Recommended Software

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Operative Systems

The GNU Operative System

I specially promote the GNU Operative System, which began to be developed by the GNU Project since 1985. GNU is a recursive acronym that stands for "GNU's Not Unix", because Richard M. Stallman, who founded the GNU Project, wanted to create a free operative system which would be a replacement of Unix, a proprietary operative system. A free operative system would let people copy it, modify it, change it, and redistribute it or sold in original or modified form. This is the operative system I use, but without a component of the GNU Operative System called the GNU Hurd, the kernel. I use instead a more developed and supported kernel called Linux.

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Linux is a kernel being developed by the Linux Foundation, and began to be written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds and is released under the GNU General Public License. Thanks to his kernel, the last part of the GNU system that was missing was filled. This created the GNU/Linux Operative System, which sometimes has been misnamed "Linux". Here I offer a list of the GNU/Linux distributions I recommend.

Due to the fact that the current Linux kernel now has proprietary blobs in it in order for the kernel to interact with certain hardware, those who promote a completely free Linux version for a GNU/Linux operative system have created Linux Libre, a completely free kernel available under the GNU General Public License.

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GNU/Linux Distributions

	gNewSense: This is a GNU/Linux distribution that is sponsored by the Free Software Foundation, and is true to creating a free operative system, excluding any kind of proprietary software that sometimes can be found in other GNU/Linux distributions. It is based on Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux. Like Knoppix, it also has a live CD available for people who do not wish to install it, but want to explore it. This live CD also offers people the opportunity to install it if they wish to do so. They also provide the means so that other people can create their own GNU/Linux distributions. It uses Linux Libre as their default kernel.
	Kongoni: This is a completely free GNU/Linux distribution that is approved by the Free Software Foundation, based on Slackware. The word "Kongoni" is the Shona word for "Gnu", and its purpose is to provide a completely free operative system. It includes an installer, a KISS (Kongoni Integrated Setup System) which is an easy tool for configuration tasks, and PIG (Ports Installation GUI) which is their tool for installing and managing programs. They only provide software approved by the Free Software Foundation. All of their releases are named after great philosophers: Aristotle, Sophocles, Nietzsche, and so on. Since many of the software patents used in codecs currently used in video and audio, they do provide the codecs for their GNU/Linux distribution. It only uses Linux Libre as their kernel.
	VLOS: This is a distribution that is based on the Funtoo distribution of GNU/Linux. It is developed in Puerto Rico by several programmers, including the founder, Antonio Carlos Vélez Báez. Its purpose is to make GNU/Linux more accessible to homes and offices. The fact that it is based on Funtoo, a fork of Gentoo Linux makes this product very solid. I highly recommend this distribution.
	Ubuntu: Ubuntu is perhaps one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions. It is based on Debian GNU/Linux, and it is developed by a company called Canonical Limited. This is the operative system that I recommend for beginners. It is very well made, it is attractive, highly reliable, and user-friendly. I prefer the Ubuntu based distribution, Kubuntu, in my computer.
	Knoppix: This is a very popular GNU/Linux distribution, based on Debian GNU/Linux, which has the peculiarity of being the operative system that is completely loaded from the CD or DVD. It needs not be installed in the hard drive. Knoppix is excellent for two things: (1) For people to experiment with GNU/Linux and explore it without having to install it in the hard drive; (2) It can be used as a very powerful tool to access hard drives, or problem-solving without loading from the hard drive. It uses LXDE as its basic desktop inteface. If people like it, it can be also installed in the hard drive as any normal operative system.

Other GNU/Linux distributions recommended by the Free Software Foundation, are committed to complete freedom from proprietary software:

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FreeBSD

FreeBSD is, after GNU/Linux, the most popular Unix-like free operative system, which was developed 1993 from the original BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution). Unlike GNU/Linux, it is being developed as a whole. Although, it uses much of GNU components but it is an operative system in its own right. FreeBSD is very stable, and uses much of the programs devised for GNU/Linux and other operative systems. What has made this operative system so great is the use of the FreeBSD Ports, a package management system that lets FreeBSD download and install in its system. Its downside is that it does not have as much support as GNU/Linux distributions. However, it has been known that many times it has been far more stable than GNU/Linux. There is a more user friendly operative system based on FreeBSD called PC-BSD which I highly recommend.

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Operative Systems for iPods or Firmware

iPodLinux

iPodLinux is an operative system based on the Linux kernel which is now in development, but it is now fully functional for first, second, and third generation iPods. It supports some ACC, MP3, and basic OggVorbis playback. It even includes some games. The downside of iPodLinux, at least according to certain reports, is that its OGG Vorbis display is not fully developed, it delays in booting up, and some features do not work well in certain iPods. For more information see this Wikipedia article.

Rockbox

Rockbox is a free operative system that was designed to be a replacement for digital audio players (DAPs) and it is released under the GNU General Public License. It was first implemented on the Archos Studio DAP, and it gradually evolved to be implemented in iPods and other hardware. It does not uninstall the previous operative system, nor does it delete the songs already present in the iPod, as it would be the case of iPodLinux. Instead it is an operative system that operates above the proprietary operative system. The proprietary system would not play any role whatsoever in the interaction with the hardware. It plays MP3s, AAC, OggVorbis, WAV, AC3, FLAC, among others. It is also easier to install than iPodLinux, and it is easier still to uninstall. This is definitely my favorite free operative system that runs on iPods, even those iPods where iPodLinux cannot run yet. This is the one I use for my iPod. Rockbox has much support among the free software community, and looks very promising.

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