Is Tuxtops' Next Project Custom Disk Images?

Tina Gasperson writes: "Nathan Myers, the former CEO of now defunct LinuxLapTops, says he gave Tuxtops a suggestion that could turn into big business for them. He shares the scoop, and Tuxtops CEO Graham Hine confirms (pretty much)[in this story at] Newsforge." The short n' juicy is this: after announcing last week that it would no longer sell laptops with Linux pre-installed (the business model till then), it now "looks as if Tuxtops might make a full-time venture out of creating those ready-made Linux installation images." Which is a great idea, considering that the complications of making sure a particular distro works predictably and reliably with AcmeCorp's computers is probably one of the major reasons it's so tough to buy laptops running Linux.

Comments

If this happens...

[I_redwolf]

..It'd have a major effect on the Linux Market. Effectively; they'd be the link that Linux has always needed. "Support". My recommendation is that everyone send them the type of system setup they have for laptop's and desktops. That's a whole shit load of work for them not only that but a central repository on the web of all equipment that works with linux would rock. For instance with all the setups they receive or can imagine. They can throw that into a database and people could easily select what type of sound card that they want, with what type of video card knowing that it will work. Not only that but then you'd have companies like Loki not focusing so much on support for their games but actually writing games. This has huge possibilities; I'd be willing to help as well!

Even though this hasn't been said fully I think at least this is how it should go. No other operating system I can think of has this type of support. They'd monopolize this niche very quickly. Hrmmm maybe I should steal the idea and run with it =)

Tuxtops stopping selling

[emag]

Which was submitted last week to both /. and newsforge, and wasn't deemed newsworthy. oh well, I guess speculation on what they're doing next is more newsworthy than the fact that they're no longer selling linux laptops.

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Re:Tuxtops stopping selling

[emag]

looks at calendar

looks at today's date

looks at date of newsforge article

Like I said..last week.

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Re:Tuxtops stopping selling

[AntiBasic]

Quit whining.

Good idea, bigger market

[autocracy]

That's what it's all about - the market. I believe that custom ready-to-run images are actually much better than distros, and Tuxtops can still keep their existing customers. You pick out a laptop (or, at this point, any computer) and then tell them what you want. TADA! 1 custom-made system without 15 text editors you don't use! It sounds like a very good plan to me. Best off for Tuxtops, however, is that they can now market to any linux-hungry computer user, not just people that want their laptops. And what big corporation moving to Linux wouldn't want CDs with images you can just copy instead of having to install? Not to mention the IT folks in charge of it...

My karma's bigger than yours!

Even better...and simpler!

[yawhcihw]

Even though pre-made images are great, something as simple as a recipe for tweaking a distro to work well with a system could be lucrative.

I am one of many people who host websites devoted to describing how to get different distros working on different machines. In the eleven months since it was first published, my site has had over three thousand hits. Three thousand hits may not seem like a lot, but those could be three thousand customers paying money for a product (a guide to installing linux on their particular laptop) that is nearly free to the producer (simply harvest the data provided by sites linked to by the Linux on Laptops database.)

Beyond that, by providing support and even compatability gaurantees for specific laptops they have information for, this could well be a very, very lucrative business for a company, without having to produce their own images!

seems like a good idea

[fjordboy]

I think this is a good plan, it will make preinstallation a lot easier and there will be a lot easier than actually installing on every computer. I know how much easier it is to send images to computers rather than actually installing and configuring the drives and stuff. I think it makes a lot of sense and should definitely be tried rather than wasting time installing and configing.

Re:Great idea

[SquadBoy]

Or better yet boot it with something like the linuxcare business card cd (I love mine BTW) Give it a database of defaults for different laptops (AFAIK the basics don't change as much as with desktops) and have it do the same thing. Could be cool you would still have to avoid stuff like winmodems but that could be a good idea.

Tuxtops plans, an elaboration

[V for Victory]

I am the CTO at Tuxtops, Mark Allen.

I'd just like to give a bit more elaboration on what we're planning.

We're working on a software product which encompasses the idea of customized linux distributions for a specific vendor's hardware -- laptops, desktops, and servers -- but the product goes way beyond that idea in many important respects. The product is in the arena of "holistic" Linux system management.

I can't fully elaborate right now about what kind of project we're working on -- trust me, I would love nothing more than to blab on and on about it, but it's just not possible right now. Provided we can raise the capital we need to build this thing, though, I'm sure that most folks will be impressed with the result.

Finally, if you're reading slashdot and you're a Linux competent marketing or sales professional and think you have what it takes to drive marketing and/or sales forward for a revolutionary idea in a new company (and you live around the Bay Area), send us an email. We'd be glad to hear from you. (info@tuxtpos.com)

Not really innovative or of any magnitude IMHO

[AntiBasic]

...ready-made Linux installation images

A company is actually going to make a full time venture of creating/selling ISO's? Why would a company actually go to all the trouble to deal with TuxTops when they can go create their own ISO image from mkisofs or just go and use that slow rsync process with Debian? Many IT departments make their own lean version of some distro anyways.

...is a great idea, considering that the complications of making sure a particular distro works predictably and reliably with AcmeCorp's computers is probably one of the major reasons it's so tough to buy laptops running Linux.

It might be a square peg round hole approach but there are better ones out there. Something along the lines of the LBP would work much better but I don't ever see it happening as the major Linux companies would be against it. A more logical method would be a BSD approach to it all: an actual source tree (gasp!) that has structure in its development.

Acme Corp. Computers?

[Royster]

Somehow I don't feel so safe. Acme Corp. dosn;t have a good record of safety.

Re:Great idea

[brad3378]

How tough would it be to create a Perl script to run in Windoze that could detect your existing hardware configs, and creates a basic *.iso for installing a Linux Distribution. It would obviously have to create some custom /dev/ files and might take a long time to run. Maybe the hypothetical script/program could even download the latest stable drivers from a trusted source.

I hate to say it, but If I have to fill out some web-page with all of my hardware and network settings (to order this disk), I'll probably type something wrong. A script that runs on the actual machine (or even over a network) could likely be idiot proof. Have it automatically (and safely) create a working boot/partition manager, and you'd have a Winner!

Is Tux really the correct trademark to use?

[Chuck Flynn]

Nike has its swoosh. Cocacola has its swooshed "Coca Cola" logo. Tuxtops has a fat penguin. Where's the swoosh?

You might laugh, but trademarks make a big difference in directing public perception about one's product. Trademarks are a constitutionally protected property (under Article I) for the very reason that consumers are better able to judge the quality of an item by the quality of its trademark: good products have good marks, and bad products don't have the time put into making good marks. That's how the economy works, and that's how it ought to be.

But where's Tuxtops's brilliant trademark? All it has is a goofy penguin with a top hat. If you're a first-time laptop buyer, is that the kind of company you'd have a gut-instinct to give your money to? I would conjecture it isn't. Tux may make for good stuffed animals, but on the screen he looks fat and bloated, two characteristics Linux is not supposed to have (as compared to is competition from Redmond). If Tuxtops insists on having a penguin, then they should have a single abstract dot (the penguin) riding a blue swoosh. Now there's a trademark worth its salt!

This, more than anything else, is why I fear Tuxtops will go under, soon. I'm disappointed Nathan Myers didn't include it in his list at all, much less at the top of his list where it belongs. You should call Graham Hine, CEO of Tuxtops, at 877-735-0638 to let him know you care but share my reservations.

Re:It's all about the hardware set.

[NetJunkie]

I won a Compaq Armada E700 from Mandrake at LinuxWorld in San Jose. It works great with Linux! :)

My Gateway Solo at work also works well. They both handle PC Card changes much better than Windows....

Re:Great idea

[Shotgun]

How tough would it be to create a Perl script to run in Windoze that could detect your existing hardware configs

My guess...very.(tough that is).
Configuring hardware under Windows is VERY difficult and fault prone with very strange behaviours. Device conflicts and hardware peculuarities are often ignored, only to pop up in the strangest places. My Windows config works (mostly), but looking at their configuration GUI shows some devices duplicated with an exclamation point on one. Deleting the one cause the computer not to work, so I leave it alone.

Relying on this information to configure a Linux system would propogate bad info.

Re:Great idea

[SquadBoy]

Yup but the one thing they would *really* have to do is make it ready to work with more than one distro. I could see RH, Mandrake and Debian about covering 99% of the customer base for something like this. Done well this could be a *great* thing. But if they hack to much of the distro they are going to put people off. If anyone from tuxtops sees this keep in mind balance is the key. Put the modules, drivers, and config files one needs and leave everything else alone. I would pay for that service and so would many other people. OTOH customize too much and I'll just do the work myself.

Re:It's all about the hardware set.

[AFCArchvile]

Many laptops on the market (most notably the lower-priced ones) are geared toward Windows 9X. To cut corners, they use hardware that comes with virtual drivers that emulate certain hardware components of the device (the most notorious example of this scheme being the winmodem). NT can't handle winmodems at all, since they don't have a true COM port, and so neither can Linux, Unix, etc. Also, the Intel 440BX chipset, despite its age and unbelievable longevity on the market, is by far the most supported chipset out there. VIA can't seem to release one fully stable set of NT drivers for its chipsets. Though a chipset driver isn't necessary, an OS can't take advantage of DMA modes for hard drives unless the chipset drivers are in place and stable.

There are other reasons, but I'll leave it like this: NT and *nix have similar demands for hardware stability. None of the "blacklisted" laptops live up to those demands.