Dell Taps Ubuntu’s Flavor of Linux
The BBC is reporting that Dell will use Ubuntu on Linux PCs.
London-based firm Canonical, the lead sponsor of the Ubuntu project, will ensure the software works on Dell PCs.
Ubuntu includes software like office programs, e-mail, a browser, instant messaging software and a media player.
Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and chief executive of Dell, is himself an Ubuntu user. He has the operating system installed on a high-end Dell Precision M90 laptop he uses at home.
[snip]
Dell has not yet confirmed which computers it will sell with Ubuntu pre-installed, only to say that it would offer Ubuntu 7.04 as an option on select consumer models in the United States in the coming weeks
Reports on internet bulletin boards suggest that Dell will offer Ubuntu on an e-series Dimension desktop, a high-performance XPS desktop, and an e-series Inspiron laptop.
The Ubuntu distribution has most of what you need for applications bundled. Badtux runs Ubuntu and the Yellow Doggerel Democrat is looking for a place to load the copy he just picked up.
5 comments
There will be a delay while I locate another computer. The first one I found in the closet was just barely too old to meet the minimum specs for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, and besides, it had a really noisy fan… and I mean really, desk-shakingly, noisy. Time to try again.
I once had a supplier who provided really good, quiet fans, and I can’t tell you how many power supplies I have pulled apart over the years to put in a decent fan.
I run Ubuntu on my server and laptop at home, and Debian on my web and EMAIL server. If you are using a really old computer with few resources, I recommend Debian instead of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is basically Debian with a desktop environment and additional resources. Debian runs just fine on a machine with 96MB of RAM and a 5GB hard drive. Every time you view badtux.net that’s what you’re looking at. Obviously I’m not running a GUI on a machine that limited! But it works just fine as a mail and EMAIL server.
I also run Windows on my laptop to play games and run income tax software and such, but that’s another story.
-BT
Most people who dip their toe into Linux need the GUI. I’ve run Red Hat for years for support reasons, i.e. a client runs it, but will be switching over to Ubuntu for the same reason. Consultants can suggest, but we don’t get to make decisions.
The worst thing about support is that you end up with a lot of really lousy software, because that’s where you make your money.
Thanks for the info, BadTux. I’m competent with a command line in the Windows world (I’ve done s/w development for a living most of my life), and have done microscopic amounts of UNIX stuff 20+ years ago, but I’m not comfortable with only a shell in the Linux world, so I’ll probably buy a newer bare-bones machine to experiment on, if I cannot get Ubuntu to work on an available retired computer.
One more question: on your laptop, do you dual-boot Windows and Linux, or do you use VMware or something equivalent? At the moment, my laptop is my primary development machine for client work; I’d like to be pretty confident of anything major I decide to do to it. The machine is just a year old, one of the last generation of machines Winbook made before abandoning laptops for HDTVs.