Another Ubuntu OEM?

[Adamant1988]

http://shafetech.com/

Looks so, not a huge fan of the site design myself... looks like a badly done web 2.0 ripoff. STill nice to see another OEM on the block.

[gtr225]

Yea it is nice to see another Linux OEM, but Linux being immune to all viruses? I think that's going a little too far to sell a machine.

[maxamillion]

Yea it is nice to see another Linux OEM, but Linux being immune to all viruses? I think that's going a little too far to sell a machine.

I think that's going a little far period .... :(

EDIT: I just checked the site ..... doesn't that 13.3" laptop look EXACTLY like the System76 Darter series? ... anyone know of a relation between the two companies?

[mcduck]

I think that's going a little far period .... :(

EDIT: I just checked the site ..... doesn't that 13.3" laptop look EXACTLY like the System76 Darter series? ... anyone know of a relation between the two companies?
Well, both seem to use Asus laptops.. That doesn't really mean anything (other than that Asus laptops work nice with Linux :D)

(Edit: also Shafetech has lower price, so if you were thinking that they were selling laptops they buy from System76 then they must have pretty bad business sense :D)

[Rydel]

Hello--Ryan here from Shafetech. I don't want to be "troll" and talk about our company, but I just wanted to say that we're reading what you say and we greatly appreciate the feedback.

If anybody has a question for me, feel free to ask, but other than that I'll just be reading what everybody has to say.

[jorgerosa]

So... you guys posted the first post?... ;-)
Doenst matter, i guess its a good idea, i hope you sell a lot too. You deserve publicity.
Only one suggestion "All updates are free of charge"?... So in windows!
you should say "Office compatible software included for free" and/or "Lots of software free" and insert "all updates by internet with no activation needed".
I guess these slogans are best (JUST my suggestion).
Good work guys. I hope you sell a lot SHAFETECH PCs. Cya.

[Kateikyoushi]

This Account Has Been Suspended
Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.

Does not seem to be a good start.

[cowlip]

It`s been dugg: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Shafetech_Launches_New_Ubuntu_Linux_Computers

I bet that`s why they`re down

[gtr225]

So... you guys posted the first post?... ;-)
Doenst matter, i guess its a good idea, i hope you sell a lot too. You deserve publicity.
Only one suggestion "All updates are free of charge"?... So in windows!
you should say "Office compatible software included for free" and/or "Lots of software free" and insert "all updates by internet with no activation needed".
I guess these slogans are best (JUST my suggestion).
Good work guys. I hope you sell a lot SHAFETECH PCs. Cya.

I agree, maybe just take some lines from http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop or maybe direct users to that page for more information on what they're getting with Ubuntu.

[Rydel]

It`s been dugg: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Shafetech_Launches_New_Ubuntu_Linux_Computers

I bet that`s why they`re down

Yes, the Digg Effect certainly took our server for a ride, but we're back up now. :-)

[gtr225]

well at least you got your name out there now.

[Rotarychainsaw]

I wonder if they hack on their own drivers like System76?

[teaker1s]

not wishing to be a downer, but If I was ordering anything I'd want to see a postal address
http://shafetech.com/contactus.php

[slayerboy]

OK, I encourage as much business as possible for this guy, but you GOTTA get the site consistent. When I click on customize for any of the products the site looks completely different. What's up with this? This is a sure sign that I would not be purchasing anything from this site because if they can't get the site to stay consistant, what about their computers? No offense, but that's how I see it.

Now the next thing we have to address is navigation. Dude, I could understand having seperate areas for "Contact Us" "Support", etc, but this design wastes so much space. I would put the contact info right on the main page. And actually...most of the stuff you have at the menu at the top could be put on the first page. Why is there a second row on the bottom for more stuff?

KISS. That's all I gotta say. The site design is not initially confusing, but with a little bit of navigating I got lost. Web 2.0 designs don't work for stores, IMHO. Also, if you're going to be a legit business in the eyes of some people, you need to put your address as a contact. No doubt about it, this is shady to me if I can't find a business address without doing a whois lookup.

I like the concept, the website just needs to be a little more consistent and the design needs to be simplified. Not the navigation, but the actual layout, combine some pages, etc. Once you fix these, you might have a good site to bring some business and exposure to ubuntu in a different way.

Good luck!:)

[Quake]

To tell you the truth, the site doesn't draw me to purchase from them. First their site isn't consistent, I mean, why the sudden change from the orange theme to a blue theme?

And the Big problem is.... no ADDRESS in the contact page. How will be supposed to know that the business is actually legit?!

I hope the creator of the business can fix these little inconsistencies... because it's a good idea to promote Ubuntu.

[Polygon]

the site is down for me....

[Rydel]

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have made modifications to the site, as per your recommendations. Also, there are some more changes to come.

If anybody else has ideas, please speak up! I cannot begin to to tell you how much we appreciate feedback from the community.

Thanks again!

[koenn]

@Ryan from Shafetech
say I'd be looking to buy laptops or PC's for a professional environment, and don't want the hassle of the 6 month release cycle and premature releases - I want to stick with LTS release(s).
Can you do that ?

If so, say the current LTS release - 6.06 - does not support all hardware of the laptop / PC models you carry. Would you fix that ?

[gtr225]

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have made modifications to the site, as per your recommendations. Also, there are some more changes to come.

If anybody else has ideas, please speak up! I cannot begin to to tell you how much we appreciate feedback from the community.

Thanks again!

Well IMHO I think the site is off to a good start. You got the first thing right, and that's not offering Windows! :) Websites are always a work in progress so I'm sure in time you'll get all the kinks worked out. In the coming months I'm planning on getting a laptop and new desktop machine so I'll definitely check out what you have when the time comes to upgrade. One recommendation though, try to offer more AMD powered machines, I noticed the Athlon 64 X2 machine which made my mouth water, but a Turion or a Sempron in the mix would add a nice variety and give consumers more options to choose from.

[Oki]

I don't understand why Internet shops don't understand that people like to see the product with large pictures(when you click on them)? They really need better photos, indeed when it comes to expensive products like a laptop/desktop - those are nasty imho.; unclear, small and bad exposed.

"Helios" comes with ATI card- I would never buy a ATI card again when ATI support for Linux are so bad. Glad those two other has Intel.

I thought this shop was new - why has the Phoenix desktop a "new" sign?

"Our [X] desktop is full of power. Power for gaming, power for multimedia, power for life. Our only AMD-powered desktop is ready for any intense application. Gaming, video editing, and 3D modeling are all child's play for this beast."
But you cant tell me witch graphic card those desktops has - if they have one...

"immune to viruses and spyware"; even I, a noob Linux user, know this isn't correct!


But I agree that it is "nice to see another OEM on the block."

[speedwell68]

So... you guys posted the first post?... ;-)
Doenst matter, i guess its a good idea, i hope you sell a lot too. You deserve publicity.
Only one suggestion "All updates are free of charge"?... So in windows!
you should say "Office compatible software included for free" and/or "Lots of software free" and insert "all updates by internet with no activation needed".
I guess these slogans are best (JUST my suggestion).
Good work guys. I hope you sell a lot SHAFETECH PCs. Cya.

To upgrade a machine from XP to Vista is by no means free of charge.

[H.E. Pennypacker]

The sloppy design could be fixed by a simple content management system with a professional theme. As someone else said, provide larger, and more pictures, as well as more information on the products.

Also, ATI? Come on. ATI is a sworn enemy of anything open source.

[gtr225]

ATI is a sworn enemy of anything open source.
Hate to get off topic, but is ATI really that bad? I'm still a little new to Ubuntu (before this I was using Fedora for a few years on and off) and I'm considering getting a new video card soon. I'm already considering a Nvidia-based card because I heard about they're linux support, but I didn't know there was such a big difference between Nvidia and ATI on linux.

[lonce]

I for one want to say good luck. We started a company based on Ubuntu also. Drop me an email if you want to talk. Maybe we can work out some collaboration. We sell media centers, but you sell desktops and laptops.

Since we arent competing maybe we can work something out and trade links.

[mcduck]

Hate to get off topic, but is ATI really that bad? I'm still a little new to Ubuntu (before this I was using Fedora for a few years on and off) and I'm considering getting a new video card soon. I'm already considering a Nvidia-based card because I heard about they're linux support, but I didn't know there was such a big difference between Nvidia and ATI on linux.
No, it isn't. It's not very good, but I have Radeon 9600XT on my desktop and Mobility Radeon X1600 on my laptop, and I haven't had any problems during the time I've been using Ubuntu (since 5.04).

The only bad things I can think of are the lack of a good GUI utility to change settings (aticonfig works great from CLI) and the need to use XGL instead of AIGLX if you wish to get hardware accelerated desktop.

I'd say that if you have exactly the same machine with Ati and nVidia cards get the one with nVidia, otherwise just find the computer that fit's your use best no matter which one has made the video card.

[gtr225]

thanks for the info

[Rydel]

I don't understand why Internet shops don't understand that people like to see the product with large pictures(when you click on them)?


Clicking on an image in the store section of our website does display the full sized picture. As for the quality, the pictures are supplied by our vendor, so those are all we have to use at this point. At the next meeting, I will bring up the topic of us taking new pictures ourselves.


I thought this shop was new - why has the Phoenix desktop a "new" sign?


We have been around since July, and we launched the Phoenix desktop about two weeks ago. The Phoenix replaced our Talia desktop.


One recommendation though, try to offer more AMD powered machines, I noticed the Athlon 64 X2 machine which made my mouth water, but a Turion or a Sempron in the mix would add a nice variety and give consumers more options to choose from.

Two of our systems (a desktop and a notebook) will be changed to AMD in the next few weeks, which will make our catalog 50% AMD, 50% Intel. I'll leave it up to you to speculate which models. ;-)

As always, please keep up the feedback and we'll keep listening! Just about every post has resulted in a topic on the agenda for our next meeting (which is tomorrow).

[gtr225]

Two of our systems (a desktop and a notebook) will be changed to AMD in the next few weeks, which will make our catalog 50% AMD, 50% Intel. I'll leave it up to you to speculate which models. ;-) Sounds good to me

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Hate to get off topic, but is ATI really that bad? I'm still a little new to Ubuntu (before this I was using Fedora for a few years on and off) and I'm considering getting a new video card soon. I'm already considering a Nvidia-based card because I heard about they're linux support, but I didn't know there was such a big difference between Nvidia and ATI on linux.

As much as I respect the other fellow, I would advice against ATI. I highly recommend you go elsewhere for your business. There are many other fish in the sea.

ATI has repeatedly acknowledged that it is not willing to open source its products, and from an open source perspective, dealing with them has been a serious issue. No wonder the Free Software Foundation is at war with them.

Make note I have never used an ATI product. I suggest you pay attention to what ATI video card users have been saying on this message board and elsewhere.

[gtr225]

Any company that isn't willing to work with open source initiatives is definetly not for me.