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TurboLinux & Linksys Announce Bundling Deal 73

Posted by Hemos from the gettin-more-linux-out-there dept.
Sam writes, "TurboLinux, Inc. announced today an agreement with Linksys to bundle TurboLinux in shipments of Linksys 10/100 Ethernet products sold in North America. The special bundling will be included in popular small and medium business solutions such as 10/100 hubs and switches, routers, NIC and PC cards. The agreement, projected by the companies to include more than 1.2 million product shipments over the next 12 months, will give Linksys customers TurboLinux operating system solutions with selected purchases of Linksys products. Source: Electic Tech "
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TurboLinux & Linksys Announce Bundling Deal More

TurboLinux & Linksys Announce Bundling Deal

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  • Just think, now you've got some nice CDs to give to your friends - or you can give them a nice NIC and get them to try out Linux at the same time.

    Bonus!

    Plus, I can use more for my costume for Burning Man [burningman.com]...

  • I knew that. I just... er... um. Wanted to skip some lines. Or something.

  • I got a free Turbo 4.0 with vol2 of Linux Mag I think. Looked like RH with a few extra tweaks and apps.

    I know they have been arround awhile but they seem to be marketing their products like the Old Gaurd.

    Check out their download page [turbolinux.com]. Care to register first? If that doesn't discourage you how about skipping strait to the "download/install" [turbolinux.com] page where you have two options:

    There are two primary ways to download and install TurboLinux:

    1). FTP Install
    2). Local Hard Drive Install

    Not exactly encouraging to the 99.9% of potential users who have at best a 56K connection and maybe little experience installing Linux. And if you try to go to ftp.turbolinux.com [turbolinux.com] to download the entire distro you get a dead link.

  • I am all for having Linux CD's distributed in any way possible. My first experience with Linux was from a CD that was laying around in a A+ certification classroom, Redhat 4.0 I think. I picked it up, started browsing and got hooked.
    Next I bought the Complete Idiot's book by Ricart which came with Calera 1.3. A few month's later I was running a samba server in a MCSE class. If it wasn't for that RedHat CD laying in a pile of other CD's on a desk in a computer lab I'd probably be just another M$ clone. Yeah, I bought Linksys because it said Linux compatible, and I'm running two triple boot boxes at home with it.
    If it had just said it was the NE2000 driver on the box the install would have been a breeze. I have 98 & NT installed because I get paid to support them. I use Linux exclusively for my own work/play except for my cheapo digital camera. Any one know of a driver for Largan Mini 350?

    Isaac Newton: "If I have seen farther than other men it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."

    Bill Gates: "If I have made more money than other men it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants while my legal team imprisoned and castrated them."
  • Yup it worked off the bat for me too. It was running 98 on an ABIT BP6 motherboard or whatever. It was wacky that a $15 card came with a three foot whip.

  • Intel runs a corporate preview program that lets you get two of these adapters for $39. They go for $60 each on buy.com. Does all the PXE and wake on lan stuff. The program says you can only order once, but they don't check - ordered three times so far. Check out DesktopEngineer.com Item [desktopengineer.com]
  • Besides that, I get tired of those TurboLinux people calling me all the time at work. I've probably talked to 5 sales reps all who want me to convert our nicely run RedHat isp over to theirs because it comes with "server optimized kernels" and "a better web environment package". The funniest thing was that me, a 17 year old, was able to stump 3 of these reps in less than one sentance. (not that I was trying, but...)
  • I just want to share my recent experience with Linksys, so people wouldn't make a purchase desicion based on the fact of bundling Linux alone. I have spend three evenings trying to make a Linksys PCMCIA 10/100 Ethernet card to work with my Dell Inspiron and NT WS (dual booting to Linux, but that's beyond the point). I have sent emails, I've spend a few hours on hold, etc. In general, my impression is that Linksys doesn't have a functioning support department at all. I couldn't get to a support specialist or operator on the phone, they don't answer emails in a meaningful manner, etc.

    Netgear's PCMCIA card also doesn't work out of the box, but at least I managed to talk to a support person who sounded like he had some idea what's going on.

    Today, I'm going back to CompUSA to return Linksys card and give a shot to a really expensive one, made by a company with a '3' in it's name.

  • YUP - I bought one of these over the weekend - the TurboLinux disk contains SMC documentation and stuff too - I wouldn't be suprised if there actually was a Windows driver in there somewhere.

    However mine had no instructions on the box or on an internal manual - I was doing an install on a headless system - no xwindows and all the docs were PDFs (grrrr) .... took me forever to figure out which linux driver to build into the kernel (hint - ignore the SMC drivers and use the RT8139 instead - this is for an SMC 'ezcard' model 1211TX

  • Linux bundles are not mailed to every household, they are not included in most new PC purchases, etc.

    Not yet, anyway...

  • Ah, fondly do I remember picking up and deciding on a Linksys PCMCIA eth' card specifically because it said "Linux" right on the box. Then I was pissed because the install directions were "Linux will automatically detect and configure the card."

    A kernel patch and a PCMCIA update later, it did, in fact get automatically detected and configured, but still.

    Regardless, now that that particular card is showing signs of dead-ness, methinks I'll be purchacing from Linksys again, because I can't afford a WaveLAN. :(
    --

  • I seem to remember it being a LinkSys. But maybe you're right.
  • Sorry about the flame. Fair enough, i was not aware (maybe i was being a zombie, or maybe the article wasn't clear) that the bundling is not universal (i.e. only to north africa). Somehow i guess i just don't feel it's worth getting _that_ worked up about myself, but i respect your ideals, and your right to do so.
  • Right now I'm using a Linksys 10/100 card plugged into a Linksys 5 port HUB connected via Linksys RJ-45 cable. I've always used Linksys for my home networking because of price and because of the fact that it works. The only other network card I've ever been more impressed with is my D-Link 10 card that has an actual EPROM on it that you can switch IRQ's and other settings directly from dos (though this does pose a problem in linux even though you can use a dos emulator).

    As for them teaming up with linux that's great maybe they could make they're own specific drivers even though the NE2000 driver works just fine for both the D-Link and the Linksys.

    Since Turbo comes packaged with Samba this should be a win win situation. Home network with a good network and a great operating system

  • I was looking around in CompUSA a few weeks ago and saw a LinkSys NIC box that mentioned that TurboLinux was bundled... I didn't get it so I can't say whether it was correct or not, so either they messed up and put the sticker on boxes too early or the announcement is a little late.

  • Just one small question... how many people out there (I mean mass market... newbies) would take those TurboLinux disks that came with their new network cards, repartition and reformat their hard disk just so they can install Linux?

    Yeah, I thought so....

    On the other hand, this form of mass-distribution (ala AOL floppy disks) should have some impact on TurboLinuxs market share, if not on Linux as a whole.

  • *sarcasm* Atleast you get a stylish new coaster instead of the default AOL ones. */sarcasm*
  • My first reaction was that this is great news.

    But I find myself wondering how many folks just toss free CDs that are included with products because of the AOL CD-with-everything phenomenon. Some kind of promotional CD comes with almost everything nowadays.

    What will differentiate this CD from the junk CDs (like AOL) that permeate the industry?
  • I'm glad to see this. I use Linksys products exclusively, and recommend them strongly to my customers. However, I'm wondering if this might mean better driver support for the LNE100TX (10/100 PCI Autosensor card). There have been several revisions of the Tulip driver, and each one seems to have its own compatibility hangups. The difference in Version 1 and Version 2 of the 10/100 card required a rewrite on the driver, which really sucked. Mayber somebody will get it through their head that Linksys needs some standardization in their Linux support. But all in all, I really like Linksys products. They need to actually put a driver and some better support on their site, but at least they mention Linux in their support site, which is more than I can say for many companies. Maybe this will also pave the way for other Linux distros to partner up with Linksys, and maybe work on some real support for their products.
  • Everyone rips on the AOL CDs 'cause the content sucks ass.

    Think of the target, it'll be sys admins who get these cd's, and maybe they'll try it out on an extra pc they have laying around, then love it, and move their whole company over to it, then go enjoy a pudding pop.

    Think of all the money the Jello (tm) company can make from this!

    Hello, welcome to ICQ!
  • Now, if Netgear would do the same that would be nice. I love netgear FA103X? (PCI 10/100 Tulip) cards. Blaze under Linux/BSD. Im a die hard Netgear/Nortel fan. These little bundles here and there really add up. I do a little computer building for friends and such, and I always include a mandrake or redhat or something that I burn.

    Anybody have any good comments on the Netgear 10/100 PCI card?

  • Up, Down, or Same? (Score:4)

    by Accipiter ( 8228 ) on Monday March 06, 2000 @12:29PM (#1221851)
    How is this going to affect the price of their products?

    A standard NE2000 NIC card runs about $15. TurboLinux 6.0 runs $19.99. I don't mind buying NIC cards because they're cheap. If the price stays the same then consumers would be happy, but A) Linksys has no incentive to bundle, and B) TurboLinux makes no money from the bundle. If the price goes up, consumers will buy other cards (Like D-Link, which I have had good luck with) because they're still hovering around the $12-$15 price range.

    But if the price goes up, what's the difference between buying a Linksys Card with TurboLinux bundled, or buy a different card and TurboLinux seperately....other than conveniance?

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • And we should care because... (Score:3)

    by sammy baby ( 14909 ) on Monday March 06, 2000 @12:31PM (#1221852) Journal
    From an "advocacy" stance, I'm not really sure I see the point here: I can't see scores of LAN admins getting all excited about this. If they wanted to try Linux, they probably would have already. If they didn't, that copy of TurboLinux is about as useful as yet another AOL coaster^M^M^M^M^M^M^M CD.

    From a "cool stuff" stance... well, okay, maybe.
  • By coincidence I helped a friend setup a proxy on his Windows box this weekend and he bought two of the SMC $15 cards you mentioned. True to form, plug-and-play detection did not properly detect the chipset and there were no printed instructions in the box or anywhere on the box about what to do next. I imagine Joe User would be stuck here. I suspected the "SMC TurboLinux" CD that fell out of the box may have some win drivers on it and sure enough if you dig under a few subdirectories you'll find the Windows oemsetup.inf file, the windows drivers, and if you look at the card itself you see the chipset is SMC1211A and the DOS diagnostic util for that chipset is under that subdirectory on that CD as well, which is also not printed anywhere on the box. See all you had to do was use your DirectTelepathy feature in Windows to have this information sent to you via ESP and then you'd know how to install the drivers for these dapaters. So after seven reboots, waving a dead chicken, threatening the machine with physical harm, and tearfully apologizing to Redmond for working at pro-Linux company I was then able to install and configure the card in Windows and it only took little over an hour. Gee, I really hope Linux can someday be as easy to use as Windows *cough* bullshit *cough*
  • The only other network card I've ever been more impressed with is my D-Link 10 card that has an actual EPROM on it that you can switch IRQ's and other settings directly from DOS...

    Ummmm, you must have a really old LinkSys card. Every LinkSys card I've ever purchased have been software configurable as well. Even the old 10mbs combo card I thats at least 5 or 6 years old is software configurable.

    Personally, for 10/100 cards, I like the 3COM 905 cards myself, as these cards are parallel tasking.

  • But I find myself wondering how many folks just toss free CDs that are included with products because of the AOL CD-with-everything phenomenon. Some kind of promotional CD comes with almost everything nowadays.

    Uhh, yeah, and look where those junk CD's got AOL. Even if only a small percentage of people who pick up a CD in a cerial box install the contents... Well you see where we're going with this... AOL certainly didn't gain it's position by providing the most reliable service.
  • This person is the first to point out that abysmally low response rate isn't a problem if you have a large enough number of contacts. In the direct mail (junk mail) industry, a 1% response rate is completely reasonable. Distributing a million CDs might yield 10,000 customers, a pretty big jump, especially if 1,000 of those end up buying support services from you.

    Plus, people who are already linux users might choose Turbo from among the masses just because they happen to have seen them around on the CD. That's why Cheerios advertises, not to compel people to shell out for the cereal right then, but to get them to think twice when they pass up Cheerios on the cereal aisle.

    AOL established themselves by making it as easy as possible to get started (note that long-term ease of use isn't quite as important to this equation because of how hard it is to change ISP's, move home pages, etc. for the newbie). They even made it free to get started, for pete's sake. Their ads were so ubiquitous that people began to think of them as the Internet. Recall Scary Spice's "I want an Internet. Can I have that one?"

    Walt
  • Never heard of it. Don't have a CD. Not sure which distro to choose. Don't feel like d/l a copy. Not sure if they have supported hardware.
    This is the biggest PITA, even for us experienced old-timers. Not sure what it can do for them. Afraid of the learning curve. Don't want to spend $$$ on an unknown OS.
  • Im pretty sure Slackware has a live distribution on thier CDROM. check out the /live directory. I'm also sure this would be slower than dogshit in january. How many people would use this I don't know. Between using a live CD, or installing linux on a fat32 partition, I'm not quite sure which is lamer.


    Q: Where do you want to go today?
  • What 10/100 PCI and CardBus nics are tulip chips? I've been wanting to tryout tulip cards.
    --
  • Now, if you're roaming down the isle and want turbolinux, you see the turbo linux box marked for 29.99 and this nic marked for 15.00 that happens to have turbo linux. So you just buy this copy of turbolinux and get a free nic!
    --
  • Thats strange, I have several 10/100 8 and 16 port hubs in use and some older 10 only hubs, never had a problem. Only problem I ever saw with a bay hub is that an evil mac had fount a way to put lots of volts on the wire. The hub didnt like that. It died a horable death and so did 16 nics.
  • AOL sends spam CD's through every route possible - they even send CD's just about every other week to the college computer center where I work. We offer them to the students that come in, but of course, they don't want it either - why should they?
    The TurboLinux approach is to only send their stuff to their target market - small businesses who are networked. Of course, it's still a bit much, and I think that it would be a good idea TurboLinux includes an online registration system in their install program not only to get some marketing research data (just who /is/ likely to grab a random Linux CD and install it?) but also to find out how much these CD's are being used - and hence if they are really getting something done by this little cantrip or if they should stop because it's just contributing to the already overgrown number of makeshift coasters.

  • Ethernet Cards with No Windows Drivers. (Score:4)

    by jelwell ( 2152 ) on Monday March 06, 2000 @12:40PM (#1221866)
    My friend bought an Ethernet card just 2 days ago. I think it was by SMC - it was a cheap 10/100 card for about 15$. What surprised me is the CD he handed me when he asked me to install the card - because he couldn't figure it out. Popping it in I saw directories like dosutils, img, root, etc... I looked at him and said, "Did it come with any instructions?" he pointed to the back of the box that had detailed instructions for linux and 1 sentence for windows. For windows it said "Windows will detect and configure the card automatically." sure... It didn't. I was stunned - I told him that the cd contained no windows drivers and instead was an TurboLinux CD. "It might contain Linux drivers", I said sarcastically. He didn't get it.

    Joseph Elwell.
  • I bought a copy of Linux Journal(Btw slashdot, lego prefers it if you call it "Lego" not "Legos") since it had a copy of TurboLinux on it. So I installed it(awful setup process), and I still can't get anything to network on it. No matter how many times I try(and check the config), Apache won't start. oh well. Back to Redhat I guess.
  • what?

    I guess I could use some new coasters. I don't really see how this is going to be effective for anyone invovled.

    Not the most brilliant move I've seen this week.

  • SMC [smc.com] is already bundling TurboLinux with their cards. They simply give you a CD with the DE4x5 drivers for Windows as well as a full TurboLinux install. Since burning a full CD is cheaper than the floppy they used to include, this actually saves them money while giving a nice purchase incentive.

    For what it's worth, the card cost $15, and there was a $29 TurboLinux about an aisle away at the CompUSA. I still like my Debian & FreeBSD, but it was a neat gimmick. And since the DE4x5 chipset wasn't listed on the box, it was a convincing cue that there'd be driver support for the card.

  • But... (Score:2)

    by Virtex ( 2914 )
    I see a lot of people comparing these CDs to the AOL ones. And, of course, the same applies to Corel, who will be (or are they already?) bundling their distributions with certain motherboards. But keep in mind that AOL is as popular as it is today primarily BECAUSE of all those free CDs. Even if most people throw them away, there will still be some who try it out. This is exactly the kind of push Linux needs to increase its userbase. Keep in mind that right now, most people using Linux are using it on servers. This could be an effective way of getting more people to try it on their desktops. Next, we need to start seeing Linux bundled in magazines and mass-mailed out to individuals, just like AOL did. All we need is a company ready to put the money into this.

    Also, I like seeing the variety of distros doing these things. I'd rather not see any one distro capture the entire market.

    --
  • I only have about 3 or 4 Linux distro CDs laying around, and they are from books that I bought.
    I really don't mind having a few spare distros since I consider myself still "distro shopping".

    IMO Linux CDs will never be like AOL CDs because of the content and the flavors. I would not mind having a CD for ever distro!

    Oh, and AOL is shitty buggy software that you eventually must pay for too...
  • I built that CD (I work for TurboLinux), and I remember putting the files under a directory on the CD as SMC requested.

    I'm sorry to say that I don't remember the name of the directory, but it was in the root of the CD and not too hard to figure out (I think). I did this quite a while ago (5 months? Not sure.)

    I am not responsible for the boxes, though. Sorry.

  • I want to see BeOS come with the Voodoo4.
  • Problem with bundling is, it easily becomes product tying. Say this $15 Linksys card jumps to $20 or $25 on TurboLinux reimbursement: I've been buying Linksys because it's cheap and works, but suddenly it's not as cheap. If Linksys has a competitor that stays at $15, I'll just buy theirs, but what if the competitor bundles with Caldera in response? Bam! Suddenly it's impossible to buy a network card without buying an operating system too, even if you don't need one! And this is product tying, a customer-hurting form of market failure. (In this case it subsidizes an emerging market [Linux distributions] by gouging an existing one [network cards].) TANSTAAFL, folks, buy what you need and be suspicious if things are only sold in packs.
  • I just recently bought a SMC 10bT ISA NIC. It was NE2000 compatible so it was detected and installed by Windows right off the bat. A non-plug and play motherboard might not like it too much, but if Windows can see it, it can install the card by itself, sans driver disks.

    I'm taking a great liking to it. Although I don't really need TurboLinux, it's a nice thing to have. What got me was the included CAT5 cable, something I haven't found included with most of the cheaper cards. With NE2000, you get a tenth of the performance at a cheap price that'll work almost universally--it's a great deal in my mind. For now, I'm recommending the SMC cards to anyone who can get them, even without the driver disks.
  • Aside from the trolls, I can tell you that the CD is plain black with the words "TurboLinux" on the front. Not much to write home about, and it doesn't make a very good coaster.
  • If you only bought a network card based on what it said on the box, it doesn't say much for you intelligence. The Netgear PCMCIA cards are fully supported by Linux just like the Linksys card. You should have bought a card on its merits, not just because it touted your favorite OS. Thats like buying Office just because Microsoft makes it... Oh wait.
  • A couple of people have mentioned that this is reminiscent of our beloved AOL CDs. Yeah? So? This is great! AOL CDs are ubiquitous (everywhere) and look at them! AOL is (they say) the largest ISP there is! Making Linux CDs ubiquitous, too, can be nothing but good!

    Next 2 months at McDonalds: A different flavor of Linux every week! Collect all eight!!!


    Welcome to Slashdot. Please do not feed the trolls.
  • Anyone ever think about bundling a live CD with an X server on it? I think this might be a good way to get Linux out to the masses. Sure it might be a little like what AOL is doing but if it was a live CD, they wouldn't have to worry about their precious little Windows box but if they liked it, they could go download or purchase the product. As far as CD or even DVD technology has come these days, we could fit a sizeable distribution on a piece of plastic. Just a thought.

  • Bundling Linux is a Good Thing(tm) (Score:5)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 06, 2000 @01:01PM (#1221887)

    How can anyone complain about bundling Linux with hardware? Many people that I know don't run Linux because they've:

    • Never heard of it.
    • Don't have a CD.
    • Not sure which distro to choose.
    • Don't feel like d/l a copy.
    • Not sure if they have supported hardware.
    • Not sure what it can do for them.
    • Afraid of the learning curve.
    • Don't want to spend $$$ on an unknown OS.

    Bundling Linux with a NIC or LAN-in-a-Box package is great. Not only do you get hardware that will run on Linux, you get the OS as well. This will undoubtedly increase Linux's presence in the desktop and server market.

    People are comparing AOL's CD distribution scheme with the Linux OS bundles. I view this opinion as flawed. Linux bundles are not mailed to every household, they are not included in most new PC purchases, etc. Additionally, I'm certain that the AOL CD marketing scheme has been wildly successfull. Otherwise, AOL would have stopped long ago since it does cost money to press and disseminate the CD's.

    In closing, let me state that the Linux bundles hurt no one and may introduce people to Linux. In other words, it's a Good Thing(tm).



    "Me, Myself, and I" -- De La Soul
  • Are you sure it wasn't an SMC card? I got an SMC 10/100 card at CompUSA a couple of weeks ago, and it was bundled with TurboLinux. I still had to rummage through SMC's web site to find out the card was based on the RealTek (8139?) chipset to get it working under Debian, which I already had installed. Anyway, it was a pretty good deal, card, WOL cable, and 6' cat5 patch cable for $15.
  • First, I like Linksys for a number of reasons, mainly that they state on the box "Linux supported". I always make it a point now to only buy hardware with the 'L' word in plain view. A few weeks ago I was in Best Buy looking at PCMCIA cards and had to choose between a Net Gear card which said "Windows, and other operating systems" and a Linksys which explicitly stated "Linux". Who got my money? Linksys of course!

    Secondly, something I noticed at the Linux Demo Day we just had - people were amazed that we were giving them a complete operating system for free. They were walking out of the Microsoft show into the throng of friendly smiling Linux folks. They had just been told that they were going to have to pony up $500 for a buggy as hell piece of software, and here we were handing out a very worthy competitor. Hell, a lot of people even came to the show just so they could get a CD which they read about in the Kansas City Star.

    People want to try Linux. Will they keep using it? I don't know. I hope they do, and I am going to do my best to see that they are happy running it and will be there to answer their questions. I am sure they will enjoy it. Linksys is helping to spread the word here. Sure, people are going to mess up their systems, but to that I say "big deal!" I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I have messed up my system because I did something stupid and boneheaded. But another way to look at it is this... When I ran Windows I would reinstall the OS every 6 months. After six months the system would come to a crawl. That is part of my normal MO here at work too - reinstall it at least 2 times a year on every desktop. If you don't you are asking for trouble from all the absolute crap that gets in there and clogs it up.

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