Linux I Thought it was free?

[MainFramed]

everyone tells me linux is free....but how come when i go 2 the linux web pages like red hat..mandrake (etc) they all cost money? please help me i dont follow....

 

[olson2cm]

Linux itself is free, you can download the cd images of most linux distro's from the company's web or ftp sites. What you pay for is the packaging and support when you "buy" a copy from the likes of Redhat, Mandrake or Suse.

For a list of mirror sites that offer downloads of Redhat, check out the
Redhat Mirror Page

Hope this helps!!

 

[MainFramed]

so if i download one of those links under the United States catorgory i would have the red hat linux OS?

 

[Nighthawk69]

Yes. For example, Linux Red Hat 7.3 has 3 CD's and you download 3 CD images which you then need to burn to.... 3 CD's.

 

[Buddha Bart]

to comply with the GPL and be "free" all a company has to do is provide the source of whatever they're distributing.

all thier stuff, the various shell scripts they use to tie it all together, pre-compiled packages, things they modify which are LGPL or BSD licenced, they have no obligation to provide you.

They also most certianly aren't obligated to provide you a nice pre-packaged ISO and instalation program.

fortunately, most do anyway so find a mirror and pray your pipe is fatter than your patience.

Additionally, most will 'sell' you a copy too. What they're really selling is convenience and support. Purchased copy's usualy come withi pre-made CD's (no downloading, no owning a burner, no burning neccisar), some documentation/instructions to help you through instalation and setup, and a basic support contract, like 1 year of phone calls or something.

bart

 

[Ulfwald]

Free download of any distro you want

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: Buddha Bart
to comply with the GPL and be "free" all a company has to do is provide the source of whatever they're distributing.

all thier stuff, the various shell scripts they use to tie it all together, pre-compiled packages, things they modify which are LGPL or BSD licenced, they have no obligation to provide you.

They also most certianly aren't obligated to provide you a nice pre-packaged ISO and instalation program.

fortunately, most do anyway so find a mirror and pray your pipe is fatter than your patience.

Additionally, most will 'sell' you a copy too. What they're really selling is convenience and support. Purchased copy's usualy come withi pre-made CD's (no downloading, no owning a burner, no burning neccisar), some documentation/instructions to help you through instalation and setup, and a basic support contract, like 1 year of phone calls or something.

bart

Slight correction bart, the GPL only obligates distribution of code to those you give the binaries too. Redhat could make all their ISO's and source unvailable to anyone that doesn't purchase it. The problem of course is that GPL makes it ok for someone to then buy it and sell the new copy themselves. Copyleft, not copyright.

 

[earthman]

Aside from all that, they have to pay their people as well. Hard to pay your bills if you don't sell something.

 

[Tiger]

Redhat could make all their ISO's and source unvailable to anyone that doesn't purchase it.

Ala SuSE.

 

[MainFramed]

¿ala SuSe?

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: Tiger

Redhat could make all their ISO's and source unvailable to anyone that doesn't purchase it.

Ala SuSE.

I think both of you are wrong. The spirit of the GPL is if binaries are released (by whatever means), then the matching source code is available upon request without hassle (this is an important stipulation). It doesn't matter whether the binaries were originally sold or downloaded at no charge; in fact *most* GPL software is not distinctly sold, but essentially developed and distributed over the Internet openly. The only time many of it are "sold" is when packaged into an OS distribution. Remember free software refers to freedom, not cost. Ahh, looks like rahvin beat me to it.

The only real exception to the GPL (which is very thoughtfully constructed by FSF's legal team) is that if you are a entity working with GPL code, and you don't re-release binaries, then you don't have to publish your changes. So companies are entirely free to use GPL software within their operations and hack on it; they just can't hijack the code and redistribute it for their own commercial purposes.

Finally, SuSE releases source code for all of their work (including the non-GPL stuff) on their FTP site. The only exceptions are 3rd-party software that they don't develop. You can't download the ISOs, but you can lawfully borrow CDs from a friend.