Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out

hankmt writes "About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 Linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz VIA C7 processor and 512 MB of RAM. While the specs are useless for Vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses (it may still be available in some stores). And the product sales page at wal-mart.com is full of glowing reviews from new and old Linux users alike."

What's that in bogomips

[Ungrounded Lightning]

How many bogomips are we talking here...

Re:What's that in bogomips

[Josh Booth]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of $200 Wal-Mart PCs...

Oh, I guess someone did.

Re:What's that in bogomips

[nschubach]

You didn't know that the Beowulf project was named after the movie?

Re:What's that in bogomips

[c7fanboy]

It's nice to see a non-Intel / non-AMD x86... Way to go VIA / Centaur Technology!

Re:What's that in bogomips

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Approximately 11.1 [link to wikipedia deleted]

No, that's the index. But thinks for the link.

Looks like it would be about 3,000 bogomips. Not cutting edge, but not too shabby either.

Re:

[funfail]

so *I AM THE ANSWER*

Then who is the question?

Re:

[wixardy]

Then who is the question?

He's on first.

It's been like this

[Eddi3]

It sold out much faster then this; It's been out of stock for at least 2 days.

Re:It's been like this

[Anonymous Coward]

Manager at a local Wall Mart said he had 80 to go on sale at 8:00AM and they were all sold at 8:01. People began lining up at 6 in the morning, and they gave slips to the first 80 in line. I went in at 5PM and people were still trying to buy them.

Aargh!

[symbolset]

I had it in my cart this morning. Didn't close the deal. Maybe I can catch the next round. I also would like to know how many they sold and how fast. If any come available open box maybe I can get one of those.

I have the 1.3GHz via, and I like it. With Vista any kind of video is a slide show, even with the XP drivers loaded. Runs XP decently well with 1GB of memory. With Ubuntu it's just a regular PC. Power efficient, there are kits to scale it down for your car. It's not a toy -- you can do real stuff with it.

If anybody bought one of these and aren't happy with its linuxy wierdness, try selling it on ebay. I think you'll do better than taking it back to the store. :-)

I'm not buying the $299 one with Vista and twice the RAM. They can keep that. You can get a 2GB stick of DDR2-800 at newegg for $50 so if they wanted $250 for the box with 2GB in it I could go there.

WalMart does not like to run out of stuff. I wonder if they'll take this as a sign that Everex isn't ready to be a WalMart supplier, or as a sign that we're all ready for the smokin cheap environmentally friendly linux pc. Can Via even make the motherboards to meet the demand? I hear their output is rather limited.

Re:Aargh!

[sm62704]

It's not a toy -- you can do real stuff with it.

You put me straight into geezer mode with that statement - This blows my mind. The IBM XP is a quarter of a century old, had a 5mhz clock speed (this box has a 1300mhz clock speed), had 64K of memory and a ten mb hard drive, and guess what? you could still do real work on it! Spreadsheets, word processors, statistics, databases; I used these things at work in 1987 (we also had a couple of 286s and the blindingly fast 386 at the time).

I bought one used, the one I bought for my home had a Hercules card so was capable of graphics. I bought some extra memory and a joystick port, installed them, and had a gaming machine.

Real work? Pshaw, when the 486 (capable of internet A/V, could sample and play CD quality WAV files) came out a computer like the Wal Mart Ubantu box was a supercomputer.

-mcgrew [kuro5hin.org]

Re:Aargh!

[Bombula]

Give me a minute here to figure out ... what this implies ... about newer MS operating systems... urrrrmmmmm.... DAMN. I thought I had it there for a second, but your comment's significance has eluded me...

But I'm confused.

[onefriedrice]

Wait... does this mean that we like Walmart now?

Just wondering...

Re:But I'm confused.

[d3ac0n]

Wait... does this mean that we like Walmart now?

Just wondering...

I never disliked Walmart. Although I am aware of the reasons many people do not like Walmart. (No, I don't need them reiterated here, thank you.)

One thing I've suspected for awhile, is that the "Linux Revolution" (Linux taking off as a desktop alternative) would NOT happen at businesses or with high-end users. It will happen much like the "Windows Revolution" happened back in the 90's. It will start with the "Walmart buyer". Ordinary people making ordinary FINANCIAL decisions to buy a cheap PC.

This is the regular, ordinary, joe-sixpack, "what's a right-click?" kind of person. The kind of people scorned by many of the elitists in the OS and PC fields. The people looked down upon by many many many here at Slashdot as backward, ignorant rubes living in "flyover country". The kind of people that voted for GW Bush, that fly American flags from their porches, that have communities with 4th of July parties that everyone in town attends. Small-town middle American traditional people.

THEY are the ones that will start the Linux revolution. Not because they "did the research" or "grok FOSS" or any of that elitist crap. But because it makes financial sense to buy a $200 US PC that can do everything they need it to do. They will get introduced to Linux for the first time, perhaps as their first PC EVER, and will love it. They will stick with this machine for at least 5 years, as it will be able to handle all the basic tasks they need it for, and when it dies or they need another, they will look for another LINUX PC to replace it with.

The Linux revolution begins... In Iowa, at Walmart.

Re:But I'm confused.

[hdparm]

Heh. Top that with Enlightenment (which is actually shipped on these) and you get easy distro for typical Wal-Mart buyer.

Then, for the next shipment, you cut down on setup costs and provide the machine with Gentoo minimal CD bundled.

?

Profit!

Not to troll, but what do they expect for returns?

[r_jensen11]

Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here. How many of them are going to return these things when that AOL CD they have doesn't work automagically? How many of these people are expected to have DSL or Cable instead of dial-up? How many are going to be returned because they don't have MS Office pre-installed on them?

Based upon the comments there ... none.

[khasim]

It seems the people buying it know that it isn't Windows or they're buying it for friends/family and they'll be providing the support.

And for home users it's all about knowing someone who can fix it when it breaks. With Windows there's usually some neighbor's kid who "knows computers".

So don't expect too many returns on this.

Re:

[tftp]

With Windows there's usually some neighbor's kid who "knows computers"

The same kid may also know a certain alphanumeric string that can fix the Linux trouble.

Re:Based upon the comments there ... none.

[SnoopJeDi]

man?

Re:Based upon the comments there ... none.

[Darundal]

Well, actually, it looks like all the people who are buying it online and writing reviews know that it isn't Windows.

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[wizardforce]

how many AOL users bother to change their OS to linux? how many people use the features in MS office that OpenOffice doesn't support? how many would even notice the difference?

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[wwwillem]

How many AOL users even know what an OS is ??

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[rucs_hack]

How many AOL users even know what an OS is ??

They know exactly what an OS is, it's the blue window that tells them they've got mail, duh..

I don't expect many returns.

[Erris]

Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here.

That is important, they are not like Slasdot readers. Unlike business users or college students, M$ has done no favors for these people and they have zero loyalty.

How many of them are going to return these things when that AOL CD they have doesn't work automagically?

I don't know. The EEE has an AOL button, no CD is required. I know it's hard to believe but AOL would be happy to spam users of other OS.

How many of these people are expected to have DSL or Cable instead of dial-up?

None. Why should they?

How many are going to be returned because they don't have MS Office pre-installed on them?

None. Open Office is more than enough for the average school paper. Very few people actually NEED M$ Office for work and even they hate it. The rest of the world considers M$'s ever changing, secret file formats an expensive ass pain. They are right.

Anyone who actually needs M$ Office will have their boss pay for it or pirate the junk. If M$ makes the second option impossible, the first option will have to happen or the boss will learn to use free software. M$ is not going to be able to get everyone to pony up $400 every couple of years for a text editor and that's where they system breaks down. Sooner or later, all of those smart business users and college graduates will figure out that they don't need M$ either.

Re:I don't expect many returns.

[lordofthechia]

What I wanna know is 2 things, how effective are the 3D drivers for the onboard Via Video chip. And what repositories is this thing using (How compltete / Up to date are they)? Best thing about Ubuntu are the kickass up to date repositories and snappy package manager (Thanks Debian!). This has Synaptic but not much else is mentioned.

Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] is sparse at the moment. On the Graphics side, the Via Arena site I just saw:

"XVidtune Tool". "2D", "MPEG2/4 Hardware Acceleration", "Hardware Video Overlay", and "TV Out" including HDTV, DuoView

So... can I play Neverball, Warcraft III, etc, on this thing?

Via chipsets

[phorm]

Take this with a grain of salt, as I last actually played with 3d graphics on a VIA board sometime ago. Years back, the drivers were a royal PAIN in the butt to get working, but nowadays there's acceleration built into the kernel if I remember correctly. In either case, the 3d acceleration is decent enough to play neverball, and I've never had any issues playing DVD's, DivX movies, and using TV out etc on my 1GHZ Epia M10000 (that is, until it blew a capacitor).

As to Warcraft III, I couldn't comment. Back

Re:

[phorm]

Short answer is... kinda.

I replaced mine and it worked for awhile, but then died again (not sure why). You can give it a shot, since caps are cheap. Basically you need to find caps with the same rating, clip the existing ones so there's some stalk above the board, and then solder a new cap onto the remnants of the old stalk.

Sadly, it seems that VIA uses (or at least used to use, not sure about current) inferior caps, as I had an M10000 and an M10000-2 (or whatever the one with the PCMCIA slot is) fry ov

Re:lol dollars

[UncleTogie]

BTW, I've yet to meet someone who hates Microsoft Office (the "junk" as you call it, lol), as per your assertion.

Agreed. "Hate" might be too strong a word.

However, tell a small business client that they've got to buy a separate license for EACH station for MS-Office. While you might not get "hate", you're sure not going to get any "sweet sweet lovin' ", either. Typically, they next ask for workarounds to install one copy on multiple machines.

Personally, that's my big gripe with Office and Vista. MS marketing aside, I can't see the value in paying $400 for a software package that does what its parent company wants. Heck, I have installed an OS that didn't cost a dime and uses an office suite of the same cost... and it does what *I* want.

....and I donate to support those. THAT is value.

Re:lol dollars

[SL Baur]

I've yet to meet someone who hates Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is total hell. The menus take two or three clicks to get right on a notebook for me. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. (Star Office on Sun's is a little better, but not by much).

Microsoft Office has an interface designed in Hell by idiots. I hate it. HATE IT.

You can't do anything that isn't programmed in. My boss, who is a Microsoft fan, fumbles around in its interface, I've watched him. The emperor is wearing no clothes.

You just think it's OK because you don't know anything better.

Yeah, I know I"ll be modded down for this. Whatever. Star Office sucks, but so does Microsoft Office.

I was impressed by what is now known as Microsoft Word before it was bought out by Microsoft, but that was a couple decades ago. What is also impressive is that I see the same kind of fumbling around in a twisty maze of GUI menus all alike that I saw when someone was once trying to impress me with Microsoft Windows for Workgroups. Not more than a couple of years previous, I had people screaming at me at my workplace to not require any of that in the UI guidelines I was writing for that section of the company.

Re:

[marcosdumay]

Well, I am an Emacs user. And you know what, I used it for 3 years before touching its configuration file. Also, my current config file is 5 lines long for using a GUI and 1 line for using a CLI, and 2 more for an obscure programming language I've tried once, totaling 8 lines. I can copy that same file on every machine I touch and have (cumulatively) spent less than half working day configuring it.

Emacs comes with sensible defauts, you just need to configure obscure functions. Word is a hell to use withou

Re:

[Weedlekin]

"I had a homework assignment that required me to use a Star. I was not impressed by Smalltalk and object oriented programming then, neither am I impressed now."

The Star's software was written in Mesa rather than Smalltalk, and it didn't originally ship with Smalltalk (or any other programming language for that matter). Smalltalk was added later as an option, but then so were several other languages, including Lisp.

"Too complex and bug-ridden compared to simpler things like functional programming"

Smalltalk

Re:lol dollars

[ozmanjusri]

Please don't pay attention to this guy.

Then perhaps you'd like to address the issues he raises instead.

I've listed them below for your convenience.

• These are typical Walmart customers who have zero loyalty to either Microsoft or Linux.
• No CD is required for AOL. It is easy for an ISP to be platform-agnostic.
• DSL and Cable are platform-agnostic, but dial-up users can purchase a modem for less than the cost of a Windows license, let alone Office, antivirus, spyware removers etc.
• Nobody will return a $200 computer because it doesn't have Office installed on it. OpenOffice does the job nicely, and M$ Office is never installed free on budget Windows computers. Moreover, M$'s ever changing, secret file formats are an expensive ass pain.
• It won't take long before anyone with a clue realises ponying up $400 in monopoly rent every couple of years for a document writer is pointless when there's another option for half the price and better longevity.

I'm looking forward to your reasoned response...

Re:Modems vs broadband

[Kadin2048]

It has a serial port, so if you want to use dialup, you can always attach a real modem. Those are well supported on Linux, far moreso than internals. So if someone wants dialup, you have a pretty easy solution to give them. I can't imagine that a modem costs more than $25-30 these days anyway. (That's assuming you can't find one for free; people give them away all the time on Freecycle.)

But anyway, I think this is a moot point; most people who bought the machines probably knew exactly what they were buying. It'll only be when the enthusiast market gets saturated that you're going to see these machines trickling down to the "retractable cupholder" crowd.

Re:Modems vs broadband

[o'reor]

It has a serial port, so if you want to use dialup, you can always attach a real modem. Those are well supported on Linux, far moreso than internals.

Yup. Besides, external modems are no longer supported out-of-the-box on Vista. I tried to hook up a serial-line US Robotics Sportster 56k on my dad's laptop lately. Windows Vista simply ignored it, and proposed no solution to try and detect it. Kubuntu, on the other hand, set it up immediately with KPPP. That was one more reason for my dad to abandon Windows and switch completely to Linux.

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[schnikies79]

I don't believe a lot of buyers were typical wal-mart customers. These PC's have been blasted all over every tech site for the last several days and each site has been covered in comments about people who want to get one. There are comments on this slashdot article by people who have bought them.

I think a load of these were bought by linux fans wanting to support linux on a retail box. for a low price.

Re:

[sm62704]

Remember, these are typical Walmart customers here.

I resent that incredibly racist and elitist statement. I may not be the "typical" WalMart customer, but I do shop there. I would be a fool to spend fifty dollars for a pair of jeans elsewhere when I can get a pair of Wranglers at Wal Mart for $12. I would be a fool to pay $8 for a big bottle of Listerine at Osco's ehen I can get the same bottle for half the price at Wal Mart.

Is Wal Mart evil? Sure they are. ALL big corporations are evil. I'd rather spend te

Re:

[sm62704]

That's the thing, seee, if Walmart was the only one then I probably wouldn't shop there. But the stuff I see in WalMart is the same stuff I see everywhere else; same brands, etc. When I call my mortgage company I talk to someone with an accent so think I can't even understand him.

I do refuse to use the self-checkout in th egrocery store. Not like it's going to do any good, I used to refuse to use self-service at the gas station untill there was no such thing as full service.

If there was an alternative I'd u

Re:

[Excelsior]

Should an Apple PC have a warning that it does not use Windows? Should your cell phone, TV, Tivo, Microwave, vehicle diagnostic computer, DVD player? Should a Vista PC warn it's not really Windows compatible? That would be a little like a Mazda RX7 having a warning that this is not a Lamborghini. Buyer beware.

If people were lining up for this, they knew what it was. They read about it ahead of time. They didn't just line up for the fu...n of it.

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[rts008]

That would be a little like a Mazda RX7 having a warning that this is not a Dump Truck.

There, fixed that for you.

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[penix1]

Or on the other hand, if you had no knowledge of computers and walked into a store only to see a machine for $200 and right next to it the same machine for $500-$700 which would you buy? OS choice really isn't as important as some on /. would make it out to be to the average Joe. All they are looking for is will it do what they want it to do for the cheapest price. Here is where Linux can fall flat on its face if someone doesn't make retail versions of software as available and ubiquitous as Windows software. Put a boxed set of Open Office next to that Microsoft Office suite and then we can talk. You see, there is the problem with this thing. Everything you need is included with the distro making this kind of visibility moot. The problem is that the same time Joe Average is picking out that computer they are also looking at the software shelf loaded with Microsoft centric crap. The moment they pick up that shareware disk for $5.00 and ask, "will this work on that box I'm buying?" will be the kiss of death on that sale. Add in the fact that sales people at WalMart aren't the pick of the crop and mess up even Windows technical issues and it is a recipe for a PR disaster.

Assuming that at least some of those sales of this box was to Joe Average, this can be a boon or bust moment all dependant on the support they get from WalMart. If WalMart washes their hands after sale (i.e. "All sales are final. Take it up with the manufacturer or Ubuntu") then this could be doomed after all the geeks have gotten theirs.

Personally, I wish WalMart success on this venture. There is nothing more healthy to a monopoly than competition.

Re:

[petermgreen]

Or on the other hand, if you had no knowledge of computers and walked into a store only to see a machine for $200 and right next to it the same machine for $500-$700 which would you buy?
Your figures are greatly exaggerated. Even in rip off britan XP home/vista home basic (which are the editions are a cheap shit box would come with) whitebox OEM are arround £50 ($100) including VAT (our equivilent of sales tax), it is widely believed that the big brand OEMs pay even less.

The problem is that the same ti

Re:Not to troll, but what do they expect for retur

[oatworm]

Right after someone invents the mod "-1, can't spell douche"

Thank you, thank you - I'm here every night. Be sure to tip your cocktail waitress.

Useful user reviews - oh wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Not quite what you'd think!, 10/31/2007
By NWAshopper, AR Read all reviews by this reviewer

Value for price paid: 1 out of 5
Meets Expectations: 1 out of 5

Buyers beware! Don't let the low cost of this computer sway your credit card. This computer doesn't have the power to run Windows XP!!! This is a decent buy for the tech smart who are looking for ITX Hardware on the cheap. DO NOT BUY. You will be very dissapointed!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Great Value for Money, 11/06/2007
By CompuShopr Read all reviews by this reviewer

Value for price paid: 5 out of 5
Meets Expectations: 5 out of 5

This is a Linux machine that's capable of XP or Vista. It runs quick, and upgrades easily. Major con is no monitor. Tried XP and Vista and it runs like a champ. Definitely recommend this product.

Re:Useful user reviews - oh wait

[Bo'Bob'O]

Not fast enough for XP? I know the C7 isn't the fastest machine, but, I don't buy it. I ran XP on my PII-350 laptop with 300 some MB of ram for years without problem. I only upgraded for the luxury, really. If I'd just put in a flash blocker, I could still be happily browsing Slashdot and doing work on it. I suppose it's possible that a PII-350 could out preform a 1.7 ghz chip of a different architecture, but it dosn't seem likely, could anyone enlighten me here?

Walmart + Linux = ...

[patio11]

... the Slashdot equivalent of strapping buttered toast to the back of a kitten and pushing it off a table. You could power a perpetual motion machine with the flames generated by this combo...

Also available from a small retailer...

[christian.einfeldt]

...called Zareason:

http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16160&cat=0&page=1 [zareason.com]

So you can buy it there with a clean conscience. heh.

BTW, I have no business relation with the family that runs Zareason, but I did buy about $8,400.00 worth of products from them, and Zareason did a fine job of shipping the products to the public middle school that I ordered on behalf of. More details on that purchase here:

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/11/1446254 [slashdot.org]

Re:

[Duhavid]

I think you mean "perpetual emotion machine".

More /. Cognitive Dissonance

[goldspider]

Wal*Mart = Bad
Linux = Good

*whimper*

Re:

[arth1]

It's like your mother-in-law driving your new Porsche off a cliff, you mean?

Seriously, though, you don't have to buy a sub-$200 PC from Wal-Mart if you don't want to.
At Pricewatch, there's quite a few bring-your-own-OS deals, including Core 2 Duo or athlon 64 x2 systems for ~$200 including shipping.

Re:

[renegadesx]

No this is Walmart which obviously means they were assembled by legal chinese citizins working on an annual salary of $2.50, so I would be testing the case for GHB if I got one

Do they sell em with monitors?

[QuantumG]

An 15" LCD monitor will cost you about $200.. so, what, $30 for a keyboard and mouse.. $430 for a computer, not bad.

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

$200 for a 15"? Where are you buying your monitors? I just bought a nice 19" flat panel (1280x1024) from NewEgg for $168.

Re:

[QuantumG]

Silly me, assumed smaller LCD would be cheaper.. 15" is hard to get these days.

I ordered one.

[bcrowell]

I ordered one online for my kid. It's supposed to arrive at the local walmart by about Nov. 26. My wife was convinced my brain had been taken over by aliens, since I normally don't like walmart. I was like, "Honey, this is Linux! It's not evil, it's good!"

Walmart has had other linux PCs for sale online. What was supposed to be different about this one was that it was supposed to be on the shelves in the stores. AFAICT that never actually happened. The local walmart was one of the ones on the list that was

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

I hope these machines are good. I used to buy the $200 Fry's Great Quality machines, but Fry's is no longer selling those.

That's probably because they weren't making any money on them, as I imagine Wal-Mart isn't making on these $200 Linux things.

Re:

[ozmanjusri]

I imagine Wal-Mart isn't making on these $200 Linux things.

Retail component prices:

• VIA pc2500 ATX Mainboard & 1.5GHz C7-D CPU Bundle $65
• 5-Bay 20+4-Pin mATX Case w/250-Watt PS (Beige) $14.99
• 80gb Seagate hd $49
• 512 DDRII ram $24
• Logitech NASCAR Keyboard and Optical Wheel Mouse $7.99
• Samsung 52x32x52 CDRW & 16x DVD-ROM IDE Drive $21.99

That makes a total component retail cost of $182.97 if you built one yourself. I'd estimate then that Walmart would get them wholesale for about $160, which would

Cheap/Slow PCs are more than capable

[JoeCommodore]

I hope these machines are good. I used to buy the $200 Fry's Great Quality machines, but Fry's is no longer selling those

Me too. Well the architecture is pretty similar (cyrix CPU) but it looks like the software is a factor better, many of those GQ machines didn't have adequate drivers to support the on-board video so you were stuck at 640x480 or whatever. Though installing Mandrake (back then) usually took care of that.

The thing that really burns me is all the "Good for Light Word Processing"crap these power-system zealots keep spewing - and I ma not discriminating here, all of the platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux are full of em. I can tell you that machine (512MB RAM/80GB HDD) is probably capable of some great DTP (Scribus) could be great for illustration (Inkscape) and really serious office work (OOo). It may not be fast at doing such things, but we should never say it is not capable.

As a Classic computerist I know of authors who write books and other published works still on Commodore 64s, (heck some have never left their typewriter behind). To them they get familiar with something and stick to it they don't upgrade because they are to busy being productive with what they have (the hard part is finding replacement parts for their daisy wheel printers). Same reason why the XO will be a hit with kids, they will not see those laptops as underpowered or slow, but the draw is they have access and the speed isn't really a factor when you are starting out (as they get better and outgrow it, then that's another matter; it took me years to outgrow the VIC-20).

Desktop Linux growth in 2007

[compumike]

In the community around me, I've seen a lot of growth in the use of Linux on the desktop just in the last year. But probably the most interesting trend is that I've seen a bunch of new Ubuntu users among the mechanical engineering students, who in general aren't particularly computer-nerdy, and even more amazingly, are actually dependent on Windows-only software for some of their CAD tools (i.e. Solidworks).

I think the Walmart results might be indicative of a growing trend where people are just about ready to make the leap themselves... particularly when it comes preinstalled like it does here. Another step in the right direction.

What I'd love to see, though, is how much previous computer experience all of those Walmart reviewers had -- for some, it seems like quite a bit.

--
Electronics kits for the digital generation. [nerdkits.com]

But,

[bedwards09]

Does it run Windows?

Re:

[flyingfsck]

Actually yes. I have three 1GHz Via machines. Two runs Linux (NFS servers stuffed full of disk drives), one runs ExPee.

Re:

[trolltalk.com]

Throw an extra stick of ram in it (what, $50) and run your windows apps under wine.

Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle America

[reporter]

Walmart is not the sort of place where you find geeks, techies, and various assorted dweebs. This store is where America shops and is patronized by people who know little about calculus or physics.

That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux. The lesson is that there is a ready market, in middle America, for Linux-based applications. Will software developers heed this lesson?

For most people, the monster computer (with globs of memory and a gazillion hertz of processor speed) running Windows XP is already more machine than most Americans need. Now, Microsoft will kill off Windows XP in order to sell Vista to us. We will need a super-monster computer to run Vista. This whole process of bloated operating systems (OSes) driving purchases of even more excessive amounts of hardware is a damned waste of money.

The simple machine that runs Linux is good enough for most people. The number one application in America, after all, is e-mail.

Software developers should tune into middle America and sell Linux-based applications so that we can put an end to this never-ending cycle of bigger, badder OS needing bigger, badder computer.

Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri

[Eddi3]

From what I, and others (Like this guy [slashdot.org]) can tell, a vast majority of the machines were sold online.

Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri

[cryptoluddite]

So who said geeks didn't buy them out? I almost bought one myself since before this you could even hardly get a C7 motherboard for $200. Average price on newegg is like ~180 now.

Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri

[Anonymous Coward]

The biggest vote of confidence in Linux is that Walmart even sells it. Walmart doesn't put stuff on the shelves if it isn't going to sell. That it sold out just shows that Walmart was right.

Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri

[FSWKU]

That a Linux machine is sold out at Walmart suggests that plain folks -- not like you and me -- know and respect Linux. The lesson is that there is a ready market, in middle America, for Linux-based applications.

Of course with this being Wal-Mart, the more likely scenario is Joe Sixpack reads "Ayy Beth-Ann-Bobbi-Jo-Ruthie-May! They got dem compyooturz at thu walmart for $200!"

With the absence of "them thar geek peopullz" that talk about "virusin' and spahhhwurin' the box", they can pick one up on their

Re:Walmart Lesson:Linux is Popular in Middle Ameri

[xebra]

Wow, are you ever an elitist prick. I guarantee you almost everyone on Slashdot shops at Wal-Mart, because almost everyone on Slashdot is "plain" and normal in almost every respect. If the PC is sold out, 85% of it is because of dorks like you and me. The other 15% is people that didn't know what they were buying.

Re:

[Frogbert]

Wow are you ever an ethnocentric prick. I guarantee you there is a significant percentage of Slashdot users who aren't even in a country that has Wal-mart stores.

Re:Dare I say it.. or will it jinx it?

[Kadin2048]

It's not the 'year of the Linux desktop.' It's not this year, it won't be next year, and it won't be any year after that.

But that's okay. Linux -- and other Free OSes -- don't need a "year." They're gaining traction, slowly, and will continue to do so. The migration away from vendor lock-in on the part of the general public isn't something that's going to happen in a single year. It's going to happen over the course of decades.

The writing is mostly on the wall: the price of hardware has dropped and will continue to fall, and that makes it a lot harder to justify big bucks for an OS, while at the same time more people are satisfied with their current machines and don't want to upgrade, meaning you can't lower your price and make it up in volume. Less revenue means less to spend on top talent, and that means a crappier product. The public may be slow, but eventually it catches on when you try to push too many lemons. (And once it does, it can be brutal and unforgiving; just ask the big U.S. automakers.)

Microsoft will do what it can to wring the last drops out of the Windows/Office monopoly, but they're busy diversifying as quickly as they can out into other areas. They're too big to just keel over and die overnight, but they'll probably have to pull an IBM: preserve their brand and reinvent themselves as a different company.

I'm optimistic that when the history of the late 20th and early 21st century is written, it will be remembered as a sort of digital Wild West, a lawless time, when proprietary non-standards roamed and fortunes could be made and lost overnight. But that's all going to come to an end, and when it does, the advantages of open standards -- and, to a slightly lesser extent, open source and Free software -- will be pretty clear. The forces driving that transition, however, are slow and grinding. They're not the sort of thing that lend themselves to a "year of," except arbitrarily and in retrospect.

Re:

[CmdrGravy]

I pretty much agree, previously no one I know has taken the idea of Linux at all seriously but in the last month 2 people have independantly told me they tried Ubuntu and really liked it ( looks much better than Vista even was one comment ) and someone else is asking me which is the best version of Linux to install.

In addition to that members of my family have bought a variety of consumer electronics which have turned out to run on Linux ( FSG, Tom-Tom and some sort of cable box thing ). I'd say Linux has a

Must resist....

[Itninja]

...urge to support the Wal Mart beast. But Linux is good right? But wait...Wal Mart is not good. Unless, they throw me a open-source bone. Then they're good right? Damn, I hate moral dilemmas. Why can't everything Wal Mart sells, just be something I either do not want or do not need? It's almost as if they are pandering to....hey look! They have for $1.99/dozen!

We are not clones of our average here.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

But Linux is good right? But wait...Wal Mart is not good. Unless, they throw me a open-source bone. Then they're good right?

The readership of Slashdot varies drastically. Attempts to use social pressure to homogenize it have failed, with great hilarity.

Apparently you did not get the memo. B-)

Please do not expect all of us to march in step.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

I suspect manipulation of reviews.

Yes. It's called "lying", and it's a popular pastime in the marketing world.

Re:

[rlk]

And they're all going out of their way to point out that it's running Linux, not Windows, that you shouldn't expect your Windows programs to run on it, and that you should understand what it is and what it isn't. Is this really an astroturf campaign to get people to think for themselves?

Re:I don't trust the reviews

[brue68]

Or they could have gone to Wal*Mart exclusively for this item. The Ubuntu forums have exploded over this, and there are several people who have bought the product for friends or family. The torrent for gOS had quite a few seeders when I downloaded it (didn't like it). Took less than 45 minutes, more like 30.

Re:I don't trust the reviews

[turing_m]

This seems to be the main thread, there are a couple hundred posts now.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=599025 [ubuntuforums.org]

Re:

[Squarewav]

I agree, the most notable thing is very few talk about the hardware and instead go on and on about how great Linux is. The reviews that do talk about the hardware give it lower scores. While the C7s are fast enough to get things done unless you are going from a sub 1ghz to it, it will seem slow even under Linux.

Re:

[Derek Loev]

Damn! StupidFilter [fastsilicon.com]'s at it again.

Dubious

[Paul_Hindt]

This sounds good and all, getting Linux to the teeming masses...but at the same time the people that might buy a computer at Wal-Mart are probably people that don't even know what Linux is or even what Windows is and that there is even any difference. Some people may have just bought these because, Hey!, $200 for A WHOLE COMPUTER is a steal, right?!

Cool, but how many did the really sell?

[Tracy Reed]

I am very happy to hear this news and pointed a number of people at this machine. But it would be a lot more meaningful if we knew how many they sold out of. 10? Big whoop. 10,000? More impressive.

Re:Cool, but how many did the really sell?

[Eddi3]

According to the article [wired.com] the original /. story linked to, the number to be sold was around 10,000.

look out!

[pak9rabid]

if this isn't chair-throwing worthy, I don't know what is.

They forgot an important disclaimer!

[distantbody]

Unfortunately Wal-Mart have made a huge oversight, and they're gonna have quite a few disgruntled customers because of it. I mean, they forgot the "not good for pr0n" disclaimer!!!

blazingly fast ... Enlightenment WM

[localman]

Amazing what a decade of hardware progress can do :)

Wal-Mart is really trying to make Linux sell

[christian.einfeldt]

Wal-Mart has been experimenting with Linux PCs for a long, long time. Here are just a few examples:

2002 Walmart sells Lindows PCs:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/wal-mart-ships-linux-pcs-23619/ [linuxquestions.org]

2003 Microtel computers with SUSE Linux:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,111557-page,1/article.html [pcworld.com]

2004 Linspire computers on sale at Wal-Mart for $498.00

http://www.news.com/Wal-Mart-debuts-498-Linux-laptop/2100-1044_3-5498006.html [news.com]

May of 2007, Dell computers on sale at Wal-Mart:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/15701 [networkworld.com]

Wal-Mart is not stupid. They know that as the price of PCs falls, their sales volume rises. They have a vested interested in commoditizing PCs. With Microsoft, Wal-Mart gets a limited mark-up. With Linux PCs made by small vendors, Wal-Mart gets to call the shots. Wal-Mart has dollars signs in their eyes, and those dollars signs are dancing with Tux.

Ha!

[Comatose51]

I knew it! I knew Linux is going to sell out some day! I told you Linux is just as evil M$FT! Sold out to Walmart of all people.

*RTFA*

Oh. Good job, carry on.

Hah! I can image the tech support calls now

[Scoldog]

Customer - "Hi, I have a problem with my computer, it won't boot"

Walmart - "What operating system do you have installed"

Customer - "Windows Vista"

Walmart - "I'm sorry, that PC shipped with Linux. You'll have to reinstall that before we can help you!".

Next thing you know, they'll blame faulty hinges on Windows!

Re:Support???

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably the same as a Windows user... None.

Re:Support???

[Cyko_01]

There's free phone support and a regularly updated app called "Faqly" that contains the latest tech support info for folks stuck offline.

Re:

[Nullav]

I could imagine this being more usable for newbies in general, rather than just those unfamiliar with Linux. It certainly sounds a lot better than Windows with its interactive flow charts ('Troubleshooting Wizard').

Re:

[renegadesx]

Anything bigscale yes, however there are some smaller shops that will do it.

You'd think Aldi would be doing Ubuntu PC's already ;)

Re:Australia sucks

[Nazlfrag]

We also don't have Wal-Mart, so there's a bright side.

Re:

[0123456]

"People just don't have a real use for a very crappy PC."

Most people I know use their PC for web browsing and word processing; this system would be plenty good enough for that, so long as they had a monitor to go with it.

Heck, if I can install more hard disks in there I'm tempted to buy one myself and stick it in the basement to replace my desktop system as our file-server... it's got to burn less power than a 3GHz Pentium.

Re:

[Chemicalscum]

Wow I am intrigued. You must tell me where you got a Mac Mini for under 200 bucks. I'll run out and buy one to install Linux on.

France Invented the Personal Computer

[meehawl]

trying to promote removing the "PC" from making any money what-so-ever in the U.S., ironically the country that invented the PC.

A French company invented, marketed, and sold the first personal computer, the Micral, in 1973 [computerhistory.org].

Via is from Taiwan moron...Taiwan isnt commie

[voss]

The last time I checked Taiwan is a multiparty democratic capitalist country with a
GDP per capita of $29,600. The only people who claim Taiwan is part of PRC is the PRC
and people who dont know geography

They do have factories in China just like every american manufacturer but the
corporation and the chips are from Taiwan.

Re:

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

It's funny how this is modded down as a troll but I'm expected that there really will be a lot of disappointed customers. Some may successfully adapt anyway, but a large proportion won't.

Re:

[MrNiceguy_KS]

What?? Any machine not good enough for Vista isn't good enough for XP? Whatever you're smoking, keep it away from me - I need to be able to think straight.

One of the biggest complaints about Vista I see is that machines that run XP fine are dog slow with Vista.

Re:

[chefmonkey]

Does it play DVD movies?

Yes. [thinkgos.com]