[conspire] No more GNU HP Minis

Ruben Safir ruben at mrbrklyn.com
Fri Nov 13 16:33:23 PST 2009


On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 03:36:42PM -0800, Don Marti wrote:
> begin Paul Zander quotation of Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 09:24:58AM -0800:
> 
> > So, if you are shopping for a computer, be happy to find one with "Linux".
> > You don't pay the MS tax.  There is a good probability, but not a
> > guarantee, that you will be able to find drivers for your prefered
> > distro.
> 
> And don't buy any hardware without a clear
> understanding of the return policy.  Even if your best
> friend bought an Example.com 6000SUX, got it working
> with a clean kernel with all GPL drivers, and posted
> the "lspci" output and the kernel .config to this very
> mailing list, the product manager at Example.com could
> take a hit from the Henry Nicholas pipe at any time,
> and start putting all different parts in the same
> case with the same name.  Better to deal with one
> return hassle up front than to carry a non-standard
> driver with you for however long you keep the machine.


Nah

This amounts to a very constricted hardware allotment and drivers are
always months behind hardware...compliant or not.

The fact is, that in the case of the HP Mini, the human interface, that
is the keyboard and the screen, is heads and shoulders better than
anything else in it's price class, and I'm sick of towers and
minitowers.

This is the best hardware available at the price and function that I
need.

Furthermore, the biggest problem with the install at this point is a
flat out bug in the Kernel relating to power management, one of the most
important aspects of purchasing a machine like this.  The previous
kernel worked and booted.  The NEW kernel has a known bug.

BTW this is not unusual or meant as a critism of the Linux Kernel
developers, but it points to a common misconception that Free Software
is technically better than non-free software.  There is nothing
inherent in the technology that makes it better, although often it is
and sometimes it is not.  The only reason to use it is social and political.

Ruben

> 
> -- 
> Don Marti                                 +1 510-332-1587 mobile
> http://zgp.org/~dmarti/
> dmarti at zgp.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> conspire mailing list
> conspire at linuxmafia.com
> http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire

-- 
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world  - RI Safir 1998

http://fairuse.nylxs.com  DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002

"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society."

"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  I guess you missed that one."

© Copyright for the Digital Millennium




More information about the conspire mailing list