bergamote Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 They're considering selling preinstalled PCs. See the club site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnubie Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 That's great! I don't doubt they will be very reasonably priced too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I wish they had nicer laptop configs. A pc I can built to measure up to my standard. A laptop is harder -- too much harder for me to try... Well, I already commented on that page anyway... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I am not sure preinstalled pc is a good idea for Mandrake right now. The margin for selling PCs is extremely thin. You need to make it up in volumes (such as what dell is doing). Notebooks on the other hand, is a much better option. A preinstalled notebook with everything running (including wifi, modem, firewire, suspend, etc) for a reasonable price could be a great deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aRTee Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 My point exactly. For laptops, linux users are second class citizens -- even the nicest ones often don't completely work... Plus, it's not so easy to get everything going. But if you're (you=mandrake) going to sell thousands, you can get them made to size, including linux compatibility. I would suppose that even many people who use different distros would likely buy one, just to avoid the hassle of having to mess with not-so-well supported hardware and to be sure that everything can work under linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 I tend to agree, laptops and mandrake are not exactly compatible. Mandrake seem to have shied away from it, (my old look where pcmcia starts) shows they haven't really thought about this. It can work though. Everything works in Lindows including the Wifi and firewire. Same in knoppix although I havnt actually tested the firewire. If Mandrake just build one fully featured laptop then they will be forced to adress these issues, personally I for one would pay a bit extra to get a fully working Mandrake on one. Others who might not have the cash might not but they will benefit from Mandrake sorting the rest of the issues out. At least certain chipsets will be covered and these are relatively common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 I would suppose that even many people who use different distros would likely buy one, just to avoid the hassle of having to mess with not-so-well supported hardware and to be sure that everything can work under linux. You bet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Even more spot on than that aRTee. Laptops tend to be workhorses and if you use it it needs to work. I don't play about or customise mine much compared to the desktop. Usually diskspace is limited so you don't want a few distro's hanging about etc. half done kernel compiles and whatever else it takes to get the damned hardware working. This is partly why I never fussed much over the linmodem or PCMCIA.... when I need my laptop i can't have it hang on boot-up or something not work. If i have a hours flight to make a presentation and the first half hour is spent getting it to boot .... Thats why against my moral judgement I used Lindows.... I backed up everything onto my Archos MM first. prepared for it not to work but it did, along with LinModem and Wifi and PCMCIA.... Now Im reluctant to get rid of it..... If I had a better distro (for me) that I knew would work id pay good money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopDog Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 I like to build my barebones myself, so buying a desktop isn't an option for me, but next time I'm going to invest something at home it will be a wide-screen laptop with WiFi, good sound, good battery, DVD/CDRW, no floppy, USB2 and Firewire. Not because I'm going to take it with me, but because it's nice to have in the couch, etc... What I'm thinking is I don't want an HP, Dell etc with XP Home and lots of stuff I don't need. I would like a Powerbook, but they are just too expensive for me (at least if I don't get a big bonus or something), now if I could get a laptop like that with Mandrake pre-installed and cheaper... it would be a no-brainer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 I like to build my barebones myself, so buying a desktop isn't an option for me, but next time I'm going to invest something at home it will be a wide-screen laptop with WiFi, good sound, good battery, DVD/CDRW, no floppy, USB2 and Firewire. Not because I'm going to take it with me, but because it's nice to have in the couch, etc... What I'm thinking is I don't want an HP, Dell etc with XP Home and lots of stuff I don't need. I would like a Powerbook, but they are just too expensive for me (at least if I don't get a big bonus or something), now if I could get a laptop like that with Mandrake pre-installed and cheaper... it would be a no-brainer Top Dog, The couch is easily solved without a laptop. (optional step) Take one XBOX, load linux (easy) Configure to remote login on your shuttle Buy one LCD projector, a remote keyboard/mouse and make a big space on the wall in front of the couch..... Then you can sit on the couch and do everything .... If you get cable you can pipe NRK and M6 etc. in directly from the decoder box, otherwise one of those external TV tuners you can use with a normal monitor. I use the XBOX for DVD's, both native and through linux/mplayer or xine. + under linux I get region free + MPEG or AVI etc. Gaming is outa ths world ..... (although the neighbours don't like the subwoofer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopDog Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Buy one LCD projector And you think my girlfriend would allow a prosjector in our ultra small 2-room flat? Fat chance Otherwise it's a really good idea, a friend of mine has a similar setup just with remote desktop and XP... What I need is a lappy to surf with while my girlfriend watches TV, because she is the TV-slave. I couldn't really care less about the TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitor Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Here the same. There are only two things that can get my interest on TV: the daily news and a good movie (and it does not happen every day they show a GOOD movie that I haven't seen before). Luckily I have a network at home (wired, I work in security and maybe a little paranoid, don't want unsecure WIFI stuff behind my FW). Result: Half of the time I surf while my wife looks TV or reads some magazine..... When we're both at home that is. That XBOX thing interests me though. Is it powerfull enough to watch DIVX? Does it support USB, Firewire? Is it expandable (slots free)? Is it easy to put Linux onto it, or do you need a mod chip? Is it legal? Ciao, Sitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Your answers Sir I think that covers the legal, stuff. Its got USB 1.1 only and legacy free (no parallel/serial,floppy etc.) At the end of the day its a 64MB Memory /P633 .... With one hell of a graphics chip....sound etc. So its no speed demon but DVD decoding etc. are all hardware so don't use the CPU. Its VERY QUIET.... I/O wise I get 10/100 ethernet (though some are rumoured only 10Mbit) 10Gb disk (with 2GB usable by linux) Display is for a TV.... there is NO monitor out... You can do a hack on the cables .....but you need to be good at soldering... Bear in mind its mainly a hardware box.... The graphics and sound drivers take advantage of this ... I use it mainly for multi-media and surfin the web... For anything else I open a remote session to a powerful machine. For the price, you get the games console.... and a basic PC. If you intend to use the console part then its very good value! Using it for Linux too means you spend less on games.... If you wanna do the conversion you need mech warrior (for a day) I can send you the savegame on a memory stick by return post!!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitor Posted February 15, 2004 Report Share Posted February 15, 2004 Thanks Gowater. Very helpfull. What do you think, might an XBOX make a good MythTV frontend (HW is not good enough for the backend, but maybe as frontend)? Ciao, Sitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 I think Godflesh has a thread on this.... But really powerwise its not bad.... What you need to realise is the CPU isn't needed/used much by the XBOX becuase its all sent to hardware. Hardware MPEG2 decoding is much faster than software becuase the chips are specifically made for it. (I think the old dxR3 cards ran in a P166!!) Same with mp3 decoding, I used to use the native decoder on an awe32 it doesn't use the CPU .... etc. etc. since the XBox rips .wmv files I suspect it does mp3 too. so its really just a question of getitng the drivers to work with the hardware. I upgraded fom xebian 0.4.0 to xebian 1.1.0 a while ago and its much faster, I think refinement of the forcdeth (nforce) drivers etc. However, haven't had time to play since then!!!! If you look at what an XBOX can do native this gives an idea of what can be achieved in linux. There is no reason it can't be a fully functional MythTV frontend and backend IMHO.... The advantage is that it fits into the living room nicely. Addition of a radio keyb/mouse and your set!!! Ive never even opened my box.... I keep meaning to buy a second to play with :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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