 currly
join:2005-02-11
Brooklyn, NY
kudos:1
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Re: [OOL] PC with Linux OS said by MxxCon:While it is good that Telikin's ceo posted here and he shows interest(if you consider "google alerts" that), I kinda dislike their TOS and their marketing approach. I feel they are not actually satisfying a market demand but rather exploiting a market segment. Good point. I suspected that but erred on the side of no research with a heavy dash of wishful thinking.
said by MxxCon: ... telikin published some of their gpl mods at »www.telikin.com/open_source.php, i couldn't find this at wow!computer. They are using TinyCoreLinux so I imagine they are using some standard GUI as well. From Telikin:
The Telikin computer also contains other software libraries and programs covered under various other licenses. These licenses and copyrights are available on the Telikin in the license agreement presented to the user the first time the Telikin is turned on, as well as on the system information screen.
That looks great! I think I'll try it out on my MSI Wind Top.
said by xirian:Apples aren't that expensive for what you get, especially refurbished. Plus a mac mini is way cheaper than that thing he linked. I won't fault you for liking Apple but even refurbished Macs are "overpriced". I mean, obviously they're not overpriced for what the market will bear but you definitely get less for more. A higher price tag also makes the consumer think they are getting something more valuable and feeds the snob appeal. I concede they are nice looking machines (design costs) and are generally decent to very good quality (I even use some older Macs but with Linux) but their engineered obsolescence and lack of support for other open source software (e.g. flac, ogg) and even older versions of their very own operating system is way over the top for my taste and, frankly, inexcusable, especially at their prices. I have a huge pile of dead/unfixable Mac laptop carcasses 4 years old or less yet I have a Thinkpad from 1998 still chugging along working as a print server and music player solid as a rock... almost.
Also, I haven't tried "logmein" but I have tried teamviewer and it is excellent and runs very well on Windows, OS X and Linux desktops. |
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 ThinkdiffPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY
kudos:6
2 edits | Please stop spewing your anti-Apple bias all over this thread. Everybody has had a fairly well-rounded discussion on the pros/cons of the different approaches, but you keep bringing up nonsense about Apple.
I have Macs ranging from 1984 to 2011. All of them work as well as the day they came out of the box. There's no "engineered obsolescence", as you put it. At least not anymore than any other company.
Apple has provided support for or maintained tons of open source projects. Even the base of their OS is open source (Darwin) minus the GUI and some support services. You can run any open source software you want on a Mac via Fink or Macports or compiling yourself. It's hilarious that you say you support open source software and then recommend the two proprietary Linux PCs that have been posted so far.
As for Linux vs OS X security, I honestly don't see how you can back that up. Given just the base OS without additional applications, both are historically very secure. Linux, OS X, and Windows all suffer from exploits found in third-party libraries (Java, Flash, etc), but Windows also has quite a few exploits in built-in services making it more difficult to secure. If anything, the Mac mini would potentially be more secure than the Linux PC as both companies believe their Linux PCs are "virus-resistant" and likely don't easily allow an AV to be installed. You have the option to install free AVs on the Mac if necessary.
As for my post, I mentioned a single add-on that is completely optional (Deep Freeze). You have to pay for it on Windows as well. How is that Apple's fault exactly? Everything else I mentioned is built into the OS.
Yes. Macs cost more than bargain basement, asian-brand PCs. That doesn't make it the "snob" machine you make it out to be - that's just how you view people that spend their money on Macs.
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xirianPremium
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY
kudos:1 | reply to currly
I'm only suggesting to try the mac first because if theres an apple store within a reasonable distance (or best buy I guess), its the least effort of the choices to try, since you can just mess with it in store whereas with the linux pc for example, they have to buy one and set it up at home just to figure out if it works out ok for her, and if not, go through the hassle of shipping it back. Theres also the benefit of the classes like I mentioned, so someone else who has more experience explaining things to the technically challenged will walk her through using it.
For a senior I think even chrome os would work well if it wasn't for the fact it only comes on laptops. If she is currently just using msn tv then the chrome browser with common pages/webmail on the screen when you open it / load a new tab would probably work fine. |
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ThinkdiffPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY
kudos:6 | said by xirian:For a senior I think even chrome os would work well if it wasn't for the fact it only comes on laptops. If she is currently just using msn tv then the chrome browser with common pages/webmail on the screen when you open it / load a new tab would probably work fine.
That's actually not a bad idea and is platform agnostic. If the OP could create a local "startup" page with her most used websites on it using large buttons, then have the browser automatically open when the computer starts up, it'll be pretty close to the MSN TV.
The only challenge would be finding sites that look good and function well on a TV. Increasing the default font size should help.
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University of Southern California - Fight On! |
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xirianPremium
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY
kudos:1 | Actually I just looked in the chrome options and I see theres a "minimum font size" option.
That along with chrome's start page letting you pin sites as "apps" could work well, as long as she can figure out how to open chrome if it needs to be reopened (Giant desktop icon renamed to 'CLICK FOR INTERNET"?). |
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 MxxCon
join:1999-11-19
Brooklyn, NY | reply to xirian
said by xirian:For a senior I think even chrome os would work well if it wasn't for the fact it only comes on laptops. If she is currently just using msn tv then the chrome browser with common pages/webmail on the screen when you open it / load a new tab would probably work fine. Official ChromeOS is only on a few devices, however there's always »chromeos.hexxeh.net/
With the new version you can have bookmarks show up as icons on your desktop.
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FS613Premium
join:2002-11-18
Brooklyn, NY
1 edit | said by MxxCon:said by xirian:For a senior, I think even Chrome OS would work well, if it wasn't for the fact it only comes on laptops. If she is currently just using MSN TV, then the Chrome browser with common pages/webmail on the screen when you open it / load a new tab would probably work fine. Official ChromeOS is only on a few devices; however, there's always » chromeos.hexxeh.net/With the new version, you can have bookmarks show up as icons on your desktop. I looked the web site »chromeos.hexxeh.net/
1) Does this mean that Vanilla is something that you run to put the ChromeOS onto a USB drive,
and then you boot from that USB drive on a Windows PC, to get it to run as though it were a ChromeBook?
2) Is the Windows OS permanently overwritten by the Chrome OS, or does the Chrome OS just boot from the USB drive,
and if the USB drive is removed, and the PC is rebooted, it goes back to Windows?
Thank you. |
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MxxCon
join:1999-11-19
Brooklyn, NY | Vanilla and Lime are just different compilations of open source Chromium OS.
Chromium OS to Chrome OS is what Chromium to Chrome.
Vanilla vs Lime, one of those has support for a bit more different device drivers since ChromeOS officially runs on only 3 different Chromebooks.
You write that image on USB and just boot from it. Everything is self contained on that drive and ready to go. It does not affect your Windows install at all. If you want to, you can find instructions online how to install it on hdd and dualboot.
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