Question

An system just coming out of the assembly line...with no OS or software installed..Is the system useful?

Answer 1

Yes. You can use it to defend yourself from an angry debt-collector, or you can use it to smack an annoying friend.

Just kidding.

The joke aside though, if you're talking about an electronic device with an embedded system, then this is my answer: It's only good for those things I mentioned above.

Answer 2

It makes a good paper weight, too!

Kidding aside, most computers, without software, have the ability to realize that they're computers, but not much more. A skilled person can sometimes add code to the BIOS, PRAM, whatever to do something useful, but usually there's only enough memory available at this level to set up basic (low level) interfaces to the various devices that are installed.

Answer 3

Ebay mean anything to anyone? No I'm kidding!

But seriously I wouldn't recommend getting a piece of equipment that doesn't have any kind of OS/software installed...

Answer 4

Yes, but remember that BIOS is also a software. He said 'with no OS or software installed'.

So, paper-weight it is!

Answer 5

If it does not have an OS on it already there are a couple of ways you can install a free open sources wonderful OS called Linux and there are lots of different distributions of it to fit every mood. google search Linux distros and your bound to find something helpfull and useful. Good luck, use a CD drive, USB thumb drive, another external Hard drive maybe. good luck :)

Answer 6

I agree with zabuntu. I take in fried computers all the time and fix them. Many either have a toasted hard drive or the hard drive is completely missing, so I replace it with a new hard drive and do whatever other repairs it needs. When I'm finished I have computer that is pretty much the same as one that has just freshly come off an assembly line. It has no software and no OS. If I'm fixing it for someone and they have a copy of Windows or whatever, I'll install that and the computer is good as new. If it is a clunker that I'm fixing up to sell, I'll install Linux on it (usually Ubuntu because it is a very user-friendly distro), and it's good as new. So just because a computer does not come with an OS and other software does not make it a paper-weight.

Lifeburner, you're right. If it has no BIOS it's not much more than a paper-weight. However, since the BIOS is stored in a ROM chip on the motherboard, you would be hard-pressed to find a newly- built computer that doesn't have BIOS. I have run across some junkers with a fried BIOS chip and I had to replace the mobo, but that is pretty rare even in used computers, at least in my experience. On off the assembly line would have a fresh mobo so it's likely the BIOS would be intact and working barring manufacturer flaw.

Answer 7

the system is just like a newborn kid.
KID-needs food ,care, schooling, social interaction etc......to perform well.
SYSTEM-need Operating system, programs etc......... to work well.

Answer 8

thanks guys