Parted Magic Is Still Free

[Luke]

I would not consider using paid software under ANY circumstances

If paid software works you get developers that each day try to make their software better. They reach out to their users to find out what they want, what irritates them etc. Just think about where Linux could be if every user paid 30 dollar per year.

Before I would agree to that, I would go all the way back to something like Debian Woody. So you know who I am, I am not employed, have never made more than $6000 a year back when I was a bike messenger. Your $30 a year proposal would be comparable to Microsoft Office 360: subscription software.If things ever do get to this point, I will simply stop following updates and mantain anything that needs changing for any new hardware I get myself. I cannot under any circumstances afford to pay someone to do anything for me that I can do myself-or do without.

I don't see the developers of Audacity and Kdenlive telling users they "really ought to donate money," and like I said earlier, I am quite happy with that class of software. Better but paid can never compete for me-no matter how much better, because what I have is good enough. Even Intel has been hit hard by this, as huge numbers of offices refuse to dump perfectly good Core2 Duo machines that they paid off long ago for newer machines. Even before Windows 8, "Good Enough," already existing machines had totally knocked down sales of new office desktops, as the user requirements for those had been met and satisfied. Trying to sell new computers there is like trying to sell sex to guys coming out of a swing party-and so is trying to sell paid software to many satisfied users of free software.

This is my position, coming from a very low income position. My machines are not used to make money, so their software cannot be allowed to cost money, nor can power-hogging high-end GPU's be used. I understand it may be different for someone getting big bucks to rescue the machines Hollywood makes their DRM'ed movies on or writing paid games.

[Ferdinand]

This is my position, coming from a very low income position. My machines are not used to make money, so their software cannot be allowed to cost money, nor can power-hogging high-end GPU's be used. I understand it may be different for someone getting big bucks to rescue the machines Hollywood makes their DRM'ed movies on or writing paid games.

I don't have a good job either but 30 dollar per year for software that impacts my life daily is a good deal. I don't want to pay that for windows because they just don't care about me. I think my life would be more enjoyable if my computer worked better. The comparison to cpus is weird. cpus from 2002 are fast enough for office work but better software makes every computer better.

[Luke]

CPUs, software both part of running system

I don't have a good job either but 30 dollar per year for software that impacts my life daily is a good deal. I don't want to pay that for windows because they just don't care about me. I think my life would be more enjoyable if my computer worked better. The comparison to cpus is weird. cpus from 2002 are fast enough for office work but better software makes every computer better.

What CPUs and software have in common is this: Both are required to do the job, both influence performance. A free CPU is the one you already have or got from the dumpster, free software can be software you already posess(with unrestricted rights) or can be software distributed freely by someone else. I did have to upgrade hardware when I started editing video, but would never had paid for Phenom II or Bulldozer if I had found an old Core2 Quad in a dumpster at an overpriced private college as their school year ended. Any of those CPU's can render a 1080P video from AVCHD files in twice real time (bulldozer in 1.5x realtime) and that's good enough when making 5 minute non-monetized activist news videos. Software was and remains Kdenlive, don't tell me there is no serious video editor in Linux! Yes, some payware video editors can use the GPU, but Blender benchmarks show the <100W/<$100 GPU's being beat by Bulldozer and about equivalent to a good 4-core anyway for such work. In short, if you have an existing 4-core, you need not spend a single dime to set up a good video editing workstation-period.

The funds to go to a real video camera and recent CPU's came from a judgement for the illegal mass arrest of IMF protesters in 2000, a one-shot deal. No way I would piss that away in periodic payments for subscription software, one of many reason MS can take their MS office 365 and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Like I said before, a computer does not really HAVE to be better, it only has to be good enough to do the job. Anything more is fun to tinker with, but is a hobby at that level and should be considered a hobbyist pursuit. Example: the two days of work I put in over a Yule break writing my custom "greentree" theme for Plymouth, with a background matching my desktop background and old-school text scrolling. Since I don't have a PPA it's never been uploaded as a .deb, but if anyone wants tarballs I can send them. I wrote it simply so I could use it, nothing more than that.

[monraaf]

There is no download available on Sourceforge...
Its kind of sad that one has to download a bootable open-source collection
from torrent sites..

[AnonymousCoward]

Anyone can charge what the hell they want for GPL software, it was NEVER about the price. Stallman himself was selling GNU software burned onto CDs back in the day.

I see absolutely no problem with this, he is rightfully charging. It doesn't matter if the person is in financial need or not, that is absolutely irrelevant, either way he may charge. If you don't want to pay, then look for someone who can give you a copy for free, but then don't complain if the main developer can't work on his project full-time anymore (which will also mean: less bugs can get fixes, slower updates etc.).

About the ebayers... who are you to judge them? is selling someone elses work morally correct? in my opinion it isn't, but I'm not the one to decide if they should or shouldn't sell it, and neither are you.

Read the GPL:

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

[AnonymousCoward]

Gah! Keep my typos then! Damn forum wont let me edit.

[kermidge]

open ≠ free

There is no download available on Sourceforge...
Its kind of sad that one has to download a bootable open-source collection
from torrent sites..

Or, you know, you could pay the guy $5 for his work.

Whatever you may estimate of your own talent, skill, and productivity and his projected lack of same, it's not like Parted Magic is something he slapped together one afternoon while downing a six-pack and watching the game. He's put a lot of work into it over the course of years, continually presenting a useful, polished package that has helped many to get the job done, whether as a collection of utilities or a "please, please, help me" when one's system has gotten hosed in some manner.

You could also maybe use an alternative, such as Knoppix. Or roll your own package to your liking.

Unless you're living out of your duffel bag under a bridge or somesuch, if you can't come up with five bucks then you're in sad shape indeed. Hell's bells, for the prices paid nowadays most cities for a pint of plasma, you could afford the fiver and have enough left over for a bj and line of blow - and likely as not a pint of brandy into the bargain.

Lady I knew owned a bar; she had few rules. One was "Bleed outside - puke I can mop but blood stains the wood." Another was "No whining - it pollutes the atmosphere."

If you need a hand I could probably borrow a step-ladder, help you get off your high horse.

But if you're truly hard up and can't sell plasma or find five bucks worth of work, I could front you the five but you'd have to pay it back right quickly 'cuz I don't get my Social Security check until the 3rd, and I gots my own difficulties.

Selah.

[paul72]

Yes Parted Magic is still free. Although he may want to charge for the download service. He can't stop anyone from obtaining it from other distribution channels.

So thanks to people continuing the spirit of sharing, the latest ver of pmagic_2013_11_11.iso is easily available via torrent, for example. Just google these hash for your free download:

sha1: 9b4661b12f0bd6903fd0563070d9aa4fded6848c

md5: 1702e4f1ce5514e68699c42756f35a09

[Vim_User]

Yes Parted Magic is still free. Although he may want to charge for the download service. He can't stop anyone from obtaining it from other distribution channels.

So thanks to people continuing the spirit of sharing, the latest ver of pmagic_2013_11_11.iso is easily available via torrent, for example. Just google these hash for your free download:

sha1: 9b4661b12f0bd6903fd0563070d9aa4fded6848c

md5: 1702e4f1ce5514e68699c42756f35a09

<sarcasm>And here we see the true spirit of open source, instead of supporting the developer and making sure that can continue developing we go the cheapo way and torrent it, so that we don't have to pay the enormous amount of 5$.</sarcasm>

Don't get me wrong, it is totally legal to torrent it, but it says a lot about your mindset and ethics.

[paul72]

There is nothing ethically wrong with the mindset of folks who still believe in the spirit of freely distributing free software and choosing to support it by sharing on other legitimate distribution channels

Those who choose to support the pmagic maintainer can still donate or pay for his direct download service.

Actually one could say the same and similarly question the pmagic maintainer's ethics and mindset in removing all free downloads and charging users for the rights to download it via his servers.

Personally I think pmagic method of removing free downloads and charging a download fee should be strongly discouraged and frown upon.

Imagine, if every single free GPL software and their maintainers decide to follow his money grab idea and start charging for downloads of say - gpart, clonezilla, grub, Partition Image, TestDisk, fdisk, sfdisk, dd, ddrescue, etc, etc.

That would be a very disastrous sad state of affair; pmagic probably won't even exist and free gpl software won't be as popular as today.