Finally, Some Competition in Price at Robert Pogson

I have been seriously annoyed at how difficult some OEMs make it to choose GNU/Linux. One prevalent characteristics of advertising is that one cannot find identical models with a choice of OS and a published price. Today, I found an exception: HP.

HP, in Canada, sell model KX868AT with that other OS/Home Basic for $599 and model KX869AT with SUSE GNU/Linux for $549. It is SUSE with some M$ investment/co-conspiracy but it is a choice for GNU/Linux. Gotta love it.

I searched for mini-note and did not like my choices but by clicking on the breadcrumb “Ultra-light Notebook PCs” came to a page with real choices. One was a Mini-note with choice of OS. Great! It is buried, but with a little digging we find it. They are charging $50 for the privilege of running the Mini-Note at half speed without saving power. Save your money and buy the Mini-Note with a better OS, GNU/Linux. This thing has a VIA C7 processor. I have seen AMD64 X2 5000 dragging with Vista. I wonder if the battery will last for the boot. Some OEMs will do anything to please M$ but at least they show what it costs to buy the worst M$ has to offer.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.