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Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

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Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#91

Post by Stratoscope »

paulcarroty wrote: post #53

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2890166/lenovo-to-flus... I have no trust for Lenovo after this incident.

Lenovo's consumer division and ThinkPad division are two very different business lines with different roots and culture. ThinkPad came from the IBM PC acquisition and never had the spyware that the consumer machines had for a while. ThinkPad customers are mostly large (and small) corporations who would never put up with that.

You may still choose not to trust Lenovo, but it's worth noting the difference between ThinkPad and the consumer line.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#92

Post by OrangeMango »

bananaeater wrote: post #84
OrangeMango wrote: post #8

I went to the linked page and tried to make configuration changes - the same computer with and without Windows. I couldn't find that option. On Dell's website, they let you do this to many of their workstation computers and it appears that the cost of Windows is around $200. What's interesting is that when they are clearing out stock and they offer some basic workstation configurations at $500 or so, you can still de…

Do you have a link to the Dell webpage? Can't find it myself; all the ones I come across are for Windows systems.

Just do a websearch for "Dell Workstation". Look at the Precision 3630. Some say "Precision 3630 Tower Workstation" and some say "Precision 3630 Tower". Scroll down and you'll see that where it lists the operating system, the systems that say "Workstation" all have a "show all options" listing.

Customize the one that is currently listed at $579. It has an i3-9100 processor and switching from Windows 10 Pro to Ubuntu will subtract $109.27. But if you then switch the processor to the Xeon E-2246G, then changing from Windows 10 Pro for Workstations to Ubuntu is a price reduction of $264.36!

As an aside, I find it hilarious (and nice) that you can save a couple dollars by specifying no keyboard or mouse. Sometimes, you'll even see the option to have them skip shipping you a power cord for $2 off or something.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#93

Post by miguelmota »

I placed an order for a high-end Lenovo computer last year in mid December and it was expected to arrive late January this year. I checked the order status and it said the computer hasn't shipped. I contacted Lenovo multiple times to see what was going on and they would always state that it'll ship soon. More days go by and the order status hasn't changed. I had to file a BBB complaint to have someone actually tell me what's the hold up. A few more weeks go by and I get a Lenovo sales rep to tell that the computer won't ship until April because they are waiting on parts. I obviously cancelled the order since waiting for 4 months for a computer to ship is pretty insane. I love Lenovo computers but the purchasing experience has a lot left to be desired. Looked at reddit and forum posts and apparently Lenovo is known to always have highly inaccurate shipping estimates. Just something to be aware of if you're thinking about ordering from the Lenovo site. /end rant

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#94

Post by wedesoft »

myself248 wrote: post #43
emadehsan wrote: post #26

Will they be putting Lenovo bloatware on Ubuntu too? There are more than 200,000 google search results for "remove Lenovo bloatware", for their laptops that ship with Windows

This is a super valid point, and I'd never trust a factory Linux install any more than I'd trust a factory Windows install. Wipe and start from trusted media, 100% of the time. The news here is that my machine is still supported if I do that. I don't have to wipe Linux and reinstall Windows and deny ever having run Linux on it before sending it back for service, if that becomes necessary. And things like the fingerpr…

New machines all use UEFI. There's plenty of space for malware to hide in there.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#95

Post by the8472 »

parvenu74 wrote: post #50
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just the inevitable conflict between deontological and consequentialist ethics. Deontological ethics: non-free software is bad, so making a distro that includes non-free software is bad Consequentialist ethics: non-free software is bad, so reducing the amount of non-free software that someone uses by giving them a mostly-free distro that includes non-free software is good There's never going to be agreement becaus…

You don't think that going the "Consequentialist Route" and funding bounties for developing F/OSS alternatives to the non-free components[1] if viable? What's not viable, in my opinion, is the shunning by the purists of everyone who doesn't believe and act like them. Some of us might if we're allowed to get there one step at a time and if they encouraged the transition the F/OSS as a whole would benefit. [1] Setting…

> What's not viable, in my opinion, is the shunning by the purists of everyone who doesn't believe and act like them.

That is hardly consequential(ist). The group doesn't exactly wield much power. What influence they have is setting the bar higher so that others can get there one step at a time as you say.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#96

Post by padraic7a »

ilikepi wrote: post #19
OrangeMango wrote: post #8

I went to the linked page and tried to make configuration changes - the same computer with and without Windows. I couldn't find that option. On Dell's website, they let you do this to many of their workstation computers and it appears that the cost of Windows is around $200. What's interesting is that when they are clearing out stock and they offer some basic workstation configurations at $500 or so, you can still de…

I messed with the low-end config a a bit, and it looked like the "Windows 10 Pro 64bit English,Spanish,French" license is more like around $100. Still a nice drop though. Too bad there's no way to choose "No OS installed", but maybe Canonical kicks them a little bit of money to offer Ubuntu.

As far as I understand it the opposite is true. They pay Canonical.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#97

Post by LeifCarrotson »

OrangeMango wrote: post #8

I went to the linked page and tried to make configuration changes - the same computer with and without Windows. I couldn't find that option. On Dell's website, they let you do this to many of their workstation computers and it appears that the cost of Windows is around $200. What's interesting is that when they are clearing out stock and they offer some basic workstation configurations at $500 or so, you can still de…

The product specifications reference or PSREF is the usual place to compare Lenovo stuff - Oddly enough, you can't filter the operating system section for the Ubuntu options (product codes 30BFS6EL00, 30BFS76F00, 30BDS4T000, and 30BDS4T100 for various combinations of an NVidia RTX 6000/8000 and dual/single socket processors):

https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/ThinkStation/ThinkStation_P...

http://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/datasheet/ThinkStati...

But they don't even include a Windows option with matching graphics cards.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#98

Post by Stratoscope »

tharne wrote: post #20
zozbot234 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's relying on a Windows misfeature. Ubuntu is not going to pull crap from the firmware after a clean reinstall, but Windows does just that.

The issue here is that Lenovo has a history of unethical behavior towards its customers, not that a specific unethical behavior only targeted Windows. I'm a huge thinkpad fan, but I won't be buying another one due to privacy and security concerns, and simply not trusting Lenovo.

I think it would be more fair to say that Lenovo's IdeaPad division had this unethical behavior. ThinkPad is a separate division that never did this.

I don't have any inside knowledge, but based on how it played out, Superfish and its ilk must have been a bright idea that came from the IdeaPad division, not something dictated by corporate.

I'm also a big ThinkPad fan, and I keep buying them regardless of what happened with IdeaPad. Of course you may choose differently.

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#99

Post by LeifCarrotson »

gonzo41 wrote: post #5

This is great but I'd still just format the drives and load from an image I put onto a thumb drive. Who knows what new glassfish-esq malware they have integrated into the factory OS.

Agreed. Unfortunately, I'd probably show up as a "Windows user" in the statistics because I'd buy one for the cheap Windows license, boot into Windows once to pull the stock key code, and use that in a VM later. Even if I was going to use it as a purely Windows machine, I'd want to perform a fresh installation...

Re: Lenovo now shipping Ubuntu on high end workstations in the US

#100

Post by lykr0n »

miguelmota wrote: post #93

I placed an order for a high-end Lenovo computer last year in mid December and it was expected to arrive late January this year. I checked the order status and it said the computer hasn't shipped. I contacted Lenovo multiple times to see what was going on and they would always state that it'll ship soon. More days go by and the order status hasn't changed. I had to file a BBB complaint to have someone actually tell m…

If the CPU is Intel there is a massive shortage of their chips due to slow production.

Might be why

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