Posted on 11/05/2007 12:19:20 PM PST by Red Badger
Linux, the free operating system that's a perpetual underdog in the desktop market, will get another chance this holiday season at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The chain was taking orders online Wednesday for a computer called the "Green gPC" that is made by Everex of Taiwan, costs $199 and runs Linux. It will be available in about 600 stores, as well as online, Wal-Mart said. A comparable Everex PC that comes with Windows Vista Home Basic and more memory costs $99 more, or $298, partly because the manufacturer has to pay Microsoft Corp. for a software license. Both computers come with keyboard, mouse, and speakers, but no monitor.
Linux is maintained and developed by individuals and companies around the world volunteering on an "open source" basis, meaning that everyone has access to the software's blueprints.
It is in widespread use in server computers, particularly servers that host Web sites. But it hasn't yet made a dent in the desktop market. Surveys usually put its share of that market around 1 percent, far behind Windows and Apple Inc.'s OS X.
Wal-Mart started selling Linux computers at its online store in 2002, at prices as low as $199. Computers from several manufacturers were available for several years, but are now gone from the inventory.
The variant of Linux on the gPC is called gOS and is derived from the popular Ubuntu variant. It's heavily oriented toward Google's Web sites and online applications, like YouTube, Gmail and the company's word processing program, all of which can be used only when the computer is connected to a broadband line. The PC comes with a dialup modem, but gOS doesn't support it. So most users likely will get online other ways.
Google's push into desktop applications is relatively new, and gOS, the Los Angeles-based startup behind the software, sees it as crucial in overcoming consumers' reluctance to leave the familiar Windows environment.
"We feel the timing is right for open source because of that," said gOS founder David Liu. The company has fewer than 10 people on it staff but gets help from volunteers in the Linux community.
Whether value-minded shoppers who would be enticed by a $199 PC will also be interested in making the jump to Linux remains to be seen. The operating system isn't known for ease of use and mainly attracts the tech-savvy.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said it is stocking the computer in about one in eight stores to test the demand for an open-source product.
The gPC has a low-end processor from VIA Technologies, plus 512 megabytes of internal memory, an 80-gigabyte hard drive and a combination DVD drive and CD burner.
Everex says the processor is very energy efficient, meriting the "Green" part of the name.
Bump while waiting for price to fall to $99—
bump
Yes, it says in the article that it does.
a) dial-up is starting to phase out, and b) the article points out that the distribution is tailored around web-based applications that require good bandwidth. Dial-up won't cut it for what the distribution is tailored to do.
The reason I'm banging my head against the wall is the lack of forward vision that is represented in a package that included a modem, with an OS that doesn't support it. It's laughable, and, come to think of it, it's just what you'd expect on a cheap Chinese piece of crap computer from Wal-Mart.
If I were on the team that put this package together I'd probably have gotten myself into hot water over it, because I'd have been relentless in pointing out how people are going to assume that if we didn't cross this "T" then we probably didn't dot some "i's" either.
I shudder to think what people would be saying about Microsoft if they shipped a bargain basement OS on a bargain basement computer with the same discontinuity between OS and hardware. And deservedly so.
They're using a mass-market processor/motherboard combo. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen something on the MoBo that wasn't used by the OS (or even physically hooked up!)
Portal...
Thank God Windows doesn't need any patches...
I know where I’m buying my son’s first PC.
I don’t recall, but this may be available only on-line. You’d have to check..........and NO MONITOR........
LOL!!........No, it needs BONDO!............
I havethe monitor and all other peripherals.
ha! But if I didn’t put it in there there’d be at least one freeper taking me to task for attacking Linux or WalMart or both.
Those security patches that are constantly flooding into you Linux box are because there are defects that can be exploited in the software. You are no further ahead with Linux than with Windows. Indeed, the attempts to make work-alike software are barely adequate in many cases. When I've had to purchase commercial Linux applications in place of the Windows versions, the price was higher...and the functionality wasn't as good. It's still a niche market for commercial (COTS) consumer software. It isn't supported at all by many of my vendors. The tools for embedded development distributed by Microchip are only available for Windows.
It's a poor strategy to cling to a given platform without consideration of your needs. I must have both Linux and Windows to get my job done. If a single platform is good enough for your needs, that reduces your maintenance efforts. I have to update 6 Windows platforms and 6 Linux platforms weekly. The Windows is a mix of Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Home. Linux is a mix of Fedora Core 7 and Debian 4.0. In addition, the embedded Linux targets have to be updated with new shared libraries and executables in a completely manual effort. There is nothing automated for those very lean targets. Linux has its own flavor of "DLL Hell". I have to run "ldd" against every executable and ensure all the necessary shared libraries are present and correctly linked. It's easy to get it wrong.
“New & refurbished? LOL I wonder why? All those “bad raps” you heard about, no doubt.
My brother just bought a New refurbished Dell, but got it with Linux pre-installed, should be here tomorrow or Wed.
He chose Linux, because he has been playing around with one of my Ubuntu boxes, and likes the clean lines, the smooth interface, the ease and economy of finding and installing software, and the fact that it, a 700 mhz P4 outperforms his dual core Vista box, and knowing that he doesn’t have to buy anti-virus and firewall software each year.
Hey Vista...I’m glad I missed ya’!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I doubt there was ever anything wrong with it but Dell is obligated to label it as such. So far as I can tell it was new but I saved about $200 or so.
I’ve used it continuously since last Thursday and think Vista is visually beautiful and bug free. It is much, much easier to work with files and in fact I haven’t found anything to complain about.
I’ve used Linux (ubuntu) but quite honestly using Vista is ready for prime time. Linux is not. I’m sorry to break it to you but you will eventually wind up with a Vista machine. I strongly suggest that you buy one out of the box fully configured and ready to go with a big SATA hard drive, dual core, 2 gb of memory and all the bells and whistles. The software alone would cost $250 off the shelf and it is on the computer already and that doesn’t even count the hardware.
You do what you want to. I’ll stay with Vista. It has no bugs and works infinitely better than XP. My XP machine will be in the corner for that rainy day but I doubt it will do much more than gather dust.
Hell will freeze over before Vista resides in my home or office.
Wink2K-sure, WinXP-maybe, Vista-puhleeeese!
What is your beef? Have you even used it?
As I see other people have pointed out subsequent to your post, your description would have been quite apt 7 or 8 years ago. It’s a different world now on the Linux desktop.
Your needs are as different from the average desktop user's needs as Mars is from Venus. Absolutely no relavence to the discussion. A desktop user picks a distro and sticks with it. Will never need to know about ldd as the updates occur nearly automatically in the background.
Guarddog is my favorite as well. Very finely grained control and nice interface. Hasn’t given me the slightest problem in all these years. The home page is:
http://www.simonzone.com/software/guarddog/
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