Freespire

---

title: "Freespire" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["linspire", "discontinued-linux-distributions", "ubuntu-derivatives", "linux-distributions"] description: "Linux distribution" topic_path: "technology/operating-systems" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freespire" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Linux distribution ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox OS"]

Field	Value
name	Freespire
logo	[[File:Freespire logo.png
caption	Freespire 9.0 running Xfce 4.18
developer	PC/Open Systems LLC
family	Linux (Unix-like)
source_model	Open source (with optional proprietary components)
license	Free software licenses (mostly GPL) with optional proprietary-licensed components
latest release version
latest release date
kernel_type	Monolithic kernel
ui	KDE Plasma (versions 1.8.2 onward)
working_state	Revived/Current
website
supported_platforms	x86-64
language	English
::

| name = Freespire | logo = [[File:Freespire logo.png|250px]] | screenshot = | caption = Freespire 9.0 running Xfce 4.18 | developer = PC/Open Systems LLC | family = Linux (Unix-like) | source_model = Open source (with optional proprietary components) | license = Free software licenses (mostly GPL) with optional proprietary-licensed components | latest release version = | latest release date = | kernel_type = Monolithic kernel | ui = KDE Plasma (versions 1.8.2 onward) | working_state = Revived/Current | website = | supported_platforms = x86-64 | language = English

Freespire is a community-driven Linux distribution currently owned by PC/Open Systems LLC. It is derived from Linspire and is composed mostly of free, open source software, while providing users the choice of including proprietary software including multimedia codecs, device drivers and application software.

Freespire 1.0 was based on Debian, while Freespire 2.0 was based on Ubuntu. Linspire was bought by Xandros, who originally planned to switch back to Debian for future Freespire releases.

On January 1, 2018, PC/Open Systems announced it had purchased Linspire from Xandros and released Freespire 3.0. While Linspire is available for $29.99, Freespire 3.0 is free.

History

In August 2005, a distribution Live CD based on Linspire's source pools named Freespire hit the web by accident. This distribution was created by Andrew Betts and was not produced or released by Linspire Inc. Freespire was confused by some users to be an actual product from Linspire, and at the request of Linspire the distribution adopted a development codename Squiggle and began looking for a new name. Linspire then, on the back of the generated publicity, offered users a "free Linspire" (purchase price discounted to $0) by using the coupon code "Freespire" until September 9, 2005. Squiggle OS is no longer in active development.

On April 24, 2006, Linspire announced its own project named "Freespire". The new Freespire distribution was announced by then Linspire President and former CEO Kevin Carmony. This follows to the model of Fedora being supported by Red Hat and the community since 2003. Novell had also started a similar community project by the name of openSUSE for its SUSE Linux product line in the second half of 2005.

Xandros acquired Linspire/Freespire in the Summer of 2008. Xandros had plans to keep Freespire as a community developed distribution similar to that of openSUSE and Fedora for their respective commercial distributions.

Freespire 2.0.8, released on 30 November 2007, and based on Ubuntu 7.04, was the final release until the distribution was revived with 3.0 in January 2018.

Features

The distribution is a Debian-based, community-driven and -supported project tied to the commercial Linspire distribution. Freespire includes previously proprietary elements from Linspire, such as the Click N' Run (CNR) client, while other elements, which Linspire itself licenses but does not own, like the Windows Media Audio compatibility libraries, remain proprietary, closed source. Consequently, there are two versions of Freespire, one with the proprietary, closed source libraries, and one, called Freespire OSS Edition, that includes mostly open-source components. Freespire has a number of in-house programs written in Haskell and OCaml, such as its ISO image builder, its hardware detection and autoconfiguration, its package autobuilder and "Debian library", and also the programs managing the CGI.

Releases

::data[format=table]

Version	Release date	Notes
1.0 Release Candidate (1.0.2)	2006-07-28	Release candidate
1.0 (1.0.13)	2006-08-04	url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001143855/http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=385
2.0 RC (1.9.0)	url=http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/Freespire_2.0_Schedule	title=Freespire 2.0 Schedule - Freespire
2.0	2007-08-07	Public release based on Ubuntu 7.04, Linux 2.6.20, and KDE 3.5.6, with the built-in CNR 7 plug-in
2.0.8	2007-11-30	Fixes and Beta CNR plug-in
ru}}	2018-01-01	Have Linux kernel 4.10.0-42, Mozilla Firefox Quantum web-browser, and other software updates.
3.0.1	2018-01-14	Meltdown and Spectre fix.
3.0.6.5	2018-02-08	Linux kernel updated to 4.13.0-32, added new UI tweaks for feedback about distro, removed GParted, updates until February 7, 2018 are applied and more.
3.0.8	2018-03-19
4.0	2018-08-20	Migration from Ubuntu 16.4 LTS to 18.04 LTS base
4.5	2018-12-20	Security updates
4.8	2019-05-03	Various Updates
5.0	2019-10-15	Various Updates
6.0	2020-02-10	Various Updates
6.0.3	2020-06-22
7.0	2020-10-30
7.1	2020-12-28
7.5	2021-05-09
7.7	2021-07-30
8.0	2021-12-05
8.2	2022-03-02	Swap desktop from MATE to KDE Plasma 5.
9.0	2023-01-23	Swap desktop from KDE Plasma 5 to Xfce
title=" Freespire 9.5 Released "	url=https://www.freespire.net/2023/05/freespire-95-released.html}}	2023-05-08
10	2023-12--7	Swap desktop from Xfce to modified GNOME
::

References

References

1. (2020-01-01). "Downloads". freespire.net.
2. (2008-08-06). "Back to Debian: Freespire returns to Debian Roots". practical-tech.com.
3. "Linspire - The easiest Desktop Linux".
4. [http://www.pc-opensystems.com/2018/01/freespire-30-and-linspire-70-released.html PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0 and Linspire 7.0 released]
5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100720144734/http://wiki.freespire.org/index.php/FAQ_Category%3A_About_Freespire_and_The_Freespire_Project#Wasn.27t_there_a_Freespire_project_released_towards_the_end_of_2005.3F_Is_this_the_same_project.3F FAQ Category: About Freespire and The Freespire Project - Freespire]
6. "LinuxPlanet: Linspire Announces Freespire Distribution (New Distro Comes in Free and Proprietary Flavors)".
7. "July 2008 Linspire news release".
8. "Freespire". DistroWatch.com.
9. "Release Notes/1.0.2 - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org.
10. [http://www.osnews.com/story/16272 Review: Freespire 1.0], '''OSNews'''
11. "Free Agent: The Latest Free Linux {{!}} PCWorld".
12. "Release Notes - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org.
13. link. (October 1, 2006)
14. "Freespire 2.0 Schedule - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org.
15. [http://www.linux.com/articles/118615 Freespire aspires, but falis to inspire {{! Linux.com {{! The source of Linux information]
16. "Download Freespire - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org.
17. "Freespire Roadmap - Freespire". Wiki.freespire.org.
18. (2007-11-30). "Freespire 2". freespire.org.
19. [https://news.softpedia.com/news/black-lab-software-releases-freespire-3-0-linspire-7-0-linux-operating-systems-519189.shtml Black Lab Software Releases Freespire 3.0 & Linspire 7.0 Linux Operating Systems], '''Softpedia News'''
20. ru
21. [https://fossbytes.com/lindows-linux-distro-back-linspire-7-0-and-freespire-3-0-released/ Lindows Linux Distro Is Back From The Dead: Linspire 7.0 And Freespire 3.0 Released], '''FossBytes'''
22. [https://betanews.com/2018/01/02/lindows-freespire-linspire-lives/ Lindows rises from the grave! Freespire 3.0 and Linspire 7.0 Linux distros now available], '''BetaNews'''
23. [https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20180205#freespire DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 749, 5 February 2018]
24. [http://www.pc-opensystems.com/2018/01/linspire-701-and-freespire-301-released.html PC/OpenSystems LLC: Linspire 7.0.1 and Freespire 3.0.1 Released - Meltdown and Spectre fix]
25. [http://www.pc-opensystems.com/2018/02/freespire-3065-released.html PC/OpenSystems LLC: Freespire 3.0.6.5 released]
26. "Freespire: Freespire 4.0 Released".
27. {{usurped. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190212070521/https://www.freespirelinux.com/2018/12/freespire-45-released.html Freespire 4.5 Released]
28. {{usurped. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190507093844/https://www.freespirelinux.com/2019/05/freespire-48-released.html Freespire 4.8 Released]
29. "Freespire 5.0 Released".
30. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 6.0.3 Released".
31. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 7.0 Released".
32. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 7.1 Released".
33. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 7.5 released".
34. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 7.7 Released".
35. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 8.0 Released".
36. Download, Full Version. (2022-03-02). "Freespire 8.2".
37. ""Freespire 9.0"".
38. "" Freespire 9.5 Released "".
39. Dohnert, Roberto J.. "Freespire 10 Released".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::