Australian entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan promised a few weeks ago that his company would come out with a netbook based on user-suggested specifications in short order. And it looks like he was right. He stopped by PC Authority recently with a demo unit of the Kogan Agora netbook running the gOS Linux operating system and another running a beta version of Windows 7.
The netbook has a 3 cell battery, 1GB of RAM, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 160GB hard drive, a 10.2 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 1.3MP camera, 4-in-1 flash card reader, and 3 USB ports. There’s a space for a SIM card, but the netbook doesn’t currently support 3G wireless connectivity.
Kogan plans to sell the base model for $499 Australian, or about $321 US. For $549 AUD/$353 US you can get a model with a 6 cell battery, Bluetooth and 2GB of RAM.
If you’re wondering how Kogan was able to put this thing together so quickly, here’s the secret: He didn’t build the thing himself. He worked with manufacturers (probably in Taiwan) building similar netbooks for other companies. As Netbook 3G‘s Jeff Blagnac points out, this machine looks a lot like the Sotec DC101 or Olevia X10A. But neither of those computers comes with the gOS operating system, so this is clearly a custom job.
via Engadget
Discussions of Linux distributions rarely mention gOS. Will people familiar with this operating system offer an evaluation of it in the context of netbook computers?
This Kogan netbook was my first hands-on with gOS as well, so in the video we explore the OS a little. Very friendly interface, with good support for desktop widgets and an excellent software search tool for auto-installing packages from the web based on keywords, categories, and popularity rankings. Will do auto software updates, too. Seems pretty friendly overall for even first time Linux users.
I’ve just run a VIDEO hands-on with the Kogan Agora Netbook at my (Aussie geek) video podcast, Midnight Update. http://www.midnightupdate.com/ I’ve included a boot test side-by-side with gOS and Windows 7 (and Win7 is looking very speedy for netbooks). The hardware is standard, but gOS feels nice and at the price it’s hard to beat.