TurboLinux to Sell Wizpy Media Player Worldwide 158
MsManhattan writes "TurboLinux will attempt to lure Windows users over to the Linux operating system in baby steps this June when it starts selling its Wizpy media player worldwide. The pocket-sized device, which plays audio and video files, is really a Linux carrot of sorts, in that it also allows users to store a complete Linux desktop in its memory. You can plug the Wizpy into a PC's USB port and boot up the Linux system with all its user settings, passwords, bookmarks, etc. It originally launched in Japan, where TurboLinux marketed it to 'early adopters who are curious about using Linux but either don't want to or can't install the operating system.' The company will now target the same crowd around the globe, starting in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, India and Singapore."
Design matters (Score:2, Informative)
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Name matters (Score:1)
What a great Scrabble score you'd get.
It's up there with 'Kwyjibo' (google it ;)
monk.e.boy
Price (Score:5, Informative)
Bob
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2) A 4 GB iPod Nano has an MSRP of $199 with a slightly smaller (.3" diagonal less) LCD (instead of OLED) display. Also, the Wizpy (ugh, bad name) also has a full blown Linux distro, so it is probably similar to carrying around DSL (damn small linux,
I'm waiting for Apple to do this with iPods (Score:3, Funny)
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Cash cow for how much longer though? iPod/itunes/iPhone/iTV are expected to bring in the cash now. Maybe you missed them dropping the 'Computer' recently. But its a valid point, can they make more charging for OSX on an iPod than possible drops in hardware sales.
Because every schmuck has an iPod and it alread
Re:I'm waiting for Apple to do this with iPods (Score:4, Insightful)
Besides, if Apple was going to do something like this, it would be far more beneficial (although stupid, IMHO) to release it as a DVD-install like Windows. To compensate for a lack of Apple hardware, they would probably be charging $150 USD for it -- now figure that if it went the way you are proposing, that would be $150 USD on top of the iPod price, and there is still no guarantee that they'd switch. At least if they are buying the software (and let's face it, most people just take whatever is pre-installed on the system) they might consider buying hardware at the same time.
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hardware support (Score:2)
Besides, with apple's brand they really wouldn't need that kind of marketing.
The major problem I see here... (Score:2, Interesting)
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"Wizpy"? That's like Wii times two, right? (Score:2, Funny)
So TurboLinux now comes out with a device whose name sounds like two words for urination.
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for the rest of us they should just call it the EjacuBox
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Can this be used to remove spyware? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it possible for a device like this to circumvent XP to the point where it can be used to delete files/kill processes that are being protected by freindly spyware processes?
I've been confronted by several XP machines that have spyware which can pretty much never be removed within XP, but which also don't run Knoppix or other 'lite' linux distros. Unless they happen to have a floppy drive for a DOS boot disk, it's a major pain removing spyware.
A Linux USB stick might help, depending on how it's implemented...
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With the right tools, this gadget might be helpfull. But a thumbdrive loaded with Linux is just as handy, and less costly.
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It also has a bunch of tools devoted to security, but IMHO reinstalling XP from your system restore disks is easier and usually faster and more reliable than trying to "clean" a compromised PC.
Take care,
-mat
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I'm not sure that SLAX really is a "lite" distro. I have a blank piece of paper and a pen thats a bit liter, but it takes a while to compile.
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Any Knoppix distro, or remaster of Knoppix, like mine, (see screenshots, below) can be used to work with an XP install that is having problems. You don't need a linux distro on a USB stick to do that, the CD will work, and will run
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Wizpy vs. Foleo - a Linux marketing lesson (Score:2)
Or, look at it this way: When someone asks "Why buy a Wizpy?" there is a speci
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Above all else, that is just wrong.
Of course people care, otherwise why would this be news?
The whole point of my comment is that people now care about this, and you can add value through the use of open source software, or you can try to smother it in a layer of crud and end up subtracting value.
Two opponents at once? (Score:2)
Well, that will be easy.
Always FM, never DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) (Score:3, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_broadc
http://www.cab-acr.ca/drri/index.shtm [cab-acr.ca]
Re:Always FM, never DAB (Digital Audio Broadcastin (Score:2)
Early Adapters? (Score:2)
TurboLinux was introduced in 1992; that's 15 years ago. What bizarre definition of early adapter includes those jumping on the bandwagon 15 years later?
Re:Early Adapters? (Score:4, Funny)
CGA enthusiasts.
Wireless/USB MP3 players? (Score:2)
Can already boot Linux USB with Knoppix (Score:2)
Here's a guide I wrote:
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key [knoppix.net]
Do this with a USB key and it will have Linux on it, ready to be booted up. Works on any PC, needing no installation, and leaving no traces behind (unlike SanDisk's lousy "U3" software). Because it's Knoppix, it's all self-contained, and can autodetect enough hardware to be useful.
Because Knoppix was intended to be ran from CD, it doesn't write anything back to the USB key. T
Re:any system? (Score:5, Funny)
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Spoonhead? That's one I've never seen before. Maybe I should go add it to the Eggcorn Database [lascribe.net]...
Not really (Score:2)
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Re:Not really (Score:5, Insightful)
Linux has far better hardware support than any other OS out there.
It's extremely rare that you need to install any drivers on any modern distro. Mac supports a very limited hardware set, while Windows needs half a dozen drivers post-install just to get everything working.
In the context of a media player capable of booting from any modern computer, Linux much better placed than other OSs.
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bullshit, and you know it. wireless drivers, onboard drivers, 3d accerleration. they all SUCK to install on linux. not to mention specialised stuff like hdtv tuners.
Re:Not really (Score:5, Interesting)
bullshit, and you know it. wireless drivers, onboard drivers, 3d accerleration. they all SUCK to install on linux. not to mention specialised stuff like hdtv tuners.
I challenge you to wipe your Windows HD, re-install everything from just a windows CD and see how much of that hardware works.
In my experience, out-of-the-box clean installs are generally easier and more complete in Linux.
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Exactly - You missed the parent's point - It does NOT "just work" after a clean XP install. In your case, you got lucky and the single most annoying part to get working, the network, happened to come up okay. But all those other drivers that allows you to download, don't work OOB.
Eventually what I had to do was remove all the PCI cards from my box, install 4 different pci wifi cards
When Dell builds
Two main points (Score:3, Insightful)
- Have system builders that hand-pick components known to work with Linux distros. Both small Linux shops and initiatives from large manufacturers like Dell shipping Ubuntu on some computers will help. If they build machines on which Linux just installs(tm), that will be a nice step forward.
This will be much more creative than bitching whose OS is better for a clean install and throwing personal anecdotes at each other as arguments. (Yes, I know yo
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As far as TKIP, you can drop to WEP or unencrypted long enough to get it going.
YMMV. However I can tell you for sure, every year Linux improves in wireless networking. Windows just keeps marking time.
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I've had expearence with installing vista on four machines (all four had net connections) when Vista first booted it it went online downloaded all the drivers installed them and asked me to restart. These machines were all less than a year old and I agree on older machines you would be less likely to have a driver (i'm talking three or four years old.) Sure Vista sucks for out of the box driver support but this great thing called the interweb means it auto-installs
missing the point (Score:2)
As for OSX... that's a whole different ballgame. You rarely hear "this hardware didn't work perfectly" complaints from mac users, but that's because most of the core
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Last time I tried a Linux distro on it (Ubuntu 7.4, about 8 hours ago) it refused point blank to even get to a desktop, bottling out at trying to load X.
Oh for $deities sake (Score:2)
If you install any major Linux distro, most, if not all hardware will work automagically with no need for any manual driver installation. However, you might come across some hardware which either will not work at all, or will need some considerable tweaking to get working.
If you install XP SP2, every single piece of consumer hardware you own that's less than six years old will be supported*(see footnote 1). Howe
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I have an updated XP CD that has support for as many devices as any new Linux distro, so, the install is not at all painful regardless of which OS I chose.
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--XP was originally released in Oct 2001, as well.
See:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000646.
Been there, done that (Score:2)
Results:
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--Check your ' alsamixer ' settings; mic might be Muted by default.
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I went online and found a couple people mentioning similar problems, and downloaded & installed the packages they were talking about. It helped some things but the mic is still missing.
Oh, and is t
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--Only decent way I've found to do that is have headphones plugged into the front, and speakers (with its own separate power switch) in the back.
--If the software doesn't work for your card, I'd file a bug report. Altho you can also buy a cheap Linux-supported sound card and throw it in a PCI slot if you have one free.
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What does this have to do with the topic of running the complete OS from a USB stick without any configuration?
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Re:Not really (Score:5, Informative)
bullshit, and you know it. wireless drivers, onboard drivers, 3d accerleration. they all SUCK to install on linux. not to mention specialised stuff like hdtv tuners.
Troll, but I'll bite.
Installing XP SP2 on either of my PCs (standard Asus board, Athlon X2) requires:
- Video driver (7600 GS)
- Audio (on board)
- Sata RAID (I can skip this and go with Window's builtin raid, but I'll lose the ability to put my C: drive on Raid0).
- Network
- Chipset
Feisty:
- Video Driver (if I really want it!, the nvidia driver is ok, of course upgrading to a proprietary driver = 3 mouse clicks + 1 password).
PS: Wireless worked out of the box for my laptop, something that didn't on Windows XP SP2.
Your mileage might vary!
Re:Not really (Score:4, Insightful)
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Feisty:
- Have to manually edit xorg.conf to get resolutions above 1280x1024
- Have to manually edit xorg.conf to use more than 3 buttons on your mouse
Other than those (which there are guides on the net to sort out) I've had little trouble with Ubuntu Feisty and haven't booted into Windows since I installed it. I do miss a lot of my games though, wine's not too great (Counter-Strike Source runs in direct-x 7 mode) and few games have linux ports (I've got NWN and UT2004 working).
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We just bought a new laptop for my wife... and I went with WinXP. (thanks to Dell Small Business, I didn't have to go to Vista). I've been using Linux as my main OS since Redhat 6.2, and I currently run Kubuntu (6.10). Now the MAIN reason we went with XP is because it was my wife's machine and she does the finances on Quicken. Sorry, no FOSS software can compare and I have tried them.
I knew Dell had Ubuntu availabl
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Personally, I have had trouble with audio on both of my previous desktops (in Windows and Linux). The first desktop didn't have network support on the linux or windows install either. It has seemed to me, the dr
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Sabayon and Kororaa both support Compiz/Beryl on live CDs. Why wouldn't TurboLinux do the same on their media drive?
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All that said, I think this littl
That's not my experience (Score:2)
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I've got plenty of hardware that's Linux only, a lot of which I got free or cheap when the owners upgraded to a version of Windows which obsoleted drivers. There's Matrox G200 MMS video cards that won't work under any version of Windows, but's fine with Linux, Half a dozen D-Link wireless cards that have never been supported on XP (I scored those for free when the company that bought them upgraded from '98), and more.
The thing is, the pool of drivers for Linux is increasing all t
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Where Linux doesn't work 100% it does get pretty close and if you just want to stick your USB device in and get some work done it will almost certainly handle that. Assuming you can
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Compare that to Apple who's software only runs on a very small set of hardware options, and Windows which has a lots of devices supported but the quality of those drivers is usually incredibly bad. By the way I don't think that is Microsoft's fault, but the hardware manufacturer. If they release open specs then it's Microsoft's fault.
I'd say Linux is the perfect choice
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But old myths die hard.
I still encounter people who don't even know that Macs have been running Unix for the last seven years, or that they're not limited to one-button mouses, etc.
It may sound crazy, but maybe if Firefox had a default splash screen with logos and links to linux distros, they might become more popular. State how Firefox is free and open source and that the Linux OS is
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I think you have that backwards, hardware its infamous for its lack of Linux. the vast majority of drivers are written for windows and/or mac. were the situation reversed, windows and mac would be said to have a problem with hardware support too. but then again, that myth isnt true anymore, linux supports alot of hardware at least partially that windows throws a fit over.
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that's BS. Windows doesnt support A LOT of hardware- even some that Linux DOES support. the hardware that isnt supported out of the box by Linux certainly isnt by Windows.
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people keep flapping their gums about it but i don't see no proof bobby-joe
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seriously think about your argument there.... I just purchased a $300 device and linux doesn't work on it... what am i going to ditch first, the $300 or the free os?
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