3 ms·

I love it that you can customise it to have FreeDOS instead of Windows: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLang

by pan69 9y ago

I love it that you can customise it to have FreeDOS instead of Windows: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=1406154&quantity=1 http://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&lang... Edit: PS, is there a way to get this thing in Australia? Their aussie website is atrocious, can't for the live of me find the customise option for the Slice...

EduardoBautista 9y ago
What advantage is there to having a FreeDOS PC?
- detaro 9y ago
  It's free, so you can wipe it and install whatever OS you want without paying for a Windows license. And for the manufacturer the benefit is that it's clear that it's barebones, so no support requests for the preinstalled OS. I don't know why the alternative isn't "ship with empty disk" though. Maybe some weird regulation, or to make it clearer to dealers and customers that it isn't broken, just without an OS?
  - pan69 9y ago
    And the reason it doesn't come with a Linux distro (instead of FreeDOS) is so that they don't imply it works with Linux.
  - solatic 9y ago
    > I don't know why the alternative isn't "ship with empty disk" though You can't ship a "computer" which doesn't do anything when you turn it on. FreeDOS has just enough basic capability that HP can say "yeah this is a functional computer out of the box" while having so little capability that its installation implies a wink-wink understanding that the customer will install his own OS that he'll take responsibility for.
    - detaro 9y ago
      In what sense "can't"? Legal requirement somewhere?
- wolfgang42 9y ago
  The main advantage seems to be price: HP charges negative $202 to install FreeDOS instead of Windows. I'm not sure why they picked FreeDOS instead of having a "None" option, though.