Dell to Offer Ubuntu 7.04 (updated 5-1-2007)

I think this is great news. Will this option also be available for customers in Europe?

Message Edited by bartekk on 05-01-2007 10:55 AM

I just got done reading about that :) Great news. :) I've been very happy with all the Dell computers I've bought in the past, and Ubuntu is the OS I've chosen to to use on my Dimension 8200. This also solidifies my decision to continue to support Dell in the future when I'm in the market for a new computer.

This is what I've been waiting for. I've been putting off buying a laptop until Dell gave their GNU/Linux offering. Ubuntu is a great choice because they don't have a two versions. For example Red Hat Enterprise/Fedora and SuSE Linux Enterprise Destop/OpenSuSE.

I look forward to having a laptop that hibernates under Ubuntu in the next 4 months. I stand up and applaud Dell for having a pair of big ones, and giving the people what they want.

I'm sure a certain man is throwing furniture already ;)

This could be most cool.

Please include support for media server machines. In particular, I am interested in something that would be a good remote frontend for the living room. Machines small enough and quiet enough for that sort of duty quickly get quite expensive. So this could be an area where Dell could easily undercut pretty much everyone.

I am planning on buying 2 more mythtv frontends within the next 6 months.

Additional: I too hope Dell will not be restricting this to North America. I'll be ordering from the UK and hope to pay a competitive price for a Core 2 Duo based laptop. Will Dell be shipping Ubuntu laptops to the UK?

This will make buying a laptop much easier. There are projects to make finding out what hardware is compatible with Linux easier, but buying one from Dell that is certified for Linux is an easy alternative. It would be nice to see other options as well like webcams and such during checkout which are also Linux compatible. Anything to make it easier to get a cheaper Linux PC or laptop will be a plus. What about educating the consumer about the option though? Perhaps there should be a comparison and education page for consumers so they can see some of the programs for Linux compared to the ones for Windows. At least point out, especially on the gaming machines, that there aren't nearly as many games for Linux, but point out some of the major titles that are available? Perhaps that is getting too side tracked, but if you don't do *something* you may have a lot of consumers calling up because they tried to install their Windows game on Linux and it's not working (under Wine).

This is great news! I must admit that in the past I have never ended up purchasing a Dell. That is all going to change now. I am in the market for a notebook now and if Dell offers Ubuntu (my OS of choice) on their notebooks, you will see my order come in shortly.
Thanks Dell for taking a chance and being the first major OEM to offer and support Linux!
Your new customer,
Mike

Message Edited by inigmatus on 05-03-2007 02:48 PM

Hi. I'm looking to buy a laptop this summer and had plans to install Ubuntu on it even before I heard about this. I was wondering when these notebooks would go on sale and if there will be much of a difference in price between the notebooks with Ubuntu on them and the ones with Windows XP/Vista. I really think that this is a good move on Dell's part, and it's nice to know that I can safely purchase a laptop for use with Linux and know that the hardware will be supported. If there is much of a price difference, due to not having to purchase a copy of Windows, that would be even better. Thanks a lot guys. - Derrick

Congratulations Dell. You've demonstrated courage, entrepreneurship, and dedication to the world of Linux users. I very much look forward to purchasing my feisty Dell laptop, and I will advise others to do so as well. Thank you!

Few days ago I received my very first Dell notebook. I have Kubuntu 7.04 running on it, besides WinXP Pro. I have some smaller problems, but they´re not worth mentioning. Still I find my Dell working fine with Kubuntu and wanted to encourage you, people@DELL, to continue your efforts on Linux.
Regarding the V***A mess, linux will surely become an interesting alternative while getting easier to handle. I have the feeling, market will be thankful.

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@derrick81787 wrote:
I was wondering when these notebooks would go on sale and if there will be much of a difference in price between the notebooks with Ubuntu on them and the ones with Windows XP/Vista. I

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There's an article in my local paper which says the cost of the PC's will be just under the cost of the Windows PC's:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/business/stories/technology/05/02/2dell.html

Hi, great news!!!

I live in the UK and am looking to buy my wife a new laptop, I have been patiently waiting for this announcement and am extremely pleased with the choice of distro (we both use Ubuntu).

BTW for anyone wanting a different version of Linux, I believe the idea is that Dell will be using kernel.org supported components where possible, so I don't see any reason why just about any modern distribution of Linux wouldn't work fine out out of the box on these machines. The advantage is that you don't pay for software you aren't going to use and have proof that the laptop (or desktops) will run Linux just fine.

Anyway I would like to buy this laptop as soon as possible and was wondering if anyone knows if I can get Dell in the US to ship the laptop to the UK for me, rather than having to wait for UK Dell to offer them? I would have thought this is a question that should be answerable now, as it concerns Dell's shipping policy. Any info would be much appreciated, otherwise I will have to call the US sales line (an international call!) for an answer.

Cheers.

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alienhealer wrote: To be honest this has put me off of buying Dell. I have been looking around for a new computer, and since they all come with windows I knew I would have to format off the operating system I did not want and put opensuse on. Now if I buy Dell, I am yet again being forced to buy a computer with a operating system that I do not want, I will have to format and install opensuse. Honestly Dell, I think you have failed to listen to the linux community, you should be offering the top names of linux, fedora, opensuse, unbuntu, etc, not forcing one distro on to people. Nothing has changed with Dell, obviously they didn't listen, and I guess I will just buy a windows computer, which at any shop is cheaper than a dell anyway, format that rubbish OS off and put the one on that I want, not the one that Dell are trying to force on to people Bye Dell, you've lost my business

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First of all, Dell did listen. Many people requested that they pre-install Linux, so they took a poll about which distro people would want. Ubuntu brought in 80% or so of the vote, so they choose Ubuntu. It would be impossible to pre-install every distro on their computers, and it would be impractical because many customers wouldn't want some of the less popular distros, and Dell would just loose money with those computers, not to mention the cost of training and such that would be involved.

Second of all, if the computer comes with Ubuntu pre-installed, you at least know that the hardware is well-supported. Buying a computer with Windows installed and then formatting and installing any type of Linux takes the risk that the hardware may not be compatible or at least work as well as other hardware that is better supported. This is one of the big problems with Linux, which Dell is helping to overcome.

Third of all, if you buy a computer with Windows pre-installed, as you seem to intend on doing, you are not only paying for the hardware, but you are paying for the operating system as well. Why fork out the money for a computer + Windows when you could just pay for a computer that is running a free operating system such as Ubuntu?

Fourth of all, you complain about Dell "forcing" one particular distro on people and then say that you are going to go buy a Windows computer. Between Windows and Ubuntu, which operating system would you say has been "forced" on more users more often?

Finally, you are obviously capable of formatting and installing OpenSuse yourself, so why not support Dell for taking this step to promote Linux on the desktop. You mention formatting over Windows and installing OpenSuse, so what is the difference between that and formatting over Ubuntu and installing OpenSuse?

Although Dell may have chosen Ubuntu as its particular distro of choice, this is still a large step forward for Linux in general. Linux has been available to those who choose to format over Windows or to build their own PC's for a long time, but now Dell is helping to make it available to the average consumer. You should be glad that they are taking this step instead of whining that they didn't choose OpenSuse as their distro of choice.

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@alienhealer wrote:
To be honest this has put me off of buying Dell. I have been looking around for a new computer, and since they all come with windows I knew I would have to format off the operating system I did not want and put opensuse on. Now if I buy Dell, I am yet again being forced to buy a computer with a operating system that I do not want, I will have to format and install opensuse. Honestly Dell, I think you have failed to listen to the linux community, you should be offering the top names of linux, fedora, opensuse, unbuntu, etc, not forcing one distro on to people. Nothing has changed with Dell, obviously they didn't listen, and I guess I will just buy a windows computer, which at any shop is cheaper than a dell anyway, format that rubbish OS off and put the one on that I want, not the one that Dell are trying to force on to people Bye Dell, you've lost my business

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If you read here:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/ideastorm/ideasinaction?c=us&l=en&s=gen

Fedora and OpenSuse, are still there as well as a multi-boot option.