Hi! I'me a ubuntu user, I've read about gnewsense.. very interesting.. I've some questions..

Which are the relations with ubuntu? I see that gnewsense uses ubuntu's repository, without non-free software. And uses a kernel without non-free firmare and drivers. But the version of ubuntu, in gnewsense repository, is hardy. Is there a reason or simply the last version of gnewsense has been release when there was hardy? Is it possible to change gnewsense repository to update softares to intrepid?

Thanks, Sergej

Thank you for the question! I am a regular gNewSense user and not a developer, so I will answer to the best of my knowledge.

You are correct. The current gNewSense 2.1 is synced with the Ubuntu Hardy Heron package repositories. A new version is in the works (probably gNewSense 2.2), but when that is released it will still be based on Hardy Heron. The gNewSense developers chose to base gNewSense on Ubuntu "Long Term Support" versions, the latest one being Hardy Heron. Since there are only two main gNewSense developers, this allows them (and users) to have a stable and free operating system without having to worry about big changes to it every six months. For more information on "Long Term Support", please see the "Ubuntu" Wikipedia page or the Ubuntu home page.

If you want to use the gNewSense operating system, then I would NOT recommend installing packages from any other version of Ubuntu, gNewSense, or any other operating system. If you want a few of the newest software applications that are not currently available in gNewSense, then installing them in, for example, "/usr/local" is no problem. But to change the repositories to point to a different operating system or version (or to even just add a repository) would cause big big irreversible trouble. And by "irreversible", I mean "it's time to reinstall the operating system!" :-P This principle of not "mixing and matching" software repositories is true for pretty much any GNU/Linux distribution.

If you've used Ubuntu, especially the Hardy Heron version, then you've pretty much used gNewSense - the difference, of course, is that gNewSense is 100% free software. If your hardware is supported by free software drivers, then I would recommend gNewSense completely. Actually, I recommend gNewSense anyway - and find hardware from manufacturers that support free software drivers! ^_^

As for me, I find it absolutely amazing that I can run an ENTIRE operating system with software to do EVERYTHING I need with entirely free software. Free software will only become more amazing from here!

Adding repos shoudn't be a horrible idea after all, just to make sure they are "hardy" compatible. But again, if there are non-free repos, why bother use gNewSense then? (¬¬) :P

Anyway static_drc gave a really good scene that plus our growing community is a good place to start learning the value of freedom and true free software :)

Cheers!

static_drc is right. Current gNewSense 2.1 (deltah) is based on Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04.1. Next gNewSense minor release is 2.2 based on 8.04.2.

If you want us to release often please consider helping gNewSense developers. Subscribe to gnewsense-dev and help.

Thank you.