Posted on 07/17/2007 9:00:00 AM PDT by N3WBI3
When Dell first announced that it would be releasing Ubuntu Linux-powered consumer desktops and laptops, some people saw it as more of a stunt than a serious business move. They were wrong. Dell has already expanded its consumer Linux line, and now it has announced that it will soon be offering Ubuntu Linux systems outside of the United States and for new businesses.
On Dell’s Direct2Dell site, Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s digital media manager, said, "Wanted to be clear that Dell does have plans to offer Linux to more consumers in additional locations outside the United States. More details to come later this summer. We will also offer Ubuntu to small business customers in the future. As soon as we have more details to share, I’ll blog about both topics here."
Sources close to Dell indicate that the company will be announcing international sales of Ubuntu Linux consumer systems at LinuxWorld, which will be held Aug. 6-9 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
Kevin Kettler, Dell’s chief technology officer, is scheduled to speak at LinuxWorld on Aug. 7. He’ll be discussing how Linux is moving toward broad deployment—not just in the data center, but also on the desktop. In particular, Kettler will be talking about the continuing opportunities for innovation offered by Linux coupled with virtualization technology.
It is also likely that Dell will announce exactly how it will be offering SMBs (small to midsize businesses) Ubuntu desktop Linux systems. It is also possible that Dell will announce new Ubuntu Linux-powered PCs for SMBs at the show.
While Dell has declined to announce any sales figures for its new Linux laptops and desktops, sources indicate that the sales have exceeded expectations.
"After talking to some of the key members on the Linux engineering team, it seems like there is an opportunity to provide more technical updates for folks who are interested," Menchaca said.
"Here's how we're going to do it: We'll have an expanded group of Linux engineers provide these updates that may be as short as a sentence or two that would be of interest to certain customers. These short updates may be related to a specific open-source project or may pertain to a specific Linux distribution, for instance. But instead of appearing on the main Direct2Dell home page where all other posts show up, these incremental updates will only show up in the Linux category."
To read this new feed, Menchaca said, plug the newsfeed URL to your favorite RSS reader. "That way, you'll be sure to see all Linux-related posts coming from the Dell team. What this all means is that you'll be hearing from a few different Linux engineering folks on a pretty regular basis: Matt Domsch, John Hull and Michael E. Brown will be the main contributors to the expanded Linux content on Direct2Dell."
what the heck is a “ubuntu”
“Hey gramma you need a computer with ‘ubuntu’ to spam your bridge club”
Why are linux geeks such... geeks?
I have Kubuntu on my computer (which has a bios dated 1999). I’m no geek because I don’t know linux at all.
I do know that Ubuntu with a KDE desktop has allowed me to get away from Microsoft’s constant prying, snooping, updating, etc. I’ll never spend money on Vista, any more than I’ll ever choose to buy a Macintosh.
OSS Ping
I love Kubuntu also. The only problem I've had with it is the wireless Ethernet thing, which is a serious pain in the rear.
Once the newer kernel is released and wireless works as easily as it does in Windows, I'm not going to be using Windows on my laptop any more, except for Windows C++ development.
Don’t get offended, I just love to tweek Linux geeks and watch as hillarity ensues.
(I love it when hillarity ensues.)
While the Itallian “Sabayon” isn’t quite as ridiculous sounding as the African “Ubuntu” name is, their blair witch looking symbol looks like it came from some sort of voodoo ceremony.
Wishful thinking at best, Linux's legendary problems with wireless connections aren't kernel related, they're driver related, which hasn't gotten much better in several years.
Knetworkmanager manages all my AP's just fine, and the WPA encryption.
ME: Here you go Grandma, a nice new computer with Linux Sabayon. It has:
-Optimized Server profile
-Kernel 2.6.22 Sabayon Linux Powered
-Stable branch for almost all packages
-Wpa_supplicant compiled with a better support for mac80211
-Latest madwifi driver
-Latest Sabayon Installer
-Latest Ati-drivers
-Latest Nvidia-drivers
-Fast installation speed
-Package Selection on install time
-Really fast working live enviroment
-Easy firewall management with Kmyfirewall “
GRANDMA: Huh?
you could list to that detail with a vista server (down to the drivers) and get the same response..
True, however a great many drivers are written as kernel modules that are distributed with the kernel. The actual problem is that the specs for most cards are not released, making it very difficult, though not impossible, to write drivers. Some programmers work to do the proper reverse-engineering to figure out how to write the drivers needed for these cards. In turn, their work gets distributed with the kernel and there IS improvement in wireless support.
which hasn't gotten much better in several years.
I think you'll find that most people have no issues running wireless on Linux with the aid of ndiswrapper. Several others, even on this thread, have said as much. /written from a laptop, running Linux, and using a wireless connection.
Not here. But then, I went shopping knowing what I wanted.
I installed Kubuntu on my laptop in a hotel with nothing but a wireless connection. No ndiswrapper, no worries.
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