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A Review of the $200 Wal-Mart Linux PC
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun Nov 25, 2007 07:58 AM
from the green-around-the-edges dept.
from the green-around-the-edges dept.
bcrowell writes "Wal-Mart's new $200 Linux PC has generated a lot of buzz in geek circles. Although they're sold out of stores, I bought one for my daughter via mail order, and have written up a review of the system. The hardware seems fine for anyone but a hardcore gamer, but the pre-installed gOS flavor of Ubuntu has a lot of rough edges."
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$200 Linux PCs On Sale At Wal-Mart 537 comments
Placid sends in a Wired blog entry on Wal-Mart's new sub-$200 Linux-based PC. Wired calls it "a custom distribution of Ubuntu Linux," and the AP identifies the distro as gOS, made by a small company in Los Angeles. Wal-Mart began selling Linux PCs in 2002 but they have been out of stock for a while. From the Wired blog: "It has a 1.5 Ghz VIA C7 CPU embedded in a Mini-ITX motherboard, 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. Normally, this would simply mark it as unacceptably low-end for use with modern software. By using the fast Enlightenment desktop manager (instead of heavier-duty alternatives like Gnome or KDE), the makers say it's more responsive than Vista is, even on more powerful computers."
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Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out 619 comments
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."
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A Review of the $200 Wal-Mart Linux PC
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But the real question is... (Score:5, Funny)
it will lie to you about cake (Score:5, Funny)
If you think gOS is bad, you should see gladOS.
Ubuntu rough around the edges (Score:5, Interesting)
All in all, it is hard to complain about something that is free, and I totally plan on continuing my move away from Windows. But I think anyone would be pretty darn hard pressed not to say that Ubuntu doesn't have some rough edges.
One really nice advantage I see, too, is that it sure if nice not to have my hard drive constantly thrashing from all of virus scanners, spyware scanners, etc., running in the background!
Transporter_ii
Re:Ubuntu rough around the edges (Score:4, Informative)
As far as flash, someone else here said synaptic. That should be your first port of call whenever you want to install something new. Type in the application type (e.g. email), and optionally google the names of things that come up in order to research. If you just want to suck it and see, the applications with the ubuntu symbol next to them tend to be more polished.
That you made it this far and still use it is a tribute to Ubuntu's ease of use and default app selection. It tends to be a recipe for frustration and failure to switch operating systems before you are comfortable with the FOSS alternatives to your mission critical applications.
Hardcore gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hardcore gamer? (Score:5, Funny)
Fixed that for you.
The Everex PC is designed from scratch as a low-end machine and the OS is lightweight to match its specs. You don't put tractor tyres on a Hyundai Excel, and you don't put Vista on this machine.
512M of ram? (Score:5, Insightful)
Most of the stores just keep pushing faster and faster machines on people, more than what they need. Vista helps with that being such a pig.
Re:In the long term, Vista will help humanity (Score:4, Interesting)
To go the reductio ad absurdum route, consider this claim: we should legally prevent anyone from buying anything less than a $20,000 32-processor parallel workstation, because humanity will benefit from the spare processing power.
Artificially raising the cost of computers (by law or by unnecessarily inflated system requirements) is harmful in the same way that raising taxes is harmful: Individuals are denied the opportunity to optimize for the most effective use of their funds.
Re:512M of ram? (Score:4, Informative)
Video authoring software (to create the final DVD with menus) that is quite good is DVD Styler.
2) I use vmware server. It's a free download from vmware.com, and free for non-commercial use. When you register, you get a serial number emailed to you.
Re:512M of ram? (Score:5, Funny)
From what I've seen on YouTube, it's not immediately obvious that anyone else agrees with you.
Re:Hardcore gamer? (Score:4, Insightful)
My PC only has 512MB of RAM; built it in about February 2003. Runs Gutsy for most things, has a Windows disk in there for games too. The only RAM issue I've ever really had is that when a Civ 4 game on a big world gets into the modern era, everything slows down horribly - so very many cities and units around the place. I haven't tried to run Portal on this thing yet, though :-)
I might build a new one this year, but... really, this PC's just a net terminal most of the time, or a movie player. Neither task strains it at all. Yes, I'd like to play newer games, but I already have stacks of games I haven't finished that I've accumulated over the years, and if I do decide that I absolutely have to play Bioshock, a 360 is a hell of a lot cheaper than building the gaming box o' doom.
Re:Hardcore gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Photoshop is a bad example, home users might dabble with a photo or two in Photoshop SE or Paint Shop Pro which will happily perform such tasks on an average cheap home PC. This is completely different to the sort of professional graphic design activities for which a high-spec business PC is required.
Wait a sec (Score:2)
Inotehr words, (Score:1)
Running ubuntu on VIA mini-ITX (Score:2)
Unprofessional Review (Score:5, Insightful)
It's full of inconsistencies;
- The guy claims to be experienced with Ubuntu, but didn't know to type his user password at the sudo prompt.
- He manually installs the Flash plugin and calls it unintuitive, when all you need to do is go to a website with Flash content, and it'll automatically install for you.
- He can't find the "log out" menu item...
- He thought installing Gnome would fix a network problem.
And so it goes on. There's almost no real review of what's installed, how easy it is to use, or even how to solve the problems he encounters.About the only thing you learn from him is that a little knowledge is dangerous.
Re:Unprofessional Review (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Unprofessional Review (Score:5, Informative)
I'm the author of the review.
how is anybody buying it expected to know?
Because it's not very hard? Because it's explained in the pamphlet that comes with the PC?
I have the poster that came with it right here in front of me. It's not explained there.
Use the Start button
I tried that. I didn't get the menu items you're talking about.
or right click anywhere on the desktop and select "My GoS", then "Shutdown" from the popup menu.
That's good to know, but the documentation never suggests right-clicking on the desktop.
Re:Unprofessional Review (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to use Slackware or Gentoo as they worked.
I put Suse on my computer to see what it was like, and the sound was not working.
My first reaction was to open a console and lsmod, then cat
The card was there, but the modules were loading in the wrong order, so the motherboard soundcard was loading first and being used by default. So, I started to edit
My friend, who does not use Linux, was watching me do this and I explained what I was doing.
He said 'Why not look in the menu?'
In the menu there was a way to set up the sound card in Yast and select the default.
For some reason, my technical long term Linux user brain never even considered this as a first and obvious thing to do. I think I probably acted like this guy did, instead seeing how the distro was designed to be used, or reading any documentation, I just assumed I knew best and was going to fix it by brute force.
I think it's perhaps a throwback to when the autoconfig stuff was a bit dodgy on Linux and I really did not trust it much, so even if it was there I'd ignore it, and it got to be a habit. Nowadays I use Ubuntu and am happier to let the distro take care of configuration and the little details.
One thing this does tell you (Score:5, Insightful)
It shows that a 'random' person couldn't get the system/OS to work according to his wishes. To be really fair, you really should ask yourselve wether a 'random' person could get other system/OS combo's to work. This includes asking yourselve how well the average random person would deal with installing windows. If you ever had to deal with tech support you would know that most users stumble just as hard with MS software as with OSX and other unixes. Hell, people stumble with their toasters.
To be specific, the SUDO bit had me wondering too, but as I am neither familiar with Ubuntu or sudo (don't use either on my own linux systems) I really can't comment. If Ubuntu does use sudo a lot then it is odd, but does the box say you need to be an experienced Linux user? Couldn't they have provided a help function? Please type in your password?
As for flash, it would have been better if it had worked out of the box, but yes, recently installing it from your browser when prompted has been known to work. This however was not always the case, especially for Opera users.
Enlightenment is a WM that does things a bit differently and the screenshots make it clear it is NOT a straight windows layout copy like KDE and Gnome use (By default). Perhaps he really just didn't know how to get it. Under E17 (The sequel) it is left mouse click on the desktop -> system Might be confusing to a person who normally would NEVER left-click anywhere on the desktop.
He didn't think it would fix a network problem, he just couldn't get the tool too work. That is different. If you know how to setup your network in Windows XP and not in Vista then installing XP again 'fixes' your problem. Granted it does sound like "oh they are not doing everything 100% like I am used too, it sucks" but that is how most users are.
So is it a good review? No, but it does tell us something and that is that Joe Average is a moron who doesn't like change and that it is very hard to develop an OS for that guy. See it not as a review but one of those usability reports usability experts so love to go one about. It might help you to develop an OS for average user.
And no windows ain't that OS either and NEITHER is OSX (before the Apple fanboys pipe up), if ANY OS out there was the perfect OS for the clueless I wouldn't constantly be asked by the clueless to help with their machine.
Recently I had to help people setup their network under Vista and OSX, and none of the users seemed to know how to do it. None of them make it very clear or easy. (Why does Vista break with DHCP run on linux anyway?)
I do agree with your end conclusion, give me a clueless user who knows he/she is clueless anyday, they ask, you answer, they listen, problem fixed. The ones who think they know a little ARGUE with you over the solution. ARGH! If you know it better, why ask? But the horrors of support is another rant.
Re:Unprofessional Review (Score:5, Informative)
Hi, I'm the author of the review.
The guy claims to be experienced with Ubuntu, but didn't know to type his user password at the sudo prompt.
You have a valid point there. I normally use fluxbox, however, not gnome, and I normally do administrative stuff as root, not using sudo. Also, it demanded the administrator's password even though I hadn't initiated any administrative action other than logging in for the first time. Remember, this review is also talking about what the experience would be like for someone who's in Wal-Mart's target audience.
He can't find the "log out" menu item...
That's because there is none. Here you just didn't read the review carefully enough. It isn't Gnome, it's gOS's custom flavor of Enlightenment. There's no "log out" menu item in the WM. As I also explained in the review, they replaced the normal gdm login manager with their own, and it also doesn't have the normal menus, either.
He thought installing Gnome would fix a network problem.
Again, you don't seem to have read the article very carefully. As explained in the article, Gnome has a GUI called Gnome Network Manager, which I'd used successfully in the past to get the same wifi chipset working on Ubuntu, without resorting to the command line. gOS has something called Exalt, which failed with an error message when I tried to run it by clicking on its icon.
Also available at ZaReason (Score:5, Informative)
Windows adverts in a Linux review .. (Score:2)
Let me Summarize (Score:5, Informative)
The machine is not actually available in some Walmart stores at this time, but you can mail order it and get it shipped to your local store (aside: No way in hell -- I'd rather drive in Boston than navigate the parking lot at that place). Everex has this in other stores besides Walmart now. What Walmart has in your local Walmart store maybe is a $300 version that runs Vista. A Monitor is extra in all cases so it's really a $400-500 PC.
Hardware is fine -- really. Power consumption is OK. Not great, but OK. OS has some rough edges including, but not limited to, no obvious way to shut the thing down. The author scrapped the included gOS and installed vanilla Ubuntu which is, he thinks, what most users should do.
All things considered he says, it's OK except for the OS.
Google turf... (Score:1)
"None of this was anywhere near as annoying as all the crapware that comes installed on many Windows boxes, but it did give me a little bit of the same feeling that my eyeballs were being treated as a commodity."
What is the difference?
Anyway, I prefer Google than Microsoft, but then again that's just my opinion...
Available at my store... (Score:3, Interesting)
Missing the Target (Score:2)
The gOS has something to say to you... (Score:4, Funny)
Look at the first screenshot, the "f" icon on the bottom menu bar is followed by the word "you". I guess the "you" is half of the youtube icon. They need to reorder that menubar.
Big difference (Score:1)
very good, for a non-gaming machine?? (Score:2)
alot of non gameing uses may want a DVDRW and they cost about $10 more then a DVD-ROM/CD-RW.
And you can buy 1GB of low end DDR2 for about $30 after rebate higher end DDR2 800 2x1gb dual channel kits with times like 4-4-4-15-1T and heat spreaders are only about $50 after rebate.
A 80GB HD is ok but a lot of non games may need more space.
VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics is low end video chip and intel gma video is better and it can run aero and most new systems with on board video have DVI ports now days as well.
Only 10/100 Ethernet Port most new MB have moved to a 10/100/1000 port.
Fishy facts (Score:2)
OpenOffice.org Writer starts in 10 seconds, which is actually slightly faster than on my dual core 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+!
He doesn't mention what OS the Athlon64 box runs, but my ancient AMD Athlon 1 GHz with 1 GB of RAM running Vista Business starts OpenOffice Writer in 12 seconds. This is with multiple open Firefox windows, Winamp, IRC client, Thunderbird and phpEd running at the same time and all the Vista graphics effects turned on.
My slightly more modern 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 with 2 GB RAM (also running Vista Biz) starts OpenOffice Writer in about two seconds. In both cases, I measured the time from when the start menu item is clicked to when I can begin typing text into the document. Neither computer runs the "OpenOffice starter" tray junk that is supposed to speed up starting OOo.
In other words, while starting OOo Writer in 10 seconds is perhaps impressive for a five year old computer running Vista, a brand new PC running Linux should do it much faster. And the author's Athlon64 box is just plain misconfigured, or filled with crap, or perhaps a horribly old Java VM...
Why change desktop environments? (Score:3, Insightful)
Then later
To be fair, I ended up finding out that there had been a regression in wifi support for RT2500 in recent versions of Ubuntu, so it wasn't exactly smooth sailing on the new system.
Why do people insist on thinking that changing the desktop environment will change anything about the experience. I've run in to endless wifi problems with my old ubuntus, and it's nothing to do with the desktop environment. Yet, I would still sometimes get people writing back saying "kubuntu sucks, go install ubuntu, everything just works!".
Linux is basically Linux, and if hardware doesn't work under KDE it's not going to work under GNOME, or IceWM or anything else. Why do people insist on this sort of thinking? Can someone point me to a situation where *hardware* recognition or functionality didn't work under Gnome but worked under KDE (or the reverse, or anything similar)? Especially something like a wifi card?
Of course it's rough, they say it's alpha (Score:2)
They just recently changed it (since it still said the OS was in alpha stage after Walmart sold out of them).
Winmodem => no dialup! (Score:2)
I've run Linux on her machine via LiveCDs but I've had no joy with her winmodem and she is strictly dialup. An external modem from the local (very small town) computer shop is about $90. The Walmart specs for their $200 Linux PC say it has a modem. I figured this meant they got the modem working with Linux so I suggested she purchase one of these from Walmart. Even with the yearly Windows re-install tax, her Windows install keeps breaking.
The review points out that the $200 Walmart PC also has a winmodem which is also useless under Linux. So I called my friend and told her not to buy it.
awesome web design (Score:2)
Summary of the review (Score:1)
I picked up one of these... (just the motherboard) (Score:2)
Anyhow - my pics and notes about the development board and CD...
http://heelix.multiply.com/journal/item/53/Ordered_a_walmart_special..._gOS_dev_board [multiply.com]
Seems like the C7 is an i586 architecture, rather than i686. The Ubuntu distribution (including gOS, which is based on Ubuntu) worked just fine. Other distributions would barf on the i686 bits - including Centos (4 & 5), Gentoo, and a couple others. Goofy. I did not expect to have to work hard on hardware that 'shipped' with Linux.
Why E?! (Score:1)
FYI: Another Review (Score:3, Insightful)
For those that don't follow enlightenment, it's e17. All the gee-whiz graphics without the overhead. Errr, except:
1. The thinkgos.com package builds are buggy as hell. These don't even qualify as Ubuntu quality. I certainly get better builds out of Debian unstable.
2. udev wierdness. It's an odd situation where udev does the right thing according to dmesg, but the desktop environment (DE) doesn't work right in common situations.
3. No system tray or task bar. Stalonetray works far better than trayer, but you still have to work at it a bit and it's a nasty hack that hangs off the end of the bottom panel no matter what. The head-honcho at e17 does not feel whatever standard exists for system trays is sufficient.
3. I can't tell if the desktop environment is supposed to have sound effects, but I got pulseaudio working (finally) and it plays stuff, just no desktop environment sounds.
4. No transparency. For whatever reason, there's no Xorg transparency support. Someone please point out how to do it. I'd love to be wrong.
This sounds like the kind of thing... (Score:2, Interesting)
Most publicized PC ever (Score:1)
It's only $200! (Score:2, Insightful)
Could this be the famed "goobuntu?" (Score:1)
What is Green? (Score:1)
As for Installing a new OS, OR distro., You are now entering the realm of the hardware/software expert. Be aware of that the computer you are buying is designed to do and stick to that. Or expect to start solving hardware and software problems.