$100.00 laptop to run Linux

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/pte....ap/index.html

Can you just imagine the quantum leaps in programming we are going to get when millions of kids who have never been influenced by Windoze get their hands on these things?

This is gonna be HUGE

[TheGreatLordGeorge]

whoa, thats wierd, i have never used linux but hear its not that good, but for $100 bucks... maybe

Finally a computer that keeps you in shape! (referring to powersource)

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

whoa, thats wierd, i have never used linux but hear its not that good, but for $100 bucks... maybe

Finally a computer that keeps you in shape! (referring to powersource)

I don't know much -let me rephrase that - I don't know anything about how Linux works except that it's free and pretty much open to anyone who wants to tinker.

I don't know how soon tech-privileged nations will get these laptops - they are specifically aimed at the low/no-tech nations, but the very fact that technologically uninitiated children are getting the chance to have these devices and an open-style operating system is, I'm absolutely certain, going to revolutionize computing within a decade of their becoming widely available.

And I'm talking serious computing revolution, here, not just different or better programs.

[TheGreatLordGeorge]

hey, maybe we will get a thai kid who has oneon gateworld!

[stargate barbie]

whoa, thats wierd, i have never used linux but hear its not that good, but for $100 bucks... maybe

Finally a computer that keeps you in shape! (referring to powersource)

i've heard that linux is great. way better then windows or mac os. never used it though, but i'm basing this on info from a few friends who have used it and are way more computer smart than i.

this is a great idea, exept that to get books and decent use out of it at a lower cost than actually buying paper books, they'd probably have to have the internet. if they are going to fairly poor kids, i doubt they'll have easy net access.

good idea though, hope they can make it work.

[Arative]

Linux is great if you know what you are doing. It certainly isn't user friendly enough that it could gain a significant market share over Windows.

I use a fedora core for a myth tv dvr box and its fairly stable. Took a while for me to configure it the way I wanted but before I used it, I had never touched Linux before.

On another note, I've been beta testing Vista and I really like what I see so far. Security is a big priority for microsoft with this OS. For instance, this goes more for normal users than for admins but any time a program wants to make changes to the system files, a user will get a pop up asking if it is ok. So it will make it harder for a virus to access and change system files.

[rarocks24]

That's good, considering Vista is supposed to laced with DRM up the yingyang (remember when companies told you to make backups of their cds...well, you can't do that anymore, because of pirating, in fact, you can't make backups at all, Vista soon won't let you...you can't burn programs or anything, unless it's home movies ).

I'm actively campaigning to get everyone to boycott any OS that puts in it's programming DRM.

[VirtualCLD]

Out of curiosity, how did you do that! (the Fedora Core and Myth TV) I tried doing that, and after a painfull couple of days I got TV, but the audio and video are not in sync.

[DysfunctionalVeteran]

Windoze...?


LOL....


Windows get's an undeservedly bad rap. Usually from people who aren't actually all that technical, and almost never from actual programmers.


All Operating systems have their good sides and bad sides.


What fold should know about Linux is that there are a LOT of different "flavors" that you can use.

I kind of like QNX, and if anyone has heard of it you probably know whay I like it.

In Linux, Red Hat is pretty much the "gold standard" in terms of real world penetration on the enterprise level.

Linux is, and this is an oversimplification; a knockoff of Unix created by someone who didn't feel like paying a license fee.

Of course, that wont start as many arguments as emacs vs. VI, but that too is another story.


Probably the best two "nix" operating systems on the market aren't even Linux.

They are FreeBSD, which was so good that Steve Jobs used it as the basis of OSX. (On 10.0 there was a hack that you could use to boot directly into the OS via a shell, without the eye candy that regular users see.)

This is Ironic, because I did put Yellow Dog Linux on my Wallstreet Laptop, but I had to hack the video driver (OK, use an argument in the boot process) to get it to run.


The most SECURE operating system is OpenBSD, but it is about as far from user friendly as you can get.

Oh and...
Cisco's IOS is Linux. In a manner of speaking...

[Arative]

Out of curiosity, how did you do that! (the Fedora Core and Myth TV) I tried doing that, and after a painfull couple of days I got TV, but the audio and video are not in sync.

I used this website extensively, followed it almost exactly. Its a good guide.
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/

Although lately I've been reading up and trying gb-pvr on another box and have had an easier time of setting things up. Its windows based.
http://www.gbpvr.com/

[ShadowMaat]

And if these nifty laptops went to actual needy children, that'd be a great thing, but I can see them being rerouted to not-so-needy businessmen and other tightwads... who would undoubtedly lie through their teeth about who the intended recipient was.

When the comps are made available for the general public (if they ever are) that would be cool. I know I'd buy 'em for my nieces in a heartbeat. And probably one for me, too.

[Tok'Ra Hostess]

And if these nifty laptops went to actual needy children, that'd be a great thing, but I can see them being rerouted to not-so-needy businessmen and other tightwads... who would undoubtedly lie through their teeth about who the intended recipient was.

When the comps are made available for the general public (if they ever are) that would be cool. I know I'd buy 'em for my nieces in a heartbeat. And probably one for me, too.

I think that they will, at first, because the people behind OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) will be very hands on. This has not been an easy project to complete by any means.

Someone mentioned Red Hat, and in the OLPC FAQ: http://www.laptop.org/faq.en_US.html
Red Hat is mentioned as one of the founding corporate members, along with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Brightstar, Google, Marvell, News Corporation and Nortel.

As to internet:

What about connectivity? Aren't telecommunications services expensive in the developing world?
When these machines pop out of the box, they will make a mesh network of their own, peer-to-peer. This is something initially developed at MIT and the Media Lab. We are also exploring ways to connect them to the backbone of the Internet at very low cost.

They claim these laptops can do everything the expensive, bloated machines can do except store data. We'll see.

[miju]

well linux isn't perfect - in fact CUPS is broken in ubuntu dapper at the moment

[rarocks24]

That's why I recommend Debian or Gentoo.

[ShadowMaat]

I took a "which platform are you?" quiz once and came up as Red Hat Linux. Made me curious about it, but I've never had the time or temperament to check it out personally.