Big Box Linux
Rouben
rouben at rouben.net
Tue Apr 8 21:51:07 UTC 2008
This is in response to Paul's BigBox Linux annnouncement. Actually any
startup in the Linux software/hardware market could find this
potentially useful... I hope.
Speaking from a business perspective, OS marketing (as in, "Linux
works, honest!") is not at all your biggest hurdle. I think you should
be targeting educational institutions and focusing more on the thin
client/media box market. I have to admit, I am a tad biased, since I
work at U of T. :) Here are some ideas that I hope you will find
useful...
Some selling points/ideas...
* Must be able to deal in bulk (especially with universities)
* Must be cheaper in bulk than major competitors (the way it works is
that most educational institutions have preferred vendors and they
have to justify purchases from non-preferred vendors... if you're
substantially cheaper, you win).
* Support, support, support. Be prepared to have very quick turnaround
time on spare parts, service, etc. If you can set up a mail order
system where you ship the replacement part and then the client ships
you the defective part and absorb the cost of shipping (courier
preferred) then you have a chance to compete with guys like Dell in
the education market.
* Be flexible: be willing to help clients transition (or sometimes
not) from Windows. Be prepared to ship computers with Windows (and/or
Ubuntu) dual-booting.
* Offer "virtual" desktops, where Ubuntu runs on the bare metal with
VMWare/VirtualBox serving up Windows XP. The run something like
BackupPC in coordination with VMWare Snapshots to offer a
comprehensive backup strategy with point-in-time restore ability. Sell
that with a NAS rig as a nice low-cost disaster recovery package.
* Think about "small business in a box" type turnkey solutions. Offer
up packages that include some initial consulting to get small
businesses started... maybe get a hosting reseller package, and offer
webhosting as well (managed IT services outsourcing).
* Media servers and Mythbuntu appliances! Maybe team up with Koolu
(www.koolu.com) to offer custom built media servers? That might be a
good chance to sell a NAS appliance and/or a home networking package
as well.
Perhaps Ubuntu should have a team/mailing list for open source
business ideas/discussions such as this?
Rouben
On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 3:52 PM, <ubuntu-ca-request at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Big Box Linux (Paul Baranowski)
> 2. Re: loading ubuntu 7.10 (j&l)
> 3. Re: loading ubuntu 7.10 (Eugene Cormier)
> 4. Re: loading ubuntu 7.10 (Eric Cyr)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:50:29 -0400
> From: Paul Baranowski <paul at bigboxlinux.com>
> Subject: Big Box Linux
> To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID: <47FBA255.8010101 at bigboxlinux.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi everyone,
> I've recently started a business selling customizable Ubuntu Desktops. I
> started this business because I love Ubuntu and believe in open source; I think
> Linux is finally ready for the masses because of Ubuntu. If you are looking to
> buy a system where *all* the hardware works out-of-the-box, then please consider
> a computer from Big Box Linux. We are based in Toronto, ON.
>
> The systems we offer come with the following software installed, over and above
> the default Ubuntu install:
> * 3D Desktop effects
> * Hibernate & suspend support
> * Pre-installed codes and fonts
> * Wireless LAN & Bluetooth
> * Compatible printers
> * Skype & webcam support
> * DVD authoring tools
> * Flash player
> * Adobe Reader
> * Skype
> * Google Earth
> * Wine
> * 3D games (optional)
> * and more...
>
> Each machine can be customized to your liking. Feel free to give me a call if
> you are interested, or check out the web page: http://bigboxlinux.com
>
> People often ask me "I thought just about everything works out of the box on
> Linux, whats the problem?"
>
> Here is a list of things which may not work under Linux if you buy any random
> computer (I know because I've been testing the parts):
> * Motherboard (suspend/hibernate)
> * DVD drive (suspend/hibernate)
> * Hard drive (suspend/hibernate)
> * 3D graphics card
> * Ethernet port
> * Webcam
> * Wireless card
> * Printer
>
> In short, you are only guaranteed your processor and RAM will work.
>
> We also offer Linux and open source consulting for businesses, including
> Asterisk VOIP and LAN setup.
>
> Hope everyone is enjoying their week and keep spreading the Ubuntu love!
>
> --
> Paul Baranowski
> Big Box Linux, Inc.
> 416-619-0874
> 416-628-1252 (Fax)
> paul at bigboxlinux.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:44:49 -0700
> From: j&l <j_lp at shaw.ca>
> Subject: Re: loading ubuntu 7.10
> To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID: <47FBBD21.5090905 at shaw.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> I Kevin . My name is John Papineau and I am the technician for Nelson
> computers and Open source Technology group . We are situated in Canada
> in the town of Nelson in the province of B.C.
>
> solution to your problem :
>
> *first *check in your bios if the boot setup show your cd or dvd has
> the first boot device . In the IBM model the bios is sometime access by
> pressing* F1 key *on your keyboard and releasing it and pressing the key
> again until you see a message on your computer screen that say
> *accessing the bios* . *Then,* look into the bios setup menu of your
> computer and make sure that your cd or dvd drive is the first drive
> selected in the boot up menu selection. After you made the proper change
> to the boot up menu , select the option in the exit menu that say
> *save change then exit the bios*. After that, the computer will start
> again . Now, open your cd or dvd drive and put your Ubuntu disk in the
> drive then close the drive and press the 3 following key one after the
> other *CTRL* *ALT* *DElete *. Your computer should restart and
> the ubuntu disk should start booting .
>
> I hope this will help you.
>
> have a good day
>
> Nelson Computers and Open Source Technology
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Kevin and Nicole McCormick wrote:
> >
> > Good day,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I am not very computer savvy so forgive me for any ignorant questions.
> >
> >
> >
> > I downloaded the Ubuntu 7.10 OS and burned to a CD. I recently
> > received an old IBM Net Vista with a blank hard drive. The computer
> > has a Pentium 4 processor.
> >
> >
> >
> > I am attempting to load the Ubuntu onto the blank drive with the CD.
> > When I turn the computer on I get a message of "no operating system
> > found. Press F1 for reboot sequence" (maybe not word for word).
> >
> >
> >
> > The CD is running but I do not know how to start the load sequence.
> >
> >
> >
> > Can you help?
> >
> >
> >
> > Kevin
> >
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:23:12 -0300
> From: Eugene Cormier <eugene.cormier at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: loading ubuntu 7.10
> To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID: <1207682592.6198.2.camel at linux>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Honestly guys....if he's getting a "operating system not found" message
> I would think that that means that he's got it to boot from the
> cd....it's just that there is no boot info which could mean either a
> defective cd or he burnt the iso image to a data disk....If he didn't
> have the bios boot order set up properly it wouldn't give the error he
> said, but it would boot immediately into the first OS on his hard disk
>
> Eugene
>
>
> On Tue, 2008-04-08 at 11:44 -0700, j&l wrote:
> >
> > I Kevin . My name is John Papineau and I am the technician for Nelson
> > computers and Open source Technology group . We are situated in
> > Canada in the town of Nelson in the province of B.C.
> >
> > solution to your problem :
> >
> > first check in your bios if the boot setup show your cd or dvd has
> > the first boot device . In the IBM model the bios is sometime access
> > by pressing F1 key on your keyboard and releasing it and pressing the
> > key again until you see a message on your computer screen that say
> > accessing the bios . Then, look into the bios setup menu of your
> > computer and make sure that your cd or dvd drive is the first drive
> > selected in the boot up menu selection. After you made the proper
> > change to the boot up menu , select the option in the exit menu that
> > say save change then exit the bios. After that, the computer will
> > start again . Now, open your cd or dvd drive and put your Ubuntu disk
> > in the drive then close the drive and press the 3 following key one
> > after the other CTRL ALT DElete. Your computer should restart
> > and the ubuntu disk should start booting .
> >
> > I hope this will help you.
> >
> > have a good day
> >
> > Nelson Computers and Open Source Technology
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Kevin and Nicole McCormick wrote:
> > >
> > > Good day,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I am not very computer savvy so forgive me for any ignorant
> > > questions.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I downloaded the Ubuntu 7.10 OS and burned to a CD. I recently
> > > received an old IBM Net Vista with a blank hard drive. The computer
> > > has a Pentium 4 processor.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I am attempting to load the Ubuntu onto the blank drive with the CD.
> > > When I turn the computer on I get a message of ?no operating system
> > > found. Press F1 for reboot sequence? (maybe not word for word).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The CD is running but I do not know how to start the load sequence.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Can you help?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Kevin
> > >
> > >
> >
> --
> ****************************************
> * Eugene Cormier *
> * Acadia University *
> * www.eugenecormier.com *
> * eugene.cormier at gmail.com *
> * DEN 152, (902) 585-1329 *
> * Classical Guitar, Guitar Class, *
> * Guitar Ensemble, Prelim. Rud. *
> ****************************************
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 16:52:51 -0300
> From: "Eric Cyr" <1ballistic1 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: loading ubuntu 7.10
> To: eugene.cormier at gmail.com, "The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community"
> <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID:
> <3950c0ee0804081252q431955aajb78e5e6e10e85738 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Only problem with that, is that he specified the HDD was blank:
> "I downloaded the Ubuntu 7.10 OS and burned to a CD. I recently received an
> old IBM Net Vista with a *blank hard drive*. "
>
> On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 4:23 PM, Eugene Cormier <eugene.cormier at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Honestly guys....if he's getting a "operating system not found" message
> > I would think that that means that he's got it to boot from the
> > cd....it's just that there is no boot info which could mean either a
> > defective cd or he burnt the iso image to a data disk....If he didn't
> > have the bios boot order set up properly it wouldn't give the error he
> > said, but it would boot immediately into the first OS on his hard disk
> >
> > Eugene
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2008-04-08 at 11:44 -0700, j&l wrote:
> > >
> > > I Kevin . My name is John Papineau and I am the technician for Nelson
> > > computers and Open source Technology group . We are situated in
> > > Canada in the town of Nelson in the province of B.C.
> > >
> > > solution to your problem :
> > >
> > > first check in your bios if the boot setup show your cd or dvd has
> > > the first boot device . In the IBM model the bios is sometime access
> > > by pressing F1 key on your keyboard and releasing it and pressing the
> > > key again until you see a message on your computer screen that say
> > > accessing the bios . Then, look into the bios setup menu of your
> > > computer and make sure that your cd or dvd drive is the first drive
> > > selected in the boot up menu selection. After you made the proper
> > > change to the boot up menu , select the option in the exit menu that
> > > say save change then exit the bios. After that, the computer will
> > > start again . Now, open your cd or dvd drive and put your Ubuntu disk
> > > in the drive then close the drive and press the 3 following key one
> > > after the other CTRL ALT DElete. Your computer should restart
> > > and the ubuntu disk should start booting .
> > >
> > > I hope this will help you.
> > >
> > > have a good day
> > >
> > > Nelson Computers and Open Source Technology
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Kevin and Nicole McCormick wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Good day,
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I am not very computer savvy so forgive me for any ignorant
> > > > questions.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I downloaded the Ubuntu 7.10 OS and burned to a CD. I recently
> > > > received an old IBM Net Vista with a blank hard drive. The computer
> > > > has a Pentium 4 processor.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I am attempting to load the Ubuntu onto the blank drive with the CD.
> > > > When I turn the computer on I get a message of "no operating system
> > > > found. Press F1 for reboot sequence" (maybe not word for word).
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > The CD is running but I do not know how to start the load sequence.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Can you help?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Kevin
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > --
> > ****************************************
> > * Eugene Cormier *
> > * Acadia University *
> > * www.eugenecormier.com *
> > * eugene.cormier at gmail.com *
> > * DEN 152, (902) 585-1329 *
> > * Classical Guitar, Guitar Class, *
> > * Guitar Ensemble, Prelim. Rud. *
> > ****************************************
> >
> >
> > --
> > ubuntu-ca mailing list
> > ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-ca
> >
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