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Re: [News] Low-end PCs the Entry Point to Desktop GNU/Linux

Rockinghorse Winner <rockinghorse@xxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Sinister Midget had the audacity to say that:
> 
>> On 2007-12-25, Rockinghorse Winner <rockinghorse@xxxxxxxxxxxx> claimed:
>>
>>> A few years ago, Fry's Electronics used to offer el cheapo pc's with
>>> Linspire pre-installed.  I haven't seen them advertise any for quite a while
>>> now.  Does anyone know why they discontinued their Linux offerings?
>>
>> No *knowledge* of why they'd discontinue it. But my *opinion* is that
>> Linspire is such a dud that the meachines probably weren't selling very
>> well.
>>
>> Every machine that I've seen sold with only Linspire as an option has
>> been low-end hardware with very limited capability. Anybody buying any
>> of the machines I've seen advertised would assume linux was amateurish
>> because the graphics capability was, the gaming capability was
>> terrible, any audio or video processing stank, etc. Sure they'd be good
>> for checking email and writing letters. Not a lot more than that,
>> though.
>>
>> I knew a guy who bought one and it was total garbage, I don't recall
>> which machine it was, but I remember it was advertised by Linspire as a
>> good low-cost machine. It may have been the one Walmart was selling
>> online for $200 a few years ago.
>>
> 
> Yea, thanks for the info.  The Fry's machines were also in that range, and
> as you describe.  Nevertheless, with only a few large mfgr's of computer
> components, chances are the components in these puters are pretty similar
> quality to those in Dells and Hp's. I extra stick of memory and a GPU would
> go a long way to making those machines respectable.
> 
> Back then, when I wan't interested in Linux, I'd assumed those OS's were
> inferior Windows replacements. There was no press for linux like there is
> today.  Ubuntu has helped a lot.
> 
> *R* *H*
> 

Bottom-end machines are now so good that they do most of what most
people want anyway.  Also, foss applications have been so well optimised
over the last few years that such as video and audio playback are better
than ever on low-end hardware.

Most people only want webemail, web, youtube, mp3 and divx playback, so
any old machine you can buy now will do the job.  This is the
crunch-point which has hit Microsoft so hard - you just don't need
anything which Windows offers any more.

-- 
| Mark Kent   --   mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk          |
| Cola faq:  http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/   |
| Cola trolls:  http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/                        |
| My (new) blog:  http://www.thereisnomagic.org                        |

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