Linux!

[wildebus]

I used to browse minitx.com to look at all the weird setups people used to make (e.g. https://www.mini-itx.com/projects/pomgolian/ ). Check out the right hand column for different designs. I have a mini-itx kit and a humidor box but never got round to finishing it (and after 10+ years, unlikely to now).

Yup, Dell used to sell PCs with pre-loaded Red Hat on them, complete with a support contract bundled in when I was there. Long gone now as people want everything for free and there is no money in pre-loading an OS you can get for free so that was a pretty short term offering.
The big global corporations used to pay something like $2 per Windows installation, and companies like Dell would ship the custom versions of Windows with all the right drivers. I actually used to edit the original windows ini files to update and add new drivers so when windows was installed it would load everything without being promoted or having to update later. Quite a time saver when you have thousands of PCs on an order.

But now I want to just have it work. The time for fiddling and mucking about with OSes is long gone.

 

[GeoffL]

Hi Geoff, it looks like things may have changed a bit since I last took note. I remember seeing Ubuntu or Red Hat machines offered fro sale at PCWorld but not finding any on a quick look this morning, I am in the van but will look more when I am home.

dell still do them and have done for years, the issue may not be if you can get one but how much you pay as they can be seen as a niche market. Some of the machines here don’t seem so bad prices for pre-built Linux systems

Thanks for the info. FWIW, someone on Phil's other forum suggested Dell. I checked and at least one of their laptops is available with Ubuntu 16 (18 is the current LTS) for £30 less than it is with Windows 10 Home 64. In comparis.on, Entroware seem hideously expensive. That said, I might just get another refurb when I next need to replace the current laptop

Regarding your mini ITX box, some of the small case PSU’s can be very pricey and we have found some are very susceptible to power fluctuations. Have you looked at using a Pico power supply and a power brick? I find mini-it’s.com useful when looking or this stuff even if just for pointers

Thanks again. Although the motherboard of the 'puter that's gathering dust has a mini-ITX motherboard (yet another Gigabyte), the case is fairly large and has a 200W ITX PSU. The PSU is necessary because it's got two fixed and three hot-swapable 3.5" HDD bays -- it used to be my NAS and also hosted a couple of virtual servers. I got a Gigabyte BRIX and fitted a 2TB USB 3 external drive to take over these duties. Maybe one day I'll fit a new PSU, replace the noisy fan in the front grill, and buy a few HDs, but it'll be a hobby machine as the BRIX does the same job for a lot less cost in electricity!

 

[nabsim]

I think I may still have a init ITX machine or two in the back bedroom along with my water cooled Athlon 64 with twin graphics cards. Was pretty good when I built it but probably slower than my phone now haha. I do my 'playing' at work nowadays although I suppose that will end next week. Will be strange not having the resources to just spin up a vm of whatever I want just to see what it does but then again I dont think Caz would be happy if I fitted a 4 blade VRTX and 20 or so SSD's in the van

 

[Rockburner]

I've tried and failed. Some pointers would be welcome.

https://system76.com/

I google 'linux laptop' and they were on the front page. (tbh, I knew of them from past searches, I just couldn't remember the name, but I also remembered that they did desktops).

When I last specced a machine for work it was available to buy 'without' Windows, and i could have then installed whatever I wanted. IIRC that was from Overclockers.

 

[trevskoda]

Anyone who can take nearly 90% of any market can't be doing everything wrong

Regards,
Del

Nop win dont have 90% of market,they have 90% of home pc & biz market,but linux have 90% of overall market which includes andriod ,7 out 0f 10 servers world wide and the worlds fastest super computor runs linux,you of all should know this with your experiance,please keep up me lad.

 

[wildebus]

A wee warning for anyone wanting to install an older MS OS ....

Windows Recall

It has come to our attention that a few copies of the Scotland version of Windows 98 may have accidentally been shipped outside Scotland.

If you have one of the Scotland editions you may need some help understanding the commands. The Scotland edition may be recognized by looking at the opening screen. It reads WINDAES 98, Ye Ken, with a background picture of William Wallace superimposed on a St. Andrews Cross. It is shipped with a Mel Gibson screen saver.

Also note the Recycle Bin is called 'The Bucket.'
My Computer is called 'Thon Computer Thingie.'
Dialup Networking is called 'Phone the Bhoys.'
Control Panel is known as 'the Dashboard.'
Hard Drive is referred to as 'the tractor.'
Floppies are referred to as 'thae wee plastic disc things.'

Other features:
- Instead of an error message you get a windae covered with a picture of a neep.
- OK = 'ats fine'
- cancel = na na ma loon
- reset = Och ye'd be as weel startin again
- yes = Och aye
- no = nae chunce mon
- find = if ye'd bothered to pit it past in a safe place, ye widnae need to look for it noo
- go to = go'n ower 'ere
- back = back the wye
- help = geese a haun'
- stop = pack it in
- start = com on 'en
- settings = sittins
- programs = stuff whit daes stuff
- documents = stuff I hive done afore

Also note that Windaes 98 does not recognise capital letters or punctuation marks.

Some programs that are exclusive to Windaes 98:
- Pincil an paper...........A word processor
- Colourin book.......a Graphics program
- Addin machine......calculator
- Andrex......notepad
- Jukebox............CD player
- Photies.............A graphics viewer
- Tax records.........usually an empty file

We regret any inconvenience it may have caused if you received a copy of the Scotland edition. You may return it to Microsoft for a replacement version.

(from http://www.rampantscotland.com/parliamo/blparliamo_recall.htm )