AOL's new Linux PC

minus_273 writes " MSNBC (of all places ) has an intersting article about AOLs new PC. We have already heard of Lindows , WALMART PC and there was speculation of AOL Red Hat. Well, it looks like this is what AOL decided to do. All 3 are mixed into one. AOL now has a beta 7.0 client that is distributed with Lindows along with AIM and Netscape. I wonder if this stuff will work on normal Linux without WINE."

Comments

Re:CPU

[SonicBurst]

IIRC, this isn't really a new player. I believe VIA bought this architecture from Cyrix. I think it used to be called the C3 (or could be M3).

Walmart.com page

[TheSHAD0W]

Just FYI, here's Walmart's page on Lindows OS PCs.

Re:The problem

[PhoenixFlare]

"I dont like time warner, but they give us Netscape / Mozilla, Winamp and ICQ for free. "

You do realize you can get these four programs without relying on Time Warner at all?

How are you set up that you would have to pay for them in the first place? They're all free for anyone to have, and have been for months/years.

Here's some VIA C3 info

[qurob]

It hit 1GHz back in June

Tom's Hardware

Another source....

[bziman]

MSNBC seems to be responding somewhat slowly, so here's an article on the same topic from ZDNet UK.

Enjoy...

-brian

specs

[danger42]

- VIA C3 800 MHz processor offers comparable performance to the 800 MHz Celeron processor
- 133 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 Trident Blade 3D/Pro Media AGP 4x graphics
- Up to 8 MB shared video memory
- Integrated AC '97 Audio with 3D enhanced sound
- Integrated 10/100 Ethernet connection
- Micro ATX tower case (14"D x 7"W x 14"H)
- Available drive bays: one 5.25-inch external, one 3.5-inch external, one 3.5-inch internal
- 2 PCI slots
- 1 ISA slot
- High-speed serial port
- Parallel port
- 2 front and 2 rear USB ports
- Game port
- 104-key keyboard
- 2-button mouse with wheel
- Audio port (line-in, line-out, mic-in)
- Stereo speakers
- LindowsOS operating system (pre-installed)
- Software includes mail, word processor, Web browser/file manager, address book, calculator, CD player, MP3 Player, PowerPoint viewer, Word viewer, Excel viewer and Image viewer
Games include Tron, Battleship, Poker, Minesweeper, Potato Guy
- Special Offer - Select up to 10 software applications at no charge from the Lindows.com Click-N-Run Warehouse
- 1-year warranty, return to Microtel

yes it does run on wine

[neowintermute]

I send all my patches back to the public wine tree, and in fact, our wine is just the public tree, with any obvious bugs fixed (which we also send back).

So, if you pick up wine from cvs, it will run AOL7.

See wine-patches and wine-devel for discussion.

Boycott Lindows

[Eloquence]

Lindows is dangerous and should be boycotted by all security-conscious users. The reason is simple: Users run as "root" by default, with all rights -- a single wrong click or command and the whole system is made unusable. Or turned into a full-powered skript kiddie battle station.

This kind of philosophy has been the main cause of many destructive worms and viruses on the Windows platform. To repeat this error endangers the Internet ecosystem as a whole and gives Linux a bad name. Furthermore, it gives people a justification to run as root -- this practice should be discouraged. Any operating system that is insecure by default should be boycotted.

Lindows.com is currently stating that they are doing this in the name of convenience, a stupid argument (how hard can it be to ask for an administration password?). As long as they do not reverse their stance in this matter, Lindows should be boycotted by all technically competent users. I'm getting enough e-mail worms per day as it is.

Re:Boycott Lindows

[Eloquence]

On a system with one user/administrator, it's meaningless.

Bullshit. My system is set up in such a way that all data I no longer work on frequently is moved into a non-writable archive. That also includes all media files like MP3s, movies etc. If a malicious executable should wreck havoc, it can delete a few days of work at most. (Backups are nice, but even nicer if you don't need them.) I see no reason why this shouldn't be wrapped into a nice GUI and made standard behavior.

As for possible damage, SuSE's example for the damage root can cause has always been a user who typed "ls > /dev/hdb1" (he wanted to redirect it to the sound device to see what would happen). Similar accidents can happen easily with drag & drop, and Unix is a lot better at deleting files that are in use than Windows. Trust tech support wisdom: users do stupid things. It's irresponsible to put them in an environment where they can cause a lot of harm, especially when we're trying so hard to teach newbies that they can experiment freely without being afraid of computers. If you're root, better be afraid.

You're right that non-root users can still cause damage to others (although they can't listen on low ports, for example), but the infection is much easier to fix. Getting rid of a kernel-based rootkit and cleaning infected system binaries is hard, removing something from .xinitrc or .kde/Autostart is not. It's really not that difficult: There's a difference in having write access to 2 megs of files versus the entire system.

Red Hat?

[brettlbecker]

What's this talk about AOL Red Hat? I heard something about this awhile ago, but as far as I know, this new Wal Mart PC running Lindows doesn't contain any Red Hat Linux at all... Lindows itself is based, according to their FAQ (at lindows.com) on Debian Linux... so what's the deal?

Re:CPU

[Anonymous Coward]

C3 Performance - Direct Experience

I recently built a new system to get my feet wet in Linux (SuSE 8.0) using a 900 M C3.

My son's system is a 1 Ghz Atlon with 100 M FSB, VIA chip set MB and, until recently a GeForce 2 graphics card. When he upgraded, I scavenged the video card.

The new system uses a C3 at 900 M with a 133 M FSB. I used old memory, however, so the RAM only runs at 100M. The Mb has the same VIA chipset but is built by another manufacturer. RAM size and hard disks are the same in both systems. All in all, the systems should be pretty close to each other except for the processor.

So far I've seen the following:
1. 3Dmark2000 graphics benchmark gave about half the score of the Atlon 1G to the C3 900.
2. In spite of the poorer graphics score, my son says games run comparably fast on the 2 machines.
3. The machine runs acceptably quick on both win98SE and SuSE 8.0. Applications are fast and responsive in both and I would have no problem getting real work done on this machine.
4. And, yeah, it runs cool! With a simple cooling fan and heatsink (nothing like the monstroksity on the Athlon), the chip never even feels warm to the touch. I ran it fanless for 1/2 a day (I forgot to plug the fan back in) and then the heatsink felt warm but definitely not too hot to touch. This definitely would have toasted the Athlon.

Just my experience with this chip; not an exhaustive benchmark test. You results may vary.

if you want

[tacokill]

If you want people to enjoy computers and integrate them into their lives, it must be easy. Period.