[conspire] No more GNU HP Minis

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Ruben Safir (ruben at mrbrklyn.com):

> There was a discount for the non-MS HP Minis on the website...when they
> were available.

And the models' details might have even been comparable -- but quite
often (with such manufacturers) there are differences in bundled
hardware, amount of RAM, size of HD/flash, etc., making the discount
illusory.

> And yes - I know about the OEM deals in detail...worked on the topic ad
> nauseam with the Windows Refund Web site and movement..

(You may recall that Nick, Don, and I basically _ran_ Windows Refund
Day -- with a lot of help on the day from people in various locations
such as Deirdre in Orange County -- and, when you read things on the Web
site, odds are it was either Nick or I who wrote it.)

Anyway, if you understand the co-op marketing arrangement between
Microsoft and OEMs, it becomes a bit odd that you'd post outbursts like
"For the first time in a decade I just shelled out a MS tax for a
computer and it really ticks me off. Also, after 2 years of things
really looking up on the consumer end for GNU systems, we're back to
square one, or so it seems."

That seems utterly clueless about the nature of Microsoft Marketing's
subsidy of OEM models with MS-Windows-with-other-code preloads, which
allows the manufacturer to hit price point in a way otherwise not
possible with the way the market it structured (and has been for a
decade-plus).  Why would you think "things [are] really looking up" 
when none of the fundamentals have changed?

I really wonder if you actually understand how that works.  I covered it
briefly in my 2001 interview by Sam Varghese, though I'm sure there are
better explanations elsewhere:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/26/1040511127721.html  ("Are you
involved in the forthcoming refund day (January 23)?")

I used to hear all of that same sort of endless kvetching from people
before, during, and after the Windows Refund Day stuff -- and they kept
acting surprised about various aspects of forced preloads.  I kept
asking in return, _why_ were they surprised -- and explaining, yet again,
the market fundamentals.


> Nevertheless, I have a laptop without eth0,wifi or sound at the moment
> and need solutions.  Everything I saw with the HP Minis had everything
> working, even with alien OSes on it like Ubuntu and Debian.

Consider:  If you had one of those preloads, you'd have no easy way of
knowning how it was done, and so you would find yourself in the lurch
the first time _you_ needed to install your system.  And you _want_ that
situation?

Anyway, _you_ know how to research hardware support for particular
models' components, right?  Since you didn't bother to say what _model_
of HP Mini you're talking about, it's not even yet possible for me to do
it for you, even if I had boundless time for the task.

Also:  Use lspci and lsusb to find out what chipsets you're talking
about, as your first step.

> How do I create an install flash drive.

Should I assume you mean Ubuntu?  Again, you didn't say.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick