Here is Aus the X-boxes are cheap as chips - and for $150 you can't get a semi-reasonable networked PC with a 120 gig hard drive and a (albeit stripped down) 3d card.
If it weren't for the fact i'm completely broke and also have two decent computers to handle my 3d needs i would seriously consider buying one and installing mandrake on it - use it as a little server/sterio/etc... and i'm also working on a little project of my own which i think it'd be fun to port to the x-box (assuming i can get opengl working on it).
Total cost to me: $340AUD (about $170 american).. Total profit for m$: negative
Actually if you wanna be pedantic about it HP and Compaq merged because Compaq's share price dropped and HP had some cash to spend.
Interesting fact of the week - my uncle works for what was once unidem or something (which got eaten by tandem then compaq then HP)... apparently they were going through some old compaq hardware and found about 30 lexmark printers. The HP people told 'em they had to destroy the printers, they couldn't donate them to charity or anything. Why?
As it turns out for every dollar HP makes on printer sales they make $10 from selling the ink cartridges for said printer. If they were gonna donate printers the people who buy them would still need to buy ink cartridges for the whole lifetime of the printer; HP would be better off giving them new HP printers - they would make a lot more money from the ink sales.
So... the result? they had to distroy a couple thousand dollars worth of brand new printers.
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Here is Aus the X-boxes are cheap as chips - and for $150 you can't get a semi-reasonable networked PC with a 120 gig hard drive and a (albeit stripped down) 3d card.
:]
If it weren't for the fact i'm completely broke and also have two decent computers to handle my 3d needs i would seriously consider buying one and installing mandrake on it - use it as a little server/sterio/etc... and i'm also working on a little project of my own which i think it'd be fun to port to the x-box (assuming i can get opengl working on it).
Total cost to me: $340AUD (about $170 american).. Total profit for m$: negative
oh, and there's the bragging factor
- The MOD chip qualifies as a circumvention device under the DMCA or similar non-US law.
Australia doesn't have any similar law (yet... *crosses fingers*) - circumvention devices aren't illegal here
Actually if you wanna be pedantic about it HP and Compaq merged because Compaq's share price dropped and HP had some cash to spend.
... apparently they were going through some old compaq hardware and found about 30 lexmark printers. The HP people told 'em they had to destroy the printers, they couldn't donate them to charity or anything. Why?
Interesting fact of the week - my uncle works for what was once unidem or something (which got eaten by tandem then compaq then HP)
As it turns out for every dollar HP makes on printer sales they make $10 from selling the ink cartridges for said printer. If they were gonna donate printers the people who buy them would still need to buy ink cartridges for the whole lifetime of the printer; HP would be better off giving them new HP printers - they would make a lot more money from the ink sales.
So... the result? they had to distroy a couple thousand dollars worth of brand new printers.