Well, it seems the Ubuntu on Dell machines are shipping. See this rather nice report with pictures. Its like geek porn, it really is…
Courtesy of Bryce.
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It seemed like a nice report until the “troubleshooting misc. issues section”. Between shipping with such an incredibly wrong resolution (1024×768 instead of 1280×800) and updates rendering the system unusable I can see this turning curious users off Linux.
Jono,
Can we get a public comment on what is happening w/ Dell dropping Canonical support? I’ve seen it on Digg.com, Ubuntu Forums and also on several mailing lists I read.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Jonathan,
Dell hasn’t dropped Canonical’s support, they have stop offering upgrades for the hardware support. The reason for this is beyond me. I order my laptop with that option and I was getting really worried they were going to cancel the order, but they haven’t so far.
Jono,
I hope nobody chastises you for the use of the word ‘porn’. I have been feeling lately that some people have taken upon themselves to impose their morality on others.
I have mixed feelings on this.
One: Ubuntu needs to come out the gate better than Feisty did. The releases do not need to be just release candidates.
Two: Can one get Kubuntu installed? I know I can add it myself but there are advantages to loading only one. Still, I’m thankful Dell wisely went with Ubuntu. Others (your preferenced distribution) should also work.
So how much should Dell do? That’s the question. Because I don’t want to pay for full support. Time will tell if Dell fluffs these boxes for to end these troubles.
Three: I think the answer is both. Ubuntu had better get their/our (collective) spit together and Dell should provide a full working system with their hardware matching (K)ubuntu.
So, this is not a terrible start (with free online support). That is, unless (as the conspiracy theory goes) this is all rouse to make GNU/Linux look bad.
Far less than is required for Windows (to be installed and setup) needs to be done also for Ubuntu (thus less overhead in this area).
Look, either the hardware is a smooth match or it is not. All parties must strive for excellence. These first systems are just the old Dell models where Ubuntu can work. It will get better.
What are you going to do now, Dell? If you do not pick up the slack, others will.
There is good opinion about why Dell dropped extended warranty (from Digg, user Altotus): “Nobody pointed out that this is largely because their current hardware support is proving to be very expensive and they intend to phase out extended warranty support for non-business customers altogether. They’re starting with Ubuntu because it’s an easy place to start, that’s all. It makes sense to start with a small segment of the customer pool first and gauge the impact. The logic is that you’re only disaffecting a small group of customers, many of whom are percieved as being more computer savvy and capable for fixing hardware issues on their own.”
I think this is one of the reasons.
His “fix” to install the 915-resolution hack is no longer required. Instead you have to install the modesetting intel video driver, not the one that ships with the machine.
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel
This will enable x to set the right resolution.
Unfortunately I could not see any contact details on his blog to tell him this.
Bryce Harrington’s report is very disappointing. For all intense and purpose the machine is broken. Bryce is a “computer geek” and no, and i mean no average computer user would be able to get this machine working before they packed it in.
This is just sad… what is dell thinking.
fred: Really? how? He get to click several times and vola, everything is ok.
I can’t wait. I hope for our sake this really takes off.
I ahve to agree with Fred. If the average user is going to embrace this then everything should be working out of the box. No hacking should be necessary.
I think one thing to bear in mind in all of this (and I am not involved in the Dell deal at all, so I cannot offer any public comment) is that all deals like this have teething problems, and I am positive many if not all of these problems will be ironed out.
The key thing, Dell is shipping Linux, and yes its disappointing there are some glitches, but Dell want to provide as good an Ubuntu experience as we do, rest assured these things are sure to be ironed out. 🙂
I’ve updated the page with some of the comments from this blog – thanks!
I’d underscore Jono’s point – I ordered this laptop within hours of the order form going live, so got one of the first units off the production line. Also keep in mind how swiftly Dell got these systems out after the community demanded them.
Yeah, it would have been cool for it to be absolutely problem free, but in the open source community we say, “Release early, release often.” I’m glad they’ve done the former, and now it’s up to us to help ensure the latter happens too.
Often the argument is made that if a company supports the community, the community will give back in turn. I hope that giving visibility to problems will result not in discouraging other adopters, but to encourage fixes to bubble up from the community, and help Dell improve their offering.
Good news: extended warranties are back. Due to an ordering system glitch during the weekend, we inadvertently removed extended warranty and CompleteCare options from our “configurator.” We’re working to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible and those options will be reinstated this afternoon. If customers ordered systems when extended warranties weren’t available, they will have the option of upgrading at the original price. There will be more details on that program soon. We’ve also posted this update to our blog as well, in case you want to link to it: http://www.direct2dell.com