Frozentech
This is a bump for an old thread that is archived now and apparently can't be bumped. There is good info (and some funny stuff... well it's supposed to be) in the thread, but the prices, some links and distro numbers are out of date. archive link
Frozentech, although not as incredible as it once was, is still easily the ultimate supplier of burned-for-you, low-priced "open" software CD/DVD's, especially if you want to try out several distros, as many people do. "Open" is your guarantee that you will not, cannot, be chained to any software provider's demented restrictions, asinine whims, or unforeseen predicament.
You don't want silly stuff like instructions and support which you get with wimpy boxed commercial versions, do you? You can get all that on the Internet.
How is this a deal when linux is free and the CD/DVD images that Frozentech burns are free for downloading->
Fedora Core is 6 on six CD's. (FC 7, due out May 24, may be on 7 CDs. The CD's seem to track with the version number
) At 28800 (the max dial up connection in my area) it's at least 60 hours per CD and it takes over 360 hours of download time. At 8 hours a day, that's 45 days. I have done it for 3 CDs. (You need a resuming downloader, like Getright or Free Download Manager.) Downloading 4.7G DVDs is hopeless.
Ubuntu 7.04 Live/Install DVD 1.99 (+ 1.99 shipping.)
Ubuntu now has less 'screwed-up" about it than any other distro I have seen. It possibly has less "screwed-up" about than Windows XP. (I don't have anything against XP; I just want to escape.) That means about 70% of routine installers will have no distressing problems with it, I'd guess. No not 100%. This is actually rather good for an OS that hasn't been pre-installed for you on known-working hardware. (Which is what gives Windows XP the advantage.)
Maybe Ubuntu has reached "critical mass. There are so many people using this thing that it is almost as easy to find help as for Windows.
A second winner is:
PCLinuxOS .093a CD $0.99
This un-trumpeted distro from a small group is derived from the open parts of Mandrake (evidently), every single part being re-worked, and much added, to the point it stomps its ancestors. It is about as friendly and complete as the massively funded Ubuntu, and more visually appealing.
However, I will always have some version of Fedora Core on a partition. I like everything about FC 6 except for the update manager, which misbehaves miserably on my connection. (I imagine it is alright on DSL.) FC really has everything Ubuntu does, and more, although not as obviously friendly and not as trendy looking (depending on what you like.) Once you get the hang of linux the cutesy visuals out front are not that big a deal; it is how easy it is to accomplish a task, and FC is very close. And it doesn't look bad, just kind of techy-industrial.
Fedora Core 6 DVD $1.99 (FC 7 is due May 24)
This is a bump for an old thread that is archived now and apparently can't be bumped. There is good info (and some funny stuff... well it's supposed to be) in the thread, but the prices, some links and distro numbers are out of date. archive link
Frozentech, although not as incredible as it once was, is still easily the ultimate supplier of burned-for-you, low-priced "open" software CD/DVD's, especially if you want to try out several distros, as many people do. "Open" is your guarantee that you will not, cannot, be chained to any software provider's demented restrictions, asinine whims, or unforeseen predicament.
You don't want silly stuff like instructions and support which you get with wimpy boxed commercial versions, do you? You can get all that on the Internet.
How is this a deal when linux is free and the CD/DVD images that Frozentech burns are free for downloading->
Fedora Core is 6 on six CD's. (FC 7, due out May 24, may be on 7 CDs. The CD's seem to track with the version number
) At 28800 (the max dial up connection in my area) it's at least 60 hours per CD and it takes over 360 hours of download time. At 8 hours a day, that's 45 days. I have done it for 3 CDs. (You need a resuming downloader, like Getright or Free Download Manager.) Downloading 4.7G DVDs is hopeless.Ubuntu 7.04 Live/Install DVD 1.99 (+ 1.99 shipping.)
Ubuntu now has less 'screwed-up" about it than any other distro I have seen. It possibly has less "screwed-up" about than Windows XP. (I don't have anything against XP; I just want to escape.) That means about 70% of routine installers will have no distressing problems with it, I'd guess. No not 100%. This is actually rather good for an OS that hasn't been pre-installed for you on known-working hardware. (Which is what gives Windows XP the advantage.)
Maybe Ubuntu has reached "critical mass. There are so many people using this thing that it is almost as easy to find help as for Windows.
A second winner is:
PCLinuxOS .093a CD $0.99
This un-trumpeted distro from a small group is derived from the open parts of Mandrake (evidently), every single part being re-worked, and much added, to the point it stomps its ancestors. It is about as friendly and complete as the massively funded Ubuntu, and more visually appealing.
However, I will always have some version of Fedora Core on a partition. I like everything about FC 6 except for the update manager, which misbehaves miserably on my connection. (I imagine it is alright on DSL.) FC really has everything Ubuntu does, and more, although not as obviously friendly and not as trendy looking (depending on what you like.) Once you get the hang of linux the cutesy visuals out front are not that big a deal; it is how easy it is to accomplish a task, and FC is very close. And it doesn't look bad, just kind of techy-industrial.
Fedora Core 6 DVD $1.99 (FC 7 is due May 24)
Facebook
Twitter