- Freespire used to be a community-run Linux distribution sponsored by Linspire, which then got discontinued in 2008.
- In 2017, Freespire was turned into a free operating system based on Ubuntu and run by PC/OpenSystems LLC.
- The latest release, Freespire 9.0 is now out, powered by Linux 5.15 kernel series, fully open-source, and ready to download.
Freespire 9.0, powered by Linux 5.15 kernel series, is now released and ready for download. It is based on Canonical’s Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), which is an Ubuntu flavor that is introduced with Xfce desktop environment instead of GNOME, the default DE for the main release of Ubuntu.
All codecs and software are open-source
The latest version of Freespire comes with the Xfce 4.18 desktop environment, which was released in early December last year. The release includes Firefox 103.0.1 web browser, Thunderbird 102.42 mail client, OnlyOffice Desktop Editors 7.2.1.36 office suite, GIMP 2.10.32 image editor, Transmission 3.00 torrent client, balenaEtcher 1.13.1 disk image writing software, and more. Furthermore, this version uses only open-source software, including the drivers.
Lead Developer and System Designer of Freespire, Roberto Dohnert said:
« Freespire 9.0 does not include any proprietary codecs or software code that is not open source – though if needed, these are available in the Ubuntu repositories; it does, however, include all relevant security updates. »
Download Freespire 9.0
All security updates up to January 17 2023 are included in Freespire 9.0 and it is, of course, free of charge unless you would prefer to buy the physical copy.
System Requirements
Processor: x86_64 Intel or AMD-based processor
RAM: 4 GB of RAM or more 8 GB recommended
Storage: 20 GB of Hard Drive space or more