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"Red Hat clearly aren't making money in the retail channel and it makes no sense for them to be there"

You "may" be right, perhaps instead of being stocked at CompUSA, they need to go the Suse route.

"ask any number of helpful people in any number of Linux forums"

I have never used direct support from Red Hat, but when I was new to Linux, some of my most basic question were met with impatience and arrogance, or haven't you tried "this" yet, when I had no idea how to do, "this". It was only after tinkering a bit on my own and asking an somewhat intelligent question were the board or irc channels helpful, paid tech support on the other hand, will hold your, er.. hand, for the most basic questions

Extortion because you can't buy a name brand pc without microsoft getting money (excluding apple), whether or not you ordered linux.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=106 562&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A106 562
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp ?cat=86798&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A 86798

Theft because microsoft is willing to compete with developers who develop software for windows operating systems. Or they buy the cheap clones and intergrate the software in to their OS.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=theft

Extortion because you can't buy a name brand pc without microsoft getting money (excluding apple), whether or not you ordered linux.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=106 562&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A106 562
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product_listing.gsp ?cat=86798&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A41937%3A86796%3A 86798

Theft because microsoft is willing to compete with developers who develop software for windows operating systems. Or they buy the cheap clones and intergrate the software in to their OS.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=theft

As far as I know, this is the standard text at many colleges. Rosen's approach is mathematically rigorous yet practical at the same time.
This was also the book from which I first discovered Fermat's Last Theorem, so it is not the typical dry textbook that we all know about.
Walmart sells it for less than Amazon .

Granted, it doesn't quite have the same graphics horsepower, but hey, it's cheap!

Here

Every so often, another 10 or 12 M$ users get fed up an try Linux. Two or three stick with it. Every now and again a few hundred people buy a Lindows-based cheap PC from Walmart.com.. Most of those keep using it because it's simple and runs pretty good. Every now and then one of us geeks gets fed up, decides to try Linux, needs the skills for our jos, etc... and we're hooked. The rest is history.

The whole Open Source community is a different way of thinking. It's a whole new world that takes some getting used to. Once on board, however, a small percentage of the "users" become the "contributors". With more contributors, more problems get fixed, more features get added, more things are moved to the new environment.

As more people move to the new environment, more commercial vendors of those really cool apps decide it's worth the cost to port their apps. From Games to server-side to productivity, more new commercial apps are deciding to join the fray.

As this "war of attrition" continues, we slowly reach the point refered to as "critical mass". That is where the percentage of users is high enough, the ease of use is good enough, and the level of "public expertise" is great enough that the Joe Sixpacks out their don't see a difference and start choosing Linux on purpose (or maybe just gets it because it's already loaded on the PC he wants and "oh, this one IS cheaper isn't it...")

At that point, M$ quickly loses it's $ and becomes the fringe radical OS, much like what happened to OS/2 and nearly happened to Mac/OS.

Something that is free (as in freedom), almost free (as in I didn't have to pay --much-- for it), and has a huge following that is constantly improving it will continue to increase in market share until it is the dominant player.

In the long term (that may be a few or many years) the only people not adopting OSS will be the dinosaurs that refuse to change and have a rabid, unexplainable attachment to the M$ OS.

As far as being a "threat to the software market", markets change over time. If a large group of people are willing to build, for free, the commodity pieces, then there is no market to sustain those software makers.

In a "for instance": Netscape went out of business (yea, I know, AOL bought them... they still went out of business!!!) because M$ decided to offer their new, buggy browser for free. Now, M$ is going to go out of business because the public has decided to offer their new, not quite as shiney, OS for free.

In the same vain, Oracle has, arguably, the best RDMS on the market, AND IT RUNS ON LINUX. None of the OSS dbms packages can really compete on their scale... yet. It is realy only a matter of time before the scalability, stability, and breadth of services of one or more of these OSS dbmss catch up or even pass Oracle. It will still take a while after that point for widespread adoption to kick in. I don't see that happening for another 7 to 15 years.

M$, however, only has about 2 to 4 years left in their profit cycle... and they know it. That's why they are getting soooo nasty. Linux has already passed them up on general stability and scalability. It's really only the flashy stuff that remains to be polished.

Yea, OSS will take over the market, with only a few niches left for commercial apps. The app vendors that don't port will go quicker because non-ported specialty apps give a valid target for the OSS crowd. (Take not Sdobe, Autodesk, Intuit, Macromedia etc...) A popular movement, like OSS, is like a train: get on board and enjoy the ride or stand in the way and get squished...

'nuff said...

Companies aren't allowed to sell IBM/PC compatible computers without an OS.

Say what?

you can buy a printer that would have cost $1000 ten years ago for $80 now.

It's called Research and Development, Moore's law, science, &etc.

I can buy a computer which probably would have cost over a million dollars ten years ago (assuming it could be manufactured at all) for $200 at WalMart now.

• 1.2Ghz
  
• 128MB Ram
  
• 20Gig HD
  
• CD-ROM
  
  • 
    I'ts missing a couple things yes but its still a decent system for the price.

• 1.2Ghz
  
• 128MB Ram
  
• 20Gig HD
  
• CD-ROM
  
  • 
    I'ts missing a couple things yes but its still a decent system for the price.

The major Retailer that they are facing is Walmart and their Lindows or Lycoris Line

The article claims that since Debian's technical advantages can (and to some extent have been) be "borrowed" by other distributions, and since Joe User doesn't care about the policy advantages of Debian, then Debian is doomed to be marginalized as the Linux market grows with unprecidented numbers of Joe Users. I strongly disagree.

Debian has always had a strong following with Systems Administrators who want a strong, stable, supportable platform for their GNU/Linux based services that can be centrally administered without waisting a lot of time. The same forces will make Debian significant as a corporate desktop. This is a huge market, and while Joe User might be on some of those computers, he's not the one making the decision.

Red Hat wins its share of this market through marketing, Debian wins its share through precisely the same policy superiority that the author discounts. Sure, Joe User doesn't understand the policy advantages, but Joe User doesn't play in this field. Sure, Red Hat and other corporate marketted distros will mean Debian will probably never even get a majority share of this field, as long as there are systems people who are allowed to make systems decisions, Debian will be a player here.

The other two markets are Small/Home Businesses, and Home Users. These are the fields Joe User plays. And no, he's not necessarily likely to gravitate towards Debian (actually, from my experience he is, but all my evidence is anecdotal, and it's irrelevant for my point). What the author misses is a key differentiation distros that borrow from Debian.

Some distros, like the example of Red Hat borrowing apt-rpm/apt-cacher, are alien distros borrowing a tool that was developed by Debian. While they probably will contribute to development of the tool, these don't do much for Debian as a whole.

Other distros are derivative of Debian. They put their own installation and look and feel, do their own marketing and often usability testing. They might not even mention their relation to Debian, but, at their core, they're Debian, and developers developing for these Distros are directly helping Debian development. Some significant distros in this category are: LindowsOS, Progeny and Libranet. They're not Red Hat, but they're growing, and growing strong.

I feel Debian's chances of being marginalized are slim.

Last time I looked at Walmart's site at the Lindows PCs I noticed they had inexpensive computers preloaded with SuSE 8.2. I don't know if the sales are competitive with Lindows, but its good to hear that another Linux desktop option is out there.

Walmart has licensed the "technology" from NetFlix?

$25 will do the same thing.

Nope.

That device wireless links you to a POTS line.

The Nortel (and related) boxes wireless link you to VoIP on an internet portal.

Use the 802.11x handset anywhere you've got an access point that lets you hit the net.

Plug the IP desk set in ditto with your wired LAN. Move offices by unplugging it and carrying it, rather than having the $400/hr consultant come reconfigure the PBX. Heck: Move to the branch office on the other coast, or take an "office phone" home and plug it into the hub on your DSL modem.

Think "free long-distance" and "cellphone" and "no air-time", vs. "wireless extension phone" with an invisible cord to your phone jack.

$25 will do the same thing. And probably be somewhat more convenient to use. Or maybe I just don't see the advantages of what you are doing?

Not bad for the price Walmart

Walmart had a Lycoris OS pc for. $199 .

Some of the Microtel systems come with an MSI 6390 board . The MSI Metis barebones ( $138 at Newegg also uses this board and I have used these boards extensively due to their tight integration, small form factor, high degree of reliability and stability.

Only the novapcs mentions it is using a sis 730 mobo,

the wallmart pc uses probably a Integrated TRIDENT BLADE 2D/3D graphics video.

the wintermart probably uses a Integrated S3 Savage 4 video up to 32 mb ram.

Now tell me why cannot play quake 3 on either of these? The reviewer should have tried it! OK QII with 300 fps in 1600x1200FSAA is not possible but 25 FPS in 640x480 should work. (Is there a port for QIII?)
(Warning lots of copy and paste work below.)
tiger direct

Premium Wintergreen Complete Kitâ"AMD Duron 1.0GHz, 128MB SDRAM Memory, 10GB Hard Drive and More!

This system has all the extras you are looking orâ"a fast AMD Duron 1.0GHz processor, onboard premium video, crystal-clear integrated sound, 10GB hard drive, high-speed CD-ROM drive, floppy drive, 10/100 Ethernet and a 56K modem. Get your barebone kit today and build your dream computer for a fraction of the retail price!

* AMD® Duronâ 1.0GHz Processor Learn More
* 128MB PC133 SDRAM Memory Learn More
* 10GB Hard Drive
* 56x CD-ROM Drive
* 3.5" (1.44MB) Floppy Disk Drive
* 56K Modem
* Onboard Premium Audio
* Premium Integrated Video
* PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
* Monitor Sold Separately

wallmart
icrotel SYSMAR417 PC With Lycoris OS & AMD Duron 1.1GHz

$199.98

Availability: Usually takes 2 to 7 business days to process before shipping.
Shipping Cost: To see the shipping cost for this item, add it to your cart.

128 MB memory
10 GB hard drive
CD-ROM drive
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection
Lycoris Desktop/LX operating system (Linux-based)
Modem and floppy disk drive are not included

This item is currently available online only.

Key Features and Description

Note: Linux operating systems may not be compatible with some dial-up Internet services, such as AOL or Wal-Mart Connect. Microtel can only guarantee Linux-based OS compatibility with factory-installed components. Microtel will not be responsible for the installation and operation of third-party hardware or software used with its computers that have these operating systems.

The Linux-based operating system in these PCs is not compatible with any Microsoft Windows programs, however, it is great for basic operations such as email, Web browsing and instant messaging and can be easily upgraded for compatibility with Microsoft Office documents that have .doc, xls. or .ppt suffixes.

* AMD Duron 1.1 GHz processor with 3DNow! technology
* 200 MHz frontside bus
* 128 MB SDRAM, expandable to 1 GB
* 133 MHz memory speed
* 10 GB Ultra-ATA 100 hard drive, 5400 rpm (total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment)
* 52x CD-ROM drive
* Integrated video with up to 8 MB shared video memory
* Integrated AC '97 audio
* Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection
* Mid ATX tower case (17.5"D x 7.5"W x 15"H)
* Available external drive bays: two 5.25-inch, one 3.5-inch internal
* 2 available PCI slots
* Serial port
* Parallel port
* Two USB 1.1 ports
* 104-key keyboard
* 2-button mouse with wheel
* Audio port (line-in, line-out, mic-in)
* Stereo speakers
* 1-year warranty, return to manufacturer

Software includes:

* GIMP digital image editor
* Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, addressbook, calendar
* Contact manager and time management
* Digikam digital camera software supporting over 162 digital cameras
* Mozilla Web browser and email client
* XMMS MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WA

"Give a read to Naomi Klein's No Logo. She explains there why Walmart (as well as a dozen of other mega corporations) is evil."

You can get this book at Wal-Mart. Just search on naomi klein

I am a Netflix subscriber and am familiar with their prices/selection/service. I thought I'd check out the Walmart page to see how much cheaper they were.
Guess what I found out? For the plan I'm on, they aren't cheaper at all. Walmart offers 3 packages, the cheapest being $15.54/month for 2 movies. Netflix offers 2 movies at a time for only $13.99/month. Now at the standard plan (3 movies), Walmart is $18.76 whereas Netflix is $19.99. To say that this $1.23 is going to quash Netflix is somewhat ridiculous. Add to that the fact that Netflix is still cheaper in the lower category and it becomes even more ridiculous.

It looks like the first innovation Wal-Mart made was shifting the liability for lost/stolen DVDs to the consumer. With NetFlix, as long as it doesn't happen often, you don't get penalized for having one lost in the mail, with Wal-Mart, it costs you $17.88 (see here).

Wal-mart's core customer group are not exactly likely to own DVD players

At $40 or so for a DVD player, who can't afford one?

Well, how much are you going to be able to slash prices on an online DVD rental?

I doubt that's the point. People do their grocery shopping at Wal-mart since groceries are there too. Now they won't have to stop by the video store on the way home either.

...and now there are many. Something like this was inevitable given the growth of the on-line DVD rental industry. You had the trailblazer, then a few specialists started showing up, and now the big boys jump into the fray. It's how almost all new markets progress.

Ok, I don't know which cracker jack box you got your econ degree from but...

Dumping has at least two definitions.

In the context of one country dumping goods on another, it refers to selling it for less than the normal (fair) value within the home country.

In the context of one competitor outdoing another, it refers to selling the product for believe the marginal cost of production.

I don't know where you got your US$299 figure for WinXP. XP Home sells for around $100 through OEM, and I wouldn't be surprised if Dell doesn't get it for $50 a copy in large volumes. Hell Wal-Mart will sell it to Lindows buyers for $119.98.

And before you ask, I got my econ degree out of a box of Cheerios which is far more reputable than cracker jacks.

Why is this modded +3, Informative?

> I'm suprised Nintendo is waiting until September to release it in the 'states.

Go to Best Buy. Sure, it's gonna be until September that they'll be in stock, but the article is about how they came out 10 weeks ago. It goes on to talk about which retailers have them.

I mean, I can see talking about something that the article linked to without reading it, because you're lazy and want to sound clueful. But couldn't you at least read the slashdot article?

Buy one at Walmart

-1, Moron

of comparable specs costs $199. Really, can someone tell me why people are so obsessed about hacking the xbox?

$200 lindows machine (no monitor, of course)

I haven't tried it, or know anyone who has, but walmart seems to have a service very similar to netflix. It is a little cheaper and seems to have about the same selection. If anyone uses this and wants to post a review the karma gods would smile on you.

If you were creative you could probably come up with a 1TB server (IDE drives) and a GigE network card for under $1,500."

First, everyone on here has already said HDs are under $1/gig... make that way under ($94 shipped for 120gig), so less than $800 for the hard drives. Unless the "not state-of-the-art PC" + Gb card cost more than $200 (you can buy a freakin' 1.1ghz PC from Wal-mart for $200 so I'm sure you can do better) a 1TB server could be built for closer to $1000.

Also, if we go with the "not state-of-the-art PC" (I'm thinking 200-500mhz) is it really going to need a Gb card? I doubt it could write to the hard drives that fast (max speed of 120mB/s), a much cheaper 100mbps (max speed of 12mB/s) card and hub (a Gb hub is a lot of $$$$$ compared to 100mbps) would probably suffice, transferring 1 gB every 83 seconds is a pretty decent backup speed (43gigs/hr).

3 button optical mouse with wheel

Set of screwdrivers (prolly just need a #0 and #1 phillips)

X-Acto Knife

McDonald's Straw - I am not sure if other straws will work it needs to be thermo softening while being thick enough for wear and pliable enough for use.

Personal flamethrower or lighter or soldering iron

krazy glue

about 30 minutes of your time.

Heres how to do it:

1. With the X-Acto knife make a faint score on the mouse wheel along the profile where it sticks out of the mouse
2. Remove mouse cover (typically by removing 2 screws maybe 3 in your case)
3. carefully remove the screw holding the circut board to the upper mouse casing
4. Remove the wheel and action spring noting how they were installed.
5. Trim the mouse wheel with the X-Acto knife so that it is almost flush with the mouse case (using your earlier score) - Nice thing here is you have 3 chances if you mess up at first because you can just rotate the wheel 120 degrees and have a fresh surface!
6. Cut the straw latterally so as to be able to lay it flat and cut a section off which is approximately 35% longer than the exposesed mouse wheel opening in the upper shell of the mouse
7. Heat the straw fragment (dont burn it) until it lays almost flat on your work surface (you do still want some curve)
8. place the mouse wheel back on the curcuit board with the flattened side up (away from the board
9. place the now flattened straw fragment over teh mouse wheel centering it.
10. once you have things the way you want them remove the upper cover again and the trimmed straw fragment
11. place a single tiny drop of krazy glue on the former wheel and immediately recenter the star fragment on it
12. wait a few minutes as the off gas of the glue will cloud the optics of your mouse if you re-assembled immediately.
13. Re-assemble the mouse and you now have a 3 button no wheel mouse!

I'll believe it when I see it on the peg at Wal*Mart.

Wonder which we'll see on the shelves first: this thing or Serial ATA? Which, by the way, has been on backorder for the last 6 months or so.

If anything deserves an award in the "Promises, promises" category (excepting Duke Nukem Whenever; that's earned several), it's Serial ATA.

Has anyone out there actually got their hands on a Serial ATA drive, PURCHASED from a retail source? I mean, several online shops LIST them, but nobody seems to actually HAVE them.

I take that back. In researching for this post, I actually DID find a place that lists them in stock. Let's hope they are telling the truth! Also, let's hope their order system can survive a slashdotting, since they seem to be the only place in the world that has them. I'm sure they'll be backordered by tomorrow.

You can set up a Music module (basically, a menu choice) and set it to let you browse folders. You can tell it that JPGs are covers, and it will pull the first JPG it finds in each folder and use it as the image - so there are your covers. You can tell it that MP3 and OGG are your media types for this module, and it will display those and let you queue them/play them. If you want more information (for your movies, for example) you can use the included .my file editor - .my files are metadata files about your videos/music/etc. The program will generate .my files for you, though, so unless you want to add a lot of metadata you don't have to.

There is no interface to, say, IMDB, out-of-the-box. People unrelated to this program are writing their own cover downloaders, one I remember is called Gotcha Covered which I found on the AVS Forum but I think it is mentioned in the myHTPC forums as well - it will help you download covers for CDs and DVDs, although for just one or two covers I go to walmart or buy.com on my own. Walmart has good covers for CDs - 500x500, and a good selection. Just drop a JPG in your album folder and that's it, essentially.

I have been using the software for a month or a month and a half. But, the program has come miles since then, and it is not very old at all. Electronic Program Guide is the newest big addition and a fully skinnable interface is coming soon (XML based; you can set up icons rather than buttons, for example, and trigger programming based on button presses.)

So, there is setup involved. Go check out the forums for some help if you need it - I don't remember how good the wizard is, since I had mine set up before the wizard was introduced. The price is right and Pablo is amazing with the amount of work he's done for it - it's come farther than any other HTPC/menu program I've seen in a matter of months. If anything, you should keep your eye on it while you use Showshifter. It is coming along quickly.

Regarding the Bob Marley / Pulp Fiction screen shot... Couldn't tell ya. Probably an accident. :)

This ended up long. I don't have a lot of time to proof it for coherency :) ...get your feet wet with the program and I'm sure you can feel your way around. The forums on myHTPC.net would be a good place if you have trouble; plenty of people there, including myself when I have time.

sheephead

Think of servers as a fixed cost and clients as a variable cost. With thin client models you only have to support a browser on the client machines. It is the end to a management headache: all those apps configured on all those clients.

Think about all those companies that are paying big bucks for all of those client OS's and Apps. Now they can get, for less than $200, loaded PC's (1.1 GHz PC w/Linux installed, no monitor).
Walmarts $199.98 PC.

...though the reason it annoys me is that it makes it almost impossible to get a 4:3 screen ratio in an LCD bigger than 15". Why can't I find a 17" LCD that is 1280x960 (or 1600x1200 would be okay, too) so fullscreen at other resolutions isn't stretched and crappy like it is on a 1280x1024 LCD. The only thing I've seen is this 18.1" monstrosity which only does 1024x768. I'd still probably buy it if it were available in Canada. I guess I'll just settle on a 15" 1024x768.

I thought the same thing for quite a while, but then I stumbled on this at my local Walmart. For $400, I got an 18-inch LCD.

It has an analog VGA connector (a good thing for me; most of my PCs lack digital output), a 160-degree viewing angle (I didn't think that was even possible -- 180 would be viewing completely from the side), 1280x1024 native resolution, and does a great job resampling other resolutions. I can't prove it yet, but I am pretty sure it uses subpixel rendering when resizing lower resolutions.

So all the things I didn't like about LCDs a couple years ago -- limited viewing angle, bad resampling, digital-only connector, small size, and of course price -- are solved with this Walmart cheapo.

I'm sure it won't last all that long, but for the price, it's really nice, easy on the eyes, and much sharper than my last monitor (an aging Trinitron).

So, at one month old, mine has convinced me to never go back to a CRT.

Oh, and in games or full-screen video it rocks. You still only get 60 actual refreshes a second, but that's more than enough (and unlike a CRT the light is constant anyway). Fast motion can be a tiny bit blurry, but nothing like my crappy Compaq laptop... and in games, the blur actually looks better in my opinion -- more realistic (or I'm just goofy)...

You can then either boot the machine from an Linux Terminal Server floppy or CD, or from something like a Knoppix CD, or you can netboot them; you don't even have to bother installing anything locally. You wire everything together with a small Ethernet hub. Since nothing is installed on the local machines, it's easy to set up. Applications are run remotely through terminal emulators, X11, or VNC. All you need to do on the server is set up a DHCP server and xdm (if they aren't already set up).

That kind of setup is not going to be a lot more expensive than plugging in multiple graphics cards, but it's a whole lot easier to set up, scales better, lets you add more servers easily, will perform better, and your users will probably be happier, too.

Boy you are a fucking idiot. First, you can't spell worth shit. Second, have you even looked at the patch code? All it does is add a layer before the existing kernel_thread() function where a lock check is performed. The fix could easily fit in 15 lines of code. Third, then use another fucking mirror. Fourth, see Mandrake, Lycoris, or Lindows for the patch depending on which distro you purchased with your PC. Fifth, shut the fuck up, like M$ sends out emails to the world when a bug in it's crap is discovered. Sixth, Walmart does stock good Linux games here and here. Seventh, now go back to surfing pr0n and whacking off.

Boy you are a fucking idiot. First, you can't spell worth shit. Second, have you even looked at the patch code? All it does is add a layer before the existing kernel_thread() function where a lock check is performed. The fix could easily fit in 15 lines of code. Third, then use another fucking mirror. Fourth, see Mandrake, Lycoris, or Lindows for the patch depending on which distro you purchased with your PC. Fifth, shut the fuck up, like M$ sends out emails to the world when a bug in it's crap is discovered. Sixth, Walmart does stock good Linux games here and here. Seventh, now go back to surfing pr0n and whacking off.

Get yourself a $200 PC (lots of other companies are offering them as well) and you'll have something much more flexible, without Philips or some other company spying on you.

Why? What business are you in?

It's real. Go to the Wal-Mart site, as if you're going to buy a computer. Click on "Electronics and Printers" in the main menu. You end up here, at Wal-Mart's main computer page.

And what do you see? In the prime position are two machines for $199. One comes bundled with Lindows; the other comes without an OS. The word "Microsoft" appears nowhere on that page. Under "Software", there's "Linux software", but no "Microsoft software". Wal-Mart is putting on the pressure.

Every other machine on that page is far more expensive; the next cheapest is $998. If you look around the site, the next cheapest machine is $299, and it's the same machine as the Linux box, but with a Microsoft OS preloaded. It will take some looking, and a few mouse clicks, to find it.

Wal-Mart is going to put millions of Lindows boxes into kids' back bedrooms.

However, Wal-Mart's ISP is still Windows-only. They need to fix that.

Why? What business are you in?

It's real. Go to the Wal-Mart site, as if you're going to buy a computer. Click on "Electronics and Printers" in the main menu. You end up here, at Wal-Mart's main computer page.

And what do you see? In the prime position are two machines for $199. One comes bundled with Lindows; the other comes without an OS. The word "Microsoft" appears nowhere on that page. Under "Software", there's "Linux software", but no "Microsoft software". Wal-Mart is putting on the pressure.

Every other machine on that page is far more expensive; the next cheapest is $998. If you look around the site, the next cheapest machine is $299, and it's the same machine as the Linux box, but with a Microsoft OS preloaded. It will take some looking, and a few mouse clicks, to find it.

Wal-Mart is going to put millions of Lindows boxes into kids' back bedrooms.

However, Wal-Mart's ISP is still Windows-only. They need to fix that.

Another true competitor (not listed in the Lindows chart, probably because of obscurity) is the one I own - the Sotec 3120x. It has very similar stats, notable exceptions being a 1.2 GHz Celeron and a CD-RW/DVD combo drive. This increases the weight to 4 pounds, but you can't ignore the added utility. And yes, it's under a grand - $900 on Walmart.com. I got it for $820 after rebates a few months back. Those looking for a notebook of this size should check this one out (if you don't mind paying the Microsoft tax and buying from Wally World). I've been quite happy with it.

"my PC is just fine. and it serves a hell of a lot more functions than a console system."
That's great, but a PC does not replace a console. A console is meant to serve one main function: Gaming. There's no OS to deal with, no hardware upgrades to play the latest releases, no conflicts with Norton Utilities, etc. You just buy whatever game you want, stick it in the console, and play.

"Unless the system they are offering is $25.00 and I dont have to pay any sort of monthly access (like if it were to utilize my *exisiting* lan and broadband connection - without a large price for a lan adapter - i will continue to have no interest in console systems."
My Xbox came with an ethernet adapter and I play online on a regular basis (Halo mostly) for free using Xbox Connect. It basically creates a network tunnel between the computers, fooling Xboxes into seeing each other under system link. For $50, you can play all those Live games with voice support which you have to experience to understand how much fun it is. Definitely worth the $50.

"What they should do is focus on making a PCI card that you can insert into your PC and utilize its hardware to make it a 'console' system in that it can hold the controllers and play all the games - for a minimal cost.
They were thinking about doing this with another console. I forget which one, but I believe it was the Dreamcast. I think it's an idea worth exploring, but it definitely shouldn't be their primary focus. Most people are afraid of the buttons on their DVD/VCR remote control. They're not going to buy a product that requires opening their computers.

"then make all the money off the price of the games (which are already overpriced at $50.)"
Pass the crack pipe, please. Take a look at the cost of games on the PC. The cost of games are equal in the mainstream retail market and you can find bargains for both kinds of games through pricewatch, ebay, etc. Personally, I just rent my games and "back them up" to my 120GB drive that sits in my modded Xbox.

The great trumpeter Al Hirt played a catchy tune called Java - you can listen to a few bars here

Even better at Walmart.

...that I can't find cartridges for my printer as it is when I go to Wally World Now I have to worry about finding fewer of those hard to find things...

I don't know what's in your Wallmart, but I had the impression that they were only selling Mandrake pre-installed at their online store, not in the bricks-and-mortar stores where "Aunt Tillie" shops.

Not so

At any rate, I sincerely doubt that "we all need to thank Mandrake for the Wall Street Journal taking Linux seriously" because "Mandrake is sold on computers at WalMart", as the message I replied to claimed.

last I checked, these machines were only available from walmart.com.

Actually, check out the selection of Microtel PCs at walmart.com. Four out of the five say "Online Only," implying that the fifth, the $499 Microtel SYSMAR718 is available in stores.

Erik