[wellylug] Linux-only laptops

Tue Apr 30 09:02:38 NZST 2013

Happy to put my hand up and admit it is my fault Pedro's keyboard is
missing in action although the shipment is well and truly on it's way now.
Anything you can see on the US site we can get here if we request. I may
have to bvuy Pedro a beer for this...

Shaun

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 8:46 PM, Pedro Worcel <pedro at worcel.com> wrote:

> Just to chip in regarding ZaReason, I've bought a keyboard, but they had
> to ship it in from USA so it took a while (ordered it on the 25th of March
> and haven't received it yet).
>
> I sincerely die of the drools at ZaReason's website, and would buy
> everything there if I had the money, but I think that they have some things
> to iron out.
>
> The bright side is that if you'd like something that's not available on
> the NZ website, they might be able to get it from the USA.
>
>
> 2013/4/28 Donald Rogers <dero2648 at clear.net.nz>
>
>> Daniel and others
>>
>> The Macbook Pro 13 that I bought 3 years ago has just died and cost of
>> repair would be $1555, so I am back to square one. (One could buy a new one
>> for that by mail order - see Pricespy), but I don't want one.) Has anything
>> changed in the last three years?
>>
>> I have checked Ascent's website and they appear to offer only servers and
>> service agreements? Zareason now has a presence in NZ.
>>
>> http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/**pcw.nsf/news/dell-ships-**
>> lightweight-xps-13-laptop-**with-ubuntu-linux<http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/news/dell-ships-lightweight-xps-13-laptop-with-ubuntu-linux>
>> overpriced and not yet available?
>>
>> Any comments?
>>
>> Donald
>>
>>
>> On 15/06/10 10:31, Donald Rogers wrote:
>>
>>> Daniel Reurich wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, 2010-05-26 at 10:07 +1200, Donald Rogers wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Colin Templeman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>>>> Hash: RIPEMD160
>>>>>>
>>>>>> on 24/05/2010 11:06 Donald Rogers said:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  In January 2009 I had a go at finding a suitable laptop to buy for
>>>>>>> which
>>>>>>> I did not have to pay the Microsoft extortion
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> If the direct approach fails, try option 2: get a refund on the
>>>>>> Windows licence
>>>>>> - - have a google about on this topic.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Quite a few successes been had in the UK and elsewhere with various
>>>>>> companies
>>>>>> (e.g. Dell and Asus).  Common elements of success appears to be
>>>>>> getting the
>>>>>> "right person" and being polite but persistent.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Have a look here in the first instance:
>>>>>> http://www.linux.com/archive/**articles/59381<http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/59381>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the link. I have read similar ones in the past. NZ must be
>>>>> about the hardest country in the world in which to get a laptop without
>>>>> MSWin on it or to get a refund of the MS extortion. When I asked one of the
>>>>> retailers about a refund he said that I would get only $15. At that point I
>>>>> left in disgust.
>>>>>
>>>>> Has anyone had any experience of importing a laptop from Australia or
>>>>> elsewhere? There are heaps of outlets in USA and UK, and a few in Oz,
>>>>> offering Linux or bare bones laptops. AFAIK buying a bare bones desktop in
>>>>> NZ is not a problem. I bought mine from Quay Computers in 2004.
>>>>>
>>>>> Donald
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I've made several attempts at increasing the availability and options in
>>>> this arena, but the upstream suppliers are slow to move.  It appears
>>>> that the OEM's get special pricing from Microsoft for preinstalled
>>>> systems, and it seems to hard for them to pull their products of the
>>>> assembly line before the MS sticker is put on, and install a clean
>>>> harddrive instead of the encumbered one.
>>>>
>>>> I thought that in the age of computer control and robotics, the assembly
>>>> lines would be smart enough to handle this.
>>>>
>>>> My experience has been that it is largely the cheap knockoff badly
>>>> designed products from manufacturers that haven't got a market share
>>>> that are sometimes made available without the preinstalled and bundled
>>>> OS because even Microsoft won't bother to sign them up to an OEM
>>>> agreement.
>>>>
>>>> It'll a cold day in Hell when Microsft releases it's icy grip on the OEM
>>>> manufacturers and allow alternative OS's to share the same product
>>>> lines.
>>>>
>>> IMO it is nothing to do with robotics. Where there is a will there is a
>>> way. HP, Dell (big name companies) mention Linux or FreeDOS machines on
>>> their websites, but Dell refuses to sell them in NZ. But...
>>>
>>> I received a message from Giri at Ascent (dot co dot nz) which said:
>>>
>>> I am more than happy if you provide our details to the Linux Users Group
>>> or to any Linux user for that matter. We are happy to custom configure any
>>> HP PC/Notebook we can get access to without Windows. I honestly can't say
>>> why no one in NZ promotes them. One reason might be because it's not very
>>> easy to configure and supply these notebooks. You need to talk to HP, write
>>> a business case for being able to supply these notebooks, create your own
>>> custom configs, liaise with a distributor to supply your custom config, get
>>> the config built in Australia, wait 3 weeks, make sure you are not stepping
>>> on another suppliers toes etc.  HP don't exactly make it easy.
>>>
>>> A big thank-you to Ian Beardslee at Catalyst for his advocacy at Ascent.
>>> If you go to the Ascent website and search notebooks for FreeDOS you will
>>> find one, the HP Mini 5102 Netbook. What we need is for Linux users to
>>> request other notebooks from Ascent.
>>>
>>> Donald
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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