If you are in North America (USA only I think at the moment) ThinkPenguin.com is working on developing the free and open source market: http://www.thinkpenguin.com/ They make an effort to only sell systems with free and open source drivers/firmware (wifi, graphics, sound, etc.) as well as accessories like USB wifi sticks, printers, etc.

I think the BIOS is a work in progress. The problem right now is NONE of you are buying these systems. You need to actually hunker down and start supporting companies that are trying to support the GNU/Linux market-even when they are doing it with 'off the shelf' parts at 'ridiculous' prices. Right now we need more technical people working on developing supporting applications for GNU/Linux so that we can support non-technical GNU/Linux users better so that we can grow the market. If the market grows we'll be able to work on getting the LinuxBIOS onto these boards. People don't realize how expensive all this is in comparison to the number of people actually willing to put money down on this stuff. I know it's something that both Open PC, ThinkPenguin, and the founder of the LinuxBIOS project are interested in doing.

That wasn't the goal here. The goal was to put together a FREE system that worked out of the box for ordinary users and techy people alike without having to build it yourself. I shouldn't HAVE to build a computer myself. We don't all have the time to do this kind of thing. Some of us have more important things to do like design nuclear reactors.

Low-end isn't the same as crap. You've compared crap to something decent. Acer is crap. Having to replace something costs time, money, and knowledge. This system is more than capable for the majority of people and adding more ram would be overloading it. In your case adding more ram would be a necessity for most people and cost $150 in labour and parts offsetting any savings- not to mention the screen being too small and needing to be a separate keyboard, screen, and mouse and still only getting a barely functioning MS Windows system (or is this a Linux pre-install? still- probably not really designed for GNU/Linux-so.. barely functional). You are an idiot.

You miss the whole point of commercial efforts like this. By purchasing from small companies like this who are giving back you help create a market for GNU/Linux. That market increases the products that support GNU/Linux. You don't have to get this for yourself- especially if you are on a limited budget. Get it for a friend- or family member. This is a worthwhile cause-and not some gimmick by a large evil corporation. Dell's effort to support GNU/Linux is a total fraud. This one isn't.

The difference between the two is you bought a laptop that by chance worked with GNU/Linux perfectly (somehow I doubt it) and they designed a computer for GNU/Linux. The chipsets in your laptop were not designed for GNU/Linux. You the manufacturer install wifi card that had open firmware and open source drivers? How about a open source graphics drivers? Without either of these your're missing suspend to ram and your system won't work with all flavours of GNU/Linux. The support is non-existent with your setup. Something you get with these systems. You've paid the devil's tax- not here. The MS Windows system NEEDs more ram- this system might not have as much ram-but needs less- so your system is actually slower in practice. Now- if you don't value your time- ok. but I do. Chances are you had to install GNU/Linux and that means it cost you $100 (since you are smarter than most and make more money probably)... so, now who.. add it all up the better deal isn't with the system you bought. This probably isn't the best system for you- but neither is the one you bought. The best system for you is probably a higher end system from ThinkPenguin, System76, or somebody else with GNU/Linux on it.

Give me a break. Shutting services down never works. Nobody every succeeded in restricting stuffs on the Internet this way. It just doesn't work that way. When you shut one down another pops up. The internet is global and you can't possibly control what goes in it to any significant degree. Thus it makes no sense to try. It is just a waste of resources. ISPs shouldn't have to respond to these complaints. Period.

Not even close. You pay through the nose for that. This is a thousand times better- and other devices beat the iPhone in terms of price, usability, and features.

You know what. You make a good point. I don't want the government to know even how much I drive. Maybe taxing tires would be a better idea. At least then I could pay cash and the government doesn't have to know how much I drive. I imagine that wear and tear on the tires also equates to some degree to size/weight/use of the tire. Just determine the number of miles a car's tire will go and tax based on that. If it wears out quicker than another car it most likely is due to the weight of the vehicle. I only wonder if we would be unfairly taxing those who travel on less well maintained roads allot-and given they were maintained less it probably is almost like a double tax. Then again those who travel on those types of roads probably are in the middle of nowhere and/or those people deserve to be taxed more cause they travel heavily trafficed roads that need repair more often and are more expensive to repair.

I bet if you made an exact copy of a license plate and didn't get pulled over for speeding or some other vehicle violation and the other cars plates weren't turned in- or owner's license suspended, or the other vehicle's owner gets a warrant for arrest or something like that-years and years and years. As long as you are duplicating a plate from the same make/color vehicle as you a cop who checks the plate number won't have a reason to pull you over and if you aren't pulled over for violating traffic laws... you'd probably survive a long time. I think there is a huge difference between the two though. The license plate is harder to duplicate. The duplicating of a RFID is easy and chances are you could probably even just not report the miles or not report them correctly. Or maybe just report the wrong vehicle. YOu might get screwed if these RFID readers also have cameras though and suspicion arises for one reason or other. That's why you get multiple RFIDs for vehicles of the same make/model though. If the bills aren't significantly larger and the owners have nothing to compare to... your in the clear.

MS Windows 7 has many of the same problems as Vista. It still has issues regarding DRM. The interface still sucks. MS Office 2007 hasn't exactly changed-and don't tell me that this isn't part of MS Windows cause every single user almost has it and you can't buy an older version. It is for all intensive purposes the MS package that we're talking about- and that has largely gone unchanged in any significant manner. The whole MS ecosystem is crumbling before us. Even if you ignore MS Office 2007 nightmare the system is supposedly leaner according to the hype- yet I know for a fact that what hasn't been cut is still bloated just like Vista. The reviews pre-release are just like Vista- great. Now you say it has been released? Not it hasn't. Not in practice. You can't get it. Until you can actually get it on a computer it isn't out. The fact we still don't have it makes everything hype. Until I actually see it running for more than 6 months on a low and mid-range machine I'm calling it crap. Nothing more than hype suggests otherwise. Microsoft is bound to release lots of services packages that screw it up. We also don't have the compatibility that Microsoft Windows XP has- and definitely nothing like what GNU/Linux has. GNU/Linux actually has the best compatibility - despite what all the MS Windows fanatics claim. You aren't forced to upgrade every time Microsoft releases a new operating system because the printer manufactorers fail to provide updated drivers to the proprietary crap they release on MS Windows.

I find this idea repulsive. Just like I find social security numbers, drivers licenses, license plates, and government installed cameras in public places. Whatever happened to the constitution?

This isn't true at all. I can name plenty of non-clone applications. The Helix Player for instance is an open source player that is not a clone of anything. Firefox isn't a clone of anything. OpenOffice isn't a clone of anything. Certainly many applications start based on ideas from other applications that people are trying to scratch an itch over- but calling them clones is absurd. You may say GIMP is a clone of Adobe Photoshop- but anybody who has ever used it knows it is nothing like it-which is why so many people who lock themselves into it dislike it.

I believe the simplest solution is to use EXT2 or maybe even EXT3 and than have a small fat partition with autorun on it for installing the EXT2 MS Windows driver. Although my prefered solution is to just eliminate MS Windows altogether. Believe it or not it solves allot of headaches.

Get over yourself... nobody here cares what you think. This isn't the propaganda arm of MS so if people say things that you see as "anti-Microsoft" it is probably because is is true. Certainly a site that is a "Source for technology related news with a heavy slant towards Linux and Open Source issues." clearly identifies itself and needs to be read with a bit of scepticism-even if a significant number of those you see as "anti-Microsoft" are right most of the time. I don't see BestBuy, Staples, PC World, or any other "MS Windows" propaganda arm identifying itself so blatantly as Microsoft for the good of the people.