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Casio's Lin-Win Hybrid Laptop To Ship Tomorrow

Posted by timothy on from the optional-bloat dept.

Xuff writes: "As reported by News.com, Casio is going to begin shipping a laptop with both Windows ME and a stripped down version of Linux. The 2.1 pound laptop has a 600mhz Crusoe and 20 gigs under the hood, along with an 8.4 inch screen. It will retail for $1,999." It's a nice to see the tiny laptops mentioned last year actually emerging.

7 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. I just have to point out... by Phroggy · · Score: 5
    ...that for $1299 you can get a pretty decent laptop that also runs several versions of Linux as well as BSD...

    --

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  2. Win-Win by Barbarian · · Score: 5

    Why don't they put Win ME and XP on the same laptop too? Then it'd be win-win for everyone.

  3. Hahaha by BJH · · Score: 4


    From the Casio page:

    "SOFTWARE SWITCH
    A; Windows Millennium, B; Tool"

    ...which would seem to indicate that Linux is called "Tool" now.

    Pity they don't actually acknowledge the people who developed it... and do they provide source code, I wonder?

    1. Re:Hahaha by Tachys · · Score: 4

      That should be GNU/Tool

  4. Re:IEEE1394 Serial port??? by JabberWokky · · Score: 4
    FireWire is simply Apple's trademark for the standard which is IEEE1394.

    Recently, at a late night conversation at Dennys, I explained the difference between the various "DV" connectors (basically, they are all the exact same, just under different trademarks).

    It wasn't until someone pointed it out that I realized how odd it is... Apple has a poetic word like "Firewire" that you might expect from a company like Sony (with its Playstation, Walkman, etc.), while Sony has "iLink" despite Apple's fascination with the i- prefix (iMac, iBook, etc).

    I've noticed that most new IEEE 1394 ports are labeled "DV" or simply "Video" on the outside of the case. Sorta like the PC I saw in a hole-in-the-wall PC repair place... the USB ports were labeled "Mouse" and "Keyboard".

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  5. Loads more of small, cheap by trenton · · Score: 4
    As usual, the US lags behind Japan in CE availability. Dynamism.com is a pretty good company specializing in importing Japanese models and providing support to US consumers. Check out some of their offerings: Impressive stuff, and all models have been released for at least 4 months. Now, where can I trade some karma for a 50" plasma display?
    --
    Too big to fail? Does that make me to small to succeed?
  6. Re:Power management? by jpatokal · · Score: 5
    I've always heard from people running Linux on notebooks that power management isn't there, with the result that Windows 2000 gives you much better battery life. Is Crusoe tuned for Linux? Does Linux now have Power Management features? How can they claim increased battery life when switching to Linux?

    Linux has had APM for a long time, so the "big" power saving options (standby mode, battery monitor etc) are available and functional. However, on eg. my Vaio C1, stuff like screen brightness can only be controlled by software, using custom Sony libraries that are available only for Windows. This kills battery time: 2+ hours in Windows with power saving on vs. barely an hour under Red Hat running Gnome.

    But remember, the above applies only when the manufacturer uses custom Windows-only hooks. The Vaio's BIOS controls work just fine under both Windows and Linux, and I presume Casio has been intelligent enough to ensure that all power saving -related hardware is fully accessible under Linux as well.

    Cheers,
    -j.