Why YOU should bethinking linux
Yep...and with a price point between $200-300. This is only a prototype. Keep an eye on these guys before the borg show up and "assimilate" them.
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Yep...and with a price point between $200-300. This is only a prototype. Keep an eye on these guys before the borg show up and "assimilate" them.
Comments
Baci, you silly linux nerd.
In related news:
Apple releases revolutionary laptop with no keyboard.
Posted by: clumsy | January 19, 2009 10:40 AM
Pfft!
Why you should be thinking OS X.
Yep... and with a $199 price point. This isn't vaporware, it's an actual product you can buy today. Oh yea, and it fits in your pocket and has ubiquitous internet connectivity too.
Posted by: Steve Jobs | January 19, 2009 11:09 AM
1. proprietary
2. the camera points the wrong way.
3. proprietary
4. did I say proprie ... nm
5. no java (proprietary)
6. to teensy, besides I only want three non-biological things in my pocket and none of them should vibrate.
Posted by: baci | January 19, 2009 11:48 AM
I'm with you Baci! One of my kids bought an eeePC laptop last year. 1 gig ram, 16 gig flash drive. Runs Linux and doesn't hiccup or take forever to load. There's a touch screen hack making the rounds (about a $100 mod) that seems to work. Asus, who makes the eeePC announced that they are releasing a touch screen tablet later this year. Priced around $300 depending on how much ram and how big of a flash drive you want. Apple and Microsoft are both blood sucking leeches. Linux rules!!!!
Posted by: TimK | January 19, 2009 12:45 PM
I agree with TimK. Apple and MS both are overpriced for what you get.
Linux gets you a system with excellent security, no unwanted bloat, your choice of several wrappers, and at no cost. There is no going wrong with Linux.
Posted by: Chicken Hammer | January 19, 2009 01:39 PM
Linux is nice but not for everyone, try making music with one.
Posted by: rougement | January 19, 2009 02:13 PM
I have had an Eee Pc for about a year now. It is a computer you can easily take with you when you travel because it about the size of a hard cover book. You need to enable the advanced desktop or you will be stuck with an interface that makes the computer look like a Fisher Price toy.
I also have Ubuntu and XP (dual boot) on my desktop computer. Linux has come a long way in a few short years. It is now a piece of cake to install and use. It sure helps that the Open Office suite is included in the Linux operating system. As good as Linux is now, I still occasionally need to use software that requires Windows XP.
Posted by: Tony Ramone | January 19, 2009 03:25 PM
Our eeePC has Linux on it (Advanced mode), and if I can ever afford to replace the broken screen, I'm switching it over to WinXP, and that's my Linux story.
Posted by: Karasu | January 19, 2009 04:36 PM
*looking around and finding himself in dubious company* *shakes fist @ kaiser* I make music with mine all the time...check out LMMS or Rosengarten...many music apps ... All Free!!! Hell, it's linux, WRITE YOUR OWN!
Posted by: baci | January 19, 2009 05:16 PM
BTW - You can write your own software for other operating systems, not just Linux. If $ is a primary concern, well, it's hard to argue with free. However, there's more to software than whether or not its free.
Posted by: Nick | January 19, 2009 05:42 PM
"Write your own" is not an incentive. At all. If I have to write my own software, or use substandard software ... I don't care if the OS is free.
I'm with Nick. Try having this conversation without mentioning price.
A cheap car isn't cheap if you're spending all your free time under the hood.
Posted by: Barrett | January 19, 2009 06:34 PM
Actually, if you know how, "write your own" is the ultimate incentive. If you know how, price is the only conversation to have.
Don't hate on the knowers.
Posted by: vicarious | January 19, 2009 07:41 PM
Well I know that music apps exist for Linux they're just not very good compared to what's out there for mac or winders. I've got no ideological issues with Linux, I'd use it for music if cubase/logic/pt ran on it, as did all my plugins and drivers but they don't. They never will.
Posted by: rougement | January 19, 2009 07:57 PM
So, lets say I consider myself a knower; you're telling me that the price is my only concern in evaluating operating systems? Give me a frikin' break. That doesn't sound like a knower to me.
I agree w/ rougement, Linux apps, in general, do not compare to well crafted professional tools available on proprietary operating systems. (music/sound design, video, motion graphics, photo management, precision typography, come to mind).
I'm not hatin' here... Linux/open-source is cool and all, but c'mon.
Posted by: Nick | January 19, 2009 08:14 PM
"Write your own" is fine if it's one option among many. But if your only options are: 1) Use shitty, substandard software, or 2) Come up with something better on your own (which apparently, no one has yet done, since all the alternatives are shitty and substandard), those are poor options.
Apparently, the best photo editing software you "knowers" have been able to come up with is Gimp, which is crap in comparison to Photoshop.
All I want to do is edit photos, but apparently I have to write software before I can even start. You know what? Everything is cheap if you do 100% of the work on your own.
Posted by: Barrett | January 19, 2009 08:51 PM
I hear you , Barrett. All I know is: the several Mac products I've owned (including non-integrated software) were apparently pre-programmed to melt down after 1.77 years...to a day. And the MS products I've owned are so plastic(y), cheap, and virus-susceptible, that Linux-based, open source products are the only logical choice anymore.
IE is a perfect example of your shitty, substandard propietary software. Total piece of crap. Yet, so popular! Go figure.
Yeah, photoshop's OK, if you have have the pearls to pay.
Posted by: vicarious | January 19, 2009 09:17 PM
I dont differ with you on much barrett but I will on this...I've used both alot and I prefer GIMP by far. mainly, the distance I'd have to drive to the bank to pay for photoshop. Really, I defy you to find something that can be done in photoshop that cant be done with the gimp....for free....point is, Opensource will save all of your asses if it hasn't already. So geek up and get tux.
Posted by: baci | January 19, 2009 11:06 PM
I wouldn't install Cubase or ProTools on the CrunchPad. That would just be insane. I'll stick to Linux for micro-mobile computing. Clean, simple, fast, and free.
Hey Baci and TimK!
Posted by: EvanC | January 20, 2009 01:49 AM
I wouldn't install Cubase or ProTools on the CrunchPad. That would just be insane. I'll stick to Linux for micro-mobile computing. Clean, simple, fast, and free.
Hey Baci and TimK!
Posted by: EvanC | January 20, 2009 01:51 AM
Software is about how you do (UI), more than simply what you can do (functionality). Judging any software on price and functionality alone is missing the point.
Back to post topic: the not-available, 1.3" thick, 3 lb., optimized-for-web-browsing-only product featured above is inferior to the cheapest of laptops and will never appear on the consumer market. It's not clear to me why "[I] should be thinking [of] Linux" because of it.
Posted by: Nick | January 20, 2009 01:51 AM
Thanks for bringing it back Nick ... really I don't mean to be a open source snob, I use what ever they put in front of me. Obviously nick, you've "thought Linux" before. My post was meant for those for whom Linux is only the purvey of ultra-geeks and uber-techs. Forgive me for being a passionate version of the above stated. It's time we realize that more $$ doesn't mean more better. Community supported technology is one such thing and WILL save the world. BTW photoshop is great, and in many ways a more powerful tool than the gimp...but by far less a margin than you might think.
Posted by: baci | January 20, 2009 07:06 AM
If writing your own software is so superior to purchased software, then maybe you "knowers" should put down your clever coffee mug, shave your crab infested facial bohemian brillo pad, throw your crusty knit hat away, wash your hair, take a shower, put on some clean clothes (and for the love of all things merciful, put on some freaking deoderant), and help us all out by improving the economy with the riches you receive from your new job writing software for the "non-knowers" to purchase.
Not good enough to write software for money? Then welcome to the world of "you get what you pay for". I'm so sick of open-source elitism. It's on par with republitard finger pointing. Maybe you (no one specific…any open-source elitist) and Danny (Danny specifically) should go sit in someone's mother's basement around a linux box and celebrate the inauguration with a cup of Arco coffee prepared in the free open-source French press you hand made with an old pair of tighty-whities and a CD labeler, and then commiserate Bush's departure over some Red Bull and Pucker schnaaps. But then again, the collision of ego failure might cause a chain reaction of patchouli and Revelations verses so maybe it’s not a good idea after all.
Posted by: Caviar Emperor | January 20, 2009 09:48 AM
So let me get this straight. If you make something with your own brain and your own two hands, you are somehow an elitist, but if you go to the chain store (or the on-line variant) and buy something, you are somehow the salt of the earth?
Posted by: TimK | January 20, 2009 10:05 AM
No, I'm saying if you make something with your own brain and your own two hands and take the time to bitch and moan about how superior it is, then do something about it and write your software for money since obviously marketed software isn't going away no matter how hard you wish it so.
If you're happy with keeping it to yourself, fine. Just keep it to yourself and don't act like those without programming knowlege are fools for purchasing their software, or that they are somehow inferior because they are limited to proprietary systems.
I find it as frustrating as the people who take time to bitch and moan about paying extra tax for something like a stadium (purely an example) that would generate revenue and jobs by saying "oh, but the schools need money" and then voting "no" when a referendum for school improvements comes up.
Ok, maybe a bad example, but chalk it up to being overjoyed that the "Regime" is finally at an end today.
Posted by: Caviar Emperor | January 20, 2009 10:33 AM
Four more minutes...Four more minutes...Four more minutes...Four more minutes...Four more minutes...!
Posted by: TimK | January 20, 2009 10:36 AM
FYI: I have nothing (well, VERY LITTLE!) against Linux, really. And I certainly agree with Vicarious and Apple's short-life tendency. I just think (idealistically, I know) that technology should be both open and (more importantly, in the large-scale sense) plug-and-play. "Write your own" is 180 degrees from inclusive functionality for everyone.
Baci, you're going to tell me that Gimp will get me where I want to go the same as PS. Well, so will a beat-up Ford Escort. But the trip is, well, y'know ... adventurous.
Posted by: Barrett | January 20, 2009 11:33 AM
I can't believe no one else has said it, so allow me to.
NERDS!
Posted by: Hells Bells | January 20, 2009 03:11 PM
I got 8 years out of my last Mac. $250 / year for something that doesn't get virii or turned into a zombie, doesn't need to be upgraded every 18 months and just works when I turn it on?
Done and done.
Posted by: adam | January 20, 2009 04:04 PM
my current iBook (which is only being replaced in a couple weeks because the video capability is too old to be useful to me) has served our family well for seven years, and will be passed on to the children in a month or two for homework purposes.
so... linux is nice for techies and code monkeys. not so much for those of us who'd like to spend our time doing other things.
Posted by: hbh | January 20, 2009 07:06 PM
HBH - techies, code monkeys and 9th graders ... really .. Come on you guys .. to keep with Barrett's car analogy, If you learned to drive a ford, does that mean you cant drive a chevy? There are ubiquitous processes and GUI elements in ALL modern computing platforms. With where Linux has come, it more about whats the same than whats different. My ONLY reason to post this was that I want to encourage alternatives to subservience to the corporate overlords wen they are reasonably acceptable and even fun. I have no problem with anyone making any money from any sucker who'll pay for something they can get for free.
Posted by: baci | January 20, 2009 10:44 PM
Obama is an open source elitist. Done Doner and Donest
Posted by: baci | January 21, 2009 08:18 AM
So once again, we are down to labeling those who don't have programming skills as "suckers" through no fault of their own, other than deciding their free time was better spent elsewhere than learning something that frankly may not be of interest or within their technical grasp.
I would also mention that until you take time to learn how to build your own windmill, hydroelectric generator, personal nuclear power plant, or any other means of self-engineered energy sustenance to power your glorious linux box, you stop complaining about corporate servitude and get down of your holy high horse mountain top.
For that matter, unless you make everything you own including all the supplies and tools you use to make things with, maybe you're just a "sucker" as well. If not, and you're still determined to shun all things corporate, then enjoy life in the woods gathering twigs and berries, Mr. Hermit. May the memories of a life spent behind the wheel of a beat up Ford that you didn't build yourself keep you warm.
Posted by: Caviar Emperor | January 21, 2009 08:21 AM
CE, dude, who's the hater here? All I said was write your own...I have kids in 9th grade writing they're own paint programs...It's not all that difficult. I NEVER said everyone should do it...it's about community I dont bake my own bread, I leave that to the nice guys/gals down the street...they're good at it...I teach..I'm good at it...we're all in the neighborhood. Did someone have a bad tech-support experience and is carrying a grudge?
Posted by: baci | January 21, 2009 08:33 AM
"I have kids in 9th grade writing they're own paint programs" I am impressed. What language and development tools are they using? I can write tiny programs with Dev-C++ and Ruby, but a paint program--no way. baci, you are either a great teacher, have incredibly smart kids, or both.
Posted by: Tony | January 21, 2009 10:09 AM
FreeBasic as the programming language and Kate as the IDE. Hand code with love!
Posted by: baci | January 21, 2009 12:11 PM
Capitalism, by its very nature is destined to eat itself into destruction. We nerd/socialist/wackjobs recommend the following:
http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/top-100-of-the-best-useful-opensource-applications/
Posted by: TimK | January 21, 2009 12:36 PM
Someone is wrong on the internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: vicarious | January 21, 2009 01:00 PM
There are three problems that Linux needs to address more before it can get into the desktop scene more.
a) You still need to use the command line sometimes.
b) The experience of using it isn't there yet. It still feels like... Linux.
c) You'll still spend one day a month fixing the shit storm of problems caused by an some arbitrary update or by trying to get some obscure piece of hardware working.
That said I develop on a Mac and deploy to Debian and wouldn't change a thing.
Posted by: John | January 21, 2009 02:24 PM
[sarcasm]
Yeah, but does it run firefox?
[/sarcasm]
Posted by: mevdev | January 21, 2009 03:10 PM
I've never used a command line with my Linux desktop. My Mom uses a Mac and I would estimate that she spends at least 2 days a month fixing the shit storm of problems caused by who the hell knows what. I've never had to fix anything on Linux. As for the "feel," mine looks like my old XP desktop and behaves 1000% better.
Posted by: TimK | January 21, 2009 03:12 PM
That was a close call. I started typing and then realized that I was about to get into a serious OS debate on t'internet.
Phew.
Posted by: Rougement | January 21, 2009 09:28 PM
thank god that all the Linux comments died down ... oops
Posted by: baci | January 22, 2009 08:37 AM
does this have anything to do w/me or shld i just go back to lurking facebook?
Posted by: bud | January 24, 2009 02:42 AM