7d ago

Found my new favorite Linux laptop manufacturer/j

thelibre.news This Linux laptop maker called me a Zombie

Two years ago I was contacted by a company called MALIBAL. They were interested in a sponsorship, where I would simply put their link in the video description and get money for it. I did a quick background check, and they seemed like a proper Linux hardware manufacturing company. I

Wish all the companies I bought from called me a zombie from the abyss 🥰

Linux @feddit.org

TeutonenThrasher @feddit.org

3w ago

This Linux laptop maker called me a Zombie

thelibre.news /this-linux-laptop-maker-called-me-a-zombie/

9 2

58 comments

I like how they take a moral stance against Apple and Google, but then proudly display Boeing and the US Air Force as customers.

This is not the first time Malibal made an appearance.
Last time I heard about them, they shafted the CoreBoot people then also banned the several countries from doing business with them.
Malibal is legitimately insane.

https://www.malibal.com/legal/terms/
This is so hilariously unhinged. Fun starts at "Geographical Restrictions"
- Lmao, they prohibit anyone using any Google device or service, any Apple device or service and any (active) Reddit user.
- Use of Google Products and Services
  Users are prohibited from accessing this website using any Google products or services. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
  Gmail: Users may not use Gmail to register, login, or otherwise interact with this site.
  Google Chrome: Users may not use the Google Chrome web browser to access this site. – Exception: De-Googled forks of Chrome are allowed.
  Google Pixel Phones: Users may not use Google Pixel phones or any other Google-branded hardware to access this site.
  Android: Users may not use the Android operating system in its standard, Google-integrated form. – Exception: De-Googled versions of Android.
  Other Google Services: Any other services or products provided by Google, including but not limited to Google Search, Google Drive, Google Meet, and Google Workspace, are also prohibited from accessing this site.
  Enforcement: If it is determined that any user has accessed this website using any of the aforementioned Google products or services, > we reserve the right to terminate the user’s access to the site immediately without notice.
  
  If they have the ability to accurately detect/enforce any of that, I'd be way more impressed with their fingerprinting techniques than any of the hardware they're selling
  
  Google apple and reddit must have really pissed them off to include this in their terms.
  
  That's cool
- Hey, at least they promote Lemmy!
- Most of this is because of some drama where they tried to port coreboot by lowballing some coreboot agencies who eventually told him to fuck off

finally, the official laptop of schizophrenia
- Need to install templeOS on it

Just as a info, they are a Clevo reseller: https://linustechtips.com/topic/802163-clevo-custom-laptops-and-world-clevo-resellers/#comment-10086025
That probably also applies to a lot of other small size linux laptop companies that are not doing a lot of custom stuff in their laptops.

Well that was a crazy read. Never seen a company act this way before. Sounds like a very small operation. Unfortunately their products don't appeal to me at all, I'd much rather buy a Framework.
- Fortunately

First I thougt its just a prank by a bored social media intern, but it looks like the whole company is built on this insane absurd communication. It was a hilarious read :D
- how the hell are they still in business lmao
  
  No publicity is bad publicity I guess?
- The whole company is just the one guy. He obviously has mental health issues.

What in the fuck?
It just kept going. Calling customers "zombies"..... bannung people from using chrome to access website, banning "regular reddit users"...... banning particular countries for pettt grudges with like, a few individuals???
- I thought the article would end there. It just kept goooooooooinnnnggggggg
- Probably just shitty ass company. honestly their act like ass to everyone tell me is bis red flag company
  
  This hurts to read because of how badly written it is. Do you not read what you've written?

That’s the wildest company that I’ve ever seen
- As a KDE person, the random potshot at KDE for absolutely no reason is what got me lol.

Accessed the website using Chrome, on a Google Pixel, routed through a VPN exiting from Colorado.
Was looking for specifically an AMD laptop. WHAT NOW MALIBAL
- No soup for you!
- But I notice that they don't say they'll ban everyone from Feddit...?
  So, maybe there's some hope for them yet...

Now, I would love to know more about who's behind MALIBAL, and what's happening within the - probably, single-person - company. However, I have not found any information about that; if you have any, please feel free to contact me.
sorry did the author not come across the companies own about page?
https://www.malibal.com/features/about-us/
lol thats neat, malibal is based directly across the street from the palms casino in vegas.
😂
watch me get all of DC banned for that emoji
- That "about" page is fucking wild. They spend like half the page sucking themselves off over how great of a job they did designing their own logo, and then the other half telling the user the proper way to reference the company and its products. I really want to spend some time on the live chat breaking all the rules, like not capitalizing every letter of their name...
- https://www.malibal.com/legal/terms/
  lmao I'm copying this part to my instance's legal section

As i understand it, the OEM business has razor thin margins as it is. This seems like an aggressively unsustainable business practice, to the point that it's making me wonder what their game is...
- I was under the impression, from reading one of the developers write of his interaction with the owner, that they're just selling dropped shipped white label laptops.
  They're simply add branding and a disk image which the white label manufacturer applies before shipping.
  So it doesn't even seem to be an OEM... Just some guy trying to make an easy buck with some slick marketing and white label laptops... he just couldn't get the image setup and failed spectacularly in collaboration with the people who could help him.
  
  In the modern parlance, i believe that counts as an OEM but the more accurate term that no one uses is probably a VAR

It makes me sad that you had to spend so much time with this topic. But thank you for publishing it ❤️
- Oh no I'm not the person who runs the blog. I just saw it posted on the Tumblr Linux community and wanted to repost it here. Happy to share it ofc! 😄

Yeah, they're batshit

Lmao theres gotta be a timeline in which Malibal ships to the DPRK and ONLY the DPRK

That company is probably owned by This guy.
- Yet another micro-celebrity whose 3 section wikipedia page has one third of it dedicated to "Sexual misconduct allegations"
  
  For the record Veitch is just a ~~comedian~~ alleged rapist with absolutely no affiliation with MALIBAL. MALIBAL is run by Matthew Plott as listed here on their site.

It’s clear that MALIBAL sucks. Whoops, just got all Lemmy users and their mothers banned. My bad.

I kind of like the utter insanity that seems to be their norm. Not going to buy anything from them but still.

Skikk is a clevo reseller too. Those laptops are very nice. They do however sound like a jet engine when the game starts. But I just turn the volume up higher and then I don't hear it anymore.

Wait Nicco Loves Linux isn't it that KDE dev?
- Yeah he's a KDE dev and has an actually quite good YouTube channel that really should have more subscribers than it does
  
  Agreed

Ah, so another Terry Davis except without slurs (yet)
- Well, like all the attitude of Terry without the genius to back it up. The "about" pages and stuff just read like your typical "One superior genius started this company" grift myth.

wow havent seen anything this moody in a long while

Another scam company like framework trying to charge exorbitant fees for computers without dedicated GPUs.
Don't be fooled by the viral marketing/useful idiots, guys. Just go with the product that's the best deal for you.
- Framework 16 does have a dedicated GPU option, and it's upgradable.
- ...FW16 is a great Linux machine. It also had CAD drawings available that have been allowing me to sketch out possible physical modifications. It also has a PCIe 4.0 x4 available for either the GPU they sell or any other device that I decide to make.
  What specifically about Framework do you think is a scam? I'd genuinely like to know since that's been the opposite of my experience.
  
  You can buy better hardware for cheaper prices.
  Framework exists to take advantage of naive people who are just trying to fit in with strangers on the internet.

Site doesn't load
Edit: after several attempts, it did load. But its fucking dark grey font on a black background. Can't read this shit. Here's the actual website
https://www.malibal.com/
- Perfectly readable white text on a black background on my devices. The problem must be on your end.

58 comments