Installing Linux On A Wal-Mart OS-less machine

Azar writes "An article at Newsforge details the experience of installing Linux on Wal-Mart's OS-less PC. It states: 'A few months ago, super-sized discount store Wal-Mart made the headlines in the Linux world by becoming the first major U.S. retailer to offer PCs without Windows preloaded...While this was widely hailed in the Open Source community as a victory over the "Microsoft tax," which usually afflicts buyers of Linux PCs, one major question remained unanswered: How well do these machines support Linux?' Here is your answer." Newsforge is owned by OSDN, which also owns Slashdot, is all part of the sinister Andover keiretsu.

Comments

Interesting

[enneff]

Kudos to the author of this article, as it was genuinely interesting and informative.

These machines are obviously an affordable, functional, and useful personal computing package for the 'alternative' (or perhaps just plain thrifty) user. Perhaps Red Hat or another distribution vendor should strike up a deal with Wal-Mart to bundle copies of Linux with the machines? It's been done before with not a huge amount of success, but Wal-Mart is a pretty powerful distribution mechanism, and the product already exists minus one inexpensive and 'easy-to-include' component.

How long do you think it will take for other hardware vendors to follow a similiar path? Is there enough demand for it? Does Microsoft offer too great an incentive (target market, for example) for vendors to switch away from their platform?

"Check out our selection of Linux books"

[techstar25]

At Wal-Marts website at the bottom of the page that features the Windows-less machines is the following note with respective links:
See all computers without operating systems. Also, check out our selection of Linux books.
Yes folks, they are PROMOTING Linux for these machines. So it might be possible that they could bundle a distro with the pc in the future.

Re:build your own

[Masem]

I recently had "built" my own system (I had previously done card swaps, HD installs, etc, but where the mobo was already in place). Unfortunately, I believe, I started this with a 1.2gHz tbird. Not a bad chip, but this was a chip line that ran hot and right before the introduction of the next line that ran much cooler. With everything in place I had no problem getting a system going -- but I was alarmed by rather high chip temperature, at least as I percieved it: during warm days in late spring, CPU temps in 50-55 deg C with load (with a modern gfx cpu also running at load), approx 22 deg C above the southbridge temp. sensor. I *knew* that this chip could go to 95 deg C before the die was damaged, but this also carried the cavaet that the CPU temp probe may be as much as 30 deg C too low due to placement. I realize that when I read others' reports of the same chip (and mobo combo as well) that my temps are certainly within ballpark if not lower, but I was still concerned particularly with warmer weather still on it's way.

So over the next 2 weeks I spent a good amount of cash in getting additional cooling equipment: additional rear case fans, a slot fan, etc. I was able to shave a few degrees off the max temp under the warmest days. Of course, these weren't installed at one shot, and each time I changed the internal configuration, I worried that something might fail.

But finally I got it to the point of being a good little box, and hasn't had a problem since. However, I am still worried on it's temperature situation and monitor it often enough to make sure nothing weird is going on.

But after that experience with newer CPUs, I'd much rather avoid all the hassle of building the system from scratch, and next time I'm looking, purchase a system that has been prebuilt to handle the cooling effectively and such that I don't have to worry about that at all. Obviously, the above boxes wouldn't be for gamers, but as the reviewer indicates, would work well for a linux install as well as average-joe users if they wanted to install WinXP/2K on it. I'd consider getting one of these particularly since I would not expect custom shops to be able to beat that price easily without cutting more corners.

Install fests!!

[LinuxHam]

or what if Walmart hosted install days?

Advertise for customers to order the PCs up to a week or two in advance to allow for delivery. Then have them return to the store on the selected Saturday & Sunday to pick up their new PC and have Linux installed on site for free by local geeks. They could sell books and distros near the install area. I'd do it at the local Walmart, no problem.

And I bet RH would supply tons of free CD kits. Hell, use one of the machines to burn CDs for the customers! That'll freak 'em out for sure.

Wal Mart != evil (IMHO)

[chainsaw1]

Wal Mart's can be hard to find in cities, so many people may not know what a godsend they are to rural america. WalMart stores are typically located on cheap land--which is mostly rural America and out suburbs of the some large towns they can be found in. It's very similar to how Southwest on flies into and out of cities/airports with cheap airport fees and terminal space.

And I encourage you to look at WalMart's prices and compare with others. They _are_ pretty damn low. Even in the small rural towns where Wal Mart has already put small mom & pop stores out of business and cornered the market. This is about the only downside of WalMart's--the little guys can't compete with them.

They provide many items which may not be sold in the immediate area also (shopping selection in rural America tends to be very limited). They have a good distrobution system where the ship the things that aren't selling real well in one location to another where they are during the night via truck. For instance, during the Missouri floods they would bring in sand, shovles, flashlights from other stores and ship things like riding lawnmowers and plastic play pools out.

This sounds more like a hit piece against corporations/Fortune 10 than truth. The article is seething with angst and loathing from the denotations of the adjecives and adverbs used.

Also remember, Sams is also connected to the Waltons and contributes heftily to the profits also. Anyone who has bought one bag of chicken wings for $10 to feed themselves for a month knows the joy of Sams :)

read this book

[EddydaSquige]

read this book by Bill Quinn. It describes how truely evil Wal-Mart is. I've seen small town that have had their retail economies stripmined by Wal-Mart, and seen towns have to hire ful-time legal staffs whose job is solely to keep Wal-Mart out. In Grey's Harbor WA, after the town voted down Wal-Marts bid to buy property to build, they discovered that most of the other bids where placed buy Wal-Mart though dummy corporations.

I'd rather live in a world dominated by Bill Gates than one dominated by Sam Walton.