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Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out

Posted by kdawson on from the ok-there's-a-market-for-it dept.

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."

5 of 619 comments (clear)

  1. Useful user reviews - oh wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  2. Re:Support??? by Cyko_01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's free phone support and a regularly updated app called "Faqly" that contains the latest tech support info for folks stuck offline.

  3. Re:Cool, but how many did the really sell? by Eddi3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to the article the original /. story linked to, the number to be sold was around 10,000.

  4. Wal-Mart is really trying to make Linux sell by christian.einfeldt · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  5. Re:What's that in bogomips by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 5, Informative

    Approximately 11.1 [link to wikipedia deleted]

    No, that's the index. But thinks for the link.

    Looks like it would be about 3,000 bogomips. Not cutting edge, but not too shabby either.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way