techNOcool

Jason's post on his holiday experience with Ubuntu has prompted me to look at the $200 Linux Computer we got to gauge the timeline to linux OS coming mainstream.

I started off by reinstalling the OS partly to figure out its ease and partly because I forgot the username and password we used originally. I would agree there is not much to report here. Ubuntu's install process was 7 steps of reading agreements and clicking next. The only trick part for me was the step on setting up the partition. The difficulty I had with this step was more about being scared of the word partition than anything else. After reading and rereading the directions for this step, which were pretty clear, I built up enough courage to do what I thought I should do after reading the directions the first time. It was smooth sailing from there. The hardest problem was getting the computer to eject the CD which is was more about my impatience or the drive than I think the OS.

The desktop is configured more like OS X than Windows XP so that will take a little getting used to but I do not think it will take long before navigating the desktop is second nature. It seems to be set up to allow one to quickly connect to the online tools that one would use in personal day to day life with quick access to firefox, blogger, facebook, youtube, skype, wikipedia and multimedia players.

I jumped right into facebook - which I have a growing affinity for - which launched firefox and boom it was like I was on my comfortable if not trusted XP computer. I plan to play with the media players and downloading another browser in the near future but for now my experience has been positive.

Posted by James Fadden at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It has been a while since we have posted to this blog and the best way to get over the hump is to post something. Jason emailed me this wired story today about a Linux PC that will sell for $200 dollars at Wal-mart.

Beside the link the message only had "I know the implications here, but $200..."

After reading the article I had the same feeling. How can I not go and pick up one of these things just to play with? Sure there are implications of what would I actually do with it but still it is only $200. Getting the chance to kick the tires of something like this is enticing. It makes me wonder if Linux is becoming ready for a less sophisticated technology user out-of-the-box how long is it before organizations large and small start to take a longer look at open-sources desktop computing in the same way many are starting to look at enterprise level solutions.

(Via - $200 Ubuntu Linux PC Now Available at Wal-Mart | Gadget Lab from Wired.com)

Posted by James Fadden at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Wilkes University is switching from a PC-based campus to a Mac-based campus. That's 1700 machines to be replaced over 3 years.

It would be nice to see this happen more. Maybe closer to home, even.

Posted by Susan Fenton at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I thought I'd start a conversation about Macs. Now that Macs can do Windows, I took the plunge about a month ago and bought a 20" iMac. I am very pleased. The first thing people ask me about is why I wasted my money on such an expensive computer, but I recently did a side-by-side comparison with Dell for a friend of mine who is thinking about purchasing a computer. Not only are these similar specs, but they're practically the same off-the-shelf parts, just with a different "brain" controlling it all. Here is the run down (education pricing):

17" iMac
20" display
2.16 Ghz Core Duo Processor
2 GB Ram
250GB Hard Drive
256MB ATI Radeon Graphics Card
AppleCare 3 Year tech support and warranty
Microsoft Office 2004 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Total = $1750

Dell Dimension 9200
17" Flat Panel Monitor
2.13 Ghz Core Duo Processor
2GB Ram
250GB Hard Drive
256MB ATI Radeon Graphics Card
Dell 3 year tech support and warranty
Includes Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Includes PC-Cillin Virus Protection + 2 year subscription (this is a hedge - you don't really need this on the Mac, and you should really plan on 4 years of protection over the life of the PC, but I'm willing to bet in a couple years Macs are going to join the virus party again.)
Total = $1641

You're paying $109 more for a gorgeous looking unit that doesn't come with all the Windows baggage. Plus, if you want, you can still get Windows for it. You'll pay extra, but I use Windows on my Mac because I'm a geek and I like to tinker. All of my mission critical stuff gets done on the Mac side. I think the Mac is becoming a an alternative I can start to recommend to people.

Posted by Jason Ramsey at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)