I have been playing around with Lindows and Xandros at home and at work both on VMware and running natively and have a few observations to make :) VMWare: Xandros: runs fine on VMWare if you select redhat enterprise 3 linux as the guest operating system. Linspire runs happily if you select Mandrake Linux on as the guest operating system. Natively: Xandros runs on a p2 400 with 128mb ram, a little slow but it runs. Linspire I have not yet been able to get to run on any of my spare systems (the p2 400 and a p3 450) although it runs beautifuly on a couple of spare IBM systems at work which Xandros throws a fit over while installing. Ease of use. My own personal preference is for Xandros here, i find it much much easier to install software on it using xandros networks interface. Linspire CNR isn`t a patch on it. Also Xandros doesn`t seem so in your face trying to get you to buy products as Linspire does. Interface: Xandros is pretty without getting in the way, Linspire is a bit like AOL browser, takes up half the screen!!! Bear in mind that these are purely personal observations and are not intended to spark a flame war. I thought I`d post about using themon VMWare as it took ages to get the right guest to get them both running. Woof Always proof-read carefully to see if you any words out.

You are well below specs for installing Linspire/Freespire so maybe you need to reed this page: http://www.linspire.com/products_linspire_whatis.php?tab=systemreq They are aimed at different end users, Linspire was primarily designed for pre-installed PC's. Xandros and Ubuntu would be a fairer comparision IMHO

Xandros is running natively on the 400mhz system, linspire is running under vmware on an 800 mhz and a 3.2gb system. it does run quite well even on the 800mhz system, about as well as Xandros did under vmware on the same system. Please don`t get me wrong, I`m not slagging off Linspire, I do like it but i prefer Xandros, I like Xp but i prefer to have it looking like 98 as the pretty bells and whistles just get in the way. *Wonders if Vista will run under VMWare?* Woof Always proof-read carefully to see if you any words out.

Thanks for posting. Info on VMWare installs and on slower machines is handy to have. "I like Xp but i prefer to have it looking like 98 as the pretty bells and whistles just get in the way." Agree strongly. :)