HP loves Linux the Windows way
Quite recently, HP announced a new line of thin clients with Debian Etch 4.0 preinstalled. That’s certainly good news for Linux, but why HP’s Linux support is Windows only?
HP, as every reputable hardware vendor, provides support for the products it sells. Its Linux-based HP Compaq t5735 Thin Client is no exception here:
So what happens if we choose the only supported operating system, which happens to be Debian GNU/Linux 4.0?
Well, unless you’re used to the fact that your hardware vendor’s domain is to offer you RPM or DEB packages for Windows products, it shouldn’t surprise you that HP offers only Windows executables as a way to support its Linux products:
Heck, have fun figuring out what to do with these instructions on your Linux distro:
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Download the SoftPaq .EXE file to a directory on your hard drive. 2. Execute the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions.
skirge:
Are you sure that this .exe won’t run under Linux? I’ve just updated my bios using HP’s update, it was ELF file with .exe extension.
20 April 2008, 11:43 amadmin:
$ file sp38272.exe
sp38272.exe: MS-DOS executable PE for MS Windows (GUI) Intel 80386 32-bit
$ chmod 755 sp38272.exe
20 April 2008, 12:14 pm$ ./sp38272.exe
bash: ./sp38272.exe: cannot execute binary file
Denis:
Did you try to let HP know there is a problem before typing up your rant?
21 April 2008, 5:06 pmadmin:
Yes I did.
Still no reply.
21 April 2008, 5:27 pmChris:
That’s really funny
21 April 2008, 6:46 pmDenis:
I guess if there was demand for it, they would post it. Most places would use this to terminal into a Windows server or desktop anyway.
21 April 2008, 7:04 pmWilliam:
I’ve seen this problem before. Try setting the execute permissions on the .exe file, assuming you haven’t already. Anyway, I agree, someone at HP should get their head(s) out of their nether regions and provide proper support for the Linux systems they sell.
21 April 2008, 7:37 pmadmin:
See above - it’s not an ELF, it’s a Windows PE executable.
However, it works when started with Wine - it starts a simple Windows installer, and eventually you’ll get the files you want (and more confusing, Windows only README files).
21 April 2008, 8:26 pmBsAtHome:
Most of these files are zipfiles which autoextract on windows. You can use unzip on linux to get the content. Unzip usually recognizes the files.
21 April 2008, 10:13 pmadmin:
This one is not a zipfile and it can’t be extracted with unzip. I’ll post a screenshot of this (started) installer once I download it again.
21 April 2008, 10:38 pm