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You can buy "Linux on a stick" now — Parallax Forums

You can buy "Linux on a stick" now

Don MDon M Posts: 1,652
edited 2016-07-21 18:19 in General Discussion
I ran across this website today. http://www.xtra-pc.com
Anyone ever seen this before? I wonder how many they sell. It's kind of misleading. Makes you think you're actually getting a PC that resides on a USB stick

Comments

  • yetiyeti Posts: 818
    edited 2016-07-21 19:45
    What about GPL and providing the source?
    Ah... found... http://www.xtra-pc.com/support
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    Or ... you could just burn a Linux live distribution into your own memory stick for free.

    -Phil
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    While making a live USB distribution takes a small amount of skill, that's a high price for what amounts to running a tool like Rufus.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    Wow! There's one born every minute!

    I wonder how they 2x, 4x and 8x your computer's speed?? I'd pay $70 to get my 3gHz i7 to run at 12 gHz!!
  • David BetzDavid Betz Posts: 14,516
    mindrobots wrote: »
    Wow! There's one born every minute!

    I wonder how they 2x, 4x and 8x your computer's speed?? I'd pay $70 to get my 3gHz i7 to run at 12 gHz!!
    I think their theory is that Linux is a lot faster than the Windows OS that is probably running on the computer.

  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    Yeah i can see the first perceived speed increass but a bigger stick goes 2x, even bigger and you get 4x....

    Just more snake oil.
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2016-07-21 23:50
    Darn it, tried to order one but their supplies have run out. I guess that's what they meant by "limited supplies" :):):)
    Then again I could just wait 30 days and they will have lots of them again (slightly used). Can't wait to turn my old 386 box into a new PC.

    I'm not impressed because they describe themselves as "a Christian family business" but I find the presentation extremely misleading and only once in the "About Us" does it mention the word "Linux" though without any clarification. But if indeed people have old PCs, and old PCs have slow USB 2.0 ports and they claim you can use a PC even without a hard drive, then that old PC will still be slow. But perhaps where they will get caught with advertising regulations is claiming it turns the PC into a "new" PC rather than "like new" etc.

    But $25 is a lot to pay for a 8GB USB stick jumping to $50 for 64GB if you still want the small size and $80 if you want the bulky 128G. Another thing is that even with a 8GB stick they are claiming that you can have 8GB of storage which is rather strange as a live or installed Linux would take up a couple of GBs I would think. Good on them for being clever in marketing Linux on a stick, shame on them for lots of other reasons.

    btw, I create live USB sticks simply by using ImageWriter or UNetbootin depending upon the distro. A large ISO may take a few minutes to download and several more to burn onto a stick but it is very quick and easy.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    ...reminds me of 'pizza in a cup'!
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    mindrobots wrote: »
    ...reminds me of 'pizza in a cup'!

    Just don't eat it with a fork.


  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2016-07-22 19:36
    Looks like they had a live DVD version as well http://lifehacker.com/xtra-pc-helps-non-technical-people-install-linux-on-an-1691291316 for $14.99 but it looks like they pulled it for the more expensive "stick" versions. I'd rather just get a Raspberry Pi 3 if I want a new cheap computer.
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    mindrobots wrote: »
    ...reminds me of 'pizza in a cup'!

    LOL!

    I just heard the Silicon Valley has its first robo pizza shop, so much for knowing an employee that does your special order.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2016-07-23 00:01
    MikeDYur wrote: »
    I just heard the Silicon Valley has its first robo pizza shop, so much for knowing an employee that does your special order.

    Cat's out of the bag. Erco and I have just completed the prototype of HockBot, a pizza-making-bad-customer-spitting robot. For those rude customers who never have anything good to say, the robot spits up a good dollop of old WD-40, and loogies it under the cheese.

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    GordonMcComb wrote:
    ...the robot spits up a good dollop of old WD-40, and loogies it under the cheese.
    Perfect! I hate it when the cheese sticks to the crust! WD-40 to the rescue!

    -Phil
  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    Ever since I found a long hair in a slice from a local shop, I watch every bite of stringy cheese, 'cross-eyed'. So as long as they use a food grade WD-40, I may order one, not sure I want to eat lunch with Gordon though.


    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/inside-silicon-valley-s-robot-pizzeria
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