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Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

zdnet.com

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Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#101

Post by happymellon »

mattl wrote: post #93
smallerfish wrote: post #38

The camera doesn't work on the current XPS13 if you upgrade to a 6.X kernel (which, to be fair, means moving outside of Dell's packaging.) Technically this is Intel's fault, as they haven't released firmware for it yet. Still, hopefully the Dell team avoid similar issues in future configs by ensuring better driver support. It's a nice laptop otherwise.

I’ve had a couple of these. They’re fine. It’s also sad that this is basically the only Linux-preinstalled and supported hardware from a mainstream company. When I have a choice it’s between one of these or MacBook Air and I’d choose the Mac at this point and forgo Linux

What about Lenovo? They have desktops, although only one laptop with it pre installed at the moment.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx1/t...

They do however support Linux, and have the best upstreaming support that I've seen getting fingerprint readers, webcams, etc all with working kernel drivers.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/faqs/operating-systems/how-to-i...

The XPS's I've tried in the past have always ended up with unsupported hardware after a while, so I've written them off.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#102

Post by happymellon »

jchw wrote: post #32
petepete wrote: post #2

I bought an XPS13 in 2012 or so with Ubuntu preinstalled and it was rock solid for years (although I ran Fedora on it). I remember buying it was really difficult, it wasn't listed on the UK website and in the end I had to phone their sales number and was passed through several people who'd never heard of Ubuntu. A few days later I received an email with a link to an unlisted store item that had the same photos as the…

I suspect this happened because when DELL first launched laptops with Linux, it gave them some surprising bad press. Certainly the most famous being the woman who apparently was dropping out of college as a result of accidentally ordering a Ubuntu DELL laptop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI This probably seems like a weird one-off, but this story went pretty viral, of course it went viral on the internet…

The problem with this bullshit is that no one would blame Apple if someone bought a Mac and couldn't install their Windows software on it.

Someone who dropped out of college because they bought a Mac and couldn't run their Black Friday copy Office would just get mocked.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#103

Post by happymellon »

Old_Thrashbarg wrote: post #86
juujian wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, having looked at their lineup recently, the number of Ubuntu laptops they offer really seems to have gone down

Just talked with a Sales person yesterday. Indeed, from the new models, only the XPS 13 runs Ubuntu, but the keyboard looks like a nightmare. The sales person did send a link to a Precision with Ubuntu option, but it was 2022 model (Precision 5570). Will probably get XPS 15 and put Ubuntu on myself. Annoying to fork money over to Microsoft for nothing.

Be careful, and do your research when buying Windows XPS's. I had to send my last one (2019 I think) back because the fingerprint readers weren't supported and the Developer editions with Linux just omitted the fingerprint reader. No interest from Dell to get drivers made for them.

I have no idea if there are bits on the 2023 Windows edition that aren't supported. It might all be fine.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#104

Post by happymellon »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #89
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, I'd agree that they aren't quite built like a tank anymore, but my T560 is still going strong after nearly 8 years. Not bad going.

>my T560 is still going strong after nearly 8 years Yeah but he was talking about modern Lenovos, not 8 year old ones.

And my 3 year old Lenovo is doing fine.

6 year old T series that the kids adopted is also taking abuse well.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#105

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #89
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, I'd agree that they aren't quite built like a tank anymore, but my T560 is still going strong after nearly 8 years. Not bad going.

>my T560 is still going strong after nearly 8 years Yeah but he was talking about modern Lenovos, not 8 year old ones.

Lenovo bought ThinkPad in 2005. The T560 was released in 2016, 11 years later. Plenty of time for the supposed reductions in quality to have occurred.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#106

Post by eternityforest »

dotBen wrote: post #98

For $1500 I can buy a well spec'd MacBook and own a laptop with a first class citizen, commercially supported, *nix OS installed. Unless I was truly a FOSS zealot I don't get why I would select Dell over Apple here.

It might be UNIXLike, but what about Snap/PipeWire/NetworkManager/DBus/SystemD/Wayland/etc?

The features I actually interact with the most are going to be very different even if the lower level stuff is the same.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#107

Post by FirmwareBurner »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #105
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>my T560 is still going strong after nearly 8 years Yeah but he was talking about modern Lenovos, not 8 year old ones.

Lenovo bought ThinkPad in 2005. The T560 was released in 2016, 11 years later. Plenty of time for the supposed reductions in quality to have occurred.

Yeah but that doesn't mean anything for the Lenovo laptops of today.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#108

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #107
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenovo bought ThinkPad in 2005. The T560 was released in 2016, 11 years later. Plenty of time for the supposed reductions in quality to have occurred.

Yeah but that doesn't mean anything for the Lenovo laptops of today.

Well, he didn't say recent Lenovos were poor quality. He said they went downhill after Lenovo, which was 18 years ago.

So what quality issues affect them now specifically? I will be in the market for another laptop in a year or so, and my default would always be a ThinkPad.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#109

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

pjmlp wrote: post #100
nextos wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit surprising for a Linux-oriented range such as XPS. I haven't had any broken devices due to an update in more than a decade, despite always using the latest kernel. But I try to avoid buying any machines that require drivers that have not been mainlined or are a bit unstable. In 2011, I got burnt by the infamous b43 Broadcom card / driver which, while supported, had disastrous performance. So never again…

Nah, it is the usual Year of Desktop Linux experience. My Asus netbook was also sold with Linux (remember those days?), and if I want to have stable hardware video acceleration and OpenGL 4.1 support, I would have to keep using the original Ubuntu version that came with it in 2009. Because the AMD open source drivers downgraded the GL suppport to OpenGL 3.3, and hardware video acceleration is yet to work as smoothly…

> Nah, it is the usual Year of Desktop Linux experience.

Which OS allows you to upgrade a major version and never break drivers? I guess Darwin does okay if you stay on the narrow happy path of first party hardware, but even then it's not exactly a feat of software engineering.

Re: Ubuntu Linux snuck into high-end Dell laptops

#110

Post by ecef9-8c0f-4374 »

pjmlp wrote: post #36

Well, I am still waiting for the day one can finally buy them on the German shop. At least there are some gaming laptops available now. https://www.dell.com/de-de/shop/dell-notebooks/sr/laptops/ub...

First I didn't want to respond, because I didn't read the article in detail. What is the difference? https://www.dell.com/de-de/shop/laptops/xps-13-plus-laptop/s...
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