So there’s a new 'puter for sale at Wally-world. It’s a bare bones thing running something called “gOS” Where did gOS come from? What is it? Their website is clearly brand new, and the only other info I can find is that it seems to just be a theme laid on top of Ubuntu 7.10.
I thought I’d ask, while I download the liveCD, anyone know about this?
“gOS”? I wonder whether Google’s behind it.
According to the article I read this morning in the Chicago Tribune on Walmart’s new computer, yes, that’s opensource software from Google. They couldn’t afford to sell a computer at that price that had MS or Apple software.
The http://www.thinkgos.com/ says:
[Emphasis mine.]
I googled “gos-live-1.0_386.iso” as the link on the gOS page keeps giving me a 0 kbyte file…
Two hits. Neither of which are in English. So that’s pretty darn stealthy, if Google is backing an OS.
I have heard that gOS is a version of linux based on the Ubuntu distribution.
$199 PC? I know what’s coming back in my suitcase this christmas. 
It looks linux-y, but you can’t really tell much from a screenshot of a desktop. Still, what else would it be? (OK, BSD, maybe)
Yeah. That was me. In my first post up there.
It’s starting to look like some bozo at Everex is ripping off Wal*Mart by selling them Ubuntu.
What the hell?
ETA: I still can’t download their livecd.
Huh.
That sounds pretty good, actually.
Slant’s quick summary:
Cheap PC made of standard parts.
Slap a Linux distribution on.
Slap a GUI on top of that Linux distribution that looks vaguely similar to MacOS.
Instead of putting productivity/etc apps on the hard drive, put a bunch of links to applications that run in your web browser.
…
It’s so cheap I’m actually tempted to grab one so I can hand it to one of my business partners who currently works ‘sans computer’, just to simplify our relationship.
$199 US. That’s, what, $3.50 Canadian? 
I found it on the Wal-Mart USA site, but not Wal-Mart Canada. I wonder whether anyone I know is going to the States soon? With a scrounged monitor, etc, it might make a useful emergency PC.
shakes head
Snap out of it! If I go to any big box store, it’ll be Costco…
Okay, we deserved that. 
It’s just that after all those years of remarks about the ‘northern peso’, it feels good to be free of that. I’ll shut up with the gratuitous remarks now.
Naah, we don’t mind the jokes. After all, we’ve still got all the nukes. And something even better: less snow. Neener.
According to Download Squad, you can download it, burn it as a live CD (DVD, actually…it’s a touch too big for a CDR) and boot from the disc if you really want to try it out.
Yeah? Well, we’ve got… um… more moose! [sub]Yeah, that’s it…[/sub] And judging by the last few winters, you’ve been exporting your lack of snow up here quite efficiently.
There goes our balance of trade…
So when do we get a good Canadian OS?
I tried the LiveCD, I’m not impressed. Its really clear that the gOS folks didn’t expect the amount of attention they’ve been getting… It’s cool that they’re trying to catch up, but… jeez.
gOS is clearly meant to run smoothly on only a few cheap hardware setups. I couldn’t get it to think better than 600*800 on this new and wide display.
Dammit, I WANT ubuntu to break through, but this isn’t it. And unless Wal*Mart selles those 'puters with a big sticker that says “NO GAME YOU BUY HERE WILL WORK ON THIS MACHINE”, they’re all going to be returned. Argh.
I’m pretty sure it’d be big news if Google released a Linux distro.
(Here’s an interview with the founder of gOS.)