> ISTR an FSFE newsletter lauding a French user enforcing their right to buy
a laptop without Microsoft Windows. So, please, whatever you do buy - don't
pay 'Windows Tax.'
I'm puzzled by the French so far. They have such forward initiatives, and yet
others are so backward.
Two years ago I have discovered the Windows tax. I don't know a big chain
that would deal with Linux laptops. For them Linux means Android. End of
story. I wanted to demand my money. I discovered the procedure is a pain in
the ass. And that it takes time and sometimes money to go forward. Worse, my
purchase wasn't that compatible with the distos of the time.
Today with Win8 imposed almost everywhere I had no option than to search
elsewhere. The options are far apart and so far I had only one answer from a
french company and that answer was to wait for the Linux guy. It's a good
thing the French have a long history with postal delivery of goods, the
postal service works perfectly and the law is pretty clear about some things.
> Because the keyboard on the netbook I bought secondhand earlier in the year
gives me wrist pains in extended use I bought a Gluglug X60s in late October.
I'm still absolutely delighted with it.
I'm waiting for my own. I have the camera ready.
> So I phoned Francis Rowe at Gluglug to find out what he does for overseas
warranty support. He said he tests extensively before shipping so out of the
over one hundred he's shipped so far only two have later developed problems.
With both it was RAM. The users in question replaced the RAM themselves with
his remote support. He also said major things like the LCD display would be
RTB.
He told me the same thing over email last week. I have no idea why, but I am
confident the guy knows what he does.
> From my own past I know IBM branded machines are _designed_ with
maintenance, often by the end user, in mind. So the hardware maintenance
manual is still available on line[1] and things like the keyboard, hdd, and
RAM are what IBM calls CRUs (Customer Replaceable Units). Changing them is a
doddle compared to most other laptops.
I had one such laptop for almost two years. The tech rep at the authorised
service told me a few hours after I brought in the toy that the fan is broken
and changing it would cost more than a new one. So I bought the idea and
broke that one into pieces one evening just to check it out. If only I have
gotten in contact with someone like Francis Rowe. The next one was an eeePC.
They were new and they were good. But nothing compared with the ThinkPad.
Tiny led light for the keyboard, three button mouse, the small red thingie
which is easier to use than a touchpad, easy to change hard drives and RAM,
sturdy plastics, extra configurable blue button, a complete set of LED
indicators on the inside and a few on the outside too for complete feedback.
Acer/Asus completely lack style.
> If French PC shops are like UK ones then it would seem you'll only have to
ship to Gluglug when you would be waiting for your local dealership workshop
to get parts anyway. Unless you're lucky enough to live somewhere close to
the French equivalent of Novatech, and you wouldn't be asking if you were.
For the moment is going to be GluGlug. The French seem to have a terrible
problem with anything other than French language. On the forums they were
particularly assholes about my Google Translate. My mistake. I just wanted to
get more answers.
> So I don't think your warranty support argument is as strong as you seem to
think it is. And definitely once out of warranty having a PDF of that manual
will put you in a better position than with many cheap laptops.
I agree the manual makes miracles. And it's a wonderful thing to have. Most
companies hide that. Some even make it illegal to own one unless you sign
some papers with them. But I can't make a thing beyond screwing\unscrewing.
> The Gluglug X60 is the only RYF laptop in existence, so, as I have told my
friends, it is therefore the best laptop in the world. Further even when they
don't agree with my principles on software freedom, they do agree the X60 is
proof that second hand quality is better than new of the same price. Nothing
even at twice the money is made to the build quality of the X60 these days.
The only x86 AFAIK. But some apps, Tor for example won't run on MIPS. Not in
the next few years.
> Software freedom will come to naught if we're not prepared to 'put our
money where our mouth is' and buy RYF first, explicitly compatible second,
even if we have to save up extra money. Hardware manufacturers will continue
to be reluctant to cooperate with or be helpful to the free software
community until we can demonstrate a monetary incentive for them to do so.
That starts with our individual purchases today. Which rather takes me back
to the top of this post - whatever you do, don't make our problem worse by
indirectly giving Microsoft any money when you buy your laptop.
You're talking about the small guys. The big companies are as good as any
large country government. Burocracy. All sort of unwritten codes. Tyrans on
any management level. Intel and AMD are sure against any disclosure about
their microcode. Intel, AMD, Nvidia are sure against any close inspection of
their chips. I'm not talking any conspiracy here. Only that Intel execs don't
want to be reminded of the Pentium bug or of the stupidity of MMX. Nvidia
surely does not want you to know how they cheat at 3dmark. They all want
their crap to go quietly. So vPro is almost none about governmental control
and almost all about sweeping the turds under the rug. With closed source and
paid review sites the PR can just come with a large can of deodorant and say
«shit? I smell pines all the way from the entrance!»
