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Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

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Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#51

Post by mtgx »

user49598 wrote: post #39
acabal wrote: post #3

This is a good idea in theory but potentially bad in execution. What I'd like (and I suspect many other developers would too) is a nice laptop that I can install Linux on, and have it Just Work. What it looks like Dell is providing is a nice laptop, but with a custom build of Ubuntu installed. If Dell's Windows installs are any indication, that means it's going to be loaded with crapware or custom non-OSS drivers. Th…

The majority of new laptops work out of the box with ubuntu 12.04. The driver complaint, while still fair in many cases, is not nearly as relevant as it used to be. Peripherals can be tough, but built-in hardware has come a long way. Also, IMHO, weather dell is doing exactly what you want or not, they are continuing to support freedom of choice, freedom of software, and the hacker community in general. I commend them…

Canonical is also very aggressive about ARM support, and they want to be among the very first to support Cortex A15 and then the ARMv8 architecture. They're also making a big play with ARM servers and Ubuntu.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#53

Post by tikhonj »

andrewvc wrote: post #2

The problem I have here is price. This just doesn't undercut an mbp, and it would have to to get me to buy it

Isn't the mbp pretty annoying for Linux? That's what I've heard, at the very least, and some of my friends have had trouble (at least on slightly older mbps--certainly not the new high-res versions).

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#54

Post by scarmig »

joezydeco wrote: post #50
user49598 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of new laptops work out of the box with ubuntu 12.04. The driver complaint, while still fair in many cases, is not nearly as relevant as it used to be. Peripherals can be tough, but built-in hardware has come a long way. Also, IMHO, weather dell is doing exactly what you want or not, they are continuing to support freedom of choice, freedom of software, and the hacker community in general. I commend them…

So, and I'm honestly curious here because I'm in the market, what is the best Linux laptop out there? I hear people swoon over a particular Lenovo/Thinkpad model, but have no idea which one it is.

Right now I'm on an x220.

IIR I had some acpi driver issue--in fact, had to manually white list my model in it--and power management is mediocre, even with powertop. But it gets the job done decently enough.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#55

Post by tikhonj »

sbi wrote: post #36

What is the battery life going to be like? I grudgingly installed Windows 7 on my (Lenovo) laptop after using Unix exclusively for 15 years simply because the battery lasts twice as long on Windows. For what it's worth, I bought a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v with Ubuntu Hardy preinstalled 2.5 years ago. It didn't suspend/resume properly and video out was flaky. It died after two years of use (with strange electrical probl…

I think the recent kernels have had improved power management. I've certainly noticed an improvement on my laptop running Fedora a while back.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#56

Post by padenot »

joezydeco wrote: post #50
user49598 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of new laptops work out of the box with ubuntu 12.04. The driver complaint, while still fair in many cases, is not nearly as relevant as it used to be. Peripherals can be tough, but built-in hardware has come a long way. Also, IMHO, weather dell is doing exactly what you want or not, they are continuing to support freedom of choice, freedom of software, and the hacker community in general. I commend them…

So, and I'm honestly curious here because I'm in the market, what is the best Linux laptop out there? I hear people swoon over a particular Lenovo/Thinkpad model, but have no idea which one it is.

I have and X220 and a T420 and they work perfectly.

The W5*0 series is also a solid choice.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#57

Post by jimbobimbo »

sounds wrote: post #48
freehunter wrote: post #8

Okay, how exactly is it not able to dual boot Windows? What is keeping it from being Windows compatible? It seems like an extreme situation where an x86 would be Linux-compatible but not be able to run Windows as well.

The BIOS. Specifically, the installation of Microsoft's signing key in UEFI secure boot - which requires the other parts (drivers, specifically) of the UEFI BIOS are signed with Microsoft's key as well. Windows 8 is "theoretically" only bootable when secure boot is turned on.

No - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/22/protecting-the...

"Microsoft does not mandate or control the settings on PC firmware that control or enable secured boot from any operating system other than Windows.

[...]

A demonstration of this control is found in the Samsung tablet with Windows 8 Developer Preview that was offered to //BUILD/ participants. In the screenshot below you will notice that we designed the firmware to allow the customer to disable secure boot. However, doing so comes at your own risk. OEMs are free to choose how to enable this support and can further customize the parameters as described above in an effort to deliver unique value propositions to their customers. Windows merely did work to provide great OS support for a scenario we believe many will find valuable across consumers and enterprise customers."

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#58

Post by lucian1900 »

joezydeco wrote: post #50
user49598 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of new laptops work out of the box with ubuntu 12.04. The driver complaint, while still fair in many cases, is not nearly as relevant as it used to be. Peripherals can be tough, but built-in hardware has come a long way. Also, IMHO, weather dell is doing exactly what you want or not, they are continuing to support freedom of choice, freedom of software, and the hacker community in general. I commend them…

So, and I'm honestly curious here because I'm in the market, what is the best Linux laptop out there? I hear people swoon over a particular Lenovo/Thinkpad model, but have no idea which one it is.

I have a Thinkpad E325, the AMD version. Everything just worked.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#59

Post by morsch »

acabal wrote: post #3

This is a good idea in theory but potentially bad in execution. What I'd like (and I suspect many other developers would too) is a nice laptop that I can install Linux on, and have it Just Work. What it looks like Dell is providing is a nice laptop, but with a custom build of Ubuntu installed. If Dell's Windows installs are any indication, that means it's going to be loaded with crapware or custom non-OSS drivers. Th…

I doubt there is any crapware or really, and significant software difference in the Dell version beyond a desktop link. It seems extremely unlikely to me that they're doing much in terms of software customization. I'm sure you could get the laptop to dual-boot -- what are they going to do, modify GRUB2? --, but you'd need somewhere to install the other OS.

What they could do and which would be bad is use some sort of component which requires a non-free driver that's not supported well/anymore (so you're stuck with Ubuntu 12.x) or non-redistributable (ie. only available as part of Dell's iso). Let's say they ship a 100% proprietary and non-redistributable driver for NVIDIA's Optimus. But that seems very unlikely (if somewhat hilarous). And other than that I can't imagine any reason why you'd have any issue installing any other Linux distribution.

Re: Ubuntu is coming back to Dell Laptops

#60

Post by lucian1900 »

mgurlitz wrote: post #32
acabal wrote: post #3

This is a good idea in theory but potentially bad in execution. What I'd like (and I suspect many other developers would too) is a nice laptop that I can install Linux on, and have it Just Work. What it looks like Dell is providing is a nice laptop, but with a custom build of Ubuntu installed. If Dell's Windows installs are any indication, that means it's going to be loaded with crapware or custom non-OSS drivers. Th…

> George said the laptop won’t be able to dual boot Windows. But Dell made available an Ubuntu install image customized for the XPS13, so you could buy the Windows version and install Ubuntu yourself if you require dual booting. They probably don't mean the laptop "can't dual-boot Windows," but that it requires extra steps in deleting Linux, installing Windows, then installing Linux.

There's almost certainly no need to delete linux first: just install windows and then fix the bootloader.
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