[ale] Sub $250 PCs

[Benjie]

  In the 15 years that I have been building PC's its always been the case
that pc shops could care less about what you are going to do with the pc,
they are only interested in a sale.  Not to justify any shop's behavior, but
their margins have always been pretty thin, and the personel are usually
pretty inexperienced and not paid very well.  The chances of finding someone
who knows or cares about anything other than Windows is pretty slim.  I mean
think about, if you were an underpaid tech who developed any skill, why
stick around for crummy pay?  Move to a better job at the first chance.
  For the past 8 years that I have worked with Linux, I have always had to
take hardware into my own hands, knowing well in advance of purchase what
parts would work with Linux and that I would have to assemble them myself.
PC shops will gladly sell you anything, and if they assemble it, they will
gladly substitute what ever they have on hand under the assumption that if
it runs some form of Windows, that is all that is needed.  Experience has
taught me that even though everyone in the PC world knows what Linux is,
patience and a good understanding of PC hardware are still two very
important skills for getting what you need.
  Regardless of what you may think about Linspire, I am glad to see PC' s
running it showing up in more places.  I think it is a positive sign for
linux, even if most of the Linspire PC's go home and have Win98 installed on
them.  Mainstream business still counts them as a Linux sale,  and who
knows, maybe some people are using Linspire.

Benjie

On 2/14/06, Geoffrey <esoteric at 3times25.net> wrote:
>
> Bob Toxen wrote:
> > I've had repeated bad experiences from Ginstar that cost me substantial
> > time and money and refuse to deal with them any more.
>
> I've had issues with Ginstar as well, but not hardware related.  The
> last two times I've been there they've treated me like an idiot.  At one
> time, I was talking to the guy behind the counter when he asked me a
> question about my needs.  I guess he thought I waited too long to answer
> as I was actually considering the question.  He looked past me and said
> NEXT?
>
> I looked at him and he simply ignored me.  I've not been back since, nor
> will I ever return.
>
> > I too bought a Linspire from Fry's (for $100 or $200) and installed
> > Slackware on it with no problem.  It was a quality box.
>
> Ah, an upgrade on OS. :)
>
> --
> Until later, Geoffrey
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>



--
"We should all have a healthy fear of Oprah!"
Aaron McGruder
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