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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.

3 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. 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.