Linspire 8.0 Alpha 1 Released

Today we have released Linspire 8 Alpha 1.  This release is the beginning stages of our new Linspire release scheduled for a Christmas release.  This is a rudimentary build and some things may not work as intended so expect some bugs.  This release is NOT set in stone and you can expect numerous changes between now and final release.

DO NOT USE THIS RELEASE IN PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS

Linspire 8.0 Alpha 1 has the following advancements

Ubuntu 18.04 Base
New GUI layout
kernel 4.15/0-23
Mate 1.20.1
Google Chrome 67
Thunderbird 52.7
LibreOffice 6.0.4
App Store with Flatpak and Snap support
Dark and light mode

You can download the Alpha from our download servers.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/pre/swordfish-8-a1-x64.iso
http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/pre/swordfish-8-a1-x64.iso.md5
http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/pre/swordfish-8-a1-x64.iso.sha256

Introducing Linspire CE Office365

Today we are pleased to announce a new release for our Education and business customers.  Linspire 7.0 SP1 CE Office365.  Linspire CE Office365 is our release of Linspire CE (cloud edition) dedicated to Microsoft's online platform..  Linspire CE Office365 is available today from our webstore.

We are providing this release for education facilities and companies that have standardized on the Microsoft Office platform and who need a robust alternative operating system platform for collaboration with existing infrastructure and migration to the web and cloud storage hosting.

Linspire CE Office365 includes the following features from Linspire:

kernel 4.13.0-43
KDE Plasma Desktop environment
Google Chrome
The VLC media player
IceSSB
Biometric support

The following Microsoft app shortcuts are provided out of box:

Bing
OneDrive
Office365 console
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft OneNote
Skype Web
Microsoft Outlook

You can purchase this release from our online store 

More information is available from our live product launch which was recorded

If you have any questions contact:

sales@pc-opensystems.com
support@pc-opensystems.com

Linspire Server 2018 Released

Today we are pleased to announce the release of Linspire Server 2018 to the public.  Linspire Server 2018 is based on Ubuntu Server 16.04.  Linspire Server 2018 is a solution for medium to small businesses as well as education facilities.  Linspire Server 2018 is available today and will be free to download and use under a self support license.  Commercial support is available for customers who want that piece of mind.

Linspire Server 2018 boots by default into a customized XFCE environment for a GUI environment to ease the complexity for customers coming from Windows Server or macOS Server.  We use DWM as a secondary window manager and users can use the server as a command line only environment as well.

Some of the features of Linspire Server 2018 includes:

Kernel 4.13.0-41
Chromium 66
Cockpit'
Web container technology for deploying web applications
Apache
Samba server
Tomcat
MongoDB
XFS support
JFS support

You can download Linspire Server 2018 from here

http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/server/linspire-server-2018-x64.iso
http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/server/linspire-server-2018-x64.iso.md5
http://distro.ibiblio.org/blacklab/server/linspire-server-2018-x64.iso.sha256

You can get more information about Linspire Server 2018 here

Changes coming to Linspire and Freespire

Ok guys, some changes that we are making to Freespire and Linspire:

1. Dropping XFCE for Freespire. Freespire will only be delivered in KDE Plasma 5 going forward. It is by far the most popular desktop and has had way more downloads and usage. Linspire will continued to be offered in XFCE and KDE.

2. Linspire Server 2018 will be released next week. We had to work with multiple companies on the next issue. Linspire Server 2018 will be FREE to download and use under a self support license. Commercial support will have license terms as follows: Self support = free Commercial Support = $199.99 USD per physical server. $129.99 USD per virtual server. $79.00 USD for physical media, self support.

3. Linspire Server 2018 will ship with XFCE as the main GUI, and DWM as a secondary. Why a GUI? Many of our customers come from Windows and macOS Server products and we want to make it as comfortable as possible. You can still use it command line only as well.

4. We are currently in SP2 development. Some changes coming in SP2 include ENCFS Manager, Cantata as the audio player, Kmail replaces Thunderbird, we are adding the Spotify client. There are numerous under the hood changes which we will be discussing the closer we get to release.

5. Some have asked if we will offer a minimalistic version like Ubuntu does. The answer is, we already do. People who want a minimalist release of Linspire can use Linspire CE and add whatever apps they want whether they are cloud or traditional desktop apps

Linspire 7.0 Service Pack 1 released

Today we are delivering Linspire 7 SP1 for general release.  With this release we have several fixes and changes that we have made to Linspire.   With this release we have resolved many of the issues that users had with our first release.  Linspire 7 is the only desktop distribution that is supported for 10 years on the desktop.  Linspire is deployed by many companies, government agencies and education facilities for their productivity, design and development workstations.

Resolved Issues

With this release we have resolved the following issues

Installer rebranded for Linspire
All Xubuntu and Kubuntu documentation removed
All Xubuntu and Kubuntu branding removed
iMac wireless and iSight camera drivers now included
Google Pixelbook support
Linspire Server Core 7.0 now supports many HPE, Dell and Lenovo server systems.

Features and Updates

Kernel 4.13.0-38
KDE 5.8.9
XFCE 4.12
LibreOffice 6.0.3
Google Chrome 65
Thunderbird 52.7
Ice SSB 5.2.7
VLC 2.2.8 (3.0 will be coming in our next update)
Skype 8.18.0.6
OpenBoard white board application
All Security updates until April 5, 2018

Availability

Linspire 7.0 SP1 is available today with KDE as our default desktop and XFCE for lower end and older systems.  To acquire XFCE place it in your order notes.

Linspire 7.0 is the most affordable desktop Linux distribution on the market,

Boxed set - $79.99 USD
Digital download - $29.99 USD

Linspire is also available preloaded on hardware.  Linspire comes with 12 months of phone and e-mail support and commercial support also includes remote service and on-site service.

All current subscribers and customers have received a download for the new ISO.

Purchase

You can purchase Linspire from our webstore.

http://www.linspirelinux.com/p/webstore.html

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions contact support@pc-opensystems.com or join our forums.

http://linspire.boards.net

Enabling KDE Wallet

As many of you have noticed on our KDE desktop we disable KDE wallet.  While we have our reasoning why we do it many of our commercial customers use Kontact as their groupware suite.  The Kontact suite does need KDE enabled so in this tutorial we will explain how to enable KDE wallet.

1.  Open the Settings Manager

2.  Click on Account Details

3.  Click on Enable KDE Wallet

4.  After you enable Wallet click on Launch Wallet Manager

5.  When wallet manager launches click on Open; when prompted type in the password 'desktop' all lower case

6.  Next you will want to change your password.  Click on Change Password and choose a password of your own choosing

7.  When you choose your new password close the wallet manager, go back to the Settings Manager and click 'Apply'

Microsoft Office Ribbon in LibreOffice

Many of our Black Lab and Linspire customers have asked us; Can you implement the Microsoft Office ribbon in LibreOffice? Well we did our research and LibreOffice 5.3 and 6.x have a "ribbon" type interface called the Notebook Bar.

 Here is how you enable it

To enable the Notebook Bar do this:

 Click on the menu Tools > Options Select ‘LibreOffice’ > ‘Advanced’ Check ‘Enable Experimental Features’ Press ‘OK’ Atfer clicking okay you’ll be prompted to restart LibreOffice (yep the app, not your PC) so that the changes you requested can take effect.

 Click ‘Restart Now’.

Once the suite pops back up you’ll instantly notice that things look no different to how they did before.

 Head to the new View > Toolbar Layout menu. libreoffice view toolbar layout menu You’ll see a set of 4 toolbar layouts in LibreOffice 5.3: Default (Classic Toolbar) Notebookbar Single Toolbar Single Toolbar + Sidebar.  Choose Notebook Bar.

That is how you enable the "ribbon" interface in LibreOffice.  This has been tested on Linspire, Black Lab, Linux Mint, Ubuntu and OpenIndiana.  We have NOT tested on Windows or macOS