Dell picked Ubuntu, linux desktop and laptop will be released at the end of May

[pjarvi]

I ordered the laptop. Over the last 12 years I've tried 10 different distros and have always had problems with some piece of hardware not being supported, or some configuration issue requiring 3 days of searching to get resolved. I'm very interested in seeing if this thing "just works" out of the box.

 

[localoid]

Finally some competition for Apple, a very stable, some would agree more stable operating system and at a good price. The quality of dell's hard ware is always in question but running linux you could expect a computer that never goes down unless something hardware goes. Basically a black box mac without the design software.

Linux is wonderful, but desktop Linux isn't really competition for OS X. Many of the free Linux programs are good, but Desktop Linux just doesn't have the quality and variety of applications that OS X has. Commercial programs are virtually nonexistent for Linux. On the other hand, in the server world Linux is tough to beat.

 

[blink56k]

A majority of the people who run Linux are geeks who build their own machines and wouldn't touch some Dell piece of crap. This is good and all, but I just don't see it doing too well.

You mean people like my 7 year old brother surfing the web on Ubuntu with Firefox (CartoonNetwork.com) and playing games such as Tuxpaint, TuxKart and LinCity?

As a fan of Linux I probably might not buy one because of the reputation of Dell hardware (my roommate can attest) but I'm not building my own machines or compiling my own kernel either.

Linux may not be totally ready but it has come a long way on the desktop.

 

[mkrishnan]

I ordered the laptop. Over the last 12 years I've tried 10 different distros and have always had problems with some piece of hardware not being supported, or some configuration issue requiring 3 days of searching to get resolved. I'm very interested in seeing if this thing "just works" out of the box.

Have you received it yet? What do you think?

 

[Deefuzz]

Yeah it really is too bad this has to come out of the Dell camp, as their hardware is absolute crap.

 

[gkarris]

Yeah it really is too bad this has to come out of the Dell camp, as their hardware is absolute crap.

Here we go again with the Dell stuff. Maybe a new Macrumors rule that Dell is NOT to be mentioned on this site - too emotional for me... (waits for the Dell tech to come and fix my laptop at work)

I tried Ubuntu with VirtualPC for Windows. I didn't like it at all. I'm waaaaaaay too spoiled with OS X. Heck, I remember when a buddy from college after graduating got a Next Cube system. That's still better than Ubuntu.

I can tell why it's free.

 

[DerChef]

I am very curious as to whether this thing has a modem option as I tried to install Ubuntu on my Dell Dimension desktop a couple of months back.

I don't have the option of phone line broadband at home you see . Anyways NO modem drivers available anywhere I could find for either the Internal Win modem (maybe understandable) or ELSA external modem .

Lasted about 12 hours before its partition was deleted.

 

[Deefuzz]

Here we go again with the Dell stuff. Maybe a new Macrumors rule that Dell is NOT to be mentioned on this site - too emotional for me... (waits for the Dell tech to come and fix my laptop at work)

Sorry! I guess I didn't have to add how their hardware is crap, but from someone who worked as a tech in a call center with over 1000 machines where the failure rate was close to 70%, it gets me a little emotional as well, whenever I see Dell it gets me thinking about that.

Sorry to derail the thread!

 

[gkarris]

I am very curious as to whether this thing has a modem option as I tried to install Ubuntu on my Dell Dimension desktop a couple of months back.

I don't have the option of phone line broadband at home you see . Anyways NO modem drivers available anywhere I could find for either the Internal Win modem (maybe understandable) or ELSA external modem .

Lasted about 12 hours before its partition was deleted.

Ubuntu will only work on the Dells specified on their website. I tried it on my Dell laptop for work and 3/4 of the drivers were missing. I didn't feel like searching all over the place to get drivers for it. Erased...