Free software is not the same as freeware. Free software is about certain
user freedoms. It can be commercial or gratis.
Freeware is gratis. The instructions that make up a piece of freeware may be
free (freedom-respecting) or proprietary (secret).
Linux Mint exists because of the GNU Project's contributions to software
freedom. The GNU Project contributed the free software philosophy, and
practical things like a window manager, desktop environment, web browser, and
other stuff that we need for our computers to be useful. Linus Torvalds
contributed a piece too; the kernel Linux. Linux was originally proprietary
software; Linus later released it as GNU General Public License software.
How come you're using Mint? It has proprietary software in it. Operating
systems like Trisquel and gNew-Sense are free in the freedom sense, and will
work with the Snares Penguin hardware.
Thanks for posting the hardware review by the way.
