Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers • Hacker News Board

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#191

Post by no-espam » Wed, May 09, 2012, 4:05 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #102

commandar wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I must be the only person out there that can't stand chiclet keyboards. One of the many reasons I'm interested in the upcoming Vizio thin+light notebooks is because they're not using chiclets.

Yes, the old-school ThinkPad keyboards were the best you could get on a laptop. Chiclet keyboards are made for non-touch typists, the kind of people who need to hunt and peck with big fat fingers. My fave keyboard is my Unicomp Linux model, with the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys swapped...but best of all, with positive keyclick and actual mechanical switches under each key instead of dopey, squishy foam like what you get w…

Sorry, I have to disagree about chiclet keyboards and I consider myself a keyboard Connoisseur and a touch typist. I own a couple of vintage IBM Model M keyboards, a Northgate, a Filco ... I've grown fond of the Apple Keyboards and my better halves and those who work around me thank me for it. Vim + Apple keyboard is coding heaven.

I do agree the ThinkPad keyboards were the best in its class.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#192

Post by Drbble » Wed, May 09, 2012, 4:07 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #102

commandar wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I must be the only person out there that can't stand chiclet keyboards. One of the many reasons I'm interested in the upcoming Vizio thin+light notebooks is because they're not using chiclets.

Yes, the old-school ThinkPad keyboards were the best you could get on a laptop. Chiclet keyboards are made for non-touch typists, the kind of people who need to hunt and peck with big fat fingers. My fave keyboard is my Unicomp Linux model, with the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys swapped...but best of all, with positive keyclick and actual mechanical switches under each key instead of dopey, squishy foam like what you get w…

I love my my 2007 MacBook Pro with fingertip-complementary shaped keys. Typng on a chiclet hurts. Sadly battery number two is end of life and it seems silly to buy another one. It is nice at home though.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#193

Post by Drbble » Wed, May 09, 2012, 4:14 AM UTC

seanp2k2 wrote: post #42

fierarul wrote: post #39

>Project Sputnik, a product of Dell’s new internal incubation fund, features not just full hardware support for Ubuntu on the XPS13, but a notion of “profiles” for developers They could have stopped at "full hardware support for Ubuntu". Nobody cares about their crapware. Just two weeks ago I bought an HP ProBook for a colleague for the sole reason of being Linux certified. It came with a Suse license but he's using…

Agreed that I don't want/need their crapware. It'd be great if companies that make hardware had a clue what people wanted, but that's why Apple is going to be the biggest company in the world while IBM lays off seventy-some percent of their workforce, HP has 100 models of notebook that all do the same thing, and Lenovo forgets what made their older laptops so nice.

Lenovo's good laptops were IBM. IBM sold out the Thinkpad brand and it died.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#194

Post by gurkendoktor » Wed, May 09, 2012, 9:20 AM UTC

zalyh wrote: post #176

nikatwork wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this what you're looking for? http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/

I think gurkendoktor is looking for a USB(wired) trackpad. The Magic Trackpad can only interface via Bluetooth.

Right. BT is annoying when changing operating systems or computers and batteries are bad for the environment and always run out at the wrong time. I went with the Magic Trackpad though.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#195

Post by revorad » Wed, May 09, 2012, 11:03 AM UTC

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'm trying to bring this to market, first in the form of Thinkpads, but possibly other models too (including our own in the future). If anyone's interested, please sign up here - http://giniji.com

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#196

Post by nobleach » Wed, May 09, 2012, 6:08 PM UTC

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #170

fractallyte wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. I wish more end users would consider option C: Ask nicely for a laptop with no OS . When the reply is 'No', return/wipe the Microsoft default, carefully documenting your refusal of the End User License Agreement, and ask for your money back on the OS. (They'll still say 'No'.) Be firm, be persistent, and even go as far as issuing a Small Claim. They will ultimately accede, because the law is on your side. No on…

Doesn't an OEM Windows license cost something like $20? It's certainly way less than a shrink wrap copy. To me that sounds like a whole load of work for not that much money. If I don't want it I'd just order the cheapest most basic version of Windows I could, wipe it and move on.

That's what I did when I got my 17" HP Pavillion. I had it wiped and was installing Ubuntu within 20 minutes of unpacking. Later on down the road, I thought, "Hmmm I could really use at Windows 7 Home install for Visual Studio... maybe I should install it in a VM, after all, it would technically be running on the same hardware". So that's what I did. I called MS and used the COA sticker serial number on the bottom of my laptop. So weeks like this, where I'm doing plenty of C# development, I don't have to find another machine. That $20 OS comes in pretty handy.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#197

Post by kleiba » Thu, May 10, 2012, 6:33 AM UTC

pinchyfingers wrote: post #127

kleiba wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read Xah Lee's article a good while ago. Emacs is the program I spend >90% of my time in, I first encountered it on a SUN Sparc Classic. If my memory serves me right, the SUN keyboard had META close to space and CTRL under the TAB key (where PC keyboard have CAPS LOCK). So, naturally, I grew up with the control key in that position. When using Emacs on a PC, for the longest time I didn't remap CTRL and with the def…

I swap both CTRL and ALT keys and it makes life great. To type ALT I usually shift my whole hand, but that's okay, since I use CTRL 10x more often, at least. I don't know about this whole CAPS LOCK thing... then you are stuck with only one key to hit, and I find it much better to press the modifier opposite the character key with my other hand, rather than scrunch up one hand.

Well, CAPS LOCK is just an additional CTRL for me.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#198

Post by amackera » Thu, May 10, 2012, 8:10 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #70

amackera wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've owned 3 Dell laptops in the past 2 years. First one's screen broke. Second one's graphics card was faulty. Third one's sound was messed up, sent the PC in for repairs. Dell technicians dropped it on the ground, blamed me for doing it, then refused to further support it. I don't care one way or the other if anyone else buys Dell; but there's no chance in hell that I will ever again.

Okay, anecdotes with anecdotes. The dell laptops that I've had (from the latitude series. That ugly gray one) have been sturdier than most bricks. I've dropped them on my wood floor, they've been tossed around in my backpack, had things spilled on them, and been abused in every way you can imagine. They still keep chugging. *When I'm talking about multiple laptops, I'm talking about multiple laptops within my company…

The older Dell laptops seem to fare much better than the newer ones.

Re: Dell Announces A Linux Laptop Designed For Developers

#199

Post by phaus » Sat, May 12, 2012, 12:09 AM UTC

no-espam wrote: post #190

wyclif wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the old-school ThinkPad keyboards were the best you could get on a laptop. Chiclet keyboards are made for non-touch typists, the kind of people who need to hunt and peck with big fat fingers. My fave keyboard is my Unicomp Linux model, with the Caps Lock and Ctrl keys swapped...but best of all, with positive keyclick and actual mechanical switches under each key instead of dopey, squishy foam like what you get w…

Sorry, I have to disagree about chiclet keyboards and I consider myself a keyboard Connoisseur and a touch typist. I own a couple of vintage IBM Model M keyboards, a Northgate, a Filco ... I've grown fond of the Apple Keyboards and my better halves and those who work around me thank me for it. Vim + Apple keyboard is coding heaven. I do agree the ThinkPad keyboards were the best in its class.

Are all modern Apple keyboards pretty much the same? I've been considering the Apple wireless keyboard for my iPad, but I wasn't sure if it would offer a superior experience to the Microsoft wireless keyboard that I already have.