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Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out
hankmt writes "About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 Linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz VIA C7 processor and 512 MB of RAM. While the specs are useless for Vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses (it may still be available in some stores). And the product sales page at wal-mart.com is full of glowing reviews from new and old Linux users alike."
How many bogomips are we talking here...
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It sold out much faster then this; It's been out of stock for at least 2 days.
And we still don't even have Ubuntu Dells, let alone retail linux boxes.... :(
http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
This sounds like an interesting machine for newbie linux users. What kind of software support will a user get?
Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here. How many of them are going to return these things when that AOL CD they have doesn't work automagically? How many of these people are expected to have DSL or Cable instead of dial-up? How many are going to be returned because they don't have MS Office pre-installed on them?
Not quite what you'd think!, 10/31/2007
By NWAshopper, AR Read all reviews by this reviewer
Value for price paid: 1 out of 5
Meets Expectations: 1 out of 5
Buyers beware! Don't let the low cost of this computer sway your credit card. This computer doesn't have the power to run Windows XP!!! This is a decent buy for the tech smart who are looking for ITX Hardware on the cheap. DO NOT BUY. You will be very dissapointed!
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Great Value for Money, 11/06/2007
By CompuShopr Read all reviews by this reviewer
Value for price paid: 5 out of 5
Meets Expectations: 5 out of 5
This is a Linux machine that's capable of XP or Vista. It runs quick, and upgrades easily. Major con is no monitor. Tried XP and Vista and it runs like a champ. Definitely recommend this product.
... the Slashdot equivalent of strapping buttered toast to the back of a kitten and pushing it off a table. You could power a perpetual motion machine with the flames generated by this combo...
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Wal*Mart = Bad
Linux = Good
*whimper*
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
An 15" LCD monitor will cost you about $200.. so, what, $30 for a keyboard and mouse.. $430 for a computer, not bad.
How we know is more important than what we know.
It seems the people buying it know that it isn't Windows or they're buying it for friends/family and they'll be providing the support.
And for home users it's all about knowing someone who can fix it when it breaks. With Windows there's usually some neighbor's kid who "knows computers".
So don't expect too many returns on this.
I ordered one online for my kid. It's supposed to arrive at the local walmart by about Nov. 26. My wife was convinced my brain had been taken over by aliens, since I normally don't like walmart. I was like, "Honey, this is Linux! It's not evil, it's good!"
Walmart has had other linux PCs for sale online. What was supposed to be different about this one was that it was supposed to be on the shelves in the stores. AFAICT that never actually happened. The local walmart was one of the ones on the list that was supposed to have it for sale, but actually it never showed up in stock. Just out of curiousity, I checked their web site for other stores that might have it: San Francisco, NY, Chicago, etc. None of them had it in stock.
I hope these machines are good. I used to buy the $200 Fry's Great Quality machines, but Fry's is no longer selling those.
Find free books.
In the community around me, I've seen a lot of growth in the use of Linux on the desktop just in the last year. But probably the most interesting trend is that I've seen a bunch of new Ubuntu users among the mechanical engineering students, who in general aren't particularly computer-nerdy, and even more amazingly, are actually dependent on Windows-only software for some of their CAD tools (i.e. Solidworks).
I think the Walmart results might be indicative of a growing trend where people are just about ready to make the leap themselves... particularly when it comes preinstalled like it does here. Another step in the right direction.
What I'd love to see, though, is how much previous computer experience all of those Walmart reviewers had -- for some, it seems like quite a bit.
--
Electronics kits for the digital generation.
Does it run Windows?
That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux. The lesson is that there is a ready market, in middle America, for Linux-based applications. Will software developers heed this lesson?
For most people, the monster computer (with globs of memory and a gazillion hertz of processor speed) running Windows XP is already more machine than most Americans need. Now, Microsoft will kill off Windows XP in order to sell Vista to us. We will need a super-monster computer to run Vista. This whole process of bloated operating systems (OSes) driving purchases of even more excessive amounts of hardware is a damned waste of money.
The simple machine that runs Linux is good enough for most people. The number one application in America, after all, is e-mail.
Software developers should tune into middle America and sell Linux-based applications so that we can put an end to this never-ending cycle of bigger, badder OS needing bigger, badder computer.
These days $200 would get you a decent 19-20" (probably widescreen) monitor. just a quick example from newegg
how many AOL users bother to change their OS to linux? how many people use the features in MS office that OpenOffice doesn't support? how many would even notice the difference?
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
...urge to support the Wal Mart beast. But Linux is good right? But wait...Wal Mart is not good. Unless, they throw me a open-source bone. Then they're good right? Damn, I hate moral dilemmas. Why can't everything Wal Mart sells, just be something I either do not want or do not need? It's almost as if they are pandering to....hey look! They have for $1.99/dozen!
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
There is something very wrong with the reviewers, I keep clicking "Read all reviews by this reviewer", and the reviewer only did this single review on a product. Which is unusual for people who write their reviews on products (usually they'll have a few others they've written reviews for). They all write excellent English, no grammar mistakes, punctuation mistakes or anything.
I suspect manipulation of reviews.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
From what I, and others (Like this guy) can tell, a vast majority of the machines were sold online.
This sounds good and all, getting Linux to the teeming masses...but at the same time the people that might buy a computer at Wal-Mart are probably people that don't even know what Linux is or even what Windows is and that there is even any difference. Some people may have just bought these because, Hey!, $200 for A WHOLE COMPUTER is a steal, right?!
Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here.
That is important, they are not like Slasdot readers. Unlike business users or college students, M$ has done no favors for these people and they have zero loyalty.
How many of them are going to return these things when that AOL CD they have doesn't work automagically?
I don't know. The EEE has an AOL button, no CD is required. I know it's hard to believe but AOL would be happy to spam users of other OS.
How many of these people are expected to have DSL or Cable instead of dial-up?
None. Why should they?
How many are going to be returned because they don't have MS Office pre-installed on them?
None. Open Office is more than enough for the average school paper. Very few people actually NEED M$ Office for work and even they hate it. The rest of the world considers M$'s ever changing, secret file formats an expensive ass pain. They are right.
Anyone who actually needs M$ Office will have their boss pay for it or pirate the junk. If M$ makes the second option impossible, the first option will have to happen or the boss will learn to use free software. M$ is not going to be able to get everyone to pony up $400 every couple of years for a text editor and that's where they system breaks down. Sooner or later, all of those smart business users and college graduates will figure out that they don't need M$ either.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
this is great news indeed....lets just hope we don't see an equal number of returns/exchanges in a month or two..
I am very happy to hear this news and pointed a number of people at this machine. But it would be a lot more meaningful if we knew how many they sold out of. 10? Big whoop. 10,000? More impressive.
So who said geeks didn't buy them out? I almost bought one myself since before this you could even hardly get a C7 motherboard for $200. Average price on newegg is like ~180 now.
I'm a Linux lover, but that conclusion you came to was a hell of a leap of faith. Just because Walmart.com is out of stock does not mean that these things are selling like hotcakes in the stores. And how much of "Middle America" shops at Wal-Mart via the internet? Probably not much.
Last I read on the things they had a modem but it wasn't compatible or at least wasn't configured for the system. I'd be shocked if somebody can't come up with a way to use it if there is demand but I don't think this is being sold as a dial-up capable machine.
Back in my day when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
if this isn't chair-throwing worthy, I don't know what is.
Actually, the motherboard that this computer ships with is on sale for 60 dollars.
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001
It was a joke. Let me explain:
See there is a sort of running joke, referred to as a meme, that is to ask "Yeah, but can it run Linux?" to pretty much any new hardware of system discussion. I could ignore this but I figure there will be others who see it and think that the gp was serious. Still, it I'm embarrassed for you so I'm posting anonymously, so maybe nobody sees this either.
Posting anonymously is sort of like super stealth technology, I can say anything I want and nobody will ever read it.
Unfortunately Wal-Mart have made a huge oversight, and they're gonna have quite a few disgruntled customers because of it. I mean, they forgot the "not good for pr0n" disclaimer!!!
The biggest vote of confidence in Linux is that Walmart even sells it. Walmart doesn't put stuff on the shelves if it isn't going to sell. That it sold out just shows that Walmart was right.
This is the year of the Linux desktop. I don't give a crap what metric you were expecting to use, when Walmart planned to stock and then sold out of them, the Linux desktop arrived.
Back in my day when we chiseled our bits into stone and sent them by mule train from village to village...
ClubIT sells them for $60, with free shipping: http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001#
I ordered one on Friday, so by tomorrow it should be here.
Of course with this being Wal-Mart, the more likely scenario is Joe Sixpack reads "Ayy Beth-Ann-Bobbi-Jo-Ruthie-May! They got dem compyooturz at thu walmart for $200!"
With the absence of "them thar geek peopullz" that talk about "virusin' and spahhhwurin' the box", they can pick one up on their next trip out for junk food, beer, and a few copies of both Guns N' Ammo and American Hunter Motherfucker*. They will get it home, only to find out that it doesn't have Winduh Veesta or run their ancient copy of Deer Hunter.
The fact that it is Linux-based has absolutely nothing to do with the sales figures. You forget that the system is being sold in a place where the absolute lowest price is the ruling factor in ANYTHING found inside. I can also assure you that the "associates" in Wal-Mart aren't going to know a damned thing about Linux vs Windows, and will answer any question with a blank stare. I forsee MANY returns on these items after Christmas. Maybe by then, stock levels will be back up and I can actually find one to use as a box to tinker around with.
*Bonus points to those who get the reference.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
So true. If they have not already done so, it would be wise of Walmart to have a nice big sign next to this product stating that it does NOT use MS Windows.
You want fun, go home and buy a monkey!
...called Zareason:
http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16160&cat=0&page=1
So you can buy it there with a clean conscience. heh.
BTW, I have no business relation with the family that runs Zareason, but I did buy about $8,400.00 worth of products from them, and Zareason did a fine job of shipping the products to the public middle school that I ordered on behalf of. More details on that purchase here:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/11/1446254
WalMart consumers don't care what the machine runs. They just see a machine than can do email, word processing, and can browse the web. The most important thing about the machine is price. If it ran Windows and cost $200, it would still sell out.
Quote "people who know little about calculus or physics" Yes and anything else for that matter.
Help fight continental drift.
I think you pay a lot for that "all my friends say wow when they see it" effect.
I don't believe a lot of buyers were typical wal-mart customers. These PC's have been blasted all over every tech site for the last several days and each site has been covered in comments about people who want to get one. There are comments on this slashdot article by people who have bought them.
I think a load of these were bought by linux fans wanting to support linux on a retail box. for a low price.
Gone!
There is a little mom n pop shop in Berkeley called Zareason that is selling these things, too.. So you can get the gPC there guilt free. Heh.
http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16160&cat=0&page=1
So you can buy it there with a clean conscience. heh.
BTW, I have no business relation with the family that runs Zareason, but I did buy about $8,400.00 worth of products from them, and Zareason did a fine job of shipping the products to the public middle school that I ordered on behalf of. More details on that purchase here:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/11/1446254
Amazing what a decade of hardware progress can do :)
"People just don't have a real use for a very crappy PC."
Most people I know use their PC for web browsing and word processing; this system would be plenty good enough for that, so long as they had a monitor to go with it.
Heck, if I can install more hard disks in there I'm tempted to buy one myself and stick it in the basement to replace my desktop system as our file-server... it's got to burn less power than a 3GHz Pentium.
How many are running pirated XP now?
and, what kind of tech-support options are offered? might be hard to go online for free Linux support from the web if you can't get online. Hopefully the users will have someone in their community to turn to for help. Someone who won't insult them for not already knowing what to do.
Slashdot needs to grow up quick. Just because it's Wal Mart doesn't mean everyone who shops there is unworthy of living. It's a very convenient place for buying engine coolant, sweat pants, basic office supplies, and other every day things. As a matter of fact, it's one of the few places you could buy all of that under one roof. There is K-mart, but their inventory is lacking. - ynososiduts
Wow I am intrigued. You must tell me where you got a Mac Mini for under 200 bucks. I'll run out and buy one to install Linux on.
Sorry, I wish you were right. It is only the year of the Linux desktop when they decide to keep them in stock permanently. Which means they would have to have some other ongoing source. This was just smart Walmart management making a few quick bucks when the opportunity arose.
Wow, are you ever an elitist prick. I guarantee you almost everyone on Slashdot shops at Wal-Mart, because almost everyone on Slashdot is "plain" and normal in almost every respect. If the PC is sold out, 85% of it is because of dorks like you and me. The other 15% is people that didn't know what they were buying.
I want to know some things about the computer itself - how many SATA slots open on the board? how many expansion slots? Is there any RAID on the board? Better yet - who makes the mobo?
For all the hubub about this thing I have seen little in the way of legitimate hands on reviews. I want to get one to use as a NAS/web/ftp server, but can't get the info I need anywhere....
...Try buying it from this mom and pop shop:
http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16160&cat=0&page=1
BTW, I have no business relation with the family that runs Zareason, but I did buy about $8,400.00 worth of products from them, and Zareason did a fine job of shipping the products to the public middle school that I ordered on behalf of. More details on that purchase here:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/11/1446254
...because this isn't a troll.
Protectionism.. welcome to the 80s.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Sorry, but your conclusion doesn't follow from the facts. That doesn't mean it's not true, but, personally, I suspect otherwise.
This machine sold out ONLINE. Where do we (i.e. people like you and me, who know what Linux is) live? Online. I suspect Linux people bought it, most likely.
The first review on the page talks about installing XP or Vista on it. Just because it ships with Linux doesn't mean it's going to stay on there. As has been discussed a lot around here, Windows is actually free. Everyone knows someone who can get it to them for nothing. This is probably a distant second to the number purchased by existing Linux people, but it's probably worth noting.
As another commenter pointed out, we don't know how many of these will come back when they don't run AOL or MS Office. Linux is not only NOT popular in Middle America, it's largely NOT KNOWN. The idea that a computer would not run that deer hunting game you also bought at Wal-Mart is alien to many of the people most likely to buy a $200 computer. Unless the machine has a big sticker on the box that says, "WARNING! WILL NOT RUN ANY SOFTWARE YOU'VE EVER HEARD OF!" most people will just assume it'll run software they've heard of.
I actually have dumped an Ubuntu machine on an unsuspecting Wal-Mart patron, because I just no longer want to be the guy who knows how to get Windows for free, and because I know that Ubuntu is damn easy to use, looks nice, and has a great package manager. I also, however, know that Linux is more a lifestyle than an OS. It means you won't be buying any software at Wal-Mart. It means you won't be running MS Office. It means iTunes won't run. It means you'll be downloading software that is often very good, but of which you've never heard, and which is not being used by anyone you know. It means that if you have a problem, you're not going to be able to call your cousin Earl. It means you are basically on your own.
Although the lady I gave it to was happy to have SOMETHING, she wasn't very happy when she realized I'd just given her a lifestyle when she thought she was getting a computer.
My suspicion remains that these were snatched up by Linux people online, and that any sold in stores will either come back when they don't run any software or will be formatted and have pirated XP installed.
Note that those are suspicions. I'm just working off the same scant information as anyone here.
Feel free to take your MSFT name tag off at any time....
As for VIA being a commie chip - where are the low powered alternatives from the domestic producers? Shouldn't there be a slimmed down version of windows and a low power / not craptastic celeron processor that the US producers can sell for a less than 400$ price tag?
I would love a PC with an intel GEODE and windows lite or windows lite server - good luck finding that low power intel chip or an inexpensive OS...
The attitude of the US producers is one of "Oh, you don't actually want the latest and greatest? go get some of our old crap". The problem with this is that it is indeed crap. The via/nix combo offered by the gPC has clear advantages over winboxes, which is something you can't say of something running win2k and a pentium 3....
trying to promote removing the "PC" from making any money what-so-ever in the U.S., ironically the country that invented the PC.
A French company invented, marketed, and sold the first personal computer, the Micral, in 1973.
Da Blog
"That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux. The lesson is that there is a ready market, in middle America, for Linux-based applications. Will software developers heed this lesson?"
Or maybe what slashdotters say is true and people really don't use their computers for much and hence Linux is adequate
"The simple machine that runs Linux is good enough for most people. The number one application in America, after all, is e-mail."
What's that about lessons?
"Now, Microsoft will kill off Windows XP in order to sell Vista to us. "
Funny way to "kill off" then. I can still get XP (and will) off newegg.
"Software developers should tune into middle America and sell Linux-based applications so that we can put an end to this never-ending cycle of bigger, badder OS needing bigger, badder computer."
Or they can just pimp my cellphone.
BTW is a C7 better than a celeron?
Wal-Mart has been experimenting with Linux PCs for a long, long time. Here are just a few examples:
2002 Walmart sells Lindows PCs:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/wal-mart-ships-linux-pcs-23619/
2003 Microtel computers with SUSE Linux:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,111557-page,1/article.html
2004 Linspire computers on sale at Wal-Mart for $498.00
http://www.news.com/Wal-Mart-debuts-498-Linux-laptop/2100-1044_3-5498006.html
May of 2007, Dell computers on sale at Wal-Mart:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/15701
Wal-Mart is not stupid. They know that as the price of PCs falls, their sales volume rises. They have a vested interested in commoditizing PCs. With Microsoft, Wal-Mart gets a limited mark-up. With Linux PCs made by small vendors, Wal-Mart gets to call the shots. Wal-Mart has dollars signs in their eyes, and those dollars signs are dancing with Tux.
I just read Slashdot for the articles.
ebay, + this g4 with osx is far more intuitive than enlightenment, for people in creative positions mac is a requirement, from desktops to servers mac will always be more affordable and best bang for the buck, that say amd or sun.
Don't get excited, I think this is exactly what Linux doesn't need. It's a piece of crap $200 computer made from the cheapest parts - chances are its going to last about 6 months. Then all those people will remember that Linux is that crappy computer that breaks after 6 months.
* Game Over * High Score: 264,846,927 -- Your Score: 14
BTW, I've yet to meet someone who hates Microsoft Office (the "junk" as you call it, lol), as per your assertion. I guess since OpenOffice is an exact clone of it, they'll hate it too as well, right? I doubt that was your intended point. But I bet that sort of vague power statement does wonders with the moderators.
Are you what they call "free software evangelist" these days?
But Linux is good right? But wait...Wal Mart is not good. Unless, they throw me a open-source bone. Then they're good right?
The readership of Slashdot varies drastically. Attempts to use social pressure to homogenize it have failed, with great hilarity.
Apparently you did not get the memo. B-)
Please do not expect all of us to march in step.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I've never shopped at Walmart. When I did live near one, I couldn't stand the idea of supporting a store that practiced such disgusting labor practices. Now I live in a county that won't allow them to build. More power to us.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Most of the people that bought this probably think that Ubuntu is a new version of Windows.
Zero. MS Office is not preinstalled on computers, unless you count a teaser package that only tells you to buy the full Office. Many Windows laptops come with MS Works (not that it's useful for anything...) If the Linux box has OpenOffice preloaded, it's already more than any Windows laptop ever has, and I dare say that it's exactly what most Wal-Mart computer shoppers need.
Chengdu - This assembly testing facility, which opened in 2005, has four factories and two general-purpose buildings. The Chengdu site assembles chipsets using Intel's most advanced packaging technology.
Dalian - Plans have been announced to build a 300-millimeter wafer fabrication facility in the coastal Northeast China city of Dalian. Read more about Intel's $2.5 billion investment that will become Intel's first wafer fab in China.
Shanghai - Read about Intel's three major facilities in Shanghai, including manufacturing, labs, software development, and sales and marketing.
Shenzhen - Read how the sales and marketing office in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone provides world-class support. So remember kids, buy Intel to support our friends in Red China.
Not all geeks are great at math. I don't know any calculus and struggled through all my math classes.
The more you know.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
True that. Via's boards are spendy for what you get. What I'm wating for is when Intel releases their d210gly2 motherboard. It sports a 1.2GHz Conroe based Celeron, DDR2 slots, SATA, USB and a PCI slot, reportedly all for $70.
But a newbie may take it as a warning sign if it's presented in such a way. Or at least that's how I'd react if I saw a big, attention-grabbing sign saying that a product didn't have something.
I just read Slashdot for the articles.
The biggest vote of confidence in Linux is that Walmart even sells it.But that doesn't mean it's a sign of quality. Forget thee not of the Wii knockoffs that Walmart is selling.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
For 10 cents on the dollar, you can get a sexy trendy and stylish computer that will run the Gimp.
The truth shall set you free!
Apparently at least some of these C7-D don't support "PowerSaver" frequency scaling. So they aren't really the same thing as the C7's sold by newegg. My guess is they dropped this due to Walmart's strong-arm low pricing. Now I'm glad I didn't buy one. ;-(
Somehow I feel that that choosing which laptop to buy should be a quest in a MMORPG somewhere.... dammit, which quest line am I choosing??!!
Wal-Mart underestimated the power of the impulse buy. They put a few linux PCs right near the checkout isle and parents buy their kids one to shut them up.
First it installed Windows on itself, now it's pimping Blu-Ray drives for cash. Anything for money. Somebody's gotta stand up with me and fight The Man!
Yes, a fraction of the 694 that are available in the U.S.A.. What's your point? Intel is STILL a U.S. company and VIA is still a Chinese company. How many jobs is VIA offering in the U.S.? How many jobs does Intel allready provide in the U.S.. If VIA intends on selling their cheap computer for $200 less than a comparable computer made in the U.S. the government should place a $200 tariff on the computer, that's what tariffs are for, so foreign companies don't dump their cheaply made goods in our markets and drive the U.S. manufactures out of business, I think the focal point of this article is: don't buy that wintel computer, but this VIA computer for less! We don't care WHY it's less, but hey it doesn't have the hated MS on it so it must be good.
Should an Apple PC have a warning that it does not use Windows? Should your cell phone, TV, Tivo, Microwave, vehicle diagnostic computer, DVD player? Should a Vista PC warn it's not really Windows compatible? That would be a little like a Mazda RX7 having a warning that this is not a Lamborghini. Buyer beware.
If people were lining up for this, they knew what it was. They read about it ahead of time. They didn't just line up for the fu...n of it.
Or on the other hand, if you had no knowledge of computers and walked into a store only to see a machine for $200 and right next to it the same machine for $500-$700 which would you buy? OS choice really isn't as important as some on /. would make it out to be to the average Joe. All they are looking for is will it do what they want it to do for the cheapest price. Here is where Linux can fall flat on its face if someone doesn't make retail versions of software as available and ubiquitous as Windows software. Put a boxed set of Open Office next to that Microsoft Office suite and then we can talk. You see, there is the problem with this thing. Everything you need is included with the distro making this kind of visibility moot. The problem is that the same time Joe Average is picking out that computer they are also looking at the software shelf loaded with Microsoft centric crap. The moment they pick up that shareware disk for $5.00 and ask, "will this work on that box I'm buying?" will be the kiss of death on that sale. Add in the fact that sales people at WalMart aren't the pick of the crop and mess up even Windows technical issues and it is a recipe for a PR disaster.
Assuming that at least some of those sales of this box was to Joe Average, this can be a boon or bust moment all dependant on the support they get from WalMart. If WalMart washes their hands after sale (i.e. "All sales are final. Take it up with the manufacturer or Ubuntu") then this could be doomed after all the geeks have gotten theirs.
Personally, I wish WalMart success on this venture. There is nothing more healthy to a monopoly than competition.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/11/13/manners/
I'm not sure what you think a "typical Wal-Mart customer" is, but I suspect that 90+% of Americans have access to and occasionally shop at Wal-Mart.
I hope these machines are good. I used to buy the $200 Fry's Great Quality machines, but Fry's is no longer selling those
Me too. Well the architecture is pretty similar (cyrix CPU) but it looks like the software is a factor better, many of those GQ machines didn't have adequate drivers to support the on-board video so you were stuck at 640x480 or whatever. Though installing Mandrake (back then) usually took care of that.
The thing that really burns me is all the "Good for Light Word Processing"crap these power-system zealots keep spewing - and I ma not discriminating here, all of the platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux are full of em. I can tell you that machine (512MB RAM/80GB HDD) is probably capable of some great DTP (Scribus) could be great for illustration (Inkscape) and really serious office work (OOo). It may not be fast at doing such things, but we should never say it is not capable.
As a Classic computerist I know of authors who write books and other published works still on Commodore 64s, (heck some have never left their typewriter behind). To them they get familiar with something and stick to it they don't upgrade because they are to busy being productive with what they have (the hard part is finding replacement parts for their daisy wheel printers). Same reason why the XO will be a hit with kids, they will not see those laptops as underpowered or slow, but the draw is they have access and the speed isn't really a factor when you are starting out (as they get better and outgrow it, then that's another matter; it took me years to outgrow the VIC-20).
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
When will slashdot invent the mod "-1, duche"
Make SELinux enforcing again!
Plain folks -- those not like you and me -- don't know what Linux is. They know they bought a reasonably functional $200 computer.
I knew it! I knew Linux is going to sell out some day! I told you Linux is just as evil M$FT! Sold out to Walmart of all people.
*RTFA*
Oh. Good job, carry on.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
Customer - "Hi, I have a problem with my computer, it won't boot"
Walmart - "What operating system do you have installed"
Customer - "Windows Vista"
Walmart - "I'm sorry, that PC shipped with Linux. You'll have to reinstall that before we can help you!".
Next thing you know, they'll blame faulty hinges on Windows!
This space for rent
I got one a couple of days ago. Great little machine. Dead quiet except for a small fan on the CPU heatsink which seems to run all the time. Truth be told, I doubt that it even needs that fan as everything on the board remains cool to the touch even after a couple of hours of running. I've never heard the fan in the power supply run. It has two PCI slots (one taken by a modem that I don't need), two IDE connectors and two SATA connectors plus all the stuff you'd expect to find. The case has room for another four drives beyond the DVD drive and 80Gb disk it comes with. I bumped it up to 1.5Gb memory (1Gb stick for $40 at Fry's because they were out of the $30 sticks), installed a 200Gb disk from my spare parts bin and loaded WinXP to test performance. Zero complaints - except that I'm going to have to buy a quieter disk drive because it's the loudest part of the system.
It's funny how this is modded down as a troll but I'm expected that there really will be a lot of disappointed customers. Some may successfully adapt anyway, but a large proportion won't.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
All people interested in Linux on a PC (no proof, just a guess :) ) will install their own operating system over the one their PC came with!
For a store like Walmart (or Dell or almost any other general consumer brand), selling PC's pre-installed with Linux has nothing to do with a demand for linux, but for PC's without a windows licence fee.
I you already have a pile of unused legal windows licences, you don't really need another one.
Selling PCs without an operating system would not make sense, and might even get them into legal trouble as it could be seen (by Microsoft) as a blatant invitation to pirate software, so they are trying linux instead.
How many AOL users even know what an OS is ??
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
Lets just it will make you want to strangle kittens.
What's with you and the whole killing/burning animals thing? Just a little ways upthread you're asking about burning them, here's it's strangling...
That's some disturbing shit.
Right after someone invents the mod "-1, can't spell douche"
Thank you, thank you - I'm here every night. Be sure to tip your cocktail waitress.
I don't shop at Walmart. I don't like their business practices so I choose to spend my money elsewhere. Maybe everyone doesn't have the luxury to avoid buying at the lowest common denominator.
Every time I walk into a Walmart it's full of wretched looking shoppers and employees that appear even worse. I would rather not spend my evening or weekend standing in line with my items waiting because Walmart can't be bothered to hire more cashiers. It isn't as if they cost much to employ. On average Walmart doesn't even pay health care for their employees.
It's really great that Linux based PC's are selling but after all the horrible experiences I have had at that place I'm not willing to recommend shopping there to anyone even if only online.
http://slashdot.org/comments.
This development has gotten so much press in the tech world, that people who would otherwise never bring their business to Walmart (or at the very least would never review products for it) found the need to make an exception for something they considered temporarily more important: to support a big 3rd party making a big step in the right direction: moving away MS's monopoly, and making it possible for the average person to do so too. If this was not such a big deal, and this laptop was a normal product then you'd probably see more reviews from reviewers with longer, more respected review histories. Also, many retailers filter there reviews to some degree, moderating away the excessively vulgar, inappropriate reviews... those usually rate the product badly, so of all the reviews made, more poor reviews end up being deleted.
The reviews on Walmart could be subject to that sort of deletion process, or they could just be completely benign, the stores having been flooded by Linux afficionados absorbing all their supply, leaving few to no laptops for any random regular Joe Lusers to try.
Gravity Sucks
I had it in my cart this morning. Didn't close the deal. Maybe I can catch the next round. I also would like to know how many they sold and how fast. If any come available open box maybe I can get one of those.
I have the 1.3GHz via, and I like it. With Vista any kind of video is a slide show, even with the XP drivers loaded. Runs XP decently well with 1GB of memory. With Ubuntu it's just a regular PC. Power efficient, there are kits to scale it down for your car. It's not a toy -- you can do real stuff with it.
If anybody bought one of these and aren't happy with its linuxy wierdness, try selling it on ebay. I think you'll do better than taking it back to the store. :-)
I'm not buying the $299 one with Vista and twice the RAM. They can keep that. You can get a 2GB stick of DDR2-800 at newegg for $50 so if they wanted $250 for the box with 2GB in it I could go there.
WalMart does not like to run out of stuff. I wonder if they'll take this as a sign that Everex isn't ready to be a WalMart supplier, or as a sign that we're all ready for the smokin cheap environmentally friendly linux pc. Can Via even make the motherboards to meet the demand? I hear their output is rather limited.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Excellent question! I bet most AOL users go to Wal-Mart and buy a cheap computer. They don't understand the specs or anything like that.
That's all fine, people can live without Microsoft Office and more than you expect are now on cable or DSL.
But wait three to five months, until it doesn't run QuickTax .....
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
We also shop there at times because there might just not be anything else left. Wallmart killed off all the competition in the area ages ago. I hate shopping there, wish there was something else, but those are the breaks.
Everything will be taken away from you.
Thanks for the link.
a)Plain folks hardly understand the difference between Windows and OS X, let alone Linux
b)If Plain folks bought this, it was purely for the price tag. The other customers are geeks or had Linux experience before and preferred it (no malware for one).
c)A few of the buyers bought it to load XP, pirated, on it. It's a cheap machine.
This isn't to say that there will be no converts to Linux -- but I don't think average people knows what it is.
...Um. Did you just imply that a processor has a political affiliation? Congratulations, sir, you're an effing loonie.
Touche!
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Wait... does this mean that we like Walmart now?
Just wondering...
This author takes full ownership and responsibility for the unpopular opinions outlined above.
The number one application in America, after all, is e-mail.
I think you misspelled "pr0n" there.
And when they get home they won't care. Seriously, for what most people do on their computers ANYTHING will do these days. Hell, BSD would probably work for these people and I hear they just got a GUI last year or so!
The Farewell Tour II
I just bought one of these for my in-laws for Christmas. Wal-Mart On-Line sent me an e-mail that the machine shipped today; it also arrived today. Up and running in ~5 minutes, works pretty well (keyboard is a p.o.s.). I'm writing this on the machine right now.
This machine will be fine for my in-laws, who have never touched a computer before. I'm happy - $200 well spent.
Live in the Future; It's Just Starting Now!
Welcome to the global market - however I've never shopped WalMart - never will. Walmart is seeing and doing what Intel refuses to do or acknowledge ---- and that is that modern CPU's/Graphics/Memory are more than enough for the average user even if they want to do some very basic digital photos / video. I used to work at Intel -- this kind of stuff scares them shitless just like Linux scares M$ shitless. Intel is all about the next gen chips / architecture ... why ? Because those new CPUs sell for $800 -$999 each versus a last gen CORE chip for $125 or less. Those new chips are great if you have the need for the juice and the extra $$ for a top end PC. I would say less than 20% of the market really needs that level of power. But Intel and AMD are locked in a battle to produce hyper-sonic space planes --- average folks just need a basic jet plane.
Add to this the market is fairly saturated with decent HW -- so unless you're a fortune 1000 company you probably don't need $1400 PCs.
Also don't forget the "Google Factor" - if Google can successfully augment + cement the Linux OS - making the whole experience "pleasant" and easy to use ... they will have opened up another front against M$.
Prediction --- if Walmart + Google can make 50% of these users happy (while also learning from their mistakes): the current model will drop to $150 - a new better $200 PC will appear - and probably a $250 PC. A $350 laptop may not be far behind.
PS - In 2004 Intel set a target for 25% of ALL company positions to be in China, Asia, India by 2009.
Its not the years, its the mileage
Sorry to rain on your rant, but you do know that VIA is a Taiwanese company... VIA Taiwan homepage. And in case I'm being too subtle, Taiwan isn't exactly a Communist country.
Gee, Taiwan is really screwed, when even foes of China gets Taiwan and China mixed up, there's absolutely no chance that Taiwan is gonna be recognised as an independent country anytime soon.
PS - You're also 30/40 years too late with that Red scare, try using the word "terrorism" instead.
Wow are you ever an ethnocentric prick. I guarantee you there is a significant percentage of Slashdot users who aren't even in a country that has Wal-mart stores.
This is excellent since it means that the PHBs at Walmart will notice that this product is a bestseller. That further means more cheap Linux PCs being made available and sold.
All of this serves to bump up the percentage of computers sold with Linux versus Windows PCs and Macs. I imagine that it will serve mostly to take percentage points away from Windows, since the market share of Macs has only increased lately with the availability of Boot Camp, VMware Fusion, and Parallels.
The extension of the above logic is one small increase in the snowball effect: More Linux PCs sold means pie charts in corporate meetings show less Windows market share coupled with increasing Linux market share. This lends additional credibility to the platform, besides the credibility it already has with support from all major computing companies except a certain behemoth from Washington state, and the reputation it already has as a platform with many choices and possibilities, rock-solid stability, and widespread use in servers. The additional credibility applies to the use of Linux on the desktop. This leads commercial developers to make more Linux software; both in turn lead to higher credibility for the system. Bottom line: Linux is chipping away, slowly but surely, at the market share, power, and revenue of the aforementioned behemoth.
Google is a better company than Microsoft.
How true this is. What's kind of funny is that I picked up a random cheap game at Staples the other day to run on my Windows box. It didn't work. Only works on XP, of course, and I run Vista on that thing. (I knew that was a risk, you just don't know until you try it.) From a consumer point of view it is frustrating either way.
Although the lady I gave it to was happy to have SOMETHING, she wasn't very happy when she realized I'd just given her a lifestyle when she thought she was getting a computer.
Hah, I've BTDT too, although with Macs rather than Linux boxes. Unless you're planning to run games there is really little difference in the function of Windows, Linux, or MacOS; they all can do the job, they all have quirks that mean some stuff won't run on them or will run only if you know the right magic incantations. Windows is only a win in that there are a lot more knowledgeable people around.
What it came down to for me was the ongoing support effort. Windows PCs always mean significant ongoing effort. Things just go inscrutably wrong with them, and debugging over the phone with a neophyte just plain sucks ... especially when the only viable solution is almost certainly going to be "back up what you can and reinstall". (Or buy a whole new PC.) It's way harder to corrupt a Mac, and while they too have weird problems on occasion I haven't yet run into one that required a full reinstall (not even the oh-so-pleasant "I disabled admin access on the only admin account" problem with recent Leopard installs). It can be annoying, but it's annoying with a low periodicity rather than being near-constant.
So in the case where I'm supplying the PC or supporting the PC I recommend Macs. Lots of commercial software and low low support costs. I have had people who weren't always happy about that, but they get a lot of stuff done in between minor bouts of frustration due to compatibility issues and it's not like they weren't going to have plenty of frustrations with the Windows box too, just different (and more serious) ones.
I also really like it when they buy a new Mac and get to do the "transfer stuff from the old Mac". It's so easy it always amazes me. Makes me all the angrier at Microsoft, actually, because there's no reason Windows couldn't do the same thing except for that goddamn registry.
(I did the Linux desktop and laptop thing for years myself before giving up and buying Macs for that kind of stuff. It works, but it's more effort than it's worth. Love it on my servers though ... cheap and effective and also really easy to move an old system to a new one. We really only have Windows boxes for running games, and for that I can treat them as disposable.)
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
Cool, thanks for the info; sounds like a pretty good deal for a basic server box.
That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux.
On the contrary, it seems to suggest that the average consumer really doesn't give a crap about what OS they use, as long as it works sufficiently well (but how do you know until you buy it; at which point, "sufficiently well" is reduced to "works enough times such that it doesn't warrant being taken back"). It suggests that the average consumer eats what it is fed.
Linux certainly works "sufficiently well". It is no longer about software developers - what we make is good enough - it is about marketing.
The next G4 mini auction I see ending on ebay is up to $227.50 with 10 hours left. Many other G4 minis ending later are even higher, so I bet it'll get to at least $300 before it's sold.
You've actually made your argument worse: not only is an ebay'd G4 mini still not "cheaper than" the Walmart $200 Linux PC, but a used G4 doesn't "come with support from apple himself".
Plus if "all [your] friends say wow when they see" a used G4 you bought on ebay, you have really lame friends.
P.S., please respond. Each of your responses so far has made me think "he couldn't possibly be any stupider", and I'm wondering how you're going to outdo yourself now.
Considering how heavily the phone companies and cable companies advertise their DSL and high speed internet packages, more than you might think. I've had broadband for over 5 years
Wouldn't Wal-Mart customers as you describe them, not need Microsoft Office?
Well it is a warning. Remember, not everyone is a Slashdot reader. Many customers will see a PC and automatically assume it's a Windows PC because they have no idea there are alternatives. They'll think that they can run the software which is probably sitting on the shelf just behind this computer because it says "PC" on the box regardless of the preceding word "Windows". Oh wait, I'm sure the Walmart checkout person will know that the two are incompatible and inform the customer.
You want fun, go home and buy a monkey!
One of the things that was tempting about this machine was its low power consumption and cheap price. I would have put regular ubuntu on it and used it as a household always-up server and mythtv main backend. I have a regular machine doing that, which draws more like 100 watts, and dropping to 25 watts actually means quite a bit of saving, with electricity costing 31 cents/kwh as it does for most of us in California once you get to 2x baseline.
So are there some other choices of low-price, low wattage systems that have the basics:
a) 2-3 PCI slots (for tv tuner cards and an extra ethernet)
b) Drive bays (for fileserver for use in backup by other systems)
c) USB 2 (for driving printers and perhaps USB hard drives)
A laptop is very low wattage (with built in UPS) but of course does not have slots or drive bays.
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
And there was me thinking for all of these years that the whole idea of a capitalist economy is that you stay in business because you remain competitive - ipso facto, when you are no longer competitive or produce products not or no longer wanted by the consumer, then you go out of business.
So before you go and cheer on our new communist rulers take into account that sometimes it's not such a bad idea to drop a few bucks on an Intel chip.
Actually, I think you'll find that it's "traditional" for Communist governments to "shore up" their own favoured industries with subsidies and trade restrictions in order to force the consumer to buy from a specific vendor. This is precisely what you are saying should happen if a Taiwanese company like Via cannot be fairly allowed to compete with an American company like Intel.
Anyway, enjoy your -1 Troll - you earnt it!
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Having a Linux based PC with mass market distribution at a price point that is not attainable by Widows based machines is going to have a dramatic impact on the whole OS market.
I'm not saying things will change over night, but at this point in time, with Vista floundering and consumer response to the linux product high, Microsoft is in trouble in the workstation market. As these are very low-end machines, these will likely become popular with students and children. The more market share Linux attains, the greater the support and commercial software options available. As children and student become accustomed to Linux they will have no issues using it in future environments. As the workstation OS market fragments, the lock on using MS Office Suite for compatibility purposes will start to decline as more and more people use alternates and compatibility issues arise no matter what is in use. If Microsoft was smart, they would be developing a Microsoft Office for Linux, and keeping it in their back pocket until it is needed.
The fact that this is made possible, and being driven by Walmart is sweet irony, but this will be a Harvard Case Study in a few years about the power of distribution channels, and how Microsoft lost its position as king of the desktop.
Interesting times.
I have my own cocktail waitress??? Why did no one tell me this?!?!
I bet a clone of Ubuntu, but what are the key differences, and why such a horrible name?
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Your arguments over exaggerated. Think of the most computer illiterate person you know. Would they ever confuse a microwave with a Windows PC? Seriously. The problem is that this thing looks exactly like all other Windows PCs on the outside and many people never heard of Linux so they may assume it's like all the other PCs. Now your point about the Mac is valid but with Apple's aggressive marketing they've distanced themselves with Windows so greatly that anyone who watches TV at least in the US knows that they're "different" and would be likely to ask the salesperson if __software will run. For those people who lined up for this thing, I'm sure they knew what they got and they would probably would have just laughed at the sign.
You want fun, go home and buy a monkey!
"patronized by people who know little about calculus or physics."
Maybe in America, but Canada also has Wal-Mart stores, so not all their customers are dumb, eh...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
1) Linux Geeks ("geek" in the best possible connotation)
2) Cheap PC shoppers ("cheap" meaning inexpensive)
In all actuality, I bet people bought this PC not because Linux applications appealed to them, but because it was only $200.
Dib: I just know he's up to something! Something ... evil!
Mortos: Mortos like evil.
Dib: No, no. This is bad evil.
Mortos: Oh.
Never have, never will. Sure, their business practices suck, but I just won't support a company that exerts so much control over industries that could do without their meddling -- witness Wal-Mart demanding and creating a market for censored music when its not what most of their customers want, but many of them do not have a choice.
Bah. ... does that make me "double evil" ?
The only time in my life I have shopped at walmart was once in Guiyang, China - ( they had western scotch )
Cheap Chinese labour for the products , and cheap Chinese labour for the staff
...I obey the laws of physics....
How many AOL users even know what an OS is ??
They know exactly what an OS is, it's the blue window that tells them they've got mail, duh..
I guarantee you almost everyone on Slashdot shops at Wal-Mart
Well, I'd be delighted to shop at Wal-Mart, but the closest one is roughly 3,000 miles away...
You just got troll'd!
No, trust me, you wouldn't. Seeing the people who shop there is bad enough, but then dealing with their shit quality products is even worse. I'll never shop there again, mainly due to their abusive labor tactics, but also because they don't sell anything that won't break after a few weeks of use.
well I would put it in a different perspective : That 200$ computers running Linux sells so well in a market were the general technology awareness is low only proves that people don't really mind about the operating system but rather want something to go on the Internet, get emails and write a letter from time to time.
The ASUS 701 Eee became recently available at €354 (inc VAT), which is the equivalent of $200 over here.
It pretty much sold out instantly. I bought one and five people I know bought one, and everyone is constantly monitoring 'Order Tracking' pages.
When you consider that this at a time when Linux is 'not suitable' for the desktop and for which there is 'very little demand' - I would have to believe that Microsoft and their FUD-spinners must be very concerned.
We should not be in any doubt, notwithstanding Linux's inherent brilliance, that the price is a major factor in the success of these new machines. But it must not be forgotten that Linux has two major advantages over Windows for price competitiveness:
1. Linux runs much better on entry-level or obsolete hardware.
2. Linux is free.
Microsoft might be able to address the second point. But they have shown release after release that the first point is beyond their ability. Now they have a double edge sword at their throats, in that every release of Windows must demand more and more from the hardware manufacturers just to stand still - while Linux soaks up that capacity to race ahead.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
What purpose does Enlightenment serve in all this? I wouldn't ever describe Enlightenment as seamless, simple or unobtrusive. E appears to be about eye candy for eye candy's sake and that's about it.
Wow are you a carbonocentric prick. I guarantee you there are hordes of silicon-based aliens shopping at wal-mart (when we're sleeping). How do you think they got so big...
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
How small does this small town have to be? I grew up in a small town, and I don't personally know anyone from there who shops at one.
Take this with a grain of salt, as I last actually played with 3d graphics on a VIA board sometime ago. Years back, the drivers were a royal PAIN in the butt to get working, but nowadays there's acceleration built into the kernel if I remember correctly. In either case, the 3d acceleration is decent enough to play neverball, and I've never had any issues playing DVD's, DivX movies, and using TV out etc on my 1GHZ Epia M10000 (that is, until it blew a capacitor).
As to Warcraft III, I couldn't comment. Back when it first came it, I had little luck getting it to work in Cedega and Wine didn't do the copy-protection thing very well. This may be due to lack of nice support between Cedega and the VIA chipsets, though, rather than a lack of power in the chip itself.
Don't expect it to play any newer games, but the simple 3d stuff works just fine.
cause i just looked on wal-mart's site and it says it is in stock..
..or anything else from wal-mart...
not that i would buy it
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
Wow are you ever an insensitive clod. I guarantee you there is a significant percentage of Slashdot readers who aren't even users. Or people for that matter.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
That would be a little like a Mazda RX7 having a warning that this is not a Dump Truck.
There, fixed that for you.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Selling PCs without an operating system would not make sense, and might even get them into legal trouble...
Legal trouble? There is no conceivable legal case to be made here. MS have always used financial pressure (discounts on Windows OEM licenses etc.) to stop significant retailers from selling OS-free PCs. They have never threatened any of the smaller retailers who already sell OS-free machines.
They HAVE whinged about the issue and I'm sure they would get a suitable law passed if they could. But they realize that if they go too far on this issue, competition authorities (especially in the EU) will potentially prevent them making the Windows-only agreements with the larger retailers.
This whole process of bloated operating systems (OSes) driving purchases of even more excessive amounts of hardware is a damned waste of money.
I don't know about you guys, but GAMING is what's driving my purchases of even more excessive amounts of hardware.
Now run a program that uses the OS...
Oh, they are apps from three years ago.
Which would run on Win9x and would run faster because the OS wasn't taking so much memory and CPU realestate.
When nearly all PCs sold in the world until last spring are unusable with Vista, I'd call Vista useless for that specs, not the other way around. C'mon people! There are millions of productive users who can do their work on 3 years old machines. I just installed Ubuntu (for teaching purposes, I'm a Debian user) on an old Athlon XP 1800+ (clocked at 1.3 GHz, IIRC) with 512 megs of RAM and a stone age Nvidia 5200 video card and a 80G old IBM hard disk. Openoffice, a really heavy app in its field, is perfectly useable and Compiz, the spectacular rotating thing that surpassed Aero in every field, just screams at 1280x1024.
Why one should change his hardware because at Microsoft they can't pay developers to optimize their software?
Indeed. I almost mentioned that. It's a pretty decent machine for $200. Who cares what's installed?
Many TVs today can easily show a 800x600 desktop which is affordable for work. If this computer had a VGA which could connect directly to a TV, there wouldn't be a need to buy a monitor...it would be something like the home computers of the 80s, but with a real operating system and very good software behind it.
I'm seeing a lot of this kind of comments recently on Slashdot, of people blindingly sayin "commie" to everyone (and not as a joke), It's kind of creepy that many people are thinking like 40 years ago.
The last time I checked Taiwan is a multiparty democratic capitalist country with a
GDP per capita of $29,600. The only people who claim Taiwan is part of PRC is the PRC
and people who dont know geography
They do have factories in China just like every american manufacturer but the
corporation and the chips are from Taiwan.
Isn't the target market for this machine "people who are just smart enough to pirate XP"?
:).
As in "Wow, what a cheap computer. If I buy that, I'm only paying for the hardware!"
It's not surprising that it has sold well. And since the machine is usable "as sold", thanks to the Linux software, Microsoft has no way to complain. Everybody wins except Microsoft
I wonder why nobody includes low end GPUs on economic machines, recently I bought a NVIDIA 7100 GS, card for $190 (that would be like 61 US dollars, which is really expensive as I've seen them at 30 US dollars). And it runs pretty nice, the box says that is Vista compatible (not that I care, but maybe Joe Sixpack would). It can run Compiz-Fusion really fast, and I can even play Quake Wars with medium settings. If they bundled that kind of GPUs (from NVIDIA or ATI) on these machines it would be still cheaper than other PCs and also it could be used for a little better gaming.
For the country I live in it would raise the price too much, but maybe for US folks it wouldn't be a problem.
how about locking overnight cleaning crews in the store, so they can't get out /., you don't have to reply
how about all the sex discrminationn law suits
how about no health insurance, while the walton family has close to a 100 billion in stock
how about all the mom and pops with small stores who don't have a decent retirement cause wal mart destroyed them
how about the damage to our environment due to a car based store model(this is a little to sophisticted for
how about...and that is just off the top of my head, without even trying
like any major corporation, walmart is bad because major corporations care only about profit; it is in their dna, they can't help it - any large corporation would bid on zyklon if it was profitable, that iswhy we have goverment, to help protect us from large corporations
the 15 scariest words int eh english language - we are a large company, and there is no govt regultor loooking over our sholder
When I say that I'd be delighted to go there, I'm not saying that I'd actually be delighted to go there, it's just a way to say I couldn't go there even if I wanted to.
You just got troll'd!
I'm missing out since I don't shop at Wal-Mart, but then again, real techies build their own machines instead of buying them at retailers like Wally World. Just remember, you too can afford a $200.00 computer when it only cost Wal-Mart $50 to make, that includes the $2.00 slave wages they pay the 10 year old Chinese kid in China working 16 hour days for 10 cents an hour. It's probably pumped full of lovely toxins as well.. ;)
I live in Florida with a lot of Hispanic populus many of whom do shop at WallyWorld. Does LIUNX mean something in Spanish I am not aware of? I agree that once Windows users who have no clue, try to run Windows programs they will be returning them in droves. Feliz Navidad
Stop by and watch a Christmas movie, commercial or cartoon! -->http://www.XmasDVD.com
I am not sure about that... I am brazilian, and not in that group. There is a Wallmart near where I live.
Personaly, I don't like to buy there, but I'd go if they were selling that computer. Perfect home server, can even plug it on the wall and not be afraid of lightning storms (that are too common in Brazil).
Rethinking email
Walmart Customer: "I bought this computer, and I'm trying to load this game, but it doesn't work. Can you help me?"
Techie: "Your game won't install because the computer is not running Windows."
Walmart Customer: "But it's a PC!"
Techie: "Yes, but it's not a Windows PC."
Walmart Customer: "What's Windows?"
Techie: "Windows is an operating system. It costs money. To save money, they've installed Linux on this machine. Linux is free, and really good, but it's not compatible with all Windows software."
Walmart Customer: "So they've sold me a cheap PC ripoff?"
Techie: "No, you've got what you paid for. If you want to buy Windows for this machine, you can, but it'll cost you a few hundred dollars extra."
Walmart Customer: "They did rip me off. They said it was a PC, but it's not!"
Techie: "No, it is a PC. It is not a Windows PC. There is a difference."
Walmart Customer: "For fucks sake, I can't be bothered to understand what you are saying. Can you fix it or not?"
Techie: "If you want, you can return it and buy another PC, one that does have Windows, but that will cost maybe twice as much."
Walmart Customer: "But I don't understand the difference! What is this Linux thing? Why can't you just make it work?"
Techie: "Ok, if you want, I'll install this pirate copy of Windows and then you can play your game. Ok?"
Walmart Customer: "Whatever, just make it work. This is giving me a headache, I'm going to lie down."
How is this is a better deal than the $350 laptop they had a couple weeks ago? My sister got one of those...1 Gig RAM, 1.8 GHz Celeron processor (I believe), built-in Wi-Fi. For $150 more, she got a helluva lot more system, plus Vista that she can remove if she wants. Frankly, she just wants on the Internet anyway, so Vista will stay, but the $150 extra seems clearly worth it.
Hmmm... How many other /. readers are from VT.? We held off Wal-Mart for years and continue to fight them at the state level. I have only been inside one to protest... There is only one Wal-Mart within a day drive of my house, and neither myself or any of my neighbors would ever go there to shop. Please remember that not everyone on this site comes from sold-out/corn-bread America.
Or on the other hand, if you had no knowledge of computers and walked into a store only to see a machine for $200 and right next to it the same machine for $500-$700 which would you buy?
Your figures are greatly exaggerated. Even in rip off britan XP home/vista home basic (which are the editions are a cheap shit box would come with) whitebox OEM are arround £50 ($100) including VAT (our equivilent of sales tax), it is widely believed that the big brand OEMs pay even less.
The problem is that the same time Joe Average is picking out that computer they are also looking at the software shelf loaded with Microsoft centric crap. The moment they pick up that shareware disk for $5.00 and ask, "will this work on that box I'm buying?" will be the kiss of death on that sale. Add in the fact that sales people at WalMart aren't the pick of the crop and mess up even Windows technical issues and it is a recipe for a PR disaster.
Agreed, selling linux succesfully requires educating the buyer that it is not windows and what it's advantages (zero cost, less vulnerability to shitware, availibility of a lot of very good free software from the distros repositries) and disadvantages (inability to run the software they are used too and they see on the shelves in every computer related shop, lack of availibility of support from your more geeky but still MS using friends) are and letting them make an informed choice. Sadly this is hard when they don't even know what an OS is.
Tricking people into buying linux when it is not right for them will only breed resentment, especilly when they have to pay three times as much to buy windows after the fact as they would have to buy it with the PC.
I would only reccomend linux on the desktop to anybody if I knew appropriate software for the tasks in hand was availible and either:
* I was going to be supporting it
* I knew someone with appropriate linux knowlage was arround to support it.
* The box was being used for a very limited set of tasks with little prospect that it was going to be used for more
Also even if I reccomended linux on the desktop if I thought there was a reasonable (more than 1 in 3) chance the box will ever be used for something requiring windows then I would have to reccomend getting the windows license anyway due to the aforementioned huge price differential between OEM and retail (afaict most if not all windows volume licences are upgrade/downgrade only).
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Wow, are you ever an elitist prick. I guarantee you almost everyone on Slashdot shops at Wal-Mart,
Haven't stepped foot in a Walmart in over a year. Clothes and home stuff at Target, food at Kroger, office stuff at Staples, Officemax, or Office Depot, car stuff at Autozone or OReilly, everything else online (not at Walmart.com).
I am. Well, until about a year ago, when Wal-Mart Germany closed shop and sold its assets to Metro. At least in Germany there aren't any Wal-Marts anymore (and they never really were much of a competitor to supermarkets run by more local corps like Edeka, Rewe or Metro, not to mention the omnipresent Aldi).
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
I disagree with this. As others have noted, I think a significant portion of unknowing people have bought these expecting them to run Windows and will quickly discover otherwise.
The upside is that some proportion of these people will stick with Linux and there will be some new influx of newbie users. You are right, of course, that for those who stick it out that they will be able to do the usual stuff just fine.
I am reminded, of course, about how useful my first computer was when I got it home. It did nothing on its own. At 12 or 13 years old I had to have my Dad drive me back to the store to buy a book on BASIC to learn how to use the thing. These computers are a whole heck of a lot nicer than that!
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
I think some folks are in for a surprise when their documents save to Google and they can't find them through my documents. That is unless there is an Open Office icon on the desktop. I think we are on the border of a time when any OS can be a success given a few things: 1) It has a word process that opens Word documents and the icon is on the desktop. 2) It has a web browser with an icon on the desktop. 3) It saves documents locally and on the web with one click. 4) It plays DVD, flash, mp3s. 5) It lets folks use their ipods. That being said I haven't actually used one of these but it looks like they may fit the bill of what my average friend and co-worker needs. I'm not sure about Ipods and saving documents locally and on the web but give it a few months and I hope it will.
I don't think I am inflated on my price and this is why. It isn't just the OS that comes bundled with Microsoft systems sold in places like WalMart. You also get all the other timeout ware (aka trialware) as well as all sorts of other stuff pre-installed all ready for you to shell out more money once you get used to using it. This usually includes things like Norton's AV, Works or even a scaled down version of Office, some sort of video player, trial games galore, etc... If it was just the OS that was bundled I would agree that my price was inflated but it isn't. Funny thing is, even though most of it is trialware they still add the price in for them and people still pay for it.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
>Those are the kind of fucktard who need to be removed from the gene pool as they are too fucking stupid to even exist let alone use a computer.
Funny, I feel the same way about people that use neologisms such as "fucktard".
O.O really?
Thats like a city without a McDonalds...
Inconceivable!
I steal signatures. This one used to be yours.
Does it play DVD movies? Native Linux AND Windows do not play DVD movies, due to licensing of the codecs, or some other legal nonsense. You typically have to buy player software or it comes bundled with the hardware? This is simple for Windows. Does the DVD burner on this thing have bundled software for DVD movie playback?
Good point. I didn't intend to imply that Windows was a Lamborghini, trust me.
> That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux.
Pure speculation. For all you know, businesses who still run Windows 2000/XP are using them as a cheap source of hardware to stick their corporate disk images on.
Well, call me an elitist prick if you want to, but I despise shopping at Wal-Mart. Frankly, shopping at Wal-Mart is never a good experience for me and I can count the number of times I've been to my local Wal-Mart in the past year on one hand. And still have two fingers left over. Aside from the fact that the average Wal-Mart shopper is on the whole from a different socio-economic group than I, I tend to find it ridiculous that every time I go into a Wal-Mart, I have to spend 10 mintues waiting in a damn check out line. Even more ridiculous when you consider that it's likely 1:00 AM and I'm only there because it's the only store in town that's open 24 hours.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
I know several millionaires. They got that way by not spending a dime more than they have to. Walmart fits nicely into their strategy.
(name withheld by request)
Slashdot is an American site, created and hosted in America, and the majority of it's readers are Americans. Deal with it. There is nothing wrong in assuming in a post that it will be read by an American unless you're replying to someone and it's obvious from their post they aren't American. Loser anti-American trolls like yourself are laughable. This is an American site. Don't like it? Start your own. How about newsfornerds.imalittlebitch.co.uk?
Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here.
I resent that incredibly racist and elitist statement. I may not be the "typical" WalMart customer, but I do shop there. I would be a fool to spend fifty dollars for a pair of jeans elsewhere when I can get a pair of Wranglers at Wal Mart for $12. I would be a fool to pay $8 for a big bottle of Listerine at Osco's ehen I can get the same bottle for half the price at Wal Mart.
Is Wal Mart evil? Sure they are. ALL big corporations are evil. I'd rather spend ten bucks on a pair of sneakers made by child labor at WalMart than a pair of Nikes made by child labor at some high priced mall store.
BTW, your ignorance is showing. They're not going to need that AOL CD; the internet works out of the box on a Linux computer, unlike Windows.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Is this the Network PC?
Was Larry Ellison 10 years ahead?
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
Shopping at Wal-Mart is great because it's got what plants crave, electrolytes.
I wonder if this will start a more substantial return of Cyrix to the US desktop market. As I understand, Via has a bigger processor team from IDT than from Cyrix but more processor designs that are still currently usable from Cyrix. (I'd be interested if anyone else can inform me better on that.) I was a big fan of Cyrix during the 6x86 era, since the integer units were awesome on those chips.
1) Being American-centric is not the same as being 'ethnocentric.' Maybe a national reference where you are from is ethnocentric, but not here.
2) Define 'significant.'
WM has then redefined it's 'typical' customer by expanding their product offerings, haven't they?
Wow are you ever a touchy blowhard. In 'merica, "Wal-mart" has become a generic name for large discount stores... it could just as easily encompass Target, K Mart, or whatever your national flavor is. I'm sure your country, given that it obviously has some degree of internet access, also has discount stores.
It's like him saying "Come off it, everybody drinks Coke," and you respond with "STFU, I drink Pepsi. We don't have Coke here."
Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
Don't you mean "Tuche"?
Redundancy is good And also good.
bashing us over the head with our own inventions!
So, which one of these inventions is yours?
I agree with your premise, but not your examples. The Apple example was right on; but microwave? That's just silly. DVD player? That's equally silly (despite the fact that your DVD player as well as your digital watch are computers). A DVD player that would only play Sony DVDs would indeed need a warning.
As to your car analogy, that's just stupid. They're both CARS, use the same gas, the same roads, and operate almost exactly the same.
See what happens when you comment at slashdot after midnight? Get some rest, dude! Good point, bad examples.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
I did a little googling & wikipedia-ing, and couldn't figure out where Centaur has their manufacturing facilities.
Austin, TX?
Taiwan?
Communist China?
Taking advantage of misinformed customers. They all probably assumed it had windows and that linux must have been some neato software.
GOOD JOB WALMART
Wow, I'd love to see the look on the face of some slackjawed yokel when he hooks up some Lunix machine. Can you imagine how funny it's going to be when he can't even get the GUI to come up without spending a half hour trying to edit the configuration files?
And when he wants to install software on it... hilarity ensues!
BWAHAHAHA!!! Teh Lunix strikes again!
You young whippersnappers with your new-fangled IBM-XP computers. Why, when I was a lad, we did business on a TRS-80. Model I no less. My dad wrote a program to analyze Rorschach test scores on it. And get this: he sold it to a friend back in, oh, '85 I think, who used it for book keeping at his home business for the next ten years. That's right, this guy was keeping his books on a fricken' TRS-80 Model I in 1995.
You kids these days...
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
What issues did you have with Ubuntu that Windows 2000 solved?
c++;
A DVD player that would only play Sony DVDs would indeed need a warning.
Hmm. BetaMax didn't have a warning. Nor do HD-DVD or BluRay players warn that they don't play the competing formats. Again, buyer beware.
As to your car analogy, that's just stupid. They're both CARS, use the same gas, the same roads, and operate almost exactly the same.
Linux and Windows are both OPERATING SYSTEMS, use the same electric from my wall, the same Internet, and operate much the same. I wasn't nearly as comfortable with my analogy until you helped to flesh it out.
See what happens when you comment at slashdot after midnight? Get some rest, dude! Good point, bad examples.
You sound kind of pissy yourself.
A large part of the utility of this gOS PC is that it's giving you shortcuts to webapps like GMail and web-based IM. There are web-based tax programs and budgeting sites, Google docs, and Flash games. YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are the latest killer apps for PCs these days. A lot of people aren't buying PCs for the software you can run off the store shelf, they're buying them more and more for the online apps. Why buy a box at the store when you get things done just by visiting a web site?
I'm not saying there isn't value in local applications, or in keeping your data stored locally. But for people who are really concerned about that, a good distro (gOS is based on Ubuntu) will provide repos where you can find good software to run locally. There are still shortcomings, like tax software. But as more and more people embrace a low-cost linux PC for the reasons specified by the GPP, software companies will see more value in producing apps for linux.
Did you read your own comment, you elitist prick? Mods, I am offended by this asshole's flamebait comment.
You say you don't shop at WalMart then trash the people you see in there. If you don't shop at walmart then why do you go in? To see us white trash rednecks and revel in your superiority? I guess you don't go to Osco's or Cub Foods or Mier's either, because they have even fewer cashiers and slower lines.
I don't like their business practices either, but those business practices come from being rich corporate whores with no consience just like every other evil damned corporation this century. Today's corporations are all headed by sociopaths. All of them. Where is your money invested, you yuppie scum?
You have an alternative to WalMart?
-normal non-rich, non-yuppie, non-elitist
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
No, I'd say you were the ethnocentric prick who doesn't want anybody to even mention a store you don't have in your country. The fucking story is about WalMart you dumbass!
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
That's right, it's not a PC according to joe sixpack because it's not running windows and I'm really sorry to say that it's the lowest common denominator of Joe Sixpack that's going to decide this case in favor of Windows.
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
Racist? Elitist, sure. But not racist.
Shopping at Wal-Mart - yep, you sure can save money. So what's your stance on outsourcing? That's why I don't shop there. I don't want my job outsourced, and I don't shop at Wal-Mart.
Who do you think just went out and bought up all those $200 Linux PCs? Do you think it was "joe-sixpack"? I doubt it. They were probably all bought out by people who are already pro-Linux.
Do you know what is going to happen to Joe Sixpack who doesn't know Linux from Vista? He's going to go buy one of these $200 "PCs" for his kid for Christmas because it's cheap. He's going to then buy a few software titles off the shelf while he's at it, so the kid has something to play with on Christmas morning. But the applications he buys will probably be for Vista, because he doesn't know the difference. Come Christmas morning he's going to have a rude awakening that the software he bought won't work with his Linux PC. He's going to go back to Walmart and discover, rather rudely, what "Vista" and "Linux" is, and then he's going to find out that 99% of the software on Walmart's shelf is for Windows and won't work on the computer he bought.
And then the computer is going to find itself sitting on the shelf at the returns counter.
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
Now that's what I call a false dichotomy!
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
This is the regular, ordinary, joe-sixpack, "what's a right-click?" kind of person. The kind of people scorned by many of the elitists in the OS and PC fields. The kind of people that voted for GW Bush, that fly American flags from their porches, that have communities with 4th of July parties that everyone in town attends.
.. er .. Leenuck .. uh .. oh, hell, that PC thang is cheap so I'm-uh gonna buy it! Does it come with that thar Internet thingy installed?{/SARCASM}
:P
Hmmmm... I make a six-digit salary per year managing a number of Sun servers, including several 15Ks and 25K; I have at least six PCs not including my two Sun workstations at home, and recently finished building my newest gaming PC that would make most "gaming" PCs blush. I still would have purchased one of these Wal-Mart PCs in a heartbeat if they didn't fly off the shelves in the way they did because they are great values and are completely capable of doing "the basics". Oh, I also know what "right-click" means.
But because I voted for Bush, fly the U.S. flag, and believe that July 4th is more than just a day off I no longer qualify for Slashdot elitist crowd? Damn, I live in the mid-Atlantic area, too, so I guess I'd better get mahself packin' and move my arse over to them thar plain states an' watch them fancy thing-a-ma-jig flyin' thangs fly over mah head. Dang, ah'm gonna have a big problem gittin' used to calling that fizzy stuff "pop", too. But those community get-togethers shore do have lots o' apple pies! Ah, the life of simpletons in that thar midwest area! But at least ah git to use that newfangled Looniux
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Hand to God when I go to Wal*Mart I am the only Anglo in the store.
Wow. I dislike you and consider you a troll, but you have regained some measure of respect today.
Yesterday was a holiday and I don't do Monday's very well. An I went out drinking with a couple of professional drinkers over the weekend, BIG MISTAKE!
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Observing that Wal-Marts is largely controlled by the CCP, I still applaud the release of a truly affordable PC with Linux pre-installed, no matter what you think of Enlightenment (I personally think it sux).
Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
I'm lucky enough to have some competition in my area - there's still a K-Mart not too far from where I live, although Wal-mart is much closer (15min drive vs. 3min drive).
I'm also lucky enough to have a choice of grocery stores, so I go to the 'underdog' one, because competition is better for everyone (everyone who matters, anyway).
That's the thing, seee, if Walmart was the only one then I probably wouldn't shop there. But the stuff I see in WalMart is the same stuff I see everywhere else; same brands, etc. When I call my mortgage company I talk to someone with an accent so think I can't even understand him.
I do refuse to use the self-checkout in th egrocery store. Not like it's going to do any good, I used to refuse to use self-service at the gas station untill there was no such thing as full service.
If there was an alternative I'd use it. But it's buy a Matushushi at WalMart or buy the same brand somewhere else. Maytag is no longer made in the US; Zenith sold out to France years ago and no longer is made in the US. Fords are made in Canada. Everything is outsourced; I don't understand why the US hasn't gone broke already, as we don't make anything any more!
I'm not going to knock the wall down by butting my head against it.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
My first box was hooked up to a KSR-33 teletype machine and has a front panel with toggle switches and LEDs.
(Actually, I lie. My first box I got to screw with was a Wang 2200, but that was the school's where I was going. But the Altair "Switch Bitch" was mine.)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
On the other hand, I wonder how many of them may like the interface and openness of the platform more? How many will discover just how much easier/cheaper/better using linux really can be? I'm willing to bet we'll have a fair number of folks return it because it does not have a start menu, but I'd like to think that we'll also see a lot of people actually dump windows all together in favor of their new OS of choice. -- Kimball Larsen http://www.kimballlarsen.com/
I'm going to have to temporarily suspend my moral embargo against buying from Wal-Mart if they have a $200 PC with a C7 chip. The C7 is a beautiful little chip with all sorts of hardware cryptography begging to be taken advantage of. Via's Padlock engine is an amazing and underappreciated tool that security geeks would do well to take note of. And if this Linux is using the 2.6.22 kernel it'll have all the tools baked right in to take advantage of that raw cryptographic power. I use an MSI Axis 700 system running Gentoo Hardened for my firewall/VPN package and love the performance.
"You can drive out Nature with a pitchfork, but It always comes roaring back again." - Tom Waits
and you're just now noticing.
And I gotta laugh at the one-bit minds here, on or off, not sure if they like Wal-Mart or not. Maybe with another decade of maturity they'll have, say, 2 bits, so they can rate Wal-Mart on a ReallyLike/KindaLike/KindaDislike/ReallyDislike scale. Oh the nuance! "Life is too complicated, I'm gonna go play WoW."
"If you're not passionate about your operating system, you're married to the wrong one."
Yes, that is a lot of glowing reviews from males in the 25-34 age bracket. I can't help but wonder how many non-geeks would sign on to post a negative experience, if only they could figure out how to work this god-damned, dysfunctional non-Windows POS they bought for $200 from Wal-Mart :-)
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Am I the only one who jumped on this bandwagon 5 years ago? http://www.linux.com/articles/23807
Back then $200 would get you an "AMD Duron 850 MHz system, with 10 GB Maxtor hard drive, 128 MB of memory, and 52x Samsung CDROM drive."
With "LindowsOS" (pre-lawsuit).
It doesn't seem like this new machine is that much more advanced.
Tell the moon dogs, tell the March hare
Huh? I've never heard anyone say Walmart that didn't mean exactly Walmart.
Also, its a regional thing that people call cola sodas "Coke." Again, almost everywhere I've heard Coke to mean coke and pepsi to mean pepsi. Just that coke is sold at more places than pepsi.
Why would software not run from add/remove or synaptic?
I'll find out what all the fuss is about, exactly how many Bogomips is does, and get a new Linux box, (for $200 [but plus shipping from Berkeley CA. {which is just up the road from the company that makes the boxes.}])
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Wow are you ever a chemical-centric jerk. I guarantee you there are hordes of pure energy lifeforms shopping at wal-mart , even though we are entirely invisible.
Sorry to hear about your car/insurance crap. That totally sucks. My window ended up costing around $300.
-metric
You need to do a little homework. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff A communist government OWNS all the companies that originated in that country. A "traditional" communist government will simply not allow retail stores to sell items they don't want sold to their people. Simple. No 'shoring up' the foreign item just doesn't exist.
Oh did you think that in a communist government you can pick and choose what and who you buy from and where your money goes? Nope! If you're not a card carrying party member you can stand in line and get whatever your GOVERMENT offers. There are no private party resellers, every company is beholden to any whim of the government. There is nothing stopping them from saying "You know what? NO INTEL!, and now THIS guy owns your company, and we think you should GO TO A WORK CAMP." That's what WE (the U.S.) are competing against!
The whole reason VIA competing with Intel is unfair is because Intel is bound by the laws and regulations of the U.S., VIA can have sweatshops and dormitories full of farmers daughters manning their plants, Intel is beholden to the EPA, labour unions, and the radical environmentalist movement in the U.S.. VIA is held to no standard, if they were to pay their workers $.05 an hour, nobody would say a damn thing about it. If Intel did the same thing they would be run out of town by the same people that are cheering on VIA. VIA can dump waste into the local waterways or bury hazardous waste anywhere, nobody in China cares, and yes, sorry, even the U.S. recognizes Taiwan as a Chinese colony, and I'm pretty sure everyone in Taiwan is Chinese and at least half of the 'Democratic' Chinese are... communist!
I don't even know why I'm arguing, any computer tech. worth his weight in salt knows that VIA chips are horrible and will crash unexpectedly, not work when you need them, cause random hangups and just plain suck. If you haven't had that experience with them then you haven't really used them. Say nothing about supporting a communist government that is very hostile http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/14/world/main2179694.shtml towards our country.
As for high Speed Internet... yes, there is DSL, and Wireless, but it's very limited, and there has been almost no development on either front in the last 3 years.
Dial-Up is still the norm here, if anything. There are still people in the area without electricity (and not just the Amish)
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
Aside from the fact that the average Wal-Mart shopper is on the whole from a different socio-economic group than I, I tend to find it ridiculous that every time I go into a Wal-Mart, I have to spend 10 mintues waiting in a damn check out line.
Confirmed elitist - check. Confirmed as wannabe pseudo-intellectual due to extremely poor grammar and sentence structure - check. To put even more elitist classism and stereotyping in this thread - you sound exactly like what you are deriding. The typical Wal-Mart shopper.
Unfortunately, your scenario probably isn't too far off.
I built my fiancee a computer a few weeks ago and installed Ubuntu on it. Works fine for her most of the time, as she only does "the basics" (web, email, photos, etc).
But Linux still struggles a bit with the basics. She went to pay her credit card bill online, at CitiCards.com. The site doesn't work with Firefox. Google "firefox citicards" or see this link.
Now, in this case, you could argue that it's Citi's fault. But the point is, to someone like my fiancee, who's not a slack-jawed yokel by any means, who just wants a computer that works without tweaking or troubleshooting, it's broke. She has no interest in googling "firefox citicards" and figuring out how to work around the problem. She can just use her Windows PC at work and visit the site with IE and be done with it.
I suppose the ideal outcome would be that if enough Citi Card-holding "Joe Sixpacks" bought the $200 Wal-Mart Linux PC and wanted to pay their bills online, maybe Citi would actually correct their website. But as you can see from the thread I linked, Citi has already said, "sorry, we don't support Linux or Firefox."
IINM the same corporation that owns WalMart bought out Kmart a few years ago. I have a choice of grocery stores (although there's only one close enough to be handy) but oddly, they're all about the same, except the Miejer store, which is a gigantic store that advertises its low prices despite the fact that it's the most expensive store in town.
It was the first with self-serve checkout. I wouldn't shop there even if it were close and cheap.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Wow twitter, now you are calling those who use AOL stupid and they need to be removed from the gene pool? I didn't know you could go any lower, now you show me that you can go lower. How much lower can you go twitter?
I wanted to buy one of those machines for watching video in my living room , but then I found that 100$ flash player , no fan , no noise ,no OS, tiny and sexy and I bought it. It's amazing and I can play all my axxo Bitorent downloads on it, I even take it to the car with my kid's movies. I think I need one with 16 GB for my bedroom.
Oh yes , no boot time its always up...
http://www.amazon.com/Sansa-TakeTV-GB-Video-Player/dp/B000XB4P8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1194984371&sr=8-1
I use Firefox on my PCLOS box to access Citibank online all the time. For some reason they don't like however my Firefox is identifying itself (pretty dumb, since they accept Firefox on Windows without a glitch). But at least, Citibank provides a 'proceed anyway' link that lets you in and everything works perfectly.
So, it's odd that this CitiCards site wouldn't work - unless they're blocking you at the doorway. It work with Firefox/Windows.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
.....and I still can't find anything resembling performance benchmarks? :(
I really want this thing, anyone know if it can run 720p h264 video?
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Walmart is most certainly not a generic term, it is Walmart, Target is Target, and KMart is KMart (although they like to call themselves Big KMart these days, you could even make an argument for Sears jr.).
And "Cola" most certainly not the same as "Coke". I won't say that you can't call a Pepsi a Coke, but that you sound stupid when you do.
I think not.
Walmart is a deep discount retailer with a split personality: a chain that is trying to move up-market.
It is perfectly willing to unload a carload of otherwise unsaleable low-end PCs on to the Geek - who will, quite predictably, post rave reviews on their website. That there is no matching printer kinda gets lost in the shuffle.
The HP All-In-One Printer for XP, Vista and OSX is $50.
The fundamental problem with the $200 net appliance is that Internet service costs at least $20 a month. If you can afford the Internet, you can afford a "real" PC.
The Vista Premium desktop at Walmart.com starts at $500. Dual core Athlon CPU. 1 or 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB HDD, DVD burner and so on. The next step up is integrated WiFi and you won't get lost hunting for a driver.
BTW, your ignorance is showing. Four [Windows] computers in this room... Four [Windows] computers which connected to the internet by simply plugging in a cable from my router and following a simple wizard.
If you are spending $50 on jeans - you are a fool. Mine cost me $25, and they are real jeans - not the low quality knockoffs sold at Wal-Mart. (You have to be really, really, careful shopping at Wal-mart. Many of their 'brand name' items are low quality 'self knockoffs' manufactured specifically for sale at Wal-Mart.)
Maybe you could try giving your plants some water?
Where is this wonderul country?
I tyhought Walmart had conquered the world already.
I'm sure your pimply face and fat ass add so much to the ambiance.
I find the idea of a "typical" Walmart shopper to be really dumb.
A lot of people shop at Walmart. I go to Walmart to buy mulch and compost for my garden at Walmart. My local WalMart sells "Earthwise" mulch and compost that is made by a local company. They are in fact a very echo friendly company and locally owned. So why shouldn't I buy a green local product from Walmart?
These boxes are a great example. I think it would make a good NAS for your home. Just load in FreeNAS or Openfiler.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Racist? I didn't realize there was a certain race that shopped at Wal-mart more than others.
No, you would be a fool to buy a $12 pair of jeans anywhere. You can get some good deals at Wal-mart, but you're far more likely to be ripped-off, fooled by low prices, not realizing, until too late, that the quality is 10X worse than the product you didn't want to pay 2X as much for...
Really now, it's not as if Walmart has some magic wand, that allows them to sell the same products for a lower price than every other retailer. What you're giving up, for the insignificantly lower price, is significant. There are some cases where they'll have the same items as other stores, at loss-leader pricing, but that is a rare exception.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I guarantee you a majority of the people on Slashdot do not.
There have been plenty of studies on the typical Wal-Mart shoppers. It's well-known what the average political views and socio-economic status of the large majority of Wal-mart customers are, and
It's not elitism at all, it's just the facts. Even politicians are using those simple facts to target specific voter demographics.
Now there's some pro-Microsoft elitism if I've ever heard-it.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Water? Like, outta the toilet?
Comin' up next on The Violence Channel: An all-new "Ow, My Balls!"
That and a buck fifty will get me the Post this Sunday.
Does anyone have specs on the hardware? Can someone who owns the box take a look inside?
I want to know if there's a PCI-E or AGP slot for a video card. Also, is there a free power connector for the video card/extra HDD? Does it have SATA? What's the max bus speed supported for RAM?
I didn't realize Walmart shoppers were smart enough to use Linux. One thing I do know is that they'll be the cheapest thing possible, so a $200 computer was a pretty smart move, even if your average Walmart customer has about three brain cells and is married to his cousin.
I needed a new box anyway.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
From what I can tell, Centaur was originally an Austin, TX, company, and was sold to VIA in 1999.
Did they have their original fabs in Austin?
If so, do any of their fabs remain in Austin?
If this threatens the market share of either MS or Intel that is a good thing for every American, and a cornerstone of our affluent western capitalist society. AMD has kept Intel lean, mean and efficient while inadequate competition has made Microsoft lethargic and bloated. MS needs to shape up, and there's no better way than some healthy competition. Monopolies are no good for our free markets, capitalism requires decent competition.
not as many as brag to their friends about how easy it is to find software and how their computer has been set up and in use for months with no viruses
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
These Via machines are strictly business -- not for gaming. While the processor might keep up with the demands of the game, there just isn't an AGP or PCIe slot to hang a modern graphics card on - just one PCI slot.
I don't have the box in TFA yet, my experience is just with the 1.3 GHz via mini-itx board. It only supports 1GB of DDR-400, but will drive four IDE and two SATA drives for a total max of (I think) 6TB of direct attached storage. It has svideo out.
I got decent fullscreen video (standard def) from a ripped DVD. JibJab, Homestarrunner and so on are still fun to watch. I can't remember if I ever looked at Youtube on it. They're nice for mythbox type stuff. You can get a 98% efficient power supply for it from mini-box.com that takes 10v - 19.2v DC and drives the whole system off of that. With the notebook style power brick that means no PSU fan -- just one tiny 40mm fan on the CPU.
These boards are popular for thin clients as well.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Apologies.
I sit corrected.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
i had an xt it was more like 4mhz, less than 5 anyway, i could look it up but hey i bet you the 'turbo switch' on your current machine :P, 40meg mfm hdd, my friend only had a 10meg mfm.
there was this great multiplayer tank game that ran on the cga, where two people could control two tanks onscreen simultaneously, together with a whole screen painted with scenery and some adverseries.
of course this was no problem when the keyboard handler was a hook directly into the hardware driven int
another friend later got a 286 a couple of years later when they came out, he also had an ega, which could run commander keen. yay
so can i be a geezer too ?
"A gun is a tool, Marian. No better, no worse than any other tool. An axe, a shovel, or anything." Shane (1953)
Economies of scale have diminishing returns, and Walmart has practically no advantage over other major big box retailers. eg. Target. What makes Wal-mart able to sustain nominally cheaper prices is the significantly lower wages they pay their employees.
Also, economies of scale is balanced by diseconomies of scale.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
BTW, your ignorance is showing. Four [Windows] computers in this room... Four [Windows] computers which connected to the internet by simply plugging in a cable from my router and following a simple wizard.
I've never found any of Microsoft's "wizards" to be simple. And there is no wizard needed in Linux.
If you are spending $50 on jeans - you are a fool.
Agreed.
Mine cost me $25, and they are real jeans - not the low quality knockoffs sold at Wal-Mart. (You have to be really, really, careful shopping at Wal-mart. Many of their 'brand name' items are low quality 'self knockoffs' manufactured specifically for sale at Wal-Mart.)
I'm wearing the same pair of Wranglers I paid $12 at WalMart for three years ago. I'm not into "brand names" or fashion. Maybe I should be, I might get laid once in a while...
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Racist? I didn't realize there was a certain race that shopped at Wal-mart more than others.
You see few people there who aren't white. If you make disparaging remarks about custoimers of a business whose customers are mostly black, that's racist, even if you're black yourself. So is making disparaging statements about a business whose main clientelle are white.
No, you would be a fool to buy a $12 pair of jeans anywhere
I paid $12 for the jeans I'm wearing tight now. I've had them for three years. They're comfortable. What's foolish about that? WalMart usually gets their prices from economy of scale; they're huge and have an efficient distribution system. Sure, they rip off their employees, but so do all their competitors. Ten years ago when their competetion was all union I refused to shop there, but there's little choice now. They're all nonunion.
If they had a competetitor who used union labor, I'd shop at the competetior even if prices were higher.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Supermarkets? Even K-Mart? Thanks for the example, since this is totally out of my area.
Where HAD people shopped, since Wal*Mart is relatively new.
What about Sears? How about Andy's IGA Foodliner, Shop 'n Save, etc.? There's also a True Value hardware.
I mean, yeah, there's probably noplace else where you can buy all that in one store, but that hardly counts.
As for clothing, I'm not sure... does Sears sell clothing?
I see another fellow shire-towner :-)
No, the sears here doesn't sell clothes, it's just a sears catalog store
yes there's Marden's, where you can sometimes buy clothing. If you're a twig.
and there's not a True Value any more (Being pedantic, but it just got bought out by SW Collins)
Sad but true, Walmart here has the best selection of infant Products (And Having a 2-year old, I've looked) From toddler silverware, to sippy cups, to bottles. The Shop & Save and IGA have a very limited selection, typically only 2 or 3 choices as opposed to the 15 or 16 that the walmart has.
Electronics, There is nothing in the area, the closest is Presque Isle, about 45 miles north.
I'm not supporting WalMart, Hell, I'd love to be able to get things locally, but there's also the problem that most of the local stores close at 5. makes it difficult to get there.
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
I come from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutherford,_New_Jersey -- it's not really the same situation though. It IS bigger, and it's 20 mins outside of NYC.
I don't live there now though. In that area, however, it wasn't Wal*Mart, it was malls with other stores (JC Penney, etc.)
Some of it is about choice though. Does one really NEED 15-16 choices? In a smaller store, too, sometimes it doesn't take much to get them to buy something you need that they don't sell.
The hours are a real problem though. I now live in Newark, NJ and most things close at 6. It makes it HARD to get there, but not impossible. On a lot of days, though, it doesn't happen. There really should be some sort of subsidy for staying open late as a small business in a slow area or something... I dunno what the solution is.
Or perhaps some of us work 16 hour days and Walmart is the only thing open when we're not on-duty. I'm sure everyone in existence would love to be as elitist as you and be able to shop at Tiffany's for the diamond-studded stick we have shoved up our ass, but some of us but somehow we're just not so lucky.
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
Lol, fair enough, though most everyone that doesn't live in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Japan, Puerto Rico, Argentina, or Brazil (and until 2006, South Korea and Germany) probably has other superstores to shop at. The meat of my complaint didn't depend on the specific identity of the store.
Guess what Texas, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan have in common besides being "fly-over" states? They're all in the top ten states as ranked by population.
Illinois (12,831,970) alone has the population of Maryland (5,600,388) and Virginia (7,078,515) combined. Ohio (11,478,006) has more people than Washington (6,395,798) and Oregon (3,700,758) combined.
Sam Walton was much richer than Bill Gates, and he started Wal-Mart in Arkansas. There are 56 of the Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Texas, 33 in Illinois, 28 in Ohio, 22 in Michigan, and 20 in Minnesota. That's 159 of the biggest 500 companies, or over 30%.
We're not just talking about some nameless holding companies, either. That McDonald's burger you had for lunch? Illinois company. The Motorola phone in your buddy's pocket? Illinois company. Boeing, State Farm, Walgreen, Caterpillar, ADM, Sears, Allstate, CDW, OfficeMax? Illinois. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Halliburton? Texas. Dell? Texas. J.C. Penney? Texas. Blockbuster? Texas. Target? Minnesota. Best Buy? Minnesota. General Mills? Minnesota. 3M? Minnesota. GM, Ford, Delphi? All Michigan. So are Dow Chemical, Lear, and Kellogg. How every different your economy, landscape, and grocery stores would look without the "fly-over" states. You'd probably have to fly over them in a French plane, eating imported beef and bread from Brazil and typing your attacks on the Midwest and South on a Chinese PC, if you could find anyone to fuel the damn thing.
Browser compatibility issues go both ways, I don't think it's a valid argument for people not adopting linux.
As an example, I've recently run into a number of IE7 compatibility issues. Granted they're not "public" websites, but a number of my customers at work need to use certain types of systems (CRM, whatever) that are only IE6 compatible (still). Also I've run into problems on management interfaces of network devices that aren't IE7 compatible - (a few Dell switches, SonicWall Firewalls, etc.). We keep our stuff pretty up to date and it's getting difficult to find an IE6 browser anymore to manage some of these devices. It's almost to the point where it'd be easier to run IEs4Linux than to actually find an IE6 box.
The Penguins on Lexmarks guarantee they won't work. The more expensive Lexmarks work fine with Linux.
Of course the cheap Lexmarks are boat anchors when attached to any operating system.
you have indeed not met me.
I wound up getting this box from another vendor. Plays DVDs great. Does 1680x1050 resolution on my widescreen just fine. No SVGA out - 2 pci slots, no others. 2 unused SATA ports, 8 open bays. Five minutes to install flash and citrix client. Other than that no mods and it's a good work box, with the stock gOS system. I wonder if gOS is a reference to Google OS, or if it's just for the Gutsy Gibbon flavor of Ubuntu it's derived from. Whatever. It comes with loads of Google brand widgets that do all the right stuff and aren't annoying or scary enough to make it worth installing over. Does all the videos from CNN, youtube, etc. I'll use it for work if I can get it away from my 4yo, that is. He likes to play the learning games that come in the package installer. The keyboard and mouse are junk, but I expected that. The USB powered mini speakers are fine. It's quiet, which I expected since it's a low wattage system.
In short, very happy with the purchase, would buy again, +++++
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Which other way is there to look at a person that voted for Bush and perpetrates mindless nationalism/patriotism in the rese of us?
Look down on them as you say, is the only rational answer, in the context of your post that is.
You may be correct that they will make the Linux revolution go mainstream, but that does not make them heroic figures.
I would be glad if Linux remained a minority OS if these people have not voted for Bush, thus saving hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I pay my Citi card bills using firefox in Ubuntu (I live in the UK).
Now the kicker (and the reason I post as an AC): I work for Citi and know that there is a push to use Web standards where they are not already in use. Any new web application that does not support all the mainstream browsers would not make it into the wild I believe.
If you complain about this the push to fix Citi sites that are IE only will be stronger.
Er, uhm, whatever....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Lets save "US jobs" by screwing US costumers.
Great logic that of yours pal.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.