I bought a PC World "Patriot" of similar spec a few years ago, for �500. It was just to be a stopgap machine until I built my own. Even back then they were saying that it would run Linux.
I'm sorry I bought it. I actually did get RedHat 5.2 running on it (after some trouble with the video, and never getting audio), but overall the machine was rotten. The motherboard had integrated video and audio, (I think it had an SiS620) and barely enough RAM to get off the ground. The mobo died after a month (symptom was hanging at the DMI Pool Data check) and I had to get it replaced. To their credit, PC World swapped it - the whole PC actually - with no argument. Maybe they were already seeing this mobo problem. 18 months later the power supply fell over. Since the case was so small and cramped I decided that I'd be better buying a bigger one, but then I thought I may as well just upgrade. Trouble is, new mobo immediately meant new video and sound cards. So, instead, I salvaged the disks and monitor, and chucked the mobo and case in the bin. Put it down to experience. Summary: these things are *really* cheap but IMHO are a false economy. And they're so useless that the only way they could do anything sensible would be in something like a Beowulf. But then I guess that the MTBF is so small that you'd be lucky to have the whole cluster fully operational at any given point in time. So, if you need cheap, at least get something with separate cards so you can upgrade it bit by bit. Personally, I'd stay away from Patriots. I've had to hold myself back from saying that a couple of times in PC World, when I've seen some poor family, all smiles at the till, waiting to pay for their new Patriot. Any kid who expects to use it to play Unreal or AoE is in for a shock. t > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Steven Murdoch > Sent: 01 January 2002 12:38 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [scottish] Dual booting Windows XP and Linux > > > At 21:18 31/12/01 +0000, Steven Murdoch wrote: > >P.S. I almost fell over when I was in PCWorld when I > mentioned Linux the > >member of staff I spoke to said they had a Linux machine in > store. Just > >one, a Patriot Cyrix 533, 64Mb RAM, 10Gb HD with 17" Monitor of �399. > > On another Linux mailing list I have just been told that the > motherboard on > these machines is unreliable, so it might not be such a good > buy after all. > > >From: "Andrew Challis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 21:03:22 -0000 > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >The two PC World stores I have been in do not want to sell > these as they > >have motherboards with a high failure rate. Currys also sell > them and I > >got the same story re failure rate of motherboards. I > offered to buy 5 > >which were on the shop floor and was told by the manager about the > >motherboard - they are still there 3 months later untouched. > I too felt > >(still feel!) tempted but wouldn�t want to waste the dosh. > Make you feel > >better???? > > Steven. > > > > -- > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web: http://www.murdomedia.net/ > PGP/GnuPG keys: http://www.murdomedia.net/keys.html > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk > http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------
