Cheap Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium V4 (Software) (Linux) Price

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Customer Reviews of Xandros Desktop Home Edition Premium V4

This is not the answer for me!
I purchased this product and I'm disappointed. <
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>In the product description it states that you have a Security Suite with Xandros. Mine doesn't work and for it to work you have to purchase the updates from the Xandros Store--it's more expensive than my equivalent suite I'm using with Windows XP. <
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>If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to Microsoft, in my opinion this is not it. Xandros has a store to sell the add-ons and they're not cheap. Keep your plastic handy. There are apps that run under Windows that you're not going to be able to use with Xandros. <
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>I build my computers and all is not lost. Xandros is a good substitute for "Burn-in" software. <
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>I may try another Linux distribution. <
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NOT worth the money!!!
While it's true that Xandros -can- make migration of existing Win-doze apps easier, it's also true that installation is iffy, tech support was worthless when it came to real problems (I'm still unable to install it on my Dell 8500 laptop, though tech support "is working with me" on it), and the main reason many people migrate--the Code Weavers Crossover Office--doesn't play with Microsoft Money. I was able to install it on my wife's Dell laptop, but couldn't get any of the three brands of PCMCIA wireless cards we have (D-Link, Dell, and Netgear) to work with it. On the other hand, Ubuntu/Kubuntu installed and connected wireless and wired without further tweaking. They offer a decent installation "universe" for additional free Linux programs, including painless installation. Freespire Linux offers most Windows proprietary multimedia formats in free products, and has a great installation tool in their Linspire CNR product that comes free (at least for the first 30 days, I think, with the free Freespire). Both of these distros installed easily on my Dell 8500, and Freespire took a fairly painless tweak to get the internal wireless Broadcom chipset to work from a tutorial available in the Community Forum. I am NOT a Linux power-user. <
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>All in all, I don't consider Xandros Premium 4 to be mature enough to warrant paying money for it. They should get better tech support, and an installation/hardware recognition setup like those provided by Ubuntu and Freespire. Fedora Core 5 also installed easily but requires more interaction after installation, and reportedly, SUSE 10.1 is quite good, though I haven't tried my copy, yet. <
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>If you really need the Crossover office, install one of the other free distros that install painlessly, then buy Crossover from Code Weavers. It's a bit more than Xandros (about $70, I think), but you get their support with it.

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Making linux [mostly] work for you
It's among the most pricey of linux distros. Is it worth it? You could get Ubuntu for free. Oh, but then you have to run out and buy an external modem to run in Ubuntu. <
>Like most distros these days, Xandros can resize your NTFS Windows partition. Like a few, it can write to NTFS partitions. There is no need to create a FAT32 Windows partition for file sharing. I already have Partition Magic, but for a simple Windows and Xandros system you can probably do without it. Of course linux writing to NTFS could be a mixed blessing. In theory you might be able to destroy critical Windows files without the warnings Windows would give you. I have not tested this theory. <
>Xandros comes with a nice instruction manual. So does SUSE. I think Xandros is clearer and mostly more helpful. <
>Software registration is highly recommended. Unlike Windows, Xandros won't self destruct without it, but you will need it to access Xandros Networks for updates and additional software. <
>My computer is shop-built. It has an NVIDIA graphics card and a hardware controlled PCI internal modem. (Most new computers these days have PCI Winmodems.) Xandros recognized the modem as easily as Windows. MEPIS works with it, but it had to be manually set to ttyS4. I could not get Ubuntu configured for it. Xandros claims to work with some Winmodems, but I have not tested that. MEPIS 6 has shown that it can work with my laptop's Winmodem. Some distros offer excuses and a scavenger hunt for Winmodem drivers. <
>Xandros came bundled with 3D support for my NVIDIA card! SUSE and MEPIS don't. I have tried in vain to install that in MEPIS. Does it matter? Well, in Xandros it's not obvious. Planetpenguin Racer and Tuxkart don't come bundled. You can get Planetpenguin Racer from Xandros Networks, but you have to enter a search for it. You can apt-get Tuxkart from Debian unsupported. Experienced users may enjoy the hunt, but it's strange for a distro that otherwise appeals to beginners. To use apt-get from Console (Administrator) you must be connected to the internet and have Debian Unsupported selected in Xandros Networks. The book tells you how to select it. Synaptic Package Manager, a GUI version of apt-get bundled in many distros, is not provided in Xandros. You can apt-get install synaptic in Xandros. The only way to open it is using the Terminal Program icon from the panel while logged in as Root. There's a reason why they call it Debian unsupported. <
>CrossOver Office makes it possible to run some Windows programs. I was able to install MS Internet Explorer. This virtual Windows may not have full Windows functionality. In real Windows XP I can use IE to ftp files to my webpage. IE in linux lacked that ability. A good linux tool to do that job is gFTP. It's provided in MEPIS but not in Xandros. It can be installed in Xandros by apt-get. <
>Windows is still the champ at playing MIDI files. Xandros is not bad for a linux distro. MIDI Player comes with piano and guitar and plays all notes. There are actually useful instructions in the book to download and install the goemon library of instruments. Some instruments are so-so, but all notes are played. MIDI Player seems to automatically repeat, and I could not find a button to change that. By comparison MEPIS can work with Timidity and Freepats, but if an instrument is missing, notes are not played. <
>Xandros worked fine with my floppy drive. Most other distros do too, although MEPIS is an underachiever on that feature. <
>Kooka would not work with my Epson 4490 scanner in Xandros. Other distros that I have tried have not done better. <
>In conclusion, linux still cannot completely replace Windows unless you have scaled-back wants. Xandros 4 does seem to come closer than other distros that I have tried. <
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>Edit: I would now have to recommend against Xandros. Unfortunately I cannot edit the number of stars. I recently began receiving spam that I did not request from Corel. Since Xandros is my only known Corel product, I must assume this is the source. Corel did not have the decency to email from its own server. Instead they outsourced to Responsys. <
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>BTW: MEPIS 6.0 final seems to have improved its compatibility with floppy drives from the beta and earlier versions.