[SWLUG] mass marketing Linux?

[Kris Zani]

dunno about the distro.  you might need to customise it somewhat.  
careful package selection and maybe a custom kernel to try an improve 
speed.  Been hearing good stuff about ubuntu.  I use FC4 and gentoo.  
neither of which are suitable for you.

XFCE is an excellent desktop though and very lightweight. 
http://www.xfce.org/

the biggest problem you'll get is modem compatability so you'll have to 
market them as broadband only,

might be worth sourcing a set of broadband modems, adsl and cable and 
providing those as well.

you'll probably end up setting them up for the users though and all this 
costs time which might end up making them not so cheap.

well good luck anyway

Kris


Glasiad wrote:

> Dear swlug folk,
>
> My friend and I have recently procured a job lot of old computers 
> (pentium / celeron; 300 - 500 Mhz processors, 4 to 10 Gb HD's, 64 - 
> 128 RAM, etc.) that we're refurbishing to sell as bargain basement / 
> entry level / extra / desktop websurfers. And since nobody else seems 
> to be doing it we're thinking to market them with Linux Operating 
> Systems - stable and secure (especially when you think of all the 
> viruses and spyware out there!) - not to mention "cost effective".
>
> But what distro?
>
> 1. We need someting that is not to difficult to get a hang of (KDE?) 
> for first time users.
>
> 2. Doesn't take up too much space on the HD (not much over 1 Gb?)
>
> 3. Has a reasonable degree of autoconfiguration when installed (time 
> is money!).
>
> 4. Not too taxing on the system.
>
> 5, Works well with older hardware.
>
> 6. Has a useful range of applications including Open Office, fully 
> functional multimedia suite, and at least one decent browser.
>
> Everything is compromise in this situation I realise, but any 
> comments, suggestions, or observations on the suitablity of various 
> distros would be appreciated.
>
> A wider question may be - Is Linux ready to be marketed to the 
> computer curious and to those with already some experience with 
> Windows? Or ...
>
> hwyl!
> Glasiad
>
>
>
>  
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