Simmbook Netbook for Emerging Markets
IBM and Indian company Simmtronics are marketing their 10" netbook at a cost under $200.
The Simmbook netbook with a 10.1" screen at 1024 x 600 pixels (VSVGA) works with the Atom N270 processor (1.6 GHz and 533 MHz FSB), a GByte of DDR2 RAM (maximum 2 GBytes with a slot) and a 160-GByte SATA hard drive. Along with these are a 1.3 megapixel camera, a 3-in-1 (MMC/SD/MS/MS Pro) card reader (some manufacturers would call it 4-in-1), and three USB 2.0 ports. The 1.2 kilogram device also includes a Kensington locking port, but is rather sluggish in LAN (10/100 Ethernet controller) and wireless (802.11b/g) modes. Preinstalled next to Ubuntu Linux is the IBM Client for Smart Work, with Lotus Symphony and access to IBMs LotusLive cloud-based collaboration tool. Of course, nothing would prevent a user from buying additional Lotus applications.
The product is intended to fill the gap between low cost and performance with its equipment and preinstalled apps. The partners are targeting the product to small businesses, non-profits and educational institutions that cannot otherwise afford computerized collaboration resources. The Simmbook is available through an online order form currently in India, African countries, Thailand and Vietnam. IBM and Simmtronics, who had the netbook certified at Canonical for Ubuntu, are looking for additional partners to market the netbook in other countries at a competitive price.
Comments
comments powered by Disqus
Issue 191/2016
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Nextcloud Announces Raspberry Pi-Powered Home Cloud Box
Innovative system adds a hard drive and Ubuntu Core to the RPi for an IoT hub.
-
Linus Torvalds Confirms the Date of the First Linux Release
Linux is two weeks younger than we thought!
-
End of OpenOffice?
The Apache Software Foundation considers retiring OpenOffice
-
Adobe Gives New Life to NPAPI Plugin for Linux
Adobe won’t kill the plugin in 2017
-
LinuxCon North America Convenes in Toronto, Canada
Linux Foundation's big event celebrates the 25th anniversary of Linux
-
Linux Turns 25
Linux has evolved from “won’t be a professional” project to one of the most professional software projects in the history of computers.
-
Mirantis Joins Hands with SUSE To Offer RHEL Support; Red Hat Not Happy
Competitors get in the game with RHEL without Red Hat
-
Linux on Windows 10 Poses a Security Risk
Security researchers have already notified Microsoft; some fixes are available
-
Mirantis to Refactor OpenStack Fuel for Kubernetes
The company is collaborating with Google and Intel to use Kubernetes as an engine for Fuel
-
Canonical Joins Document Foundation Advisory Board
The upcoming release of LibreOffice will be available as a snap package
Wrong information
Everyone placing this article have been copying the wrong info without checking the facts.
The 160G + 1GB RAM is not sub-$200. With shipping and tax the 512MB, 8GB HDD $190 version is actually $270.
I have emailed IBM and Canonical for some info in South Africa. IBM did not know what I was talking about and Canonical said I had to buy direct from Simmtronics (incl the tax and shipping).
So please stop proclaiming this netbook as sub-$200 for the 3rd-world.