thelinuxlink.net

This X-mas season why not make that special gift yourself, using quality components then topping it off with a GNU/Linux distro. In the long run your loved ones will thank you.

Is this the prelude to a pricelist, or is this really a suggestion?

This is a real suggestion, everybody seems to be waiting for a Linux box to be on some stores shelf. I don't see why anybody would want to give there mother a machine that will give her nothing but trouble (since most people don't understand how important it is to keep a MS updated/protected). Just make one yourself.

jaz wrote:This is a real suggestion, everybody seems to be waiting for a Linux box to be on some stores shelf. I don't see why anybody would want to give there mother a machine that will give her nothing but trouble (since most people don't understand how important it is to keep a MS updated/protected). Just make one yourself.

We've been making our computers out of parts for years now. Nothing new. The whole point of the pre-installed Linux system is that it's a gateway for mass adoption. Most Windows users who think that Linux is hard to install have not installed Windows either. Linux IS easier to install than Windows. Besides, why not support vendors who are reaching out to the Linux community? Once again, money talks and bullshit walks!

jaz wrote:This X-mas season why not make that special gift yourself, using quality components then topping it off with a GNU/Linux distro

I'll tell you why: I can't afford it. At all.
I've got just about 30 dollars right now, all in all, and that sure ain't enough to build a good GNU/Linux box, and they sure ain't going to be used for hardware.
Surely not. I think. Possibly...
Okay, maybe they are .

I'm always torn between paying for a nice piece of hardware, like System76 where you're supporting a proper linux vendor, and paying for something used and super cheap and taking advantage of linux's famed ability to run on modest hardware. I really want one of those System76 laptops, but I need to start building up my savings account after buyiing a house pretty much wiped me out, and then there's the MythTV box I want to build, then my car's getting pretty old, et cetera, et cetera.

I guess you can afford a Mandriva Power Pack under 3rd world discount.

Jza wrote:I guess you can afford a Mandriva Power Pack under 3rd world discount.

Hehe, i'm very satisfied with my three computers running Slackware .

I managed to give my friend a computer with Linux on it, I used what remained from my last computer and we bought some new parts and I pieced it together. It wasn't exactly the most easy thing in the world but he is extremely happy. Teaching him Linux takes about a full day to go over everyday tasks and such like checking email, instant messaging someone, ripping an audio cd. That was after I let him toy around with my linux box so he already had a few things figured out.

If you want to hear more about it you can read it on my blog: http://cptnobvious999.blogspot.com/ (shameless plug )

If you prefer to buy a computer with Linux preinstalled check out Patrick's post about vendor database is up (nice post Patrick, thanks). I prefer to roll my own (just for the fun of it).

I'm actually a PC shop owner, and we handle everything from Windows to Linux. And to be honest, almost all my Linux clients come in for a spare part here and there, or if they REALLY mess it up and need help. But no one has bought a single Linux machine yet. They tend to go with a homebrew machine. I really wish we could move completely away from selling Windows boxes, but I have to eat All our Windows boxes do come with a nice suite of OSS toys, though. Open Office has been a huge hit for our customer base, who thought the only solution was MS Office.

I was thinking about treating myself to an upgraded system at home, and turning my current system into the "server." Right now the "server" (those quotes are very necessary, btw, when you hear the specs) is an old HP. Celeron 667, 384 megs RAM, running Slackware 10. The main machine is an Athlon 64 3200+ with a gig of ram. I want to play more with running the server as VMs, which that little Celeron really isn't going to handle.

dlz wrote:I really wish we could move completely away from selling Windows boxes, but I have to eat All our Windows boxes do come with a nice suite of OSS toys, though. Open Office has been a huge hit for our customer base, who thought the only solution was MS Office.

We totally totally understand. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive. I think that's a great idea to offer win customers F/OSS software. Maybe you can give away Open CD discs:
http://www.theopencd.org/

Nice collection of F/OSS software for windows.

The OpenCD actually contains a lot of the programs we give out on a regular basis. Not a single machine leaves our shop without at least Firefox and Thunderbird. The response I've had from our customers for both these programs is amazing. They didn't even realize such things existed.

One of our biggest wins for F/OSS software has to be a situation where we installed OpenOffice on a new machine for someone. It turned out she was an author, and used it for about 2 weeks before noticing it wasn't MS Word (we had told her we installed it, but everyone here understands how many people are with their computers.) She ended up telling a ton of people how great it was, and we actually had quite a few people come in or call because of her.

I'm going to have to end this post now, as my new puppy wants my attention and almost knocked my laptop off the counter

dlz wrote:I really wish we could move completely away from selling Windows boxes, but I have to eat All our Windows boxes do come with a nice suite of OSS toys, though. Open Office has been a huge hit for our customer base, who thought the only solution was MS Office.

Have you thought of offering the machines as dual boot? I know that a few people that I deal with on a personal level now have dual boot machines and are using the Ubuntu side more and more. When I rebuild the systems I put a small 10-20 gig partition so that when I have to fix their foobared system I have something to work with most of the time.

dlz wrote:Right now the "server" (those quotes are very necessary, btw, when you hear the specs) is an old HP. ...Slackware 10.

Explains it all right there;)

Giving a Linux system as a gift to family is a great idea. My mom wants a laptop and I'm considering getting her one from system76 or buying one and installing Ubuntu on it. The only hurdle I could see would be trying to get her to understand that you can't buy software at the store and install it on the machine. I am defintely planning to build my parents a MythTV box for Christmas next year. I think a Myth box would be an awesome gift.