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Linux-Powered Dells Begin Shipping

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

May 24, 2007, 5:28 PM

Dell began offering three systems with Ubuntu Linux installed on Thursday, in response to wide customer demand for such systems. The original plan to offer Linux surfaced in March, after 100,000 customers told the company through its IdeaStorm, a Web site designed to gauge customer's wants and needs from its systems. The three systems are: the XPS 410n and Dimension E520n desktops, as well as the E1505n notebook.

Starting prices for the E520n and E1505n notebook is $599, while the XPS system retails for $849. Hardware support will be provided by Dell, although it said it would refer software support questions to the Dell Community Forum. Fee-based software support will be offered, however. "To the worldwide Linux community, I wanted to thank you for all your support," Digital Media Manager Lionel Menchaca said.

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By rsx508

posted May 29, 2007 - 2:20 PM

I recently purchased a Dell E521 with Vista Ultimate installed and after five months of using Vista, I decided to wipe and reload with Ubuntu 7.04 to compare. It's pretty darn close in many respects. Still some issues with finding apps to replace what I had on Vista, but all in all it's as fast and stable as when I ran Vista on it. I can't say one is better than the other, but Ubuntu is obviously cheaper (free). If I were setting up a small office or non-profit org LAN I'd probably go with Ubuntu to cut costs and still do well. If budget isn't a problem, either would work for me.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited May 27, 2007 - 12:40 PM

It "just works" huh? Yeah, I know...Linux rules....

And then the quest for drives and applications begins. And Don't try to communicate with the rest of the world...which is akin to wanting everyone else to adopt the Chinese character set. Ever been to Canada? Try telling the folks in Vancouver they need to learn French! ;-)

I don't care if they offer Linux or not. It simply doesn't matter.

The SIGNIFICANT notion is that you should not have to pay for ANY OS (be it Windows OR Linux) as a default component with a computer.

They can certify compliance with any number of environments, but you should have the CHOICE as to whether to buy ANY OS bundled with a system or to supply it yourself just like any other component.

And the time is LONG overdue! Just like being able to unlock and render your cell phone portable from one provider to another provided it is technological compatible.

And the fact that you cannot routinely do either speaks to the REAL wimpiness of the marketplace consumers whose biggest infantile whine is simply over DRM on lossy low-fi tunes by American Idol media creations !

Score: 0

By meb

edited May 27, 2007 - 10:06 AM

I guesss those that 'tried Linux' haven't looked at 7.04 release (Feisty Fawn) from Ubuntu.

It's much faster and responsive... and 'just works' once installed.

You can see more on the Dell deal from the Ubuntu website

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted May 29, 2007 - 9:11 AM

"Feisty Fawn"? Hell will freeze over before I'll put anything on my computer called Feisty freakin' Fawn. Who in the hell thinks up this crap? They get worse with every release.

Score: 0

By NunjaBusiness

posted May 27, 2007 - 6:49 AM

What you all are ignoring is the fact that previous Windows users who buy these will be screwed because they are used to a simple method of installing new software. You think they will understand and be able to use synaptic or any other package manager? Doubtful.

Notice the support options for the linux version -
Extra cost.

Until linux comes with a really simple double-click wizard-based installation routine, it will not take over the desktop market.

Score: 0

By yanike

posted May 29, 2007 - 2:55 AM

Add/Remove is awesome in Linux :)

Also, Automatix is a great program to get as well.

deb and bin files do the automatic install like Windows.

Also, if you ever need any help, I've made a thread for Linux users to find helpful information.

http://www.winmatrix.com...dex.php?showtopic=12163

Score: 0

By meb

posted May 27, 2007 - 10:00 AM

Guess you never saw the Applications -> Add/Remove software.

Even Windows isn't that easy.

Also -- double click under VISTA? Don't think so.. the UAC will catch you out every time.

Score: 0

By foxfyre

edited May 25, 2007 - 8:27 PM

Let's see...

Giving it away hasn't caused Linux to grow past a certain point, but effectively selling it will.

So the main difference is that now people aren't faced with the 'incredibly daunting' prospect of installing it???

THAT was the problem?

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 26, 2007 - 1:21 AM

Ha! good point. However, it's best not to think of Linux in terms of market share. Open source doesn't really participate in the "market" and those of us using it could care less whether it achieves 1% or 51% of the market. We'll still use it.

The best thing that could come out of Dell's experiment would be that more hardware companies start writing Linux drivers. If that happens, then all bets are off.

Score: 0

By molumen

posted May 25, 2007 - 12:40 PM

Great news! I wonder if other flavors of Ubuntu (like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu or Ubuntu Studio) will be available too...

I really think of buying a couple of these Dells for my office :)

Score: 0

By Niro

posted May 25, 2007 - 3:47 PM

"I really think of buying a couple of these Dells for my office :)"

Because....Ubuntu doesn't work on any other machine...???

If you really want to run ubuntu in your office that bad...why aren't you?? You refuse to run Ubuntu on a machine unless it comes preinstalled or something?

Score: 0

By pamarini

edited May 25, 2007 - 7:57 AM

So let's say 200m computers will be sold in a year, DELL has a global market share of about 16% which means they will ship around 32m computers and since Linux market share is 3.5% their target for the next 12 months should be 1m, quite achievable I think...

Score: 0

By Niro

posted May 25, 2007 - 3:49 PM

Not only did that math make no sense...but the starting number (200m) sounds like it was pulled out of some dark hole somewhere...

Score: 0

By cannie

edited May 25, 2007 - 8:27 AM

Thank you Dell! (I'd rather run Windows 98 SE, but there are no available drivers and I don't like any bulky OS).

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted May 25, 2007 - 2:44 PM

I'd rather run Windows 95. Yes, it crashes all the time and gives a constant stream of BSOD's but it's a very fast GUI operating system.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

edited May 25, 2007 - 3:40 PM

So is Vista/*buntu when all effects are turned off.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted May 25, 2007 - 10:43 PM

Vista is blazing fast on my computer when all special graphics effects are turned on. I don't have a top of the line computer either. My configuration is an Asus M2N-E motherboard w/nVidia nForce 570 Ultra chipset, AMD Athlon64 3800+ CPU, 3GB DDR2 memory in dual channel mode, nVidia GeForce 7600GT PCI-e graphics w/256MB GDDR3 memory, Western Digital Raptor 74GB hard drive.

Score: 0

By pforbes

edited May 26, 2007 - 3:33 PM

What if I only wish to run the software I once bought and have of my own? I can't keep using it, no matter if I use Ubuntu or Vista.

Score: 0

By meb

posted May 27, 2007 - 9:58 AM

Then you're a moron.

Software ages, and moves to unsupported. It means you'll face security holes and bugs.

Your call however, feel free. :-P

Score: 0

By pforbes

edited May 28, 2007 - 2:21 AM

You are not a moron when you use what is yours because you enjoy it, and "new" doesn't always mean "better" to cope with your needs. Ads are not enough to increase sales: they push you to buy what they want by not giving you an alternative option, and that is a real bug and your personal security hole.

Score: 0

By cannie

edited May 28, 2007 - 7:02 AM

A good definition for MS support life-cycle policy! Try Ubuntu.

Score: 0

By ZRichard

posted May 24, 2007 - 9:13 PM

This is fantastic news. At the same time consider that they have signed their first (albeit limited) deal to sell their PC's to WalMart.

Good things happening for Linux! And in the next 5 years time if they are able to finally get a FIRM foothold in the mainstream, as well as booster their image, not only will Linux improve - but it will force Microsoft to respond by lowering prices, particularly on Office. Who will pay hundreds of dollars for office when they can see real people around them using a real office alternative (All hail OpenOffice)??

--Richard

www.bamboo-adventure.com

Score: 0

By Jegar48

posted May 24, 2007 - 9:50 PM

You didn't notice how long it took Microsoft to announce that Open Source was full of patent infringements after Dell announced they were going to do this? Lower prices? Stand by for a full slate of lawsuits, both to the Open Source authors and to Dell for installing it on their machines.

Score: 0

By compm375

posted May 24, 2007 - 10:19 PM

You didn't notice that Microsoft is being so vague and throwing out random numbers in their accusations? Remember the last company that accused Open Source of crazy things? SCO, a company that is going to be bankrupt very soon. I don't think Microsoft is going to be stupid enough to go down that path.

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 24, 2007 - 7:05 PM

I'll take the Ubuntu, but I wouldn't buy a Dell, ever.

Score: 0

By psycros

posted May 25, 2007 - 3:35 AM

Tried Ubuntu, wasn't impressed. Good hardware detection overall but very slow, hard to configure, and an awful default desktop (uuug-lee!) . Also tended to lock up waaay too easily. The SMB networking seemed OK but NONE of the included apps had a clue how to access shares. I haven't given up completely on Linux but I have yet to see anything from that camp that even comes close to replacing XP. (I've tried to install Mepis on two different machines, a homebrew and a Gateway, and it hung during boot on both. Pitiful.)

Score: 0

By Scotch Moose

posted May 29, 2007 - 12:40 PM

Some people can cook - the others need a drive through.

Score: 0

By zenarcher

posted May 25, 2007 - 4:28 AM

I agree in respect to Ubuntu. I've never had much luck with it myself and I've been a Linux user for two years. Agreed that the default GNOME desktop in Ubuntu doesn't have much eye candy, too. The key word, however, is "default." That's what I appreciate about Linux...I'm not stuck with one desktop. Many distros come with four or five desktops and more are available. Users have the option of choosing the desktop they want to use and the one which does what they want it to do.

The same can be said for just about everything with Linux....choice. Just about anything and everything can be configured to personal taste. I think that is probably the most difficult part for someone trying to switch to Linux....they are not used to having choice. Boot times can easily be enhanced, depending upon what you need and have in your system, too. It's all about choice.

I run SUSE and Fedora on four systems...desktop and laptops. I find nothing I cannot do with Linux that I could do with XP, except for filling them with spyware, or viruses. I'm not updating virus and spyware protection, not hunting all over a registry trying to find problems, not defragging hard drives or any of the other Windows routines. Likewise, I've not experienced lockups. Certainly, once in awhile an application may freeze and when it does, a mere "Ctrl" "Esc" combo and I can kill the offending application....I'm not rebooting the system. Same when doing updates or installing new applications.

As for hardware, everything has always been detected and just worked. I install the Nvidia driver manually, but that's just my choice and certainly not difficult to do.

Best of all, if I do have a problem with an application or something such as hanging on boot occurs, merely starting from a terminal or watching the details on boot will point one right to the problem. Being new to Linux, merely a "copy and paste" of the text or error to a Linux community forum and someone will resolve the issue for you in a matter of minutes. I've found them to be a very helpful lot.

As a former long time Windows user, I do think the matter of being able to configure and personalize just about everything is the real bane to a new user, however once that is understood, it becomes one of the stronger points for using Linux.

Linux is not the choice for gamers nor serious CAD users, neither of which are important to me. For all else, Linux does anything I want with far less maintenance and hassle. After two years of Linux, I've found no reason to switch back to MS at all.

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted May 25, 2007 - 9:28 AM

You can do all the things you list in windows as well, granted Linux has way more options but the only people that care about these extra options are people who know computers are more then just the new typewriter.

Score: 0

By zenarcher

edited May 25, 2007 - 10:30 AM

At least for me, I find Linux to offer many more options....just the number of available desktops, alone.

As you say, options are there for Windows too, but average users don't care about options. All too sadly, those "options" average users don't care about include such things as anti-virus updates, spyware protection and routine maintenance. I deal with them all the time, working on computers for customers.

I've had quite a few "average" Windows users look at my Linux systems and want to give it a try. Generally, I'll suggest a dual boot system while they learn. Likewise, I'll set the Linux system up for them, so all their audio and video files will play properly and so forth. Most end up being very happy with Linux and they aren't the ones showing up a week later with viruses and spyware eating their systems. It seems that no matter how many times you try to get people to update anti-virus definitions and avoid clicking on any link in an unknown email....they are going to do it anyway. At least with Linux, I find they tend to do the least amount of damage.

Likewise, I'll set up several software repositories, show them how to use SMART to add/remove applications and update everything in their system. Seems to be easier for them to do that chasing down software updates all over the Internet. I might add that for the average Windows user, it's still necessary to set up and configure the system. They just aren't going to do it themselves.

And, I think much has to do with what you have learned, or "unlearned." I've reached a point, I never thought would happen, but I can install and configure Linux much easier than I can install and configure Windows XP. Why? Because I just don't install XP that much, anymore. The opposite was very true a couple of years ago.

Score: 0

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