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Dell Linux Details
jon_anderson_ca writes "Dell, through their direct2dell website, has released some details of their soon-to-be-available Linux machines. Among the highlights: Only hardware that works with Linux is offered; open-source drivers are used where possible; binary drivers for Intel wireless cards, etc.; and no support for proprietary media codecs. Seems reasonable, but it's too bad that Click2Run isn't in Ubuntu 7.04 for the sake of those wanting to (legally) play DVDs, use AVI files, etc." The direct2dell site divulges no details on what models will be offered with Linux. For those we turn to linuxquestions.org, where proprietor Jeremy published a scoop last week: "We will be launching a Linux based OS (Ubuntu) on the E520, 1505 and XPS 410 starting next Thursday, 5/24."
I don't care how much junk software they add, so long as Micheal Dell has read "World Domination 201" and decides to offer for sale a disk full of licensed codecs. Dell has the clout to put such a disk together, faster than Linspire.
I'm sick of reading all these comments about how horrible it is that Dell isn't going to include the proprietary codecs to play DVDs or mp3. It's not completely legal to do so now without paying a license fee. And if Dell did pay a licensing fee to include, people would be complaining about why it costs just as much as Windows does. And besides, it is VERY easy to look up instructions on how to add the capability to play those codecs online, and most people that care enough to specifically order a Linux Dell, are already going to know how to do this.
Portland, North Dakota Puppies
actually version 9 is out of beta now IIRC and the reason (that they state anyway) that there is no amd64 version of the flash player is because the JIT type code they have for flash isn't 64bit safe still, don't know if thats true though, if it is, its at least a semi-reasonable excuse, but its still something they should work on.
Maybe they saw how Apple is making a metric assload of money selling a UNIX derivative, closely tied to decent hardware, and want a piece of it?
It's pretty far out there, but what if Dell are positioning themselves as an Apple for Linux - good hardware, guaranteed compatibility, support for installed packages, etc. I know a lot more people would consider Linux on the desktop/laptop if a name-brand, respected company like Dell were offering it.
Well if this is the lineup ("We will be launching a Linux based OS (Ubuntu) on the E520, 1505 and XPS 410 starting next Thursday, 5/24." from Jeremy's Blog), I guess I have to wait longer. I'm only interested in WUXGA - the 15.4" Latitude D830 would have been nice, but I'd have considered the E1705 too. If I have to buy an unsupported model and install Linux myself, there is less incentive to pick Dell in the first place.
I seconded ideas on ideastorm that suggested Dell get rid of this stupid division between Latitude and Inspiron, but who knows if that will ever happen. Just a single line of well built laptops in a few different screen sizes is all we need (it works for Apple and if Dell wants to entire the retail market seriously, it would help to have a reduced model line).
Dara
Put identity in the browser.
Does anyone else think that offering only 3 models is a little underwhelming?
Only one laptop model? I can tell you it's because Dell's hardware just isn't compatible enough. Sure it's good enough to get by with Linux on it but they're not likely to stump up the costs for development of a laptop that is 100% compatible.
And for everyone who thinks they can just swap out components that don't behave well, I'm afraid I can tell you from person experience it's not that simple. You need to get the factory on board to make it happen and most of the time Linux compatible components aren't cheap. I'll take it all back if Dell start producing a line of laptops and desktops that work 100% with Linux.
My company has taken the time to create 4 specifically Linux OEM laptops, so we know how hard it is. When people say they expect it to be cheaper too it's just getting ridiculous. The hardware choices you need to make for really good compatibility just do cost more. WiFi is the best example, once you've changed from a generic card to an Intel card you've lost the saving you make by not paying a Windows Licence. And that's before you even have to start worrying about the right Intel chip! I can't wait to see these laptops, turn on the WiFi, 3D desktop and put it into suspend mode. Then when it wakes up we'll see how compatible these things really are.
I commend Dell for trying, but I think before everyone gets too excited we need to wait and see how much effort they actually put in.
XePhi Computers sell really cheap Linux CDs! http://www.xephi.co.uk
YouTube movies are in flv, which is basically a bastardised MPEG format. You don't need Flash player. There's a GreaseMonkey script which will allow you to watch them using mplayer. FLV isn't even a proprietary codec (ffmpeg knows about it. In fact, the whole toolchain for converting your camera's AVI files into something you can host on a website is entirely Open Source. Only the player is proprietary, and the GNASH developers are working on that. I'm currently working on a site with embedded video clips, and I will make them accessible to GNU/Linux users without Flash player.)
....."), donate money, time or hardware to an existing project, start a new project. If you want to put the "and other" into "non-violent and other direct action", there are quite a few things you can do which won't do any harm to life or tangible property, just bogus "intellectual property".
I'll grant you, it's not obvious -- and that's not entirely unrelated to many people having vested interests in keeping alternatives to what they sell non-obvious. When was the last time you saw a site with PDFs mention that you could use anything other than Adobe Reader to view them? (Ones designed by me with on-the-fly PDF-munging technology [again, the toolchain to do this is 100% i-tal] and smart links to kpdf, xpdf, evince or foxit reader depending on your browser and OS don't count.)
The problem begins and ends with closed-source, proprietary software. Always has, always will. Short of passing a law against caged software (which I don't believe is impossible for some small country sometime in the near future) the best thing you can do is support the Free Software movement. Use Free Software, suggest improvements (don't just say "this sucks", say "this would be better if
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Sorry that you were modded troll. I don't think that you're trolling at all. Dell doesn't expect more than one percent yet they are still doing it. There once was a time when MS or Novell had "1%", there was a time when Commodore owned the home computer market. If Dell uses wisdom, and savvy here they stand a chance of being at the forefront of an emerging market instead of being the dude kicking the dead horse. Dell won't have to support Ubuntu if the community does it, and having used Ubuntu's forum and launchpad, I can tell you first hand that the quality of support there is often higher than I've seen on Technet and it certainly is easier to read.
Dell I suspect is looking for exactly "1%" not looking for a market crusher. Wal-Mart failed because most anyone that buys a computer from Wal-Mart is the type of person that answers "Windows" when you ask them what kind of computer they have. Wal-Mart was a marketing mistake because they do not actually market products they market prices.
load "$",8,1
Posting anonymously because I'm a Dell employee who wants to see this succeed but am not 'authorized' to speak for Dell.
Dell needs to sell 20,000 of these systems to consider this pilot a success. If we sell less than this, don't expect much in the way of continued effort. This is a royal pain to get rolling as fast as we are - especially since a huge majority of our tech support know windows only.
Oh, and you only have a couple of months before the systems we're shipping these on go end of life. They are mature systems, with good technical information. But in order to be responsive to the Ideastorm ask as quickly as possible - we decided to go with systems that were about to be EOL rather than waiting for the next hardware refresh.
The people that said they would wait to buy a box until Dell offered Linux are about to get your chance - I *really* hope you follow through on that promise.