Broadband outfit offers Linux PC with every connection

A FRENCH telephone company Neuf Cegetel is giving away a free Linux PC with every broadband connection.

The system 'Easy Gate', provides users with a router, DSL modem, a phone, and a Linux PC all in one box. OK, with an Intel 852 GM chip, Six USB Ports, 512 Mb of RAM and 512 Mb of Flash memory, it is not a configuration that is going to handle high tech games.

It requires that you spend 150 euro for the set up and just shy of 40 Euros a month for the service. If you have an extra 100 Euros they will chuck in a flat screen monitor, a web cam, a keyboard and a mouse. The big idea is to provide those punters who really know sod all about computers with a reasonably user friendly connection.

A spokeman for Neuf Cegetel stated: "After installation, the user has a broadband connection & the principle functions of a computer via a simplified, user-friendly interface, reducing the complexity of using a computer as an Internet tool".

It looks a bit like a bread maker, and it is not clear what sort of word processing software, if any, you will get to run on it. More in French here. Or English here. µ