Cool Tech Reviews

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Ubuntu seems to have the buzz as the “hottest” Linux distribution and now Jason Brooks weighs in at eWEEK:

Canonical’s Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is an excellent Linux-based operating system—so excellent, in fact, that it not only earned eWEEK Labs’ Analyst’s Choice designation but has also become our clear favorite among Linux desktop distributions.

This latest Ubuntu release, which became available in June, has won our ardor with a tight focus on desktop usability; an extremely active, helpful and organized user community; and a software installation and management framework that’s unsurpassed on any OS platform.

In addition to outperforming Linux rivals as a desktop OS, we found that Ubuntu is a solid choice for server deployments—provided, at least, that the sort of graphical management hand-holding that one would expect from Microsoft’s Windows Server or from Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server isn’t a priority.

Hit the link for the full review.

Paul Thurrott notes the defection of some prominent Mac users to the Ubuntu Linux distribution:

It’s curious to me that people are leaving OS X for Ubuntu, not because Ubuntu isn’t great, but because I figured anyone with that kind of gene in their body would be fine in Apple’s world. I guess not. Anyway… (former) Mac advocates Cory Doctorow and Mark Pilgrim are both switching to Ubuntu.

Tim O’Reilly has more on the trend (fad?) and you can read Doctorow’s and Pilgrim’s explanations for yourself, but this is all by way of a lead-in to Pilgrim’s essential software list:

Now that I’ve completed my move to Linux (sorry Mac fanboys, the install was flawless and everything worked out of the box), someone emailed me to suggest that I update my essential software list. So here you go.

1. Ubuntu, which is an ancient African word meaning “can’t install Debian”.

There are many more entries on the list, many with a touch of techie humor. The slant of the list is about making the transition from Mac user to Ubuntu user, but it’s got me thinking about the old Windows 98 machine sitting next to me that is about to go out of support.

Update 7/9: Also highly recommended is EasyUbuntu.

One of my pet theories is that if a PC manufacturer would only turn out units with slightly “out of date” technology instead of competing on specs with everyone else, they could offer some amazingly cheap but still very functional PC hardware. It looks like Fry’s Electronics is doing just that as Loyd Case reports at PC Magazine in Your Next PC Will Cost $159:

Holy tightwads, Batman! A better PC than what you’re running costs less than a pair of designer jeans? What’s happened to the computer industry?

Were GQ magazine to design a computer, it would sport a Gucci leather jacket and stroll in slick Prada loafers. It would also cost eight, maybe nine thousand dollars. But when Fry’s Electronics designed the GQ system, it wasn’t thinking of luxury linens and leather. It wanted something cheap. The surprising thing is that the GQ (short for “Great Quality,” by the way, not Gentleman’s Quarterly) turns out to be a powerful PC. It’s low-cost, in other words, not high crap.

Hit the link for the full review but here’s what you get for $159:

What $159 Buys You…

• COMPUTER In addition to the 1.67-GHz AMD Sempron chip (and integrated graphics and 6 channel audio), you’ll get four USB ports, Ethernet, and an AGP slot.
• MEMORY Only 128MB of RAM, which is barely adequate, really. Replace it with 512MB for around $40.
• 40 GB hard disk.
• SPEAKERS They’re included, but they sound awful. Really, these speakers are just terrible.
• Generic modem
• KEYBOARD AND MOUSE A surprisingly responsive keyboard and generic ball mouse round it all out.

…& What It Doesn’t

• NEW TECH You’ve heard of PCI Express, SATA, and dual-core, but you won’t get them here.
• LCD MONITOR Nope. Not a chance. In fact, there’s no screen included, period. (Fry’s offers a companion 17-inch CRT for $119.)
• DVD BURNER There’s no DVD recorder, not even a CD burner. But there is a fast CD-ROM drive.
• SOFTWARE Nothing from Microsoft here, but to be fair, the Linspire OS is pretty decent.

As far as the hardware goes, the memory is obviously short, even for Linux, but while you can argue about some of the other features it seems to be a pretty capable machine. Case was impressed with Linspire (which comes with OpenOffice) but obviously that’s going to be a matter of taste. If you have to buy Windows XP, it’s likely at least another $70 on top which rather spoils the deal but gives you an idea of where the money on a PC is going.

However, it turns out that there’s another alternative. Microsoft’s Chris Sells saw the PC Magazine review and decided to give the bargain PC a try. Apparently the $159 PC was a limited quantity offer, but he came up with an equivalent one for $171 and added $100 for 1GB of RAM and $95 for an ATI Radeon 9550 AGP card. The net was a $366 PC and he installed a beta of Windows Vista on it!

At 12:04am, I started the Vista Feb ‘06 CTP installation. At 12:44am, I was running Vista, it having recognized all of hardware (except the sound device) from my $366 PC, including enabling those cool “glass” effects and the nifty animations, integrated search and all the neat things you’ve read about in the Vista reviews.

I know I work for “the man,” but even so, I’m seriously impressed. The install was fast and seamless. The performance is way better than I thought it would be. And the little UI tricks are fabulous. I can’t do any media stuff ‘cuz my audio device wasn’t recognized, but it was cool when I tried to play video and a DVD, that the Vista Media Center UI came up (my complete home entertainment needs are served with a coupla TVs, a Media Center PC and an XBox).

I know, I know, I got the OS for free, but come on! It’s still beta and it runs great on my cheapo PC!

Hit the link for all the details including a certain amount of disbelief from some commenters who have had performance problems with the Vista beta. I’m not recommending buying an inexpensive PC in anticipation of Vista, but it looks like there truly is some capable bargain hardware out there if you are willing to shop around.