I hope this message is not off topic. I recently saw an offer at Fry's for a GQ computer (AMD 2200+, 128mb ddr, 40g HD) with Linspire 4.5 pre-installed. I'm thinking about getting it to replace an older Windows box that I converted to FC2 for my son to use to do homework. My questions are 1)Does anyone know if this box is reliable. An Internet search turned up some mixed results, both + and -? 2)How difficult is it to install OpenOffice without using CNR? 3)I don't think this box is proprietary to Linspire, but can anyone think of a reason I couldn't change the OS to another distro if I wanted? Any recommendations appreciated. For $179 this sounds like it might be a good deal for getting homework done and simple web surfing.

TIA

It would seem that for $179 you could hardly go wrong.

Almost a year ago, a disgruntled user gave me a GQ 3017. It has a VIA 1.1 GigaPro chip which in reality is only 800 MHz, & only 128 MB of RAM. It also came w/ Thiz Linux pre-installed. As soon as I dumped Thiz for SimplyMEPIS & realized that "1.1" was in reality "800", I became pretty happy w/ it. When I get around to adding more RAM (at least another 128MB), It will be a respectable little desktop. I am happy to say that even VIA hardware hasn't caused me any problems (yet).

Any reservations I have about your purchase have to do w/

1. Fry's return policies.
2. Substituting a "Linspire tax" for an "M$ tax".

I never buy anything at Fry's anymore unless it is so cheap I can throw the $$ away, or so cheap I can't pass up the deal.

AFA Linspire itself is concerned, I have serious reservations about their approach to security (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...56#post1780356); however, you could always wipe it in favor of something more secure: SimplyMEPIS or [Ku|U]buntu etc.

Edited to "fix" closing list tag, which became broken after the Dec 2005 site update.

Thanks for the response "arch". I got the box today and am going to let it burn in for a few days to see if it's stable, then I try to install FC4 or Mandrake (oops now Mandriva). The cincher for me was the return policy. I have a 30 day "no hassle, no restock fee" return so I figure I can check it out in that time and see it was worth it.