[sclug] Cheap'n'nasty Tesco Linux machines

[Alex Butcher]

On Fri, 14 Mar 2008, M.Blackmore wrote:

> On Fri, 2008-03-14 at 13:57 +0000, Tom Carbert-Allen wrote:
>> 8 of Dell Optiplex GX280 DHS Pentium 4 2800Mhz 512Mb Ram, 38.1Gb HDD,
>> CDROM Drive, FDD, O/B ethernet, SoundOnBoard, 8 x USB Port, Win XP/P
>> COA, DeskTop, Black
>>
>> ?699.99  Inc. p&p & VAT
>>
> Well, that certainly does put it into perspective.
>
> Would be worth putting together a local consortium in the village of
> people wishing to upgrade and doing a bulk purchase and I could load
> them all up with Linux (or xp I suppose for those with the stickers on
> the side who insist on such things).

Bear in mind the support issues!

> Incidentally, do the stickers come with a serial number so one can just
> run the XP onto the boxes off any media at hand, or is each CD
> individually coded at pressing?

Not individually coded, but XP does require activation. I really don't think
that a COA is sufficient to run anything other that the original OEM install
of Windows. So either buy a legit copy, or warez it, as your budget and
ethics dictate, but don't fool yourself that this is a cheap way of being
legit.

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG ID:0x5010dbff

"[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it, look
it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>