[ILUG] Free embedded Linux box

[Niall O Broin]

No, it's not spam ! If you'd like a free Unison internet box, you can get
one by signing up to Switchcom Direct, a low cost telephone carrier. It's a
pre-pay system, where you dial an access number and then wait for a
secondary dialtone, and dial your destination. Of course it's not cheaper
for everything (I use it a lot to Germany - it's 15p a minute, 30 sec.
billing, as against 37p with Eircom BUT it's quite expensive to call a
mobile in Germany, whereas with Eircom Germany is Germany, fixed or mobile).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I called the other day to re-credit my
account and was informed that if I put in 100 pounds I'd get a free Unison
box so I decided I'd give it a whirl. It's a cute box - boots with a Netgem
screen with a little Tux down the bottom. It's quite simple to use, as
befitting its target market. One thing that sucks is that you can't queue
mail offline. You can compose one mail offline, but there's no way to save
it - you must either cancel or click (sorry, validate) SEND which goes
online to send the mail. You should be able to stack up a few mails for
later delivery, and as you can attach sound or video, the problem is
obviously not one of lack of memory - Unison's share of the call charges
springs to mind :-)

The offer is also available to anyone opening a new account, but it ends
tomorrow, so be snappy. BTW the box arrives pre-registered to you, and they
say it's not transferrable. I've already started arguing this, because I
wasn't told it when I agreed to the offer (they say I should have been) and
I want to give this to someone else (I don't exactly need it), so we'll have
to see how that goes - it's going to cost me a 58p / minute call to get it
sorted. The number to call to sign up is 1800931931.


Regards,


Niall

P.S. Usual blurb about lack of affiliation with Switchcom, except as a
fairly satisfied customer of their phone service. Of course, if I can't get
this registration thing sorted, that will change . . . . .

P.P.S. I haven't managed to reach a shell yet - if any of you Unison boys
have some "hints", do drop me a private note :-)