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Centrino-based Linux Laptops
sebFlyte writes "Intel has lifted its ban on Linux-based laptops carrying its Centrino brand... It obviously makes very little difference technically what name is on the outside of the box, but does this represent a major philosophical shift for the chipmaker, or are they just leaping upon the nearest bandwagon in pursuit of a few extra bucks?"
I know a few folks who work at Intel (some are CPU designers). If you ask any of them, they will repeat the mantra: Intel sells chips. They don't care to who or for what purpose (this was before 9/11). If it is to someone who is going to run Linux or to someone who will run Windows, it doesn't matter because they sold that person some chips.
How did Intel enforce it's "Linux on Centrino" ban? Isn't that unfair competition? It stinks of Microsoft collusion...
--
make install -not war
You should ask "Will we also see Sonoma based, Linux laptops?"
My guess would be "No, we won't." Centrino is now the old technology, isn't it?
Before you get all up in arms about Intel "banning linux" and being all evil and monopoly, blah blah, realize that Intel is a member of OSDL - Intel pays Linus to write linux.
This was all about not having their brand and logo associated with something that didn't work. This is a pat on the back for the kernel hackers who managed to get good solid support for the various Centrino components into the kernel.
So just take it for what it is. You can now say that linux officially works on Centrino laptops.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Who cares? Isn't leaping onto a bandwagon a show of support? If they think they can make money off of it, that generally means they believe it's A Good Thing(tm).
And most of those geeks who demand a linux laptop are being slightly drawn by mac's right now.
:)
I'm one: Gave up my dead PII 300 Cpia Debian machine for a iBook.
I have came close to snapping up an amd64 e-machines a few times though.
-=fshalor
Before the Slashdot anti-Microsoft-bashing forces chime in, it's necessary to add:
Microsoft deserves to participate in the market. They deserve the opportunity to sell their products and compete with other software makers. So do Novell, IBM, Lotus, RedHat, Oracle, etc.
Microsoft is not "entitled" to its strangle-hold on the market. Nor are Novell, IBM, Lotus, RedHat, Oracle, etc.
For that matter, Intel deserves the right to compete in the chip market, as do AMD and Via, but none of them deserve a strangle-hold, either.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
It's almost rational to think that way, but in reality it probably has more to do with an agreement or understanding with Microsoft.
No guy in an airport whining is going to blow centrino out of the market--
If this were the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, and instead of Linux, it were Tide with Bleach Alternative, you wouldn't be up in arms about Good Housekeeping holding out for a lower percentage of phosphorous.
Let go of the baggage every once in a while. You'd be surprised at how much less stress you have when you stop going around being pissed off.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
This is isn't flamebait... just someone who uses linux occasionally (prefers Mac OS X).
No mater what system I use, I've really never had a simple time getting WiFi working. Always several steps... always ugly.
IMHO Linux would have a bit better marketing if it focused on being as close to 0Config as possible. There's a ton of potential.
The best experience I've had is with Knoppix. And even that wasn't perfect.
I already have a Centrino laptop running linux. All this announcement means, I guess, is that now manufacturers can sell centrino laptops with linux pre-installed. But since most linux users just buy the laptop they want, and then put the OS they want on it, I don't see what difference this announcement makes.
Funny, I have purchased three laptops this year and they all of them worked just fine with recent XFree builds. Then again I'm a fairly serious computer user, I [GASP] googled the laptops for their linux compatability before I purchased them! If you don't know how to google, you can always just pop in a recent Knoppix CD if you can find the exact model at a local B&M store.
Come to think of it, of all the linux users I know, I don't know even one who has needed a commercial X server in years.
apt-get install redhat please god - Me (take it easy, I love Debian)
Intel and AMD are both members of OSDL.
Any "this one is more OSS-friendly than that one" insinuations you hear would pretty much be nothing but fanboy bullshit.
AMD doesn't have anything to maintain so far, since they have up until now just been doing CPUs, not whole-board solutions.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
It wouldn't have been particularly smart to permit Centrino + linux marketing when one of the cornerstones of the platform wasn't supported and the reason was Intel's own tardyness in getting the driver up to speed and their firmware license sorted out.
They have not helped. You can find great support for a Intel, 3Com, Realtek... WIRED ethernet. Then you try with wireless cards, and you start to see how much many companies want to help, of the six or seven that exist, two only really help. *BSD people even started a campaign so they are allowed to ship the firmware, now that vendor have decided to save some cents in flashram. But no, some companies don't want firmware to be shipped with kernels, others do not help at all with the driver or offer binary code only.
*BSD and Linux people are trying as much as they can, even reverse engineering or distributing firmware themselves. The potato is in vendors hands: offer docs, offer license to ship firmware with kernel (give hash checksums so everyone can test), offer open code so it can be integrated in all distributions. And win customers, damn, why not even help win32 coders so they can help with your drivers? And do not start the FCC rant, there are hacked firmwares and in other cases it is just saying you live in Japan.
Greetings,
After having worked at Intel, and participating in one of the big Intel / Linux strategy sessions, I really don't see this as a major change / depoarture from their strategies for the last few years.
Intel's reason for asking that laptop manufacturers not to bundle Linux has simply been due to a limitation in the Linux Kernel. Prior to 2.6.8, Linux's support for the Centrino's capabilities has been somewhat sparse and a bit unreliable.
Due to this, Intel, rather than fight through a couple million support calls, decided to ask OEM's to simply not bundle Linux until someone had a chance to get the needed changes into place.
Now, that the linux kernel has this ability, Intel is more than happy to begin recommending Linux on Centrino's. Currently, there are around 35 OEM's who already produce and sell fully Linux compatible Centrino laptops, in fact, I am using one right now to write this.
Contrary to what many might believe, Intel doesn't want to remain tied exclusively to Micro$oft, and has instead been a huge benefactor of the Open Source community. While I was at Intel, they were actively recruiting people to create, manage, and participate in Open Source projects, and would even go so far as to release these people to "quietly" move huge chunks of Intel code into Open Source projects. OpenGL, GCC, PostgresSQL, MySQL to name a few.
For those of you are are using GCC 3.4+, you may have noticed a huge performance increase when running on Intel processors, this comes from, in large part, to Intel working with the GCC group to move large chunks of ICC into GCC.
Will say it again... Strange, I don't see the big deal
"Individuals are smart, people are stupid" -- Tommy Lee Jones as "K" from Men In Black