Slashdot Mirror

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=DIM_PNT_9200_XPS_410&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid= ^ look under sound section, for the one relevant to your own config

The suspend issue (volume applet crashing) is a bug which Dell shouldn't have let slip, whilst the Synaptics issue is easily solvable with third party tools and has a specification here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GnomeTouchpadManager .

Yes those are problems, but seriously, the number of people who think that such things are what's holding back the fabled Linux Desktop are delusional. Firstly they should look into chaos theory, there's no way everything can be controlled and still end up with a useful system. Secondly, Windows has masses of problems, like, for instance, no DVD support. The side by side comparisons of Windows vs. Ubuntu vs. OSX are only useful as eyeball attractors for adverts, the real problem in the way of the Year of the Linux Desktop is that of positive feedback loops. People use Windows because people develop for Windows because people use Windows, people use Windows so they can use Microsoft Office because the people they know use Microsoft Office, etc. Free Software systems make a point of NOT locking their users in, thus users' choice is usually between either a Free Software system like Ubuntu which sacrifices some locked-down functionality of other systems, or using a non-free system (basically, Windows) which has some functionality Microsoft restricts from their competitors along with all of the Free Software functionality happily made available by the Free Software community (OpenDocument-compatible office suites, Ogg codecs, etc.).

This makes standards adoption the most important issue to tackle, in my opinion. If files are made available in open formats via standard protocols then the locked-down functionality of systems is minimised, and thus the choice becomes more level. Hopefully a feedback loop can be established for standards, but the whole idea of standardisation means that such a loop can be sabotaged, basically since Microsoft can easily support Ogg formats in Windows Media Player and OpenDocument in Microsoft Office, but by keeping Windows Media and proprietary Office formats (including OOXML) around they once again have the upper hand, everything that Free Software supports can be matched, but Windows Media and Office formats by their very nature can't be competed with.

The problem I have is that he assumes that an average user who can't configure a few things and download some codecs can find the appropriate anti-virus software, configure it and keep their machine from becoming part of a virus supercomputer.

Mossberg isn't reviewing it for safety. He's reviewing it for ease of use. Even Dell's cheapest Windows systems include trial version of security software -- so there is no finding needed. Now, the user may disable it, but that's something elese entirely......

Oh gee, that's really hard. I went to Dell's web site and entered "windows xp" into search.

First link was this one:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/winxp_inspn?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

This is in the "You are here: USA > Home & Home Office" section with a big-assed banner that says: The choice is yours. Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows XP, you decide."

Did you even TRY or did you just decide to troll today?

That said, as a HOME user, you can buy dell business models too, without being a business. You have TONS of choices for Dell XP machines. Same deal with every other major vendor.

Especially since capacitors should keep working longer than a year.

Is it only Dell whose batteries die a month after the warranty expires, or does this plague other LiIon-based laptops, too?

You don't actually have to sign anything to be bound by the terms and conditions of sale.

Just paying the money constitues an acceptance of all the terms and conditions of their standard contract regardless of whether you actually read them.

I could not find any links detailing the Law on this but here is a link to Dell's Terms and Conditions of Sale:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/pol icy/en/policy?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~section=012

It clearly states that you are bound buy them unless you can prove you negotiated a seperate agreement. I would be very surprised if this is not legally enforcable but if anyone who has a legal background can tell me why they are not I would grateful for some links to the relevant case law. If you do not have links to a relevant law or precedent please do not bother spouting some unproveable / unqualified opinion.

black macbook (std build): $1649
# 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
# intel gma 950

So for slightly less money, you get a machine with a slightly inferior graphics card, but arguably better software

GMA X3100: Dell XPS 1330

• 500MHz clock speed
• 384MB max video memory
• OpenGL 1.5
• DirectX 10, vertex shader model 4.0, pixel shader model 4.0
• hardware vertex shaders
• MPEG-2 hardware acceleration: inverse discrete cosine transorm, variable-length decoding, and motion compensation
• VC-1 hardware acceleration

• 250MHz clock speed
• 64MB max video memory
• OpenGL 1.4
• DirectX 9, pixel shader model 2.0, vertex shader model 3.0
• no hardware vertex shaders (done in software)
• MPEG-2 hardware acceleration: motion compensation only
• no VC-1 hardware acceleration

The Dell XPS M1330 is in a different class than the Macbook. It offers built-in features and optional features found in "pro-sumer" notebooks like Thinkpads and Macbook Pros. Comparing an XPS M1330 to a Macbook is almost as bad as comparing a Macbook to a cheap Dell Inspiron.

Dell XPS M1330 Specsspecs.htm#wp1102222
Macbook specs
Table of Intel GMA graphics cores and chipsets

They have Linux laptops though.

OMG, it's a plot to kill all Linux users! Quick, tell everyone you know before it's too laaaarrrghhh, my legs!

No laptops for sale here.

I got paranoid and had to take a look. You'll see, from the linked page, that Dell no longer sells laptops. Lawsuit avoided!

What this does bring up, though, is the unfilled need currently of having an auto-upgrader software package where new kernel packages can be auto-upgraded and then migrated too on the fly without requiring a reboot.

DKMS stands for Dynamic Kernel Module Support. It is designed to create a framework where kernel dependent module source can reside so that it is very easy to rebuild modules as you upgrade kernels. This will allow Linux vendors to provide driver drops without having to wait for new kernel releases while also taking out the guesswork for customers attempting to recompile modules for new kernels.

Oh?

That was the first computer listed in Dell's small business section, but all the other choices there also have XP as an option. Maybe XP isn't as common on new machines as Vista, but when Dell offers to sell it as one of their customization options, it's not exactly hard to get.

I recently just did some research and testing on this very thing. I've been testing over the last month or so the Dell DataSafe web-based backup solution and found it to be reliable, easy to use and configure, and relatively inexpensive. Prices start at $9 a year for up to 3 GB of backup storage space to $39 a year for up to $30 GB of backup storage space. They have custom storage/pricing options as well if you need more space. They have a free 30 day trial with up to 3 GB of backup storage (which is what I tested). Backups are reasonably quick - 20 minutes for 2.75 GB of data over a T1 line. Because it is web-based, files can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection. I wouldn't call it a complete DR solution but for quick and dirty backups and restores it fills the need. Eventually when Dell has all the web-based features up and running it will be a truely awesome solution. Unfortunately at this time it is Windows only.

Seems that they are now offering the Linux laptops for sale. didn't check the desktops. http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.asp x/emea/segments/gen/client/en/ubuntu_landing?c=uk& cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/feature s.aspx/inspn_1720?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

On 08/Aug/2007:

16:46:09 System System Initial Question/Comment: When will the Inspiron 1720 be loaded with Ubuntu Linux in UK??
16:51:10 System System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
16:51:10 System System Connected with Sherrel_Long
16:51:15 Agent Sherrel_Long Thank you for contacting Dell Sales Chat. This is Sherrell, your Sales Advisor. Please give me a moment while I review your query.
16:52:26 Customer Me ok
16:53:10 Agent Sherrel_Long The software is available if you purchase through phone.
16:55:34 Customer Me i'm buying in uk, 1720 with ubuntu is available in uk as well?
16:56:40 Agent Sherrel_Long Yes, you can call the sales line for this.

Ok thanks for that.

For completeness, the US link is here.

Also, that probably isn't being distributed - my guess is, it's downloading the drivers on first boot - Ubuntu gives you the option to do that if you have hardware that's supported by a closed source driver.

No, those drivers were installed from the start.

At least, it certainly didn't ask me if I wanted to download them. I'll admit ethernet was plugged in on first boot, so it *could* in theory have downloaded them silently without telling me, but that seems unlikely.

Their wiki also suggests that "restricted" drivers are pre-installed.

I'm glad to hear that someone is having a good experience with the 1420n 'cuz I'm about to get one myself.

I'd recommend it for someone that's looking for a Linux laptop. I don't think I'd recommend it for somebody that just wants a laptop (and doesn't care about the OS) yet.

Physically it's bigger than I'm used to--all my previous laptops have had 10-12" screens, this is 14"--and I do find it a little cumbersome, but it's not bad. I got the high-resolution screen, which looks fantastic, though the glossiness might make it impractical for, say, working with your back to a window. Keyboard and the rest seem fine. The speakers seem less crummy than the average laptop speakers, if you care.

From the free software point of view--it looks like it has just the two proprietary bits (wireless and modem drivers), with the need for the former hopefully going away in future kernels. They seem to be *very* close to just plain upstream ubuntu (some details here--it seems to be not much more than installing a few extra packages and changing the default firefox home page.) Problems are being tracked in Ubuntu's bug tracker.

Problems I've seen so far: the worst is that using any sort of 3D stuff crashes the system (requiring a reboot!): so don't try to play tuxracer or turn on desktop effects. The new intel driver fixes this but doesn't seem quite ready yet. I suspect if I really cared I could install something experimental and get it working. Less major: the gnome volume applet dies after suspend/resume, so you get a "reload this applet?" dialog on every resume unless you just remove it.

It's set up with one big partition plus a small boot partition. There's some recovery software on there somewhere, I guess, so you can reinstall from scratch from the hard drive if needed.

Ubuntu has some impressive little bits of polish: wireless network discovery and setup is nicely automated, and it switches between wired and wireless automatically when you insert or remove the ethernet cable; updates are very easy; running a non-installed command results in a prompt suggesting which package you might want to install; running totem with an uninstalled codec similarly leads to help installing it (though of course it doesn't work for the usual patent- and drm- encode codecs--if you want to watch your DVD's you get to go track down the necessary 3rd-party apt repo on your own. Which isn't hard.); the silly media buttons (volume, fast-forward/rewind, etc.) all seem to work with the programs you'd expect them to. Etc.

The packaging still shows some signs of this being a first effort: the paper user-manual, though it has useful OS-neutral stuff (how to remove the keyboard, access the memory sockets, etc.), also has Windows-specific instructions. The only reference to Ubuntu is one copy of a Ubuntu CD.

So, some problems, but I like it a lot anyway.

• Processor: Change to "Intel® Core 2 Duo T7700 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)"
  
• Display: Change to "High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)" (there doesn't appear to be a non-glossy high res screen for this laptop)
  
• Video Card: Change to "256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT"
  
• Bluetooth Options: Check "Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)"
  
• Integrated Webcam: Change to "Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam"

Dell also sells computers with ubuntu preinstalled .

http://www.dell.com/open

...and people still wonder why it's a such a big thing that Dell offers preinstalled Linux desktops with guaranteed working chipsets.

They sell laptops with Ubuntu Linux on them, too.

I was kind of annoyed at the way the original Linux program went. I was pleasantly surprised to see they were doing this again, and it looks like the price is not bad this time. They also sell systems with Freedos if you want. I think just knowing that the wireless stuff is going to work is a major reason to go this way.

I don't get the previous poster's claim that linux friendly wifi hardware is plentiful and cheap. It seems to me that any wireless card requires wrappers, animal sacrifices, and a fair amount of divine intervention to work. It's probably easier than that, but I haven't seen that there is any manufacturer that is "linux friendly" as some video card and wired network card manufacturers are. You see that various chips have driver solutions of some sorts, certain individual models, etc, but like one of the other posters said you'd have to be able to see the chip to be sure since some manufacturers change chips without changing model numbers, and most shops will send you "equivalent" models anyway when you order a bunch of them.

I think it's great that so much progress has been made in this area given the challenge that such development must present. But it's still far from easy for someone to find out whether their wireless card will work ahead of time. It does seem to me that your best bet would be to go with a laptop with integrated wifi that is favourably reported on the net (like on the linux-laptops site). But as for a central repository for pcmcia wifi or wifi in general, I've found that there doesn't seem to be one. There are a lot of sites on the net which talk about various cards, but they usually only cover a few cards on very specific versions of the linux kernel. Nothing like the linux usb site, for example.

I hooked up a Kill-A-Watt meter to my monitor again, just now, to see for myself if dark colors save power on my monitor. In the past, I had noticed that my 19 inch CRT monitor's power usage varied from 64 - 84 Watts depending on background color. With the CRT monitor, the dark color used about 20 Watts less. In the sleep mode, when the screen was blank it only used a little over 1 Watt.

My new monitor is a 20-inch Dell 2007FP flat panel LCD monitor which I will test right now. With Firefox running under Linux, I have Blackle.com open in one tab and Google.com open in another tab. Looking at the Kill-A-Watt meter, I get 35 Watts for Blackle.com and 37 Watts for Google.com. So using a dark color on my 20-inch Dell 2007FP flat panel monitor only saves 2 Watts. In the sleep mode, when the monitor goes blank, it only uses 1 Watt.

Oddly enough the power consumption on both my monitor and the rest of the computer varies from day to day by about 3 Watts. I am not sure if that is due to variations in room temperature or the daily variations in the voltage of the electricity that I get from the power company or what. At the moment the voltage here is 124.5 volts, sometimes it has been about 118 volts. The power company has come out twice, in the last decade or so, to adjusted the transformer on the nearby power pole to raise or lower the voltage.

So anyway, Blackle.com only saved 2 Watts on my 20-inch LCD flat panel monitor, which is not very much compared the the 100 Watt light bulb that is on in a nearby lamp. Just in case you had to ask, according to the Kill-A-Watt meter, the 100 Watt light bulb in one of the lamps is using 100 Watts and the 100 Watt light bulb in the other lamp is using 94 Watts. Switching to a more efficient type of light bulb would help much more than using Blackle.com.

• Kill A Watt meter
• Dell 2007FP 20-inch Flat Panel LCD Monitor

I think Dell's Windows XP computers are easy to find, but I've noticed several Slashdot comments from people who cannot find them. They're obviously looking in the "home" section instead of the "business" section. I guess Dell should make them easier to find.

I think Dell's Windows XP computers are easy to find, but I've noticed several Slashdot comments from people who cannot find them. They're obviously looking in the "home" section instead of the "business" section. I guess Dell should make them easier to find.

I think Dell's Windows XP computers are easy to find, but I've noticed several Slashdot comments from people who cannot find them. They're obviously looking in the "home" section instead of the "business" section. I guess Dell should make them easier to find.

Did you (or the moderators) even look at the tech specs for the Dell and the MacBook? The Dell XPS uses a new Intel "Santa Rosa" chipset (GM965). The MacBook uses a previous generation chipset (945GM). The Dell weighs 4 lbs while the MacBook weighs 5.1 lbs. The Dell has an ExpressCard 54mm slot and a memory card reader. The Dell's 1-year warranty includes phone support and in-home service (although buyers of either notebook should buy 3 years of support: $260 for Dell, $249 for AppleCare). If you want a new Santa Rosa chipset or an ExpressCard slot on an Apple notebook, you need to buy a MacBook Pro.

The Dell supports up to 4GB of memory (MacBook supports up to 2GB), has an 800MHz FSB (MacBook 667MHz), and can be configured with an LED display. On Apple notebooks, these features are only supported on the new MacBook Pros (and LED display only on the 17" MacBook Pro).

you can't really get anything other than Vista on a new PC

Maybe you just aren't looking hard enough.

IANAEE but I found this thing (pdf) from DELL that has a "typical" efficiency curve (fig A, on the third page of the pdf, page # 64) that shows efficiency is pretty flat from 35% up to max load. Within maybe 5%.

If and when a laptop can get a nice big 24" screen or larger, can have ultra fast, high capacity hard drives with kick-ass 3D graphics and components I can upgrade...then I'll get one. I don't see that happening in the next 5 to 7 years.,

Dell XSP M 2010

Nuff said. I assume you'll pick it up tomorrow?

It's this simple, people are afraid of change, many people will not do change because it puts the testing of their reputation on the line. (many CEO's, CIO's, IT Directors, IT Managers, and the likes) Even though it is very evident the cost savings and the possibilities of re-allocating money to other projects that have never been touched because of current issues with M$ products or incompatibilities with others. These people are not comfortable with change and they do not want to put any effort or time in to making a significant change (they would rather deal with what they have been dealing with because of the possibilities of not having a job tomorrow, if they were wrong). Even if of it is evident that the benefits out weigh the eventual cost, productivity, time and effort of another product that they don't have now.

No one is willing to take risks anymore. They would rather agree with one another that it will not work out in the end. Even though I don't agree with these peoples though process, I do agree that it can be a task to get everyone to buy in to the change that would take place with the sagnificant change switching to OSS or Linux, but it is not impossible if you spend time to outline, plan and prepare for this type of rollout.

There are many success stories of people switching to OSS and Linux for their small, meduim and large size companies, who have taken the plunge to save money and troubles.

Ask the following companies - (I will kill two FUD's with one stone here - the use of OSS and Linux)

NASA - http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Projects/Columbia/co lumbia.html
- http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/

DELL - http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/pow er/en/ps1q03_insights?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Walmart - http://www.wirespring.com/ (firecast runs on Linux andfirecast is and OSS)

Sony - http://www.computerpartner.nl/article.php?news=int &id=2804
- http://mtechit.com/linux-biz/media_companies/sony3 .html

Google - Summer of Coders (need I say more?)
- http://code.google.com/

IBM - http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource

Boeing - http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/TAO-boeing.html
- http://www.zdnetasia.com/toolkits/0,39047352,39379 125-39094247p,00.htm

Wall Street, Merrill Lynch, ETrade, TowerGroup, Shahrawat (even as far back as 2002 - they must be Linux and OSS giants now!)
- http://www.forbes.com/2002/03/27/0327linux.html
- http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/lin ux/story/0,10801,75271,00.html
-

other to name Remax, People Soft, Byte, Cisco, Credit Suisse

For a much longer lists.. and why enjoy the following!

- http://mtechit.com/linux-biz/

-

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/l inux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

Inspiron Notebook 1420 N
Intel® Core 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Ubuntu version 7.04
2GB1 Shared Dual Channel3 DDR2 at 667MHz
Size: 160GB2 SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

774$, 275$ off instantly.

Quit your whining and go home you trolls. Dell constantly changes its prices. The important thing is, on non-special'ed items, Ubuntu > Vista in pricing.

So Dell's base 1420 with Ubuntu costs $747 with these specs:

• Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
• Ubuntu version 7.04
• Anti-glare, widescreen 14.1 inch display (1280x800)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
• Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
• No Camera
• 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
• Integrated High Definition Audio

Meanwhile, Dell's Windows equivalent has exact same specs, except for these differences:

• Genuine Windows® Vista Home Basic Edition instead of Ubuntu
• Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card instead of the Intel 802.11a/g card

And the Windows version costs $869. So the Ubuntu version is $122 cheaper and has a better WiFi card.

Remind me again... what did you step in?

So Dell's base 1420 with Ubuntu costs $747 with these specs:

• Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
• Ubuntu version 7.04
• Anti-glare, widescreen 14.1 inch display (1280x800)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
• Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
• No Camera
• 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
• Integrated High Definition Audio

Meanwhile, Dell's Windows equivalent has exact same specs, except for these differences:

• Genuine Windows® Vista Home Basic Edition instead of Ubuntu
• Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card instead of the Intel 802.11a/g card

And the Windows version costs $869. So the Ubuntu version is $122 cheaper and has a better WiFi card.

Remind me again... what did you step in?

So information on BD+ seems relatively hard to find. The best explanations I could find are this presentation, this pdf at dell and best of all this general discussion of SPDC.

The basic idea here is that BD+ allows the BluRay maker to embed virtual machine code (and apparently native code) on their disks which are then executed on the host machine. This code then somehow verifies that the host machine is uncompromised (memory footprints apparently) and then executes whatever process is necessary to decrypt the key that allows content access. Now it seems likely that there is some additional decryption process similar to AACS that decrypts the BD+ virtual code. Perhaps this decryption process is implemented better than the one in AACS but that is the only security advantage BD+ provides.

The only extra security that BD+ can offer over an AACS type system is security through obscurity. There has to be some general cryptographic process to decrypt the BD+ VM instructions. Once decrypted an attacker who is aware of the BD+ standard just needs to emulate the virtual machine and have it pretend it is a valid device to access the content. The BD+ people can talk all they want about memory footprints and tamper checks but these are just a complicated private key for the device. Separating out these functions and putting them in a VM just makes the specification of the encryption scheme more complicated (and more obscure) but doesn't fundamentally increase the security.

So why do the studies want BD+? Well maybe they've been taken in by the claims of extra security but the more plausible reason is that they want the extra control BD+ gives them over their content BD+ might not be a real impediment for the serious pirate/hacker but it does allow the movie studios to implement even more fine grained control over how you use their content. The virtual machine might be set up to prevent you from watching the movie more than once, from using a streaming feature of the device, from using it after some fixed time. Imagine, for instance, movie companies creating tiered pricing based on how many rights you want to have. Say make you pay more if you want to stream it. Disney might release their next version of Aladdin on DVD in two classes. The 'gold' class that lasts forever and the standard class that only lasts 5 years. Well you get the idea.

So no I don't buy the argument that this feature makes the system much more secure (except insofar as it might eliminate some fuckups in how the AACS system was defined) but it certainly is in the Blu Ray consortium and movie theater's interest to portray it this way. Maybe this explains the much wider adoption of Blu Ray by the theaters. ... And I used to be rooting for Blu Ray.

...are here and ironically they are in new colours. Granted, I don't see Slashdot banging on about them, but the new XPS 13" one looks great - HDMI output, LCD backlit screen, SSD hard drive options in a package less than 1" deep. I'd say that those technological advances Dell are shipping now are way more way more interesting than Apples brushed aluminum case rumour...

And the other thing people've gotta realise is that Intel are driving most of Apple's platform development now - as I've mentioned before, there's less ways for Apple to differentiate themselves from the PC masses now, apart from cases, OSes, and non-PC products like MP3 players and phones...

...are here and ironically they are in new colours. Granted, I don't see Slashdot banging on about them, but the new XPS 13" one looks great - HDMI output, LCD backlit screen, SSD hard drive options in a package less than 1" deep. I'd say that those technological advances Dell are shipping now are way more way more interesting than Apples brushed aluminum case rumour...

And the other thing people've gotta realise is that Intel are driving most of Apple's platform development now - as I've mentioned before, there's less ways for Apple to differentiate themselves from the PC masses now, apart from cases, OSes, and non-PC products like MP3 players and phones...

lspci | grep Wireless

I have a Compaq Presario V2617LA happily running Fedora 5.

However, my keyboard/touchpad died a month ago and I found out through HP's regional support that the warranty is only valid if you use the original OS that comes with the notebook (in my case, it was XP home edition).

Up until now, I had always purchased notebooks using tuxmobil.org as a guide (I even contributed a page for this particular machine), but now that Dell sells notebooks with Ubuntu and that there are other providers that sell machines with GNU/Linux AND respect their warranty, I'm never buying from a brand that screws me as a customer, EVER.

If you still have your windows partition you're probably covered, but I just wanted to get the word out to anyone considering buying a notebook to use with GNU/Linux. Please go to the providers that officially support any distribution.

This is not FUD.

I bought my computer through an official retailer in Montevideo, Uruguay. My machine has been in HP/Compaq's official support for this country since jun 7 and now their answer is that the notebook is no longer produced and that there are no spare parts to replace the keyboard/touchpad (all this on a machine I purchased 9 months ago and would still be on warranty if it wasn't for the fact that I use GNU/Linux). The support company is CNS

Here are a couple of places you can start:

ubuntu on dell

linux certified laptops

However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N vs Vista 530), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):

• Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  56K PCI Data Fax Modem
  Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
  Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  
• Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  No Modem Option
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  No Productivity software pre-installed

However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N vs Vista 530), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):

• Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  56K PCI Data Fax Modem
  Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
  Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  
• Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  No Modem Option
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  No Productivity software pre-installed

Time for hardware vendors to start selling more PCs preloaded with Linux. Why sell Windows when Microsoft is your competition?

Maybe there's additional value in th IQ PC's software and support, but $524 doesn't seem that low to me for what looks like an entry-level AMD desktop.

Please explain by what you mean as a "joke"?

If you follow the forum link you'll see two other links.
One to HP's internal support site , another to IBM's internal support site and another to DELL's internal support site, all explaining about the microcode fixes and offering BIOS updates. And are dated in April and May.

In the end, comparing operating systems based on how they handle marginally supported hardware is a waste of time. The reason you have the hardware is to run the software - selecting hardware that works with the software should be a blatantly obvious thing to do.

Sure, it's nice to be able to play around installing a bunch of different operating systems on one computer, but that's what that is: playing around. If you're planning on getting work done with a computer, the normal model is this: Buy a computer with an OS on it, use it with that OS, recycle it years later. Linux has the feature that you can frequently recycle Windows machines into Linux machines, but that's getting lucky and should be treated as such.

If you seriously want a Linux desktop, I suggest the following install procedure: Buy one from Dell or System76.

I know that Dell has been marketing the Ubuntu systems as intended for "Home and Home Office". And I know that they play LOTS of games with their prices, selling the same system to different market segments for surprisingly different prices.

For example, compare the specs of the $699 Home Inspiron 1501 to the $549 Small Business 1501! The latter costs $150 less but has the EXACT SAME SPECS except for a smaller battery (a $30 upgrade). So you can basically get a 20% discount by buying the small biz version... Then again, sometimes the promotions for the home systems are better. The deals and discounts are CONSTANTLY changing, so I go to edealinfo.com, which does a good job keeping track of them.

The thing is, in my experience Dell doesn't care if individuals buy Small Business systems or vice versa. Heck, they don't even care if some random person buys a computer through their Employee and Affiliate Program. For example, a few weeks ago I got a really good deal on a new Inspiron 1501 by buying it through the affiliate program... I just gave them my home CC number and mailing address, and sure enough the computer arrived a week later. :-)

I think the difference might be ordering online vs. ordering over the phone! When you order online, there appears to be absolutely zero verification of whether your home/business/affiliate purchase is going to the right place... but over the phone there may be some stupid bureaucracy in your way. To the OP, I suggest trying to do your order again online!