I think the guy might have thought he was going to lose his job..!

[jason.b.c]

I started the other thread down there about dumping windows because i got a new modem , Now i would like to share with all of you a little story entitled:

"My trip to Best Buy the other day"...

Well when i set out the other day to get my new modem i thought that maybe i should take a few ubuntu CD's (ubuntu dapper and kubuntu) to try out on some of their demonstration computers that they have set up , Their is one computer i had particularly in mind though HP media center 7590n , I want that badly.! , They had one their at best buy when i arrived so after standing around a bit and also after being asked a half-a-dozen times: "Are you finding everything ok.?" i was set , So i took one last look around before i tried to see if ubuntu would work on some of those computers ( i was worried because i thought maybe i would be asked to leave the store for messing around with their computers ) ...

So anyway i took my Kubuntu CD out of my pocket and proceeded to do it , I removed the disk from the sleeve , pushed the eject button and sat the disk on the tray , I pushed the button again and the tray closed , Then i grabbed a-hold of the mouse and rrestarted the computer.! , To my amazement the words: "Uncompressing Linux" popped up on the screen ., I thought "hell yes" "it's going to work"..

So after a few minutes i had kubuntu up and running and i began fooling around with it to see what would work and what wouldn't work, Now it was along about this time that i had "the guy in question" a best buy sales rep show up up asking me "are you finding everything ok?" only he didn't quite make it through his whole question.!!

That guy gave me the wierdest look i had ever seen.!! , He looked at me , looked at the computer , then back at me and asked: "whatcha got there.?" "thats not windows.!" "what is that.?"

ME: Oh this.? It's called kubuntu linux.!

HIM: linux huh.? ah crap.! Umm sir.! I hate to sound like this but, We can't have customers coming in here and installing anything on these demo models other than what we offer..!

ME: Oh it didn't install.! , It's running straight of this disk in here ( pointed to CD drive )

HIM: OK.!? OK.! Well that looks preaty cool.! , but , why does it only run from the disk.? or can you choose to install it.?

ME: Oh you can install it.! Oh sure.! no problem.! See the reason why i'm doing this is because i wanted to see if it would work on some of these neewer computers..

Him: Why.? Does it only work on certain one's or something.?

Me: Well i dunno.! See i'm a member of this support forum that offers free help for this operating system and read in there that one member had a computer just like this ( almost same model from what i remember ) and he couldn't get this system working on it..!
so thats what i'm doing , I would hate to have to buy one of these new and get all the way home with it only to find out the hard way that linux won't boot on it.!!!

HIM: Oh Ok.! Makes sense then, Let me ask you this then ( he was holding the disk sleeve and reading the back cover ) "why would i want this installed in my computer"..??

ME: Well.! umm, You might find this really hard to believe but "It dosen't get viruses" "like you would expect to see in a windows system" , I mean i think it can still get some types of worm viruses but "not trojans" not like windows does..!!!

HIM: Really..!!! It dosen't..!! Wow cool..

ME: No because see , What kind of system do you think is the most vulnerable to that kind of stuff..???

HIM: Well i would have to say windows..!!! Then there's also the Mac systems out there..I think their affected a little as well...?!

ME: Yea see and even if it did get something in it, that infection still wouldn't have that much affect that the whole system would crash or just really mess things up like it does in windows or whatever, because you see, it's built totally differant ..! , It dosen't have or use .EXE's and .BAT's and .COM's like windows does and i think thats what most viruses look for when they get in your system..!

HIM: Cool.! So can i still use my virus and spyware software in it..??? Or does it have it's own stuff to do that..???

ME: Well you can.! , Their's a program that you can download for free called Wine that can run alot of windows based software and programs but you wouldn't really need any kind of virus scanners, Although you can get those free as well.! , have you ever heard of Bitdefender or Avast or maybe Clam-AV those are the one's you would use..

HIM: Yea i've heard of Avast.., It's good..!! What about a firewall...??? Can i have one of those as well..??

ME: Yup..! Free too.!! You can download what's called Firestarter., Thats the ubuntu "well linux!" firewall for it..As far as i know it should work in this version as well..

HIM: Oh Ok.. Well i have to say thats preaty cool...What about internet ..??? Can i use highspeed like a broadband DSL connection..?

ME: Yup..! Although the internal dial-up modems don't work too well in it.! , Actually i think they don't work at all i guess... But external one's do..!! That's why i came here today, to buy this.. ( i held up the modem box )

HIM: Ok , So why are you able to get all this stuff free..?? ( meaning anyone ) Did you have to buy this..?? Or did you get it free as well..?? ( the disk )

ME: No i get them in the mail .! Free, They'll send'em to you if you ask for them...( then he reads the part on the back cover where it say's that )...
You can have that one.! , It's ok , I've got about a Ka-gillian of them at home...See , I've got this one as well ( i pulled dapper out of my pocket ) it's just a little bit differant...Differant version..

HIM: Ok , Thank you sir..!!



So anyway, it was about that time that another store salesman showed up and said: "Oh is that the new one" Wich kind of blew me away..! and i said "yes"...It's called kubuntu..

So both of the salesmen were now talking to me about it..., I told the other guy alot of the same things that i told the first guy and even offered him the dapper disk i had.., Wich he took and thanked me for I even told them the address to the forum here and a few other addresses where they could get more information ( which the one guy wrote down on a little notepad he had ) , So anyway , in conclusion they both thanked me for talking and told me they had to be going back at it now and walked away , I made my way up to the front of the store to pay for my new modem.., As i left the store i had that feeling like " i did the right thing " ....


Well i hope you've enjoyed reading all this.... , Wow my fingers hurt now....

[ubuntu27]

Hope they will join us

[Skia_42]

Haha thats cool. I have to admit though, I have many bad experiences with HP computers, I have found that the hardware is always non-compatable but maybe i am just crazy. would anyone else mind sharing any experiences with HP computers?

[jason.b.c]

Haha thats cool. I have to admit though, I have many bad experiences with HP computers, I have found that the hardware is always non-compatable but maybe i am just crazy. would anyone else mind sharing any experiences with HP computers?

It works on mine..!!! , HP Vectra VL ,701 mhz intel , 256 mb's ram , Matrox g200 agp....

[Thirsteh]

Interesting story

Although, to comment on the whole virus immunity misconception thing;

The one most important thing about Linux that makes it "immune" to viruses is that there are no processes that can be accessed from the outside that have root priveleges, so no exploit could be used to gain access over the user's system, however, when it comes to ".bat", ".com", ".exe" files, shell scripts or binaries are equally dangerous to those on a Windows machine. As soon as any hostile binary is specifically given your root password, your system is as insecure as a Windows machine would typically be.

The reason why I'm writing all of this is not to act like a wise-***, or spout information you already know, but to once again mention one of the reasons I love Ubuntu;

There is no root.

(Yes I know, there is sudo, but what it means is that no malicious program could succeed unless it was specifically written with Ubuntu or Ubuntu's sudo setup in mind, still..)

[jason.b.c]

(Yes I know, there is sudo, but what it means is that no malicious program could succeed unless it was specifically written with Ubuntu or Ubuntu's sudo setup in mind, still..)

Yea thats what i meant...

See , There was a little more to the story, like i told him about if commands like that were written that "that" could be concidered a virus and how those commands would need specific permissions to even work in the first place "Root Privaleges"...

But yea, I know about all that...

Like i said , My fingers were starting to hurt and cramp up.....Ha HA

[richbarna]

Cool story, I would have thought that most people who work in computer stores would know about Linux. Maybe not.

[djheadley]

I use an HP Pavilion 7855 (1GHz, 512 RAM, 2 40GB HDDs, CDRW, DVD). Soon to try out a wireless keyboard and optical mouse combo.

[Adrenal]

Apperently McDonalds tend to welcome linux with open arms...

[rowanparker]

Apperently McDonalds tend to welcome linux with open arms...

But McDonalds don't sell computers?