gNewSense
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| gNewSense | |
 |
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 gNewSense 2.0 |
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| Website | www.gnewsense.org |
|---|---|
| Company/ developer |
Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley |
| Source model | Free software |
| Latest stable release | 2.0 [1] / April 30, 2008 |
| Latest unstable release | 2.0 / April 30, 2008 |
| Update method | APT |
| Package manager | dpkg |
| Supported platforms | x86 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
| Default user interface | GNOME |
| License | Free software licenses |
| Working state | Current |
gNewSense is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, designed for users who wish to only use free software on personal computers. It was launched by Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley in 2005. In 2006, it was given assistance and endorsed by Free Software Foundation.[1]
gNewSense is based on Ubuntu but with all proprietary software and binary blobs removed. It describes itself as "A GNU/Linux distribution, that takes all the non-free blobs out of a rather popular distribution and makes it free".[2]
Version 1.1 was released on 22 January 2007, version 2.0 "deltah" followed on 30 April 2008 and was based Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron". gNewSense 2.0 is available pre-installed on computers from Los Almos Computers.[3]
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[edit] Differences between gNewSense and Ubuntu 6.06/8.04
Proprietary software repositories are not provided by the gNewSense project, non-free documentation and artwork have been removed and the "Universe" package repository is enabled by default. In order to avoid trademark issues that stem from the modification of Mozilla Firefox, gNewSense 1.1 rebranded it as "BurningDog". BurningDog likewise did not suggest non-free plugins[4] for various web media, such as Adobe Flash. gNewSense 2.0 uses the Epiphany web browser as released by the GNOME Project.
[edit] Limitations
Because some drivers, firmware, and "binary blobs" were removed from Gobuntu, it will run on fewer computers than Ubuntu. gNewSense is derived from Ubuntu (6.06 "Dapper Drake" for 1.1 "deltad" or 8.04 "Hardy Heron" for 2.0 "deltah"), but has a few significant differences. The kernel has over one hundred pieces of proprietary firmware removed, including support for some wireless network cards. gNewSense currently supports a more limited range of wireless network cards than other GNU/Linux distributions do.
[edit] Technical aspects
By default gNewSense uses GNOME, the official desktop environment of the GNU operating system, but a version using the KDE desktop is also available, though it has not yet appeared for the 2.0 "deltah" release.
gNewSense has also created a tool called 'Builder' which allows for others to create their own variants of Ubuntu.
Like Ubuntu, gNewSense has good usability but focuses on software freedom. The Ubiquity installer[5] allows installing to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation.
Besides standard system tools and other small applications, gNewSense comes installed with the following software: the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, the Internet browser Epiphany, the instant messenger Pidgin, and the raster graphics editor GIMP. To assist developers of GNU, common software development tools including the GCC and the GNU Emacs text editor are installed by default.
gNewSense offers a set of applications that work straight from the standard install. The live CD is then used to install, after being burnt to a CD, via CD images available for download. gNewSense 2.0 needs five gigabytes of disk space.
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[edit] References
[edit] External links
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