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Dell's Open Source Desktop Systems
An anonymous reader writes "An article at XYZComputing goes over Dell's open source line of desktop computers and workstations. The N line is something which Dell began to sell recently, but the situation is much more complex that it would seem. There is often little or no discount given if consumers opt to go with FreeDOS as their operating system. There is also a great link in the article showing how Dell is selling AMD processors in their Accessories section!" From the article: "A major hurdle preventing the growth of Linux with non-professional users has been installation the operating system and dealing with the resultant compatibility issues. An ideal solution to this would be a major manufacturer which is willing to sell computers with Linux preinstalled. This would not only make it easy for users to buy a computer and have Linux running after simply plugging it in, but it would theoretically allow the manufacturer to lower the cost of a computer because software licensing costs could be minimized."
Didn't we discuss this over a month ago???
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
They already did this in the 1990s against OEMs who loaded OS/2 and were (slightly) penalized for it.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Why would I want to buy one of these Dells when Sun is offering affordable workstations that use higher-quality and higher-performance Opteron processors? And not only that, but the Sun workstations are supported very well by Solaris, as well as Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, and a multitude of other operating systems.
While I do have fond memories of Dell UNIX back in the early 1990s, I would not purchase their Linux-based systems today, just because the competition (ie. Sun) offers far superior products.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I don't know about you, but have bought two Dells in the last year and they didn't have any of that crap on it. Most of the time you can specify that when you customize your system... maybe it's because I was getting a higher-end system, who knows. But the only thing they had on it "extra" was the Dell Media Experience (at my request). (And of course all the system drivers for my hardware)
http://www.addonshop.com/
http://www.emperorlinux.com/
http://www.ibexpc.com/
http://www.linare.com/
http://www.linspire.com/
http://www.linuxcertified.com/
http://www.microtelpc.com/
http://www.outpost.com/
http://shoprcubed.com/
http://www.sub300.com/
http://www.systemax.com/divisions.htm
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.xandros.com/
http://tuxmobil.org/reseller.html
http://www.us.debian.org/distrib/pre-installed
http://www.linux.org/vendor/system/index.html
http://tuxmobil.org/ (general information)
No OS
(Sabio made by Quanta, like Dell-latitudes)
http://www.avadirect.com/
http://www.asimobile.com/
http://www.powernotebooks.com/
Sigh...
Look, if you had just regular WinXP SP2 media, you'd run into the very same issues when loading the OS. You pretty much have to go out and get drivers for anything non-vanilla (try loading XP on a widescreen laptop sometime).
I really wish people would stop saying Linux needs to "Just Work" when, in fact, it doesn't "Just Work" with Windows either.