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Dell Latitude ON - big win for Linux
Internet News ^ | August 14th | Sean Michael Kerner

Posted on 08/16/2008 5:43:25 PM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing

From the "who needs a pre-load when you're embedded" files:

Dude - if you're getting a Dell then you're getting Linux.

No you don't have to order one of those fancy Ubuntu pre-load deals. This is an embedded Linux that will be available on a whole bunch of new Dell Latitude laptops in a feature called Latitude ON. This is a feature that uses an embedded Linux to allow for instant on access to email, calendar and Internet.

(Excerpt) Read more at blog.internetnews.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: dell; linux; microsoft; vista
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Didn't Microsoft try to create an instant on thing that was a huge flop? Something that involved using an outside LCD on your laptop or something like that? I think it was called slideshow?

Anyways, it was a huge flop. This is unlikely to be, given that Linux based software is actually capable of instant on. MS just can't seem to get rid of the bloat. Plus, I'm sure this doesn't add much to the cost wheras MS stuff costs you arm plus dog.

1 posted on 08/16/2008 5:43:25 PM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
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To: Halfmanhalfamazing

The MSI Wind laptop comes preloaded with either Windows XP, or Linux. The Linux version is I think $100 cheaper than if it came with XP.

Though I’m just familiar with how XP feels.


2 posted on 08/16/2008 5:48:34 PM PDT by wastedyears (Show me your precious darlings, and I will crush them all)
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To: Halfmanhalfamazing
back in the 80's one of the first laptops had Windows on a chip, same with Lotus and a couple other programs too... real fast for the day
3 posted on 08/16/2008 5:55:39 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - CTHULHU/NYARLATHOTEP'08 = Nothing LESS!!!)
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To: ShadowAce

pong


4 posted on 08/16/2008 8:15:03 PM PDT by JoJo Gunn (The McCainiac's creed: Death to America by a thousand cuts)
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

5 posted on 08/16/2008 8:25:31 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Chode
> back in the 80's one of the first laptops had Windows on a chip, same with Lotus and a couple other programs too... real fast for the day

Ummmm, huh?

1. Laptop in the 80's? What brand/model?

2. Windows in the 80's? Windows 1.0? Unusable. It wasn't 2.0 until 1990 and that sucked swamp water too. Windows wasn't real until 3.1 around 1993.

3. Windows on a chip? Whose chip?

I don't get what you said at all....

6 posted on 08/16/2008 8:35:37 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: dayglored; Chode
> It wasn't 2.0 until 1990 and that sucked swamp water too. Windows wasn't real until 3.1 around 1993.

I'm off a little. 2.0 was released in 1987. I started playing with it in 1990, so it was probably a later 2.x version.

And 3.1 was 1992, not 1993.

Nevertheless, I'm astonished that there was something called Windows on a chip in the 80's. Tell me more...

7 posted on 08/16/2008 8:41:34 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Halfmanhalfamazing

I’ve tasted Dell’s Linux support. In fact I’ve sampled their Windows Vista support, as well.

No thanks.


8 posted on 08/16/2008 9:15:08 PM PDT by papasmurf (This space left blank intentionly.)
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To: dayglored
it was in one of the trade mags... instead of loading windows etc on a hard drive it had half a dozen chip sockets and one of chips had the whole windows os on it, same with Lotus. it was the ultimate copy protection scheme.

the thing never took off though. it was supposed to be real fast cause it never had to look at the disk. i only saw the ad a couple times and that was, well, back in the 80's, but i want to say it was called the WinBook. the ad showed the the chip socket bay with the cover off and one of the chips said Lotus on it.

9 posted on 08/16/2008 9:20:24 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - CTHULHU/NYARLATHOTEP'08 = Nothing LESS!!!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Swordmaker; HAL9000

I finally managed to install Ubuntu (from the DVD included in the official book, which states it’s a CD), only took ten tries, four different CPUs, and (on the final machine) five reboots. S’cool.


10 posted on 08/16/2008 9:52:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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To: Chode

Windows on a chip...

I seem to remember the same type of thing...a hardwired OS or chip that was to be virus proof, but could be somehow updated at a later date. Sounded like a great idea at the time but nothing came of it.

The old C64 had its OS built in too, but that was little more than Basic.


11 posted on 08/16/2008 10:33:34 PM PDT by DeFault User
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To: SunkenCiv

I can assure you that your experience installing Ubuntu is atypical.

Just out of curiosity, would you mind telling which 4 types of PCs you attempted the install on?


12 posted on 08/16/2008 10:40:59 PM PDT by joseph20 (...to ourselves and our Posterity...)
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To: SunkenCiv

I’ve had that experience with other Linux distros.

I was hoping that the days of having to recompile the kernel were over, but I had to do that recently.


13 posted on 08/16/2008 10:48:41 PM PDT by HAL9000 ("No one made you run for president, girl."- Bill Clinton)
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To: HAL9000
I was hoping that the days of having to recompile the kernel were over, but I had to do that recently.

Really?? Why? What did you need to do that you needed to recompile the kernel?

14 posted on 08/16/2008 11:09:49 PM PDT by MichiganMan (So you bought that big vehicle and now want to whine about how much it costs to fill it? Seriously?)
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To: MichiganMan
What did you need to do that you needed to recompile the kernel?

Dude - I do it all the time. Just to make sure it's still possible. Linux is verifiable trust.

15 posted on 08/16/2008 11:12:44 PM PDT by no-s
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To: MichiganMan
The Linux Clock Versus VMware
16 posted on 08/16/2008 11:24:10 PM PDT by HAL9000 ("No one made you run for president, girl."- Bill Clinton)
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To: HAL9000

I wouldn’t know how to recompile it; the detailed instructions given didn’t match the downloaded desktop environment, on the one occasion I got the “live CD” to work, which was, uh, frustrating. The other times it gave me some kind of error about how the disk wasn’t available or some such lie. Anyway, I finally used a DVD-equipped CPU (a workplace discard, I think it was a Gateway) to start up and install. After the second to last reboot, the newly installed system went back to 640 mode on the 1280 capable monitor (which had worked during “live” use and during the installation). The included gizmo to set screen resolution only offered one option — 640. So I restarted it once more, and it started up in, and stayed in, 1280 mode.


17 posted on 08/17/2008 1:17:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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To: SunkenCiv
It appears to be fairly easy with Ubuntu -

How To Compile A Kernel - The Ubuntu Way

18 posted on 08/17/2008 1:36:01 AM PDT by HAL9000 ("No one made you run for president, girl."- Bill Clinton)
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To: joseph20

Three Dells and a Gateway, I think. Maybe one was an Omnitech :’), but I doubt it.


19 posted on 08/17/2008 1:47:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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To: HAL9000

Thanks HAL9000.


20 posted on 08/17/2008 1:51:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
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