What's your thoughts on a $50 computer.

[irv]

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/is-dell-looking-to-kill-pcs-with-project-ophelia/
It looks like Dell is moving to a smaller PC, like the Raspberry pi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
I see the Ophelia is running Android. I wish they would pre-install Ubuntu instead of Android. It seems that Android is coming out an more devices then any other Linux disto.
What's your thought on all of this?

[mastablasta]

it's silly they went with android on the other hand android is made for low power maschines, while ubuntu has quite high system requirements.

[tgalati4]

Many Samsung TV's have PC's and networking built-in. So it's going to be a battle between the TV manufacturers and the PC manufacturers.

[Mikeb85]

Prefer the Raspberry Pi to this...

[kunai]

You can pry my desktop from my cold, dead hands...

This looks neat, but it is in no way poised to kill the desktop or laptop market. As far as I know, using a computer on a television is a horrible experience. The fonts are too small and the entire system is unintuitive.

I'd rather spend the cash on a Pi and be done with it.

[Nytram]

I see it as Dell getting desperate, I read they are considering going private. The desktop is dying as the tablet market rises.

[irv]

Many Samsung TV's have PC's and networking built-in. So it's going to be a battle between the TV manufacturers and the PC manufacturers.
I think you are right on this one. Between TV's Settop boxes Bluray DVD players with built in Internet they will have others to compete with.

[Sableyes]

Thats quite cool ^^

New technology of micro PC's / portable PC's rise. Android is a smart move. People seem less scared of Android then Linux.

[drawkcab]

As far as I know, using a computer on a television is a horrible experience. The fonts are too small and the entire system is unintuitive.

I'm typing this from my television right now. In Gnome shell advanced settings you can use the slider to scale the DE to your TV and then use the no squint extension to zoom all webpages.

At the end of the day I would put my money into a cheap htpc rather than either an internet ready tv or streamer. I just don't think that these are up to the task. On the other hand, they'd probably make a great home server for streaming and the like.

Of course I could be wrong in term. I've seen streamers come a long way in the last year--delivering an extra picture.

[pompel9]

You can pry my desktop from my cold, dead hands...

This looks neat, but it is in no way poised to kill the desktop or laptop market. As far as I know, using a computer on a television is a horrible experience. The fonts are too small and the entire system is unintuitive.

I'd rather spend the cash on a Pi and be done with it.


Actually, it works really good. I use it all the time. I have my desktop connected to my TV. I no longer use a dedicated PC monitor.

The fonts can be made bigger. I run it on 1080P.

As for a $50 computer, I would not buy it. For such a price the have to cut away pretty much. So you can expect a computer that is very slow. And can hardly do anything with it. The netbooks were cheap, but not that cheap. And they were pretty bad.

[Paqman]

As far as I know, using a computer on a television is a horrible experience.

All depends on what interface device you're trying to use. I have a wireless keyboard with a trackpad for my HTPC. It works well.

Font-wise, you want to be using an application that's got a 10-foot interface (ie: one designed for the longer viewing distances you typically watch a TV at).

[irv]

I guess these devices have there place, but I can remember when I moved away from my old desktop and got a laptop. And I don't know what I would do without my laptop now. I do have a Nook and a Asus Transformer, but I still always go back to my laptop. As far as I am concerned I will always have a one, to me it just fits. And I will always have Ubuntu running on it. I am a no-windows-kinda-guy.

[Linuxratty]

For some people,it could be useful. That being said,I prefer using a computer with a huge hard drive,etc.

[ugm6hr]

Seems a good idea for businesses running thin clients. Or schools.
Not so sure about it being the "focus" for personal / consumer use.

[irv]

Looking at the bottom line, I am not so sure this is a great move for Dell. Anyone who knows about Raspberry pi might just go that route. $25-$35 is better than $50.

[sidzen]

Dell's Ophelia (http://www.ibtimes.com/ophelia-usb-size-cloud-computer-dell-total-game-changer-1019630)-- $50 turns your TV into a computer? I'd go for it, maybe.

@ugm6hr -- God I hate your avatar! Nothing personal, please understand.

[Sam Mills]

it's silly they went with android on the other hand android is made for low power maschines, while ubuntu has quite high system requirements.

It wouldn't be hard to tweak ubuntu to whatever the requirements were.

[mastablasta]

Looking at the bottom line, I am not so sure this is a great move for Dell. Anyone who knows about Raspberry pi might just go that route. $25-$35 is better than $50.

On the oher hand USB fits easilly in a pocket or on a keychain... well not sure about keychain here.

[s.fox]

it's silly they went with android

Why is it a silly choice?

[mr john]

If it can easily plug into a tv then I'm sure that in future it will also be easy to plug into a monitor.

Why Android? Android is very efficient and fast on that type of hardware. More people are familiar with it too.

Why not Ubuntu? Ubuntu has quite high hardware requirements and takes quite alot of disk space. If you click Google Play on an android device it should come up pretty quickly, try clicking the App Store on Ubuntu and on many machines you will get substantial lag between clicking the application and it actually being usable. Android is more responsive on low end hardware.

Ubuntu mobile may change all that, however they are taking a long time to release that. Android is already out in the wild so everyone knows what they are going to get.

[irv]

This little device is easy to carry around, but to use it you also need a keyboard and mouse. The mouse will fit in my pocket, but not the keyboard. I will keep carrying my my laptop or tablet around because it's all in one.

[lykwydchykyn]

If I'm reading the article right, this is more than just tiny PC with android installed. It's a cloud-based thin client, that lets you basically remote into any kind of OS you want, presumably on some kind of Dell cloud service.

[forrestcupp]

I don't think Android is a bad choice for a TV computer. Android does Netflix a lot better than Ubuntu.

[irv]

I see another thread out here that talks about the freedombox (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2106586) which falls into this same catalog as this $50 computer. Actually it is more than a computer it is going to be a whole new way of communicating with one another. Here is an article from the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/nyregion/16about.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0).
It talks about this tiny server:

“They will get very cheap, very quick,” Mr. Moglen said. “They’re $99; they will go to $69. Once everyone is getting them, they will cost $29.”
It also said that:

This month, Mr. Moglen, who now runs the Software Freedom Law Center, spoke to a convention of 2,000 free-software programmers in Brussels, urging them to get to work on the Freedom Box.
I find a lot of what is happening very interesting.

EDIT: Here is a link on the Debian Freedombox project (http://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox).