Free IBM PC for Brits

[9mmCensor]

Woah. Can you say brianwashing?
Fun to much about on one of those.... but I wonder if you can fold on them?

 

[Miknow]

hehe get one reformat and fold

 

[Deathmasher]

I wonder if there would be something in the Bios that would keep you from doing that? And I wonder what the OS that it is going to use is, because IBM is one of the partners in the power pc chips. I don't think that those will run windows.

 

[engjohn]

I wonder if there would be something in the Bios that would keep you from doing that? And I wonder what the OS that it is going to use is, because IBM is one of the partners in the power pc chips. I don't think that those will run windows.

I am sure that it will be a win-tel(windows-intel) solution (maybe a via/windows).
IBM sells Intel p3, p4, XEON personal computers and laptops. They reserve the PPC for the highend (read Unix/Linux Servers) systems afik...

 

[L337 M33P]

Still, must be able to SOMEHOW get all of that crud off the HD - hmmm as it's free, I'm willing to give it a try

/me installs Spybot on the free computer hehehe

As long as it has an ATX form factor, IDE drives and *some* form of PCI slot then w00t it's a computer to me.

 

[Aslan]

According to the Specs, the system is based on a 2.4ghz Celeron.

Also, according to the Terms and Conditions:

Your household must use the PC for at least 30hrs per calender month, or approximately 1 hour a day.

and

The PC must be connected to the internet at least once a month, and you must maintain an ISP dial-up account throughout the term of the agreement.

You basically have to use the computer everyday (ie, not just shut off the monitor and do 24/7 folding) and you need to join a dial-up ISP, not so much of a problem if you already use one, but it's an annoyance if you already have high-speed internet.

Also:

Every month, you will receive a cd containing adverts to be shown over the following four weeks. Each disc must be loaded onto your PC for the system to update. Should you fail to do this, your PC will be disabled

Q: How will you know that I'm watching the adverts?

A: A Monthly update is automatically sent to Metronomy, confirming the number of ads shown to each household.

I don't think this is something that anyone on this forum couldn't bypass, but I doubt IBM and Metronomy would take it too kindly if you formatted the system, especially considering that they track how many adverts you watch per month.

Not really the greatest deal, but good for someone who really needs a basic home computer and is willing to put up with the terms put forth.

 

[9mmCensor]

Some programmer could likely run a script that does all that for ya, as ya fold.

 

[L337 M33P]

What, you mean like sending "I seen this, this and this advertisements" to the server every time it needs to? And then you feed it the CD when it comes, and just dumps the ads to the recycl0r bin when they come in? Cool script but is anyone going to bother...

[/rant ON]

I have been thinking...

Ok what are they trying to pull? You get basically a commercial pipe that does nothing good except bring you advertisements that do nothing but annoy you. You have to sign some lame agreement saying "yes I am a robot I will watch the ads and use the intarweb" before delivery.

How would people actually USE this computer? It has lame graphics, a lame processor (well, lame for anything other than W0rd), no method for backing up ANYTHING if it borks (no Windows CD, no CD writer) and a small hard drive that will quickly be filled up if you have anything other than documents on it. No software included, probably be able to run CS at like 30 FPS. Upgrading? Nah.

Ok now for the other side:

This is intended as computing for the masses - everyone gets a free PC w00t - and it is a pretty strong argument, but FAR FAR better alternatives exist. Sheesh, at least Dell don't put popup ads on your computer Knowledge about computers is also free and easy to find (hint: this forum) and you can build your computer for a mediocre sum of money.

[/rant]

 

[9mmCensor]

Some people use there computers for nothing more than Word and Email. So this is fine for them. Just not for US, unless its a 24/7 Folding Box.

 

[BigSmokey]

They make a handy foot rest.

 

[Twigs]

speaking of games...the ads every 20 minutes would definately mess up the game, so you could play some game that came out 5 years ago at a decent framerate for 20 minutes at a time... it would be a good comp to download every single virus to and see if when it connects to the ibm server, send the virus to them...just a though

 

[Nukemall]

i guess it depends on what they do when they figure out that you arent doing what your sposta. Do they make you pay for it? or do they take it away? or what?

 

[unreal]

lol yeah,, fold man fold

 

[nealric]

It seems like everyone and his brother will be figuring out a way to circumvent the advertizing. It dosent seem like it would be too hard to make a script that automatically goes through the ads.
It would be a nice folding box.

It *is* a loaner- you do have to give it back after 3 years- so no parting it out or formatting.

 

[BigSmokey]

This might win the retardo award for the decade.

They are going to end up giving these things to crack heads. What happens when you spill crap on it and it shorts out? Do you get a new one?

 

[Quailane]

Here's my plan.
1. Copy hard drive.
2. Find someone willing to put a cd's worth of ads onto a server every month.
3. Get some smart kids at school to write me up a program on linux to download the ads, send out the goods, and then trash them.
4. Put Folding@Home on them and rig comps to use high-speed internet.
5. After 3 years delete hard drive, copy back old data, send back, and repeat.

 

[twump]

looks like a computer with integrated spyware to me.


one thing i'd like to note is the talk of having to have a dial up account. in the terms and conditions page posted earlier it states you simply have to have internet, it doesn't have to be dial up, it can be dsl/cable or (laugh) ISDN.

here is a direct quote from that page.

4) The PC must be connected to the internet at least once a month, and you must maintain an ISP (Broadband, 56k or ISDN) account throughout the term of the agreement.


so your not stuck with dial up. i give it a month before someone figures out how to disable the ads without disabling the computer.

what i'm wondering is how they plan to "disable" the comp if you don't load the cd's every month.

whats to keep someone who's moving from getting one, reformatting it then moving to their new place. what happens if someone moves from the UK to lets say scottland. this plan of ibm's seems seriously flawed.

 

[sandman001]

Or, if you say mail it to your next door neighbor?

 

[L337 M33P]

Or, if you say mail it to your next door neighbor?

Only if you really, really don't like them