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$199 Linux Device in Prodigy deal 40

Posted by CmdrTaco from the little-cheaper-better dept.
Eric Maag sent us a news.com article that talks about another $199 Linux Box (and unlike the last one we mentioned, this one apparently actually does run Linux, and isn't simply taking the name in vain to gain publicity). This might come about as part of a recent prodigy push to add cheap PCs to their roster.
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$199 Linux Device in Prodigy deal More

$199 Linux Device in Prodigy deal

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  • I figured it was a slightly different ad, but I believe everything was the same. And yes I am aware that it CAN run Linux. It was not in the ad however.
  • I'm sorry - at this point, we haven't really tried using the box as a firewall/router. So far, it's just been used as a lightweight desktop box.

    Stephen Hindle
    Director Of Linux Product Development
    The Linux Store
    Stephen Hindle
    Director of Linux Product Development/CTO

  • AMD chip, what speed? 266? 300? 450?

    Any slots? How many? Does it have a CDROM drive? Floppy?

    (This is about the only way you'll get an x86 box in my house, sell it dirt cheep and preinstall Linux on it.)

    -- Dirt Road

    -- Dirt Road

  • Please let me assure you it *DOES* run Linux. The product has not been released yet, so it must have been something else you saw in Best Buy.


    If your still skeptical - watch the demo on "Good Morning America" july 15 :-)



    Stephen Hindle
    Director Of Linux Product Development
    http://www.thelinuxstore.com

    Stephen Hindle
    Director of Linux Product Development/CTO
  • I've been with Prodigy since December 25, 1989... The second year of operation I believe, way back in the DOS days. I've been through the switchover to Prodigy Internet in 1995 when I got a newer computer (my original computer I had for 6 years... a 386/20 box. I still have it, too. Makes for good parts) and I can't say I've ever recieved much spam mail from them. I've gotten a few ads here and there, but usually it was something I signed up with. No one else I talk to from Prodigy has trouble with spam either... I'd like to know where you got that from? Also, the connection, I have two dial-up numbers for 56K access... One's for Flex and one's for V.90. I hardly, if ever, get below the mid 40's for my connection speed. Perhaps its your phone line, or maybe you're using a 56K modem thats incompatible with the modem you're dialing into. K56Flex and X2 are incompatible and result in lower speeds. Anyways, I hardly have problems with Prodigy, except their updates cut into my online time (3 am to 6 or 7 am... my peak hours, dammit!) and occasionally their dns server doesn't work. Otherwise, Prodigy's a perfectly fine service. Oh, and also, they don't sell your information to mailing lists, I believe it's stated in the membership agreement.
  • I'm a Prodigy/Linux user. I started in the old days with a free "Classic" account from my brother, who used to work there. They offered a free trial of their "Prodigy Internet", so I signed up. By this time I was using Win '95. The switch to PPP under Linux wasn't bad. I had to get recent versions of pppd/chat. The critical thing was to get the right data into the pap and chap config files.

    A few months ago, they confirmed an outage. Like others have said, they didn't have any Linux-specific help. It seemed I was unable to connect for longer than it should have taken. (I think I was able to connect from a Win '95 box.) Ultimately I discovered that I had to prevent either pap or chap from being used (I removed one of either the pap or chap config files). They never told me about any change on their servers that would have implied this, but it just started working again.

  • I wonder how much it will cost to buy without the internet service? Was there anything there about a moniter?

    -Toby
  • "Linux, a rebel open-source operating system"

    I guess Windows is the Empire then!
  • yeah, and then when they're hooked, they get to soak more $ out of them to buy the monitor, and then the upgrades, and then the 3D card, for all those cool games they'll end up wanting to play (Q3 for Linux... ?), and then they'll just buy a new PC, and then..
  • It's actually $199 + $20*24 = $679.

    Bleah, now if they sold it without the internet access I would buy.

    It's just a Linux WebTV.

  • There was another article on Cnet/news.com with a pointer to www.thelinuxstore.com last week, probably Thursday. I submitted it too. If you check their site all there is is a logo for PIA and a link to an e-mail address. I mailed them to ask a few ques. and received a prompt answer. I have never dealt with them before, but from the speed of the response I would say they have somebody dedicated to this product. Could be they are wanting to recover some of their credibility and customers with a proper rollout.

    Anyway, the email I received stated that the PIA will have a full install of Linux (unknown distro), will have a spreadsheet, word proc., email, internet pre-configured. But it did not say if it was set up for a specific provider.

    My thoughts are that you should be able to alter any funky setup on this box and at the least have a decent machine for email, net and basics. Might be a step up for some people using a 486 or 386 with low RAM.

  • AMD/Linux Machine for 200 Bucks!! what a deal for the consumer who thought packard bell was the cheap alternative to $1000+ machines.

  • Slashdot. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I submitted that article almost a week ago, and it never got posted. When somebody removes an entry from the article queue, does it disappear from the rest of you? If so, you really need to fix that, because alot of good articles are probably being lost.

  • $199? (Score:3)

    by Zack ( 44 ) on Wednesday July 07, 1999 @08:45AM (#1814877) Journal
    Very nice... very nice... This sorta seems like the neighboorhood crack dealer selling rock at a discount...

    "Hey kid, I'll give ya this one for a special low price..."

    When in fact, he's thinking:

    "Haha! Once he gets hooked, he'll want more and more! 'Come on man.. just 1 more meg of ram.. come on... I'm having shakes without a 450mhz box!' Hahah!! Then they'll pay!! Bwahahahhaha"

    Or maybe I just carried the analogy a bit far...
  • > I submitted that article almost a week ago [...]

    Interesting. The date on the article is July 6.
  • I'm currently a Prodigy customer for dial-up internet. The service is good, but when it came down to setup the connection in Linux, I basically got no help whatsoever. Fortunately, there was a page setup by someone that had managed to do it by himself, and it got me up and running as well. They aren't Linux-hostile, but certainly not friendly, either. Maybe it's going to change now?
  • I also remember reading this article last week. The date on the article could be the last revision date.
  • I've been with my current ISP for almost two years. Before it, I tried a more heavily advertised one and it turned out to be heavily oversubscribed! Never had a problem to date, like with the other one, it kept dropping my connection.


    Prior to the oversubscribed one, I was with Compuserve - dropped that after it became two $ and my brother ran up a $90 bill - he rang up a bunch of outside hours looking at naked people!
    (then tried to deny it and said someone was using my computer as a porn repository...yeesh!)
    Prior to that experience, I had free access thru my college.

  • I saw in a MicroCenter circular, that they will give you a $400 coupon toward a PC purchase (allowing a $200 PC at the low end)if you commit to two years of $20/month Internet access - thru MSN!

    This is probably completely funded by MS (and therefore suspect ;-) ), and isn't as good a deal as it looks - a $400 coupon in return for a $480 commitment, and many good ISPs have $10/month plans these days. And who stays with their first ISP for 2 years?

    Then there are the Gateway ISP/PC packages. It appears that there is real competition in this area.
  • I went to www.resellerratings.com [resellerratings.com], and CPU Micromart had a dismally low average rating of 1.7 [resellerratings.com] on a scale from 1 to 7. Many many comments [resellerratings.com] from people who didn't receive what they ordered, received dead-on-arrival machines, had huge trouble dealing with staff trying to return things, simply got ripped off and didn't receive anything, etc...

    What supercheap-preinstalled-Linux-box vendors would people here actually recommend based on personal experience?
  • I saw in ad for this in a BestBuy flyer this weekend. (http://www.bestbuy.com) I don't remember the exact details of the ad, but I do know that it was not running Linux. And surprise surprise it was at least $100 more. I wish they would have some of these price cuts for higher end pcs with larger HD's and more RAM, but beggars can't be choosers.
  • The PIA is, in fact a linux box. It has NOT hit any retail outlets yet, and does NOT require any ISP agreement to purchase. The machine will be demo'd on "Good Morning America" july 15. At this point it is anticipated that the machine will ship with Debian, though that is open to change. The machine is expected to be available in August for $199 in a base configuration. This includes video, sound, 2G HD, and modem. Processor will be in the 300Mhz range. Monitor Extra(tm).

    For more information about the PIA, please visit the linux store web site: TheLinuxStore [thelinuxstore.com]

    Stephen Hindle Director of Linux Product Development http://www.thelinuxstore.com
    Stephen Hindle
    Director of Linux Product Development/CTO
  • They are also working on an advanced model of the "Pia". It will be called the "Zadora".

    (You might be a child of the 80's if you get that joke. :) )
  • Obviously MW screwed up. More specifically, the sales droids screwed up because they didn't understand what it means to have BeOS with ported GNU tools from or similar to those from Linux. To them, that means it's a BeOS head and heart with Linux fingers and toes. So the droids say "hybrid" and the techs roll their eyes. It's not a stretch to see where they're coming from.

    I'm just not sure why you're all worked up about it. I quote loosely: "Call me whatever you want, just make sure you spell my name right." At this point, any vendor uttering "Linux" because they think it will help sell product (and any news org blindly repeating it) is extremely good news.

    J

  • Clueville...forget Bill Gates, he doesn't exist...the Pia is one of the first examples of the Internet appliance (and who would have thought an "appliance" would have 2GB?) that runs Linux and will basically kick ass, not because it's better than MS but because it really doesn't care that MS is there...it's compact, quick and dirty and that makes good biz sense...



    (aside...ebiz will become a much higher evaluated stock once it fixes its horrible customer service inadequacies...the big dogs are watching...)
  • |I think the company (CPU Micromart) is ready for
    |some great things. Definitely worth considering
    |as an investment.

    I sincerely hope these guys have cleaned up their act before joining the ranks of happy Linuc resellers. My dealings with them were nothing short of painful - though I *finally* got what I ordered. Heck, they didn't respond to my e-mails until I responded to an ad they posted in a newsgroup.

    Like I said, I hope they've cleaned up their act...
  • The PIA will be demo'd live on "Good Morning America", July 15. It will appearently be a short segment showing "Linux for the Masses". Basic functionality is slated to be demo'd including: ISP connectivity, Email, Web Browsing, and word processing.


    Stephen Hindle
    Director Of Linux Product Development
    http://www.thelinuxstore.com
    Stephen Hindle
    Director of Linux Product Development/CTO
  • Any details as to how fast it is as a router or firewall machine. If it works well then it would save me sacrificeing one of my bigger machines to keep the assholes out.

    I'll bet the shipping to the UK costs more than the goods.
  • Dixons (UK electrical retailer & 'free' ISP) have also announced that there will be a sub-£200 access box on sale before the end of the year.

    I haven't found any details of OS/browser, though.

    The report was in the (paper) edition of the Guardian, Thursday.
  • I too, a Prodigy customer, had trouble setting up Linux to connect, the people on the newsgroups were no help, and as for the people in the chat help... don't even get me started on them. However, eventually I came across this one program, called PPPSetup, which can be found here at ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pu b/Linux/system/network/serial/ppp/ [unc.edu] as the file "pppsetup-2.16.tar.gz". It's a simple bash script, but it was really easy to use.
  • How about somebody moderating Mr. Hindle's post up? One from the source. At least set it to informative ppl!

    -a sad agrieved /.er who never got to use his :(

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