Promotional Puppy flash drives

[tubeguy]

I want to gauge interest in a Puppy bootable flash drive with this poll. The idea would be to promote Puppy and generate some money for Barry.

Thanks for any feedback!

07/30/10 EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. I'm going ahead with it. I have to wait until my next paycheck so it will be a couple weeks before I can order them, and by then 5.1 should be out of beta. I'll put a simple order page together in the meantime and do a new post when it's all together and ready for prime time.

08/09/10 EDIT: Going to place the order 08/13/10 for 25 1gig drives, 2 weeks for delivery.

[ajlec2000]

If it had been available I'd already own one. Particularly if it had a Puppy graphic on its shell.

[Dennola4]

I have lots of friends who think it's unbelievably cool that I keep a working OS on my keychain. Though most of them have an OS on their main computer that they are satisfied with (read: tolerate), there's always that other computer lying around that they could turn into a beater computer if they had two tools:

1) bootable Puppy, and
2) PLoP Bootloader (in the very possible event that the computer's BIOS won't let them boot form USB).

I think the PLoP Bootloader live on a wallet-sized (or business card) cd combined with a bootable Puppy USB keychain would be the ultimate Linux sampler. And just like a real puppy, it's the sort of thing that people would say they didn't want until they actually had one in their hands,

My two cents.

EDIT: Of course, there's always Superfloppy mode.

[jemimah]

I think there's a few categories to consider.

1. Cheap enough to give away at conferences and such
2. More expensive fashion statement - jewelry quality, or indestructible drive
3. Super multiboot version loaded with a bunch of puplets and a large package repo - ideal for people with slow connections

[postfs1]

To reedit up to date.

[Iguleder]

Or a bunch of Puppies:
- 2.14x, ttuuxxx's work
- Latest 3.x
- Latest 4.x
- Latest 5.x
- Variants submenu: Quirky, Spup, dpup
- A selection of popular puplets in a submenu

[jemimah]

perhaps...
...4.Very small Puppy with only wanted drivers.
...5.Very small Puppy with only wanted programs: as example - Puppy with Blender.

Well building custom puplets is a time consuming proposition. I wonder if there's enough demand one could make a living building puplets to order. I might consider it if I thought it was a service people would pay for.

[dogle]

I'm not sure exactly what Tubeguy has in mind, in terms of getting the product to the punters. (The 'marketing' and despatching represents a huge effort in time and anguish if undertaken by an individual).

OTOH, by coincidence I came across this advertiser the other week, and was surprised to see such a range of USB sticks offered with 'branding' for advertising purposes. (I make no recommendation, but just take a look)
http://www.usb2u.co.uk/

I don't know how genuine their sales pitch is, but they are displaying on some of their warez the logo of a prominent British bank.

Hmm, that bank like all the rest has big probs with internet fraud.

Hmm, not long ago Puppy was recommended by an Ozzy police geek as software of choice for secure internet banking transactions.

How excellent wouldn't it be if Puppy could be promoted to the world at large by big banks offering 'better-security-on-a-USB-stick' to 'valued customers' ?

For sure, they can afford it - and certainly justify it on cost-effectiveness, if they are not totally blind.

[tubeguy]

I'm not sure exactly what Tubeguy has in mind, in terms of getting the product to the punters. (The 'marketing' and despatching represents a huge effort in time and anguish if undertaken by an individual).

I've been asked about branded flash drives and I'm just trying to see if it would make sense to get into that whole thing.

[dogle]

- My broad point was that it would make one heck of a lot of sense, especially if the Banksters could be induced to promote Puppy for free, to their advantage, to Puppy's advantage, and to the advantage of the world at large.

[Jim1911]

I have lots of friends who think it's unbelievably cool that I keep a working OS on my keychain. Though most of them have an OS on their main computer that they are satisfied with (read: tolerate), there's always that other computer lying around that they could turn into a beater computer if they had two tools:

1) bootable Puppy, and
2) PLoP Bootloader (in the very possible event that the computer's BIOS won't let them boot form USB).

I think the PLoP Bootloader live on a wallet-sized (or business card) cd combined with a bootable Puppy USB keychain would be the ultimate Linux sampler. And just like a real puppy, it's the sort of thing that people would say they didn't want until they actually had one in their hands,

My two cents.

I'm not familiar with PLoP, but this would be great because a lot of computer's BIOS won't boot from USB, even late models.

Go for it, but only with the latest Lucid, quirky, and wary.
Jim

[Jasper]

Hi,

If each version would fit on a Business Card type CD then even small scale "test" production and distribution costs would be negligible.

If you could establish target costs and selling prices I wonder if it would be allowed to PM a sample of forum members to better gauge the depth of interest?

I don't personally need this service, but I would be happy to support the cause and buy a few for family and friends.

My regards

[tubeguy]

Hi,

If each version would fit on a Business Card type CD then even small scale "test" production and distribution costs would be negligible.

If you could establish target costs and selling prices I wonder if it would be allowed to PM a sample of forum members to better gauge the depth of interest?

I don't personally need this service, but I would be happy to support the cause and buy a few for family and friends.

My regards

Business card CDs are great but they aren't flash drives.

Initial cost to get 1gig drives: US$281.25 for 25 with Puppy logo

Packaging: US$15.00

US first class mail postage: $1.39each (based on 2 oz package)

Works out to about US$13.00 each for drives, delivered.

International shipping would have to figured out, don't know much about that.

If it looks like I will be able to at least recoup the initial $295 I will go ahead with it.

My idea would be Puppy 5.1 (when it's released) plus as many of the official lupu pets as will fit on the drive stored separately in a folder. Included with the drive would be a sheet with instructions and general Puppy information. Selling it for US$16.00 seems reasonable. OSDisk.com has 2gig drives for US$13.95, but they are buying in bulk which I can't do.

Without devoting my life to it, this seems like something do-able for me. If it takes off I'll figure out where to go with it. I honestly don't expect there to be much interest in actually buying a Puppy Drive though, at least not enough to justify tying up $300, I'm kinda not wealthy.

Comments!

[Jasper]

Hi again,

I'm not rich either, but PM me if you make a loss and I'll contribute $25.

My regards

Why not charge say, $19 perhaps with two or three Business Card size CDs included (even blank ones with the Puppy logo)?
My only other thought is that Flash Drive read/write speeds vary hugely, but I have no idea if speed is of much importance.

[jemimah]

I do think you could charge at least 19 or 20 bucks. I'd be willing to pay a premium for the logo and branding, not the drive (you know, like $60 designer tee shirts). If I was a cheapskate, I'd make my own drive - but the point is that I can show off the Puppy drive to impress my friends.

[Barburo]

From the index page

We have 24435 registered users

so that's your potential market. A 1% share recoups your investment.
The $20 price point makes sense, and a 1gig USB stick will hold lots of "add-ons" - pets etc.
This is a Good Idea - your vote indicates 90% sya they would buy one so, I say go for it Tubeguy. I guess you're just waiting for 5.1!
B.

[Jasper]

Hi,

If your initial purchase were 25 units then only 0.1% (not 1.0%) of registered users would be needed to sell the batch.

I do not know how your US Internal Revenue Service would view the project (especially it were to grow substantially) nor if there might be a tax efficient means of the remittance of "profit" to Australia.

My regards

[tubeguy]

Hi,

If your initial purchase were 25 units then only 0.1% (not 1.0%) of registered users would be needed to sell the batch.

I do not know how your US Internal Revenue Service would view the project (especially it were to grow substantially) nor if there might be a tax efficient means of the remittance of "profit" to Australia.

My regards

A few hundred bucks through my PayPal account isn't going to raise any alarms over here in the colonies. If it takes off I'll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.

[tubeguy]

Basic idea of what I was thinking, drive is low cost, 1gig, logo laser etched. The rastapax logo seems to be the best for vectorizing, no gradients, should look nice and sharp on the final product.

[tubeguy]

I'm ordering the drives today, but I have some concerns and would love to get some input.

1- compatibility

I have had no luck getting any flash drive to boot on my laptop, and limited success with my desktop, wondering what the best way to set these things up is- dennola4 mentioned superfloppy mode and plop, any ideas?

2- extras

There should be some extra drivers and pets included but still leave room for a save file. Any ideas on what to include? Remember they are only 1gig for this first run. I'm thinking at least the browsers and drivers, but what else?

3- final cost and shipping

US$20.00 seems to be the way to go here. US postage is cheap and I can figure out international as needed.

4- merchant service

PayPal seems to be the way to go for one single product, they do currency conversion and provide a workable checkout. Keeping it simple unless anyone has a better idea.