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Dell's Open Source Desktop Systems

Posted by Zonk on from the unfamiliar-frontier-for-penguins dept.

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."

9 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot's Open Source DUPE systems. by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Informative


    Didn't we discuss this over a month ago???

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  2. Nothing more than a PR stunt. by Mr.+Darl+McBride · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How can you tell? Well, for starters, you can buy the same system with a hard disk twice the size with a 17" LCD monitor and Windows Media Center Edition for the same price.

    More importantly, the 510n comes with an ATI card that will be difficult to get to work properly with X.org (dunno if Xi Graphics is still in business), whereas the 510 uses an Intel chipset that, while not great, will probably work better.

    And why not simply install a popular Linux distribution on it from the get go? They could "brand" it simply by adding a package with Dell-logo wallpapers, themes, and icon sets.

    Dell's just grubbing for some positive press.

  3. Dell and Linux support by unsung · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dell could never pre-install linux on their systems - unless if it was a paid version. If they did, they'd have to support it which would level their margins - if not pull it into the negative.

    1. Re:Dell and Linux support by external400kdiskette · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Support is probably the primary issue why Dell cant realistically start flogging Linux boxes to the general populace. When your selling the cheapest hardware at the cheapest price with low profit margins you cant really afford to lose any money because you have to support every clueless newbie whose never used anything other than Windows and cant understand why his bloody activex banking sites will never load on his new pc.

    2. Re:Dell and Linux support by nickos · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Also bear in mind the Windows licensing agreements that OEMs have to agree to. Here's an old but very relevant artice: He Who Controls the Bootloader

      In the 1998-1999 timeframe, ready to prime the pump with their desktop offering, Be offered BeOS for free to any major computer manufacturer willing to pre-install BeOS on machines alongside Windows. Although few in the Be community ever knew about the discussions, Gassée says that Be was engaged in enthusiastic discussions with Dell, Compaq, Micron, and Hitachi. Taken together, pre-installation arrangements with vendors of this magnitude could have had a major impact on the future of Be and BeOS. But of the four, only Hitachi actually shipped a machine with BeOS pre-installed. The rest apparently backed off after a closer reading of the fine print in their Microsoft Windows License agreements. Hitachi did ship a line of machines (the Flora Prius) with BeOS pre-installed, but made changes to the bootloader -- rendering BeOS invisible to the consumer -- before shipping. Apparently, Hitachi received a little visit from Microsoft just before shipping the Flora Prius, and were reminded of the terms of the license.

  4. Sadly, not likely to happen soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We live in a capitalistic society (especially here in the "United" States). Since M$ can apply large amounts of financial pressure against vendors by saying, "if you pre-install Linux at any large scale, we'll pull our preferred customer discount for your OEM Windows prices", they effectively can coerce third party vendors to ignore Linux on a large scale.

    What is *needed* is a start-up company to get capital venture funding and start a hardware store to compete with the likes of Dell... but to ONLY use Open-Source, and spend their captial funding on ADVERTISEMENT of the advantages of FOSS.

    Something like a televised "Get the Factual Facts"...

    I'd buy a computer from that kind of company on principle, and I'd CERTAINLY suggest that my less-than-technically-saavy friends would do the same.

    G.B.Y.L.B.T.,
    PastorEd

  5. The real problem by PatrickThomson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you ever set up a brand new dell for someone? There's so much shitware installed, free trials of dvd players, etc, etc, that it's faster to format and reinstall straight away than to uninstall it all. Each of those bits of bundled wankware earns dell money, it more than offsets the XP bulk license cost.

    What would be good is a way to buy a dell and immediately sell the license on to a reseller.

    --
    I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
  6. It's hard... by pr0nbot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I bought a PC recently. Part of the justification was that I would finally get round to setting up a Linux desktop and configure it just the way I want.

    But all the distros I've tried so far have had hardware issues that I consider pretty fundamental to a desktop. RedHat - getting nvidia graphics installed to run Doom3. SuSE - intermittent sound and wifi issues. Ubuntu - screen resolution issues, sound issues, unremembered wifi config. (Knoppix is next, fingers crossed.)

    I can solve all of these, by getting down and hacking the config files, but the fact that these mature and well-backed distros don't Just Work illustrates the fact that getting a Linux desktop distro to work is a non-trivial job, and I'm not surprised PC manufacturers aren't interested in doing it and supporting it.

    I don't know what the answer is - some of these distros are backed by big companies. It's a shame IBM didn't do a distro when they had a hardware division, I think it'll takes someone who does software and hardware (like Apple) to really get it right, sell you a machine that just works.

  7. Non-Dell Companies selling Linux (and No OS) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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/