatin by seconds. lol ---

[doas777]

check out the Freedoms (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) (gnu.org)

the other versions have software that is "encumbered" in that it abridges at least one of the freedoms.

its free beer, but not free speach

[Simian Man]

Guide to Mandriva releases:


-------------------------------------------------------|
| | One | Free | Powerpack |
|----------------------------|----------|--------------|
| Free as in Speech | | X | |
| Free as in Beer | X | X | |
-------------------------------------------------------|


Casual users should most likely download One.

[gnomeuser]

One of the ways Mandriva makes money is by selling you a service, in this case the service of having unsupportable proprietay drivers being not just available but supported to an extend.

[Shibblet]

So, running proprietary drivers can be "free" as in cost, but not "free" as in access to the source.

[Simian Man]

So, running proprietary drivers can be "free" as in cost, but not "free" as in access to the source.

Correct sir. It's akin to installing the "restricted drivers" under Ubuntu.

[doas777]

So, running proprietary drivers can be "free" as in cost, but not "free" as in access to the source.
exactly. also, even with source, they may not allow you to redistribute.
that's the beauty of the GPL. it explicitly grants you all the rights you could want, as long as you pass those rights on.

[Shibblet]

Correct sir. It's akin to installing the "restricted drivers" under Ubuntu.

I see. That makes a lot more sense. I was thinking in terms of drivers being free for Windows, but not Linux?

We have a hard enough time getting drivers, let alone having to buy em!

I'm marking this as solved.

[Praxicoide]

Didn't Ubuntu offer the same thing, back when there was all the fuss about allowing instant installation of closed drivers? Gubuntu or similar?