Free PC With French Broadband Connection

robson writes "Neuf Cegetel announced the purchase of AOL France, an ISP that counts 500,000 broadband subscribers and the arrival of 'the box,' an Internet access terminal. Code-name: Easy Gate. It's a computer, working under the Linux OS. It's a router. It's a DSL modem. It's also a telephone. All in one. Easy Gate will be available from November, the actual 'box' consists of: an Intel 852 GM, 6 ports USB 2.0, 512 Mb of RAM and 512 Mb of Flash memory."

Comments

Bread?

[Anonymous Coward]

I read the topic as Free PC with French Bread Connection

I Hope...

[ackthpt]

It's a computer, working under the Linux OS. It's a router. It's a DSL modem. It's also a telephone. All in one. Easy Gate will be available from November, the actual 'box' consists of: an Intel 852 GM, 6 ports USB 2.0, 512 Mb of RAM and 512 Mb of Flash memory."

I hope it's secure. I don't need SPAM from 500K new sources.

A win for Linux? Maybe encourage more mainstream plugin and webapp development? It's France and EU turf so it looks like a good thing on the surface.

How do they do it?...

[crazyvas]

..Using the French Connection....

My head asplode

[iPodUser]

The fact that it's linux means the slashdoters will love it, the fact that it's AOL they will hate it. The sheer conflict in the minds of the slashdot readers will cause more than one head to pop.
Also, what kind of a name is "America OnLine France"? Shouldn't it be "France OnLine"? FOL? Hmmm....

Re:My head asplode

[TheRaven64]

It's not AOL, it's the company that just bought AOL's French division. No word on the processor. Some kind of Celeron, from the chipset, but I don't know whether it's the low power version. If it is, I'd be interested in one of these machines; quiet, low-power, and almost certainly cheap.

It's worth noting that this business model is not that novel in France. Before the Internet, the French had a network called Minitel. A load of dumb terminals were handed out for free to French businesses and households, as a replacement for a printed telephone directory. This gave access to telephone directory listings and a number of commercial services. The 'phone company took a connection fee, and other, premium services could also be charged directly to the bill. This machine is a logical successor to the Minitel; it's a machine which (should) require no more maintenance than a dumb terminal, and can be used to access the network that many regard as the successor to the Minitel network. Presumably with only 512MB of local storage, the user is expected to keep most of their data (email history, etc) on the server.

The New Minitel

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

If all of you Francophobes could untwist your shorts for a minute, you might realize that this is pretty much an updated version of the Minitel, which most geeks thought was pretty damn cool back in the days of expensive 300 baud dialup.

Besides, it runs Linux.

Re:What Distro?

[RAMMS EIN]

According to PC Inpact (in French), it's a custom distro, all open source, and it includes Firefox, Abiword, Gnumeric, GIMP, Gkview, Ekiga, MPlayer, and Bizanga, among other things.

My /. submission of last week on that item

[A.K.A_Magnet]

... which was rejected; Posted here for details. (too many details?)

Neuf, the third French ISP (in terms of subscribers), has announced (in French) today a new offer, "EasyNeuf" (still in French), aiming at reaching people who don't have a PC: a small PC-style "plug-and-play" appliance called NeufGate running GNU/Linux. It will include (optionnally) a monitor (different sizes available), a mice and a webcam for 99euros (with the 14" monitor) and cover most common usages: e-mail, instant messaging (MSN), web browsing (Firefox), videoconferencing (Ekiga), a spreedsheet application (Gnumeric), a word processor (Abiword), an image editor (the GIMP), a movie player (Mplayer), a PDF viewer, ... The OS is built from Linux (from scratch), runs kernel 2.6.17.11 and takes less than 100 MB (less than 168 with applications). It will feature 3 different GUIs: for novices ("Easy"), for medium users ("Ergo") and for advanced users (GTK-based with an OS X-style dock, so-called "Expert" mode). A parental control mode will be available, as well as different security features (firewall, antispam, etc). Usage will be restricted by Neuf so that people won't be able to install applications (or viruses!). On the hardware side, it will feature an Intel Celeron M 600Mhz, 512MB of RAM, 512MB of Flash memory and no hard drive. There will be 6 USB and 5 ethernet ports, and acting as a NAT router, it will share the connection with WiFi-enabled devices too. The modular design of the NeufGate will allow future hardware extensions (harddrives? DVR features?). The box will be rented (cost included in the monthly fees): the operating system will be automatically updated and most problems will be remotely fixed (some of them without having to call the hotline, as the box will report errors; it will be remotely controlled by Neuf technicians on demand [you will have to accept, as they won't be able to access anything other than your NAT/router settings otherwise]; and no, you won't be root ;)); in case of hardware problems, the box will be replaced within 48 hours (hotline will be free). A 2-hours online tutorial will help new users understand the basics. Of course, it comes with the current Neuf "triple play" offer: 8 Mb/s ADSL (down, 1Mb/s up), Telephony (mostly free, at least to landlines in most Western countries) and IPTV (to be available early 2007). All the software used in the NeufGate will be available as F/OSS on their community website soon. Oh, and the price? 39.90euros/mo, everything included (except the peripherals, ie monitor/mice/webcam which will be sold separately; you can use your own). More pretty pictures here (still, still in French). Now, isn't that what we can call Linux Desktop for Aunt Tillie? :)

Btw, it will be sold through retail stores.