Walmart Expands Low-End Linux Notebook Offerings 384
startleman writes "A story on Tom's Hardware reports that Walmart apparently will offer a Linare-equipped notebook below the $500 mark. Manufacturer Linare said that it will bring a Linux-based device to the retailer 'within the next few days.' Specs include an AMD Athlon 1800+, a 40 GByte harddrive, 128 MByte memory, a CD-ROM drive, an Ethernet port and the firm's Linare OS as well as Open Office."
yes, but does it... (Score:2, Funny)
(it's a joke :) )
Re:yes, but does it... (Score:5, Funny)
(seriously)
Re:yes, but does it... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've seen MANY un-PC-edumacated people kicking away on Windows boxes that never changed the default wallpaper. The Linare puke-green-flem-ball pic wouldn't (L)inspire me to even WANT to use that PC.
Anyhews, I hope this goes over well regardless. Seeing more and more cheap boxes with Linux preinstalled is DoublePlusGood, right?
They already offer a $550 notebook (Score:4, Informative)
Remove windows and you got your self a sub $500.
Re:They already offer a $550 notebook (Score:4, Informative)
Re:They already offer a $550 notebook (Score:2)
In all honesty, you can probably get MythTV working faster by using an off the shelf sub $300 pc from your local white box pc maker, a $180 (or less) Haupauge pvr-350 and a copy of KnoppMyth downloaded from http://www.mysettopbox.tv/ [mysettopbox.tv]. It would cost less, already has S-Video o
ARGH! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Remove windows, and you got no wireless (Score:3, Informative)
Actually they do for $100 more. [linare.com] And you get 256MB of RAM instead of 128MB.
they are still bad (Score:3, Insightful)
China... (Score:2)
My, the ambivalence! (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, how to feel?
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:5, Funny)
MS would win major karma and popularity points by displaying a "Wal-Mart is evil" or "Wal-Mart ate my community" message on bootup or something. Meanwhile Wal-Mart will pull MS products from its shelves.
The raw well-lubed power of MS OEM dominance will finally be pitted against a hypnotically deteriorative superpower capable of harnessing the buying power of the worlds lowest common denominator.
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:2)
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh wait, I'm NOT, but every other sotre is out of business now...
The alternative (Score:3, Interesting)
Unfortunately The question is whether people want to pay thrice the competitors' price for clothing made here in the US or any where else with well compensated workers. No I don't work for American Aparel [americanapparelstore.com] but their ads caught my attention a while back. I was dismayed they did not do online shopping but that has since changed.
As for the topic at hand, the moral disadvantag
Don't forget!! (Score:2)
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:5, Insightful)
Heck, let's do the same thing with CD-R discs and the RIAA!
Oh wait...
Re:My, the ambivalence! (Score:3, Insightful)
They've got the rest of it, but they seem to be pretty competent at it.
fp? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:fp? (Score:3, Interesting)
Most people who complain about speed, complains about start-up times, which isn't a problem on Linux, since you can start all the applications you need and leave them running forever. There is no need to quit an application - just switch desktops.
If you use Linux, then you should think
Yes but does it ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yes but does it ... (Score:3, Funny)
What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:3, Interesting)
I run Window Maker. It uses 800kB of RAM (this is why a pixmap-only theme, the default config uses 300kB). I used to have a 166Mhz Pentium box with 48M of RAM (96M swap) and it was Window Maker + Konqueror (2.something) + Gaim + xchat + emacs fine. Mozilla wasn't touchable (then again, there was no Firefox at the time and M17 was sloooowwww). Compile times were slow but reasonable for a system of its speed. Things sped up a bit when I made the background a solid color instead of a pixmap (and used a non-pix
Re:What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:5, Insightful)
There's money in under specing a system then overcharging for upgrades.
Re:What kind of MBA retards are in charge of the (Score:2)
http://www.linare.com/ladbs250.php [linare.com]
But... (Score:3, Funny)
Typical user? (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, most people use Windows or Mac for their primary desktop. Hardly any users that buy their computers at Walmart are running Linux on their main machine. So what are they going to do with this laptop? It's not really compatible with their standard machine.
My best guess is that the hardware is basic enough that they can probably install Win98 on it with very little trouble. This
Re:Typical user? (Score:5, Insightful)
It didn't matter what the specs were. All the customers cared about was web (pr0n and music) and email, with a minority interested in chat.
These machines, running linux satisfy all the needs of this customer, provided they can come up with $500 all at once.
Re:Typical user? (Score:5, Interesting)
I tend to see this as one giant corporate bully giving another giant corporate bully notice. Walmart pushes everyone they buy from to lower their prices. This is just their way of trying to muscle MS.
Before Christmas, I saw a complete HP system at Wal-Mart for $468. It was a WinXP box with 256MB of RAM and a monitor. It even came with a CD burner.
Wal-Mart's just trying to break through that price level. It probably ain't going to happen unless MS takes a smaller cut.
Notebooks ar replacing desktops (Score:2)
And who marked this troll as Interesting I would have given it a Score: Late 1999 era mindset barely preserved, a better troll would have been careful with such exquisite prejudices.
Re:Typical user? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would you do that if it's working perfectly well with Linux? Let alone not being a spyware magnet.
Re:Typical user? (Score:3, Insightful)
Put it in the store! (Score:3, Interesting)
Thank you.
Re:Put it in the store! (Score:3, Insightful)
Warranty? (Score:5, Insightful)
I worry that the money saved might be done so foolishly.
Re:Warranty? (Score:2)
I'm not sending my laptop to India to get fixed.
I don't care where they make it. I care what impact their US footprint has on my ability to have it fixed when (not if... laptops get abused, it's a fact of life) it breaks.
I don't know if you were being a smartass or what, but it *is* relevant.
Re:Warranty? (Score:2)
Walmart will refund literally anything, even if it is something they don't stock.
Grump.
Re:Warranty? (Score:4, Interesting)
It takes a gutsy business to promise to refund almost everything it sells, in any condition, ever, in cash (even if you pay with a credit card, as I usually do). They've made a lot of money from me because of it.
Can you put your own linux on these? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sometimes when you buy a linux machine, it comes with binary drivers that make it hard to run with a mainstream distro.
Why? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
"For NT logon!"
You're right about that... (Score:3, Insightful)
I initially thought that it didn't look so bad, but then it became painfully obvious it was just trying to be like Windows, down to the logoff/shutdown/restart scree
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
It's just a throw away for them (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:2)
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:2)
Will some get pirate copies of Windows? Undoubtatly. But I'll take a risk and say that less than half will do that. They may go and BUY a copy of Windows later, but less than half (I feel less than 10% but I'm netting a safty
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:2, Insightful)
However, on the positive side, before Joe Redneck wipes his drive and installs his pirated copy of windows, he might think twice and just try that "new fangled linux thing", and maby, just maby, he wont install windows.
At the very least, he'll likely see that it's a decent operating system, and such a move could gain Linux some recognition and respect among the non com
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course Wal-Mart is doing it because they don't want to pay the Microsoft tax. Wal-Mart has a long history of not going into a business until they can offer the lowest price, and Wal-Mart simply can't compete with Dell as long as Windows is part of the bargain. Remove Windows from the bargain, however, and all of a sudden Wal-Mart is a serious contender.
Heck, I know that I am interested. A low end Linux-compatible laptop is exactly what I want. Now I won't have to buy something that's been used. Personally I am glad to see Wal-Mart stepping up to the plate to make me the offer.
Lots of people want to be able to buy hardware without paying for software. Many of them already have a Windows license. Purchasing a computer with Linux pre-installed is about the only way there is to get a new computer without paying the Microsoft tax.
Sure, these laptops will almost certainly promote software piracy, but that's hardly Wal-Mart's problem.
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's just a throw away for them (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that's cool. If big, evil corporations are using Linux because it fills a need, not from an advocacy position, Linux is really gaining momentum.
Not many people buy Windows because of advocacy.
Low End Trend? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Low End Trend? (Score:2)
That said, as a Linux lover I'm willing to "take that risk", for two reasons. First, I think it will be much easier to bring Linux UP from being cheap than to just move in at the medium/high end and expect people to buy. If I'm going to spend $1500/$2000 on a new computer, I'm going to be very unlikely to spend it on a PC that has an OS I've never heard of. If I can buy a PC for $500 (that would otherwise cost me $600/$700 with Windows), I'd be more willi
MegaB GByte (Score:5, Funny)
if you're going to write out Byte, you might as well write out Mega as well. but mixing and matching like this? i find the flagrant lack of consistency to be unsettling.
THE STICK UP MY ASS IS TWITCHING AND I DEMAND A CORRECTION!
Re:MegaB GByte (Score:3, Insightful)
assume = ass + u + me
You wouldn't believe how hard it is for some people to realize that the capitalization changes it by a factor of 8.
What would happen if they advertised it to have 128Mb of ram, and it actually had 128Mbits. They wouldn't be lying, but they'd be in trouble.
No USB ports? (Score:4, Informative)
1 x External VGA port, 1 x Modem Jack (RJ-11), 1 x Built-in MIC
Did they forget to list it, or do they really think a notebook without a USB port would actually sell?
Re:No USB ports & 1000? (Score:5, Interesting)
Something else that looked strange: Linare said it will ship "more than 1000 notebooks" to Walmart stores in the US.
We are talking about all of the USA. Doesn't 1000 seem like a rather small number? That is NOT a real Walmart level shipment of product. What is that all about? (Considering the margins are small on this thing, the total profit on that volume would probably not even buy a street legal used car here in the USA.) They might as well have said they will ship more than a dozen notebooks.
online sales? (Score:2)
Re:No USB ports? (Score:3, Informative)
Also, look at what you get. They give you ethernet, FIREWIRE, and no USB? That makes NO sense. You basically HAVE to have USB on a computer to sell it today.
Re:No USB ports? (Score:2)
You can get USB for cardbus with ease. In fact they tend to be dirt cheap because any just about any system with cardbus is going to have usb. I don't know if linux would support it but hey.
Re:No USB ports? (Score:3, Interesting)
The photo has 4 USB's ports, but I dont show the Firewire, wonder if its the same model...
Um, it's still $500 dollars (Score:3, Insightful)
Did they get the right Lin* (Score:5, Interesting)
why? (Score:2)
That's not a proprietary window manager. (Score:5, Interesting)
Power!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now for gaming, my laptop and these machines are not good, but for a student who needs OpenOffice and net, or someone who wants mobility away from their gaming desktop... why not?
Re:Power!!! (Score:2)
WalMart not required? (Score:2)
Universities won't like it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Moreover does it have at least wireless drivers built in? Retrofitting Linux drivers into a notebook machine for a PCCard NIC is not a pretty sight even for well known distros that support it. And if I can't at least use wireless at home then a notebook is largely useless to me.
It's really $600 for a 256MB RAM unit.
Last but not least how does this compare with a more mainstream refurbished notebook machine? This unit is a little on the low end side and compares with maybe a 2-3 year old maintstream unit.
Re:Universities won't like it? (Score:3, Interesting)
In answer to your question, the $600 version has "wireless support".
Also, I don't think this is really all that low-end, it's a 1.8ghz processor, the 256 ram is "nice" but upgrade that to 512 and you've got a very nice laptop on your hands (for cheap).
Re:Universities won't like it? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Universities won't like it? (Score:4, Interesting)
For instance, my school (GTech) allows us to download XP Pro if you are enrolled as a student in some of the departments.
Re:Universities won't like it? (Score:2, Informative)
colleges... (Score:4, Informative)
I work for a college's tech services department. We require Windows users to run a CD that includes Symantec AV and Checkpoint VPN software to log into the network.
Right now, for Mac and Linux users (as well as people with networked XBoxes, Playstations, ect), they just give us their IP and MAC addreses and we unblock their MAC address.
Our network security guys are for the most part unix geeks. They work pretty closely with the Linux community here, speaking at LUG's, ect. I would think many other schools would be the same way
Old news (Score:2, Interesting)
These things also don't have a PCMCIA slot, so if all you need is a cheap wireless laptop that runs sluggishly, this might be a good deal for you. I should note that linux runs fine on my $350 Ebaye
Re:Old news (Score:2)
So this isn't the Balance notebook I was thinking of and it does come with a cardbus slot, but I'm still willing to bet reviewers will find it flimsy.
Laptops becoming a commodity item (Score:2, Interesting)
The things that make laptops expensive are no longer as special as they were a short while ago. 15" LCDs are now a couple of hundred bucks. Run of the mill hard drives are becoming
Cheap "home gateway"? (Score:3, Interesting)
Imagine someone having several computers in their home. Maybe one of these laptops could be used as a relatively cheap file/backup/mail server. Throw in a PCMCIA card and you may even use it as a gateway or firewall.
The reason I say it's cheap, by the way, is the form factor. Naturally a desktop system with similar or better specs would be even cheaper. But this seems to me it's cheaper than other alternatives with comparable form factors. You could configure this laptop to run with the lid closed and that gives you a relatively sleek box which also draws little power.
Walmart News Gives Me A Headache. (Score:3, Interesting)
What they do seem to do rather effectively, is fuel price races to the bottom in every field they enter. This can't be good for any community. I would rather pay a few dollars more to buy a product from a local business, or a local geek to provide the same product or service.
http://injoke.org/index.php?title=daily_show_wal_m art_piece [injoke.org]
It had to be said. (Score:2)
Returns, returns (Score:3, Insightful)
still expensive (2) (Score:3, Interesting)
14 inch LCD
DVD drive
56k modem
10/100 ethernet
2 pcmcia slots
ATI radeon (works fine with linux opengl drivers) 256 megs ram (I upgraded to 512)
1.5ghz PIV
Windows XP Home (formated it and installed Debian
3 usb (version 1 not 2 unfortunatly) ports.
The only thing that sucked was the soundcard/speakers and the Microsoft tax. It only cost $600. Acording to moore's law (I know technecally it's about density, not price or performance) that kind of computer should be down to $300 by now (half price at the 18 month mark, and I give it a little extra leway.) Other machines have gone WAY down in price. I just bought a sun machine:
2 gig ram
4 way SMP (450mhz each)
4 redundant power supplies
It cost me $200 and runs solaris 10 great. It would have cost me at least $2,000 two years ago. Why is PC hardware, particularly laptops, still so expensive? On the high end the specs are going up so the price/performance ratio is higher, but at the low end, things have stagnated or even gotten more expensive. Cheap laptops cost more now then they did years ago. New SD-RAM is more expensive then it used to be and often more expensive then faster DDR RAM. CPU performance has also grown slowly in the low end dispite the constant clockspeed increeses. It took the desktop over a decade since the technology was available (the mips R4000 came out in 1991) to go 64 bit.
Intel is certainly part of the problem in spite of their recent 180 on the mhz myth and adoption of AMD64 for the Xeon. I have a pentium II 450mhz system with 512k L2 cache, and a PA-RISC system with 1.5meg L1 cache. I even have an ancient sgi Indy with a 200mhz mips processor with 1meg cache. Why do new Celerons still only have 256k L2 cache and PIVs only have 1meg L2 cache? Up to about 2 megs you will still get significant performance increeses by adding more cache. I understand the Itanium2 has a 9meg on chip L3 cache, and I'm sure that's one of the reasons its price/performance ratio stucks ass. However, there is a happy medium between the PIV and Itanium when it commed to cache. AMD is in the same boat with a 1meg L2 on the Athlon64.
Microsoft is part of the problem, but this certainly isn't the case for this walmart computer. It might be a step in the right direction, but the industry can produce better desktops and laptops cheaper.
IT'S NOT OPEN OFFICE(tm) (Score:3, Informative)
Re:fp (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:fp (Score:2)
Enough power for some (Score:5, Interesting)
I like my desktops, and have stayed there so far, but something like this could almost convince me to try my hands at a mobile work/hobby environment. Hell, the lack of wireless would not only make it more secure, but less of a distraction than my laptop usually proves to be.
Whether or not I get one, there is plenty of reason to believe this machine is a good thing, much as the $100 PC Projects that have been touted by several groups as the next great humanitarian effort and have been reported here on here on Slashdot.
Re:Enough power for some (Score:3, Interesting)
as for wifi, you can get a cheap linksys pc card for $30. a $100 or so PC is a different issue, as the monitor and keyboard are separate. problem with laptops is, and has always been, ergonomics. cheap comes at a price. honestly, unless you're doing windows development, and since this laptop runs linux s
Re:Enough power for some (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Enough power for some (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:But the question is (Score:2, Funny)
"Ah, yes, well kill a few employees anyway."
Re:Many Things Missing (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree, they seem rather fishy, I can't find any reference to GPL or ANY license for that matter on their site, even when trying to purchase the product. According to their list of software they are also including some commercial apps (i.e. RealPlayer). I would think they are legally obligated to include some sort
Re:Tech specs. (Score:2)
IEEE 1394 == firewire
I didn't read the specs off a site, I'm just going on what you posted
Re:Tech specs. (Score:2, Interesting)
And it would be truly amazing to have a FireWire port, and no USB ports. Though what's truly disappointing is no built-in wireless. I worry about PC Card wireless adapters getting snapped off, and if there's no USB... And really, the whole point of a laptop these days is wireless.
Feh, oh well, for less than $500 maybe it's worth it. Then again...