The desktop is not just a wallpaper, it is dynamic with all sorts of information.
I haven't tried it yet, my USB is right near me though. I;m tempted.
. 
Posted on 12/19/2013 8:48:13 PM PST by Utilizer
The Free Software Foundation today has come out for "the first time we've ever been able to encourage people to buy and use a laptop as-is." The Free Software Foundation now backs one laptop model as respecting the customer's freedoms, but are the hardware specs any good?
The Free Software Foundation publicly announced today the "Respects Your Freedom" certification for the Gluglug X60 laptops, which come down to refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad X60s... These refurbished laptops come from an Internet retailer in the UK that replaces the proprietary ThinkPad BIOS with Coreboot. The free software operating system preloaded on the refurbished X60 is Trisquel GNU/Linux, the Ubuntu derivative backed by the FSF that ships without any proprietary software or firmware options.
-snip-
...if you're very serious about having a system that's truly all free software down to the BIOS, the Free Software Foundation now endorses these refurbished ThinkPad X60s... Just be forewarned that the hardware is refurbished, years-old, and really nothing to get excited about. Pricing on these slow systems start out at 200£ (circa $328+ USD). If you want something that will work with modern Linux distributions but isn't open-source down to the firmware but delivers much better performance and specs than a nearly eight year old laptop, there's systems out there like the Celeron Haswell based Acer C720 Chromebook or many other low-end laptops and ultrabooks sporting Ivy Bridge or Haswell processors. There's also many newer Intel and AMD motherboards that are Coreboot-compatible and can run on a fully open-source OS stack, should you want to assemble a system yourself or to make it more free software friendly.
(Excerpt) Read more at phoronix.com ...
Or you could compromise and pay much more for SOME proprietary components/coding/BIOScode on a unit if you feel you absolutely need as close to the newest thingys as possible.
Then again, if you actually want to pay more, you probably are not interested in this info...
$328???
I just bought a new Windows 8 machine for that much.
(well a couple bucks more, but not much)
Related:
Teacher Nicholas Seward’s 3D printer designs pushing the tech envelope & helping stretch young minds
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3103219/posts
So how much did you get as a rebate for having to suffer with Windoze? :)
The point here is that someone has replaced all the crapware.
It’s not for everyone but I kinda like the idea. If you bought a different product, say a refrigerator, and it started running funny, food got too warm, and every few weeks you had to pull it out and unplug it to make it work right again, I suspect we woudln’t put up with it. But Microsoft puts out crap after crap and gets away with basically the same thing.
You have much sorrow, I feel. (in best Yoda-ish voice)
But seriously, you have My sympathies. Especially having some personal experience with the latest versions of the MS OS's that had Me fuming so badly that I simply 'downgraded' and had much more performance as a result.
Well, that and changing to a dual-boot to Linux in every case. MUCH better now!
I would buy it. Windows gets worse then better. Linux is great.
Hey I like the new Windows quite a bit.
Though I promptly replaced it with Linux, but I like the new Windows. I think I do anyway, I’m forgetting what it was like.
Oh well.
That is far too much money for an old laptop
I have a Toshiba Satellite you might be able to get used online for a hundred bucks running Ubuntu on what was a clean hard drive.
I have no real complaints.
But Microsoft puts out crap after crap and gets away with basically the same thing.
You know I keep hearing this from Apple elitists and Microsoft haters but I have been running Windows on my machine since I built the first one in the 80’s and the last time i had a blue screen of death I was still using floppies and the only times I have had to reboot is after a update. I have had hardware fail but not the software.
OK... Enjoy. I personally have seen absolutely no improvements in system useage in any of the recent 'doze releases whatsoever. If anything, I have seen consistant reduction in performance, more memory demands and hard drive space requirements, and more susceptibility to virus and malware infestation.
The most I see people claim is they like the interface better.
I can list hundreds of 'nix options, GUIs, and OS's that will change the user interface at the drop of a hat, and require no greater demands upon any particular system than it originally was designed for with nothing but added performance gained with the addition of optional hardware.
No MS 'latest' version has ever touted less system demands, increased speed, or greater performance as a result of purchasing and attempting to install it.
Speaking of which: the default standard for most 'doze software is: you opened the package, you can not return it. Note that I specifically did not state that you 'own' it, as the fine print in the 'User Agreement' is that the software is still owned by the OEM regardless of how, when, or how much you paid some other entity for it.
$328 is crazy
How much is the kickback to FSF?
There is no reason to buy THAT computer to run a free Linux OS.
I just like it.
It is a big improvement, and does (not) feel like Windows.
It feels like Linux, to tell the truth.
The desktop is not just a wallpaper, it is dynamic with all sorts of information.
I haven't tried it yet, my USB is right near me though. I;m tempted.
.
That desktop on the left looks like Ubuntu, to tell the truth.
At least the icon does.
It becomes semi-tolerable once Cygwin goes on and I fire up a few xterms. I can then (mostly) forget that 'doze is the foundation. But for me, Windows is just a curiosity piece on my dual boot system. If there's a must-have app that hasn't been ported, I just run it on a virtual machine under Fedora, now at 20 (Heisenbug).
Since it is open source anyone can take a copy of Ubuntu or almost any other linux and change it to their liking and release it with a new name.
Crunch Bang Linux is pretty much the opposite, it pretty much has nothing on the desktop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrunchBang_Linux
I got rid of my last Windows computer in 2005. I personally could not be happier.
It is so nice not to have to worry about antivirus, spyware, etc., and be able to find software that meets my needs in an instant and download it without fees of any kind.
There was a learning curve when I started out, but now, upgrading to the latest and greatest OS whenever I want is a breeze. Best part is, if I don’t like something, I can switch to a different OS in a half hour!
This Asus laptop was about $250 with Win8 installed, and it’s not a recycled. Nothing like secular “charities” to do nothing other than pay big salaries to the pied pipers at the top.
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