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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."

20 of 619 comments (clear)

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

    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
    1. Re:What's that in bogomips by Josh+Booth · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imagine a beowulf cluster of $200 Wal-Mart PCs...

      Oh, I guess someone did.

    2. 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
  2. It's been like this by Eddi3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It sold out much faster then this; It's been out of stock for at least 2 days.

  3. 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.

    1. Re:Useful user reviews - oh wait by Bo'Bob'O · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Not fast enough for XP? I know the C7 isn't the fastest machine, but, I don't buy it. I ran XP on my PII-350 laptop with 300 some MB of ram for years without problem. I only upgraded for the luxury, really. If I'd just put in a flash blocker, I could still be happily browsing Slashdot and doing work on it. I suppose it's possible that a PII-350 could out preform a 1.7 ghz chip of a different architecture, but it dosn't seem likely, could anyone enlighten me here?

  4. Walmart + Linux = ... by patio11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... 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.
  5. More /. Cognitive Dissonance by goldspider · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wal*Mart = Bad
    Linux = Good

    *whimper*

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
  6. But, by bedwards09 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it run Windows?

  7. I don't trust the reviews by Ash-Fox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:I don't trust the reviews by brue68 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or they could have gone to Wal*Mart exclusively for this item. The Ubuntu forums have exploded over this, and there are several people who have bought the product for friends or family. The torrent for gOS had quite a few seeders when I downloaded it (didn't like it). Took less than 45 minutes, more like 30.

  8. Cool, but how many did the really sell? by Tracy+Reed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. blazingly fast ... Enlightenment WM by localman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Amazing what a decade of hardware progress can do :)

  11. Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri by xebra · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  12. 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.

  13. Re:Based upon the comments there ... none. by SnoopJeDi · · Score: 5, Funny

    man?

  14. Hah! I can image the tech support calls now by Scoldog · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  15. Re:lol dollars by SL+Baur · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've yet to meet someone who hates Microsoft Office Microsoft Office is total hell. The menus take two or three clicks to get right on a notebook for me. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. (Star Office on Sun's is a little better, but not by much).

    Microsoft Office has an interface designed in Hell by idiots. I hate it. HATE IT.

    You can't do anything that isn't programmed in. My boss, who is a Microsoft fan, fumbles around in its interface, I've watched him. The emperor is wearing no clothes.

    You just think it's OK because you don't know anything better.

    Yeah, I know I"ll be modded down for this. Whatever. Star Office sucks, but so does Microsoft Office.

    I was impressed by what is now known as Microsoft Word before it was bought out by Microsoft, but that was a couple decades ago. What is also impressive is that I see the same kind of fumbling around in a twisty maze of GUI menus all alike that I saw when someone was once trying to impress me with Microsoft Windows for Workgroups. Not more than a couple of years previous, I had people screaming at me at my workplace to not require any of that in the UI guidelines I was writing for that section of the company.