TurboLinux to Sell Wizpy Media Player Worldwide

MsManhattan writes "TurboLinux will attempt to lure Windows users over to the Linux operating system in baby steps this June when it starts selling its Wizpy media player worldwide. The pocket-sized device, which plays audio and video files, is really a Linux carrot of sorts, in that it also allows users to store a complete Linux desktop in its memory. You can plug the Wizpy into a PC's USB port and boot up the Linux system with all its user settings, passwords, bookmarks, etc. It originally launched in Japan, where TurboLinux marketed it to 'early adopters who are curious about using Linux but either don't want to or can't install the operating system.' The company will now target the same crowd around the globe, starting in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, India and Singapore."

The major problem I see here...

[dteichman2]

Of the 4 GB, 1.2 is for the Linux stuff. This leaves you with 2.8 GB of space. That's not very much for a $300 (rounded) media player. At least give this thing a couple SD expansion slots or something!

Re:any system?

[farkus888]

wired card support is much better in linux than it is in windows. I have a couple of mobos with onboard 1 gig nic's that require a lot of work to run in windows. they install and run with 0 effort in every linux distro I've tried. even if it doesn't work out of the box the power is available to fix it yourself, instead of waiting for ms to decide its time to fix it for you. but thats an irrelevant point because the poeple they are targeting are not the kind of people who will be able to do that.

Can this be used to remove spyware?

[kahei]

Is it possible for a device like this to circumvent XP to the point where it can be used to delete files/kill processes that are being protected by freindly spyware processes?

I've been confronted by several XP machines that have spyware which can pretty much never be removed within XP, but which also don't run Knoppix or other 'lite' linux distros. Unless they happen to have a floppy drive for a DOS boot disk, it's a major pain removing spyware.

A Linux USB stick might help, depending on how it's implemented...

Re:Not really

[dannycim]

"Linux has far better hardware support than any other OS out there. "

bullshit, and you know it. wireless drivers, onboard drivers, 3d accerleration. they all SUCK to install on linux. not to mention specialised stuff like hdtv tuners.

I challenge you to wipe your Windows HD, re-install everything from just a windows CD and see how much of that hardware works.

In my experience, out-of-the-box clean installs are generally easier and more complete in Linux.

Re:Not really

[orangeyoda]

I've recently done this. Clean install of windows, gets a network connection up and running and i can get the drivers to install the rest of the cards. Red Hat -- Wifi drivers don't work , installed faq has a helpfull link to a Website on how to get your wifi card to work. Suse -- Same deal as redhat Knoppix -- does not support my wifi card Various LiveCD's don't support it either. Eventually what I had to do was remove all the PCI cards from my box, install 4 different pci wifi cards, 1 usb wifi card and then install Suse 10.0 (10.1 doesn't work with any of the cards ) , eventually it found one that it could use an RA2500 based card, but there was no setting for TKIP - instructions on a wiki on the web. bloody usefull I must say. Changed my settings on the router to WEP encryption and it suddenly starts working. figured out how it should be set up for TKIP and changed it back, and it stopped working after the reboot. Uninstalled suse, but the companies vista version on that box, spent 5 mins playing with the crap interface and wooshy effects, same with the java3D interface. uninstalled and put the initial win2k back on to it, left it for 8 hours while it auto patched itself, another 4 - 5 hours installing the server software, and my box was ready again. Until linux sorts out the basics, like having the help files on the install cd. Having TKIP working out of the box and not insecure WEP etc. I can't see myself using it.