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 DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
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.