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Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

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Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#52

Post by brandon »

The biggest possible upside to this project will be if Shuttleworth & Company get on board to support the XPS13 as a first class Ubuntu platform because of Sputnik.

And when I say first class, I don't mean "give it the Supported Platform stamp." I mean "respond to user reports of touchpad bugs" and "fix them."

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#53

Post by encoderer »

ntkachov wrote: post #6

How about a laptop with a better key board, slim figure, larger special character keys and more feedback for keys? Then shove a great processor, a mouse pad that's not accidentally click able while typing, and a high resolution screen. That's a developer laptop. Ill install my own software, Thank you very much.

I went shopping a couple weeks ago for a MacBook Air to replace my 15" MBP as my primary development machine. (The endorsement a couple weeks before from Linus about the simplicity and silence of the Air sold me)

I picked it up at BestBuy and when I was there I glanced at their Ultrabooks display. They had 3. The Asus and Toshiba seemed complete crap. Flimsy. Trash.

The only one that seemed a plausible purchase was the Samsung. I wasn't a persuadable customer: I'm not going to switch my platform choice because of one credible alternative. But for those customers that are, I think it's fantastic that they at least have 1 credible windows 7 alternative to an Air.

(Not that it matters, but if you're interested, this MBP is a work-supplied machine and it's the first Mac I've ever used. My other PC is a sony vaio core 2 duo circa 2008 or so running Windows 7. I was very impressed with Windows 7 when it came out. But as an engineer it's only a credible option because I was running a Ubuntu VM. When I took my current job and had my choice of machine I finally took the plunge and I've loved it ever since. I still use Ubuntu VM's for sharing dev environments but having a fantastic terminal app and a clean experience is something I have no interest in giving up. Thus, i'm not a persuadable.)

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#54

Post by technomancy »

thrill wrote: post #43
sophacles wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of that, I will never consider switching away from my Macbook until the following things are true: * battery will last several hours (macbook still at 4+ hrs on full charge and it is 1.5 yrs old) * very good (open) acpi support - if I can't 100% trust closing and opening to just suspend and resume correctly, I won't use it for anything other than toy purposes. (and open because I will be using my own kernel, o…

I'm using Ubunutu 12.04 (and learning to love the bomb, err, Unity) on a Samsung 15-inch Series 9, and those things you mention work fine. Small irritants include a screen of less quality than I expected (vertical viewing angle is minimal), a keyboard that is more noisy than I wish, and a touchpad that I can't get to disable during typing. But it's fast, quiet, large-screened and has more than enough horsepower for d…

FWIW I've got the 13-inch Series 9 on Debian, and everything just works, including disabling the touchpad with a keystroke.

What I'd really like is to be able to disable touchpad clicks without disabling scrolling, but I understand if I'm on my own for that one.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#56

Post by Zak »

technomancy wrote: post #54
thrill wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using Ubunutu 12.04 (and learning to love the bomb, err, Unity) on a Samsung 15-inch Series 9, and those things you mention work fine. Small irritants include a screen of less quality than I expected (vertical viewing angle is minimal), a keyboard that is more noisy than I wish, and a touchpad that I can't get to disable during typing. But it's fast, quiet, large-screened and has more than enough horsepower for d…

FWIW I've got the 13-inch Series 9 on Debian, and everything just works, including disabling the touchpad with a keystroke. What I'd really like is to be able to disable touchpad clicks without disabling scrolling, but I understand if I'm on my own for that one.

I can disable touchpad clicks but not scrolling using synclient on my Thinkpad. In fact, I configured the whole thing to act as a scroll surface and nothing else.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#58

Post by agumonkey »

What would you think about a contemporary GRiD Compass?

Emphasis on durability and ergonomy before slim-ness, providing :

  - Stronger structural material for laptop frame
  - Shock and torque absorbing bits around corners, and hinges
  - Stronger hinges that you can manipulate carelessly
  - Better ergonomics by balancing weight
  - More space for internal addition (PCIe, USB3) for modders
  - Ease of access to internal, repairability.
  - Easier heat dissipation aiming for 35-50C min-max range with minimal fan speed.
Beside, add:

  A true 8bit IPS LCD.
  A thinkpad class keyboard.
A nice vintage black box that handle 25 years of hackery without a glitch.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#60

Post by pm90 »

brandon wrote: post #52

The biggest possible upside to this project will be if Shuttleworth & Company get on board to support the XPS13 as a first class Ubuntu platform because of Sputnik. And when I say first class, I don't mean "give it the Supported Platform stamp." I mean "respond to user reports of touchpad bugs" and "fix them."

This is actually a pretty great Idea. I wouldn't mind paying a support fee instead of the ridiculous Windows License fee that I have to pay every time I buy a laptop (only to erase and install Ubuntu the moment it arrives). If only Dell had the courage to stand up to Microsoft...
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