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IBM Dropping Laptop Linux Support
Bjarne Bula writes "In a message to the linux-thinkpad mailing list, Keith Frechette, former (as of Monday, June 24th) lead developer of Linux support on ThinkPads,
reported that IBM has decided to no longer fund that project." I've been using
Linux on a ThinkPad for some time now. If it stops being compatible, my next
laptop won't be a ThinkPad. Too bad, because the machines are solid. Update: In an interesting counter-point, Information Week tells us that IBM will be opening a manhattan based "Linux Center of Competence" to show off Linux. Go figure.
An older article here has the developers of their open source devision saying...
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People don't buy many small computers just because they will run Linux (the geek population just isn't that large). People do, however, blow large chunks of cash on big machines just to run Linux. Mom-and-Pop can almost always undercut IBM on prices for small machines, and geeks are thrifty. You don't have to sell many million dollar machines to justify being involved in Linux development.
IBM Kernel Hackers:
All of the people in our group and most in the LTC have Thinkpads for their daily development and run Linux on them (I'm writing this on one as I sit in my apartment). There may not be as much corporate support there as you want, but there is plenty of grass-roots support. We had to learn all the quirks to get Linux installed and get all of the little things working (just like you). I've always wished that we shared more of this information, but there are usually people who are farther ahead than we are. I've uploaded the meager information that we put together during a meeting once. If you're curious, take a look: http://www.sr71.net/slashdot/thinkpad/linux-deskt
Why dont they just start working on Linux for Laptops?
In college, really poor, need a flatscreen.
IBM also said it was going to include Generic Unix support rather than Linux only (scroll down). This means, they are embracing the entire spectrum of free Unix OS's instead of just Linux (Which IS A BONUS). They would be supporting OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Darwin, OpenCLT, WindRiver RT, OpenDOS, Linux (no distro specific). Frankly, it was weird seeing IBM saying they only support RedHat Linux (Linux is Linux whatever distro runs it, and at hardware level this shouldn't have mattered, AFAIK most IBM use was at hardware level). This IS A GOOD THING.
Imagine if Tom's Harware bought up new laptops, got Linux running on them, and documented what it took to fix some of the basic problems that came up.
A site like that 6 months ago (when I tried to install it on my laptop...) would have meant I'd be a Linux user today.
Well, Tom's Hardware sure didn't (because all they test linux-wise is NVIDIA driver performance, and this only because Q3 is cool.), but others did.
my
So I take it you never found www.linux-laptop.net? It's pretty easy to miss. After all, it's only mentioned in all the laptop-related HOWTOs and at the top of many search results for "linux laptop help".
Now, my requirements for a laptop are: three mouse buttons, no Windows keys, black, fast, good display, trackpoint. I don't think anything else than an IBM ThinkPad qualifies.
They sorta did the same thing to their Via Voice software for Linux. You can't get the SDK for it anywhere now which means several programs that run using the VV SDK no longer can be run. They still sell VV though, and I was one of the poor saps that bought one. I didn't realize that only the notepad like interface they give for it was the only thing I would ever get to use with it.
Marketing is everything in this game, I didn't know they sold laptops with Linux on them...and if I ever did get a laptop I would obviously want one with linux on it since Linux is all I use these days. I also didn't know there was a Via Voice for Linux either until I looked it up.
IBM is funny, they preach support for linux in general then spend billions of dollars in TV ads for Linux servers and not a dime on their laptops or ViaVoice...and then discontinue those things when they figure there is no more demand for them.
I think the real problem here is large companies (or for that mannor any company) like IBM are not willing to wait things out to let Linux get filtered through the system enough so there is a high demand for the Linux products they have on the desktop/laptop. Loki is a good example of this, only in the reverse sence. We all know Linux will be on the desktop, and is. We all know that Linux will someday be the majority...the only problem is it is just taking way to damn long to get there. There have even been people that claim the "Linux days" are over because it didn't do what they wanted it to in the aloted time they gave it. None of them seam to understand that it will take a lot of work to unseat MS from the throne...not just a few years...maybe at least a decade from today....thats 20 years.
QLITech has some very nice laptops that can be preinstalled with a boatload of distros. If you're thinking of getting a laptop you should look at these as well as the "regular suspects".
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If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
They sold one lousy thinkpad with linux, and you really had to be determined to find and order it through their webpages. Great selection. (Huge sample size, too: how many of that model sold with windows compared with their other 'dozepads? Funny, they don't say.)
I wonder how many other people (besides me) said "Gee, I really like this much lighter Txx model, and I can probably get it to work with linux... and since the damn linux preload is more expensive anyway, I might as well!"
Need a UNIX/Linux/network guru in the Boulde