Ubuntu Dell $50 Cheaper Than Vista Dell

rhinokitty writes "Dell recently announced that their Ubuntu systems will be $50 cheaper than similar systems running Vista (Home Basic Edition). This will be a good fork in the road for those people who need a little extra push to take hold of their dreams and run Linux."

"Take hold of their dreams"?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Please... If it was really anyone's dream to run Linux, I don't think $50 more on a Dell PC is going to stop them.

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[Mistlefoot (636417)]

Dreams. Ubuntu is the best. It runs this laptop without a Battery!!! And without a battery $50 isn't much savings. lol

I'm guessing this is a typo....but from the article -

$774 Inspiron 1420 (Ubuntu)
Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Ubuntu version 7.04
Anti-glare, widescreen 14.1 inch display (1280x800)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Integrated High Definition Audio

$824 Inspiron 1420 (Vista)
Intel® Core(TM) 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Genuine Windows® Vista Home Basic Edition
Anti-glare, widescreen 14.1 inch display (1280x800)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
24X CD writer/DVD Combo Drive
Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
Integrated High Definition Audio

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Wow, no batteries! I can't believe they snuck power generation into the kernel. Tesla would be proud.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[sortius_nod (1080919)]

you just have time to cancel or allow?

Re:

[suv4x4 (956391)]

you just have time to cancel or allow?

Yawn. Now that this has been repeated to death, let's face it: all other OS have similar elevation dialogs. OSX has it, and other flavors of BSD, Linux has it.

It's part of life when you don't run as root all the time.

The fact you may get too many of them on Vista usually signifies improperly setup account, or poorly written software. In my experience, the elevation dialog only pops up rarely and when you'd really expect it to.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[shutdown -p now (807394)]

The dialog is not normally annoying, but at times it can be. For example, try copying an executable file from an SMB share to your "Program Files" folder. It goes like this:

• Are you sure you want to copy an executable from a shared folder? Yes
• Are you sure you want to write something to a system folder? Yes!
• Sorry, Dave, I can't do that. Copying .exe files from the network into "Program Files" is disabled for security reasons. WTF???

Which is obviously an idiocy, and one I haven't seen elsewhere (in Ubuntu, anyway; haven't had a chance to play with Mac OS).

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[LingNoi (1066278)]

The fact you may get too many of them on Vista usually signifies improperly setup account, or poorly written software.

Yes, its always the developers fault. Poor drivers on Vista? Nvidia's fault. Too many security alerts? Software Developers fault. BSOD when plugging in a scanner? Driver makers fault.

Lets face it Windows users never question why their most essential piece of software should be so easily broken and unrecoverable without re-installation, but lets face it they never will. They'll happily go on blaming Nvidia for their late drivers while it took Microsoft 2 years just to design the damn shutdown button.

Please do go ahead and blame anyone you want for why your system sucks but I will never find it acceptable for my operating system to be so prone to errors and unrecoverable from a system failure whether it is Windows, Ubuntu or Mac.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[Weedlekin (836313)]

"it took Microsoft 2 years just to design the damn shutdown button"

Now be fair, it took them two years to design _and_ implement the shutdown _dialog_, which has several buttons on it. The pressure must have been pretty unbearable when Vista was about to ship after they'd only been given two years to decide how big those buttons should be, what order to put them in, how much space should be between them, how far to inset them from the edges of the dialog, and if that wasn't enough, also ensure that their event handling code called the correct OS routines to prevent potential disasters such as the Cancel button making the machine reformat its hard disk after sending Ballmer an insulting EMAIL. QA people and beta testers can't be relied on to spot this sort of error before the OS is being shipped out on millions of OEM machines, so the responsibility for getting it right was entirely on the shoulders of the poor shutdown dialog team, who probably used special teams of mouse-wielding robots for months to ensure that each of the buttons did exactly what it was supposed to with the legendary level of reliability that's become the hallmark of Microsoft software.

Re:I'll take Vista thanks :-)

[PopeRatzo (965947)]

I'll take Vista thanks :-) Don't have time to fix Linux problems anymore.

You must not have tried Vista yet.

I took Vista

[camperdave (969942)]

I took Vista because I had no choice. It came with the HP Pavilion laptop I purchased, and MS would not allow the store to sell any other MS operating system. No big deal, I thought. I made the system restore disks as per instructions. I then shrank Vista's NTFS partition using the Vista tools, and installed Ubuntu in the empty spot. I left the HP restore partition alone. I was dual booting fine for a couple of days. However, it started taking longer and longer for Vista to shut down. Now it won't boot at all.

I've tried "Last known good configuration". I've tried "Repair your system". I've tried "Safe Mode", "Debug mode", and "Safe mode with Command Prompt". I've tried the HP restore partition. I've tried the System restore disks that I made. I've even tried the Vista Anytime Upgrade disk that came with the machine. Vista refuses to boot up. The closest I get is a blank blue screen with a mouse pointer. I've left the machine for hours, hoping that the desktop would populate, but no dice. Many people are in the same boat that I am. Vista hangs when it loads CRCDISK.SYS I've been scouring the net, but so far the only solution seems to be return the laptop.

Ubuntu and Fedora both work fine, however. No problems with the wide screen graphics. No problem with the WIFI. There's even no problem reading the NTFS partitions.

I'll take Vista thanks :-) Don't have time to fix Linux problems anymore.

I'll take Linux thanks. I don't have time to fix Vista problems anymore.

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[sconeu (64226)]

With a LAPTOP?????

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[Stephen Samuel (106962)]

I think that the point is that it's no longer more expensive to get a Linux box from Dell than it is to get a windows box from Dell, nuke the Windows partition (and thus lose even hardware support) and install Linux. -- or get the same box sans OS*, and install Linux yourself.

I will note that even just resizing the Windows partition for your 120GB hard drive to make room for a 20GB Linux install is enough to cause the Dell nuke-Windows-and-reinstall script to freak out and stop.

(* Yeah, I'm discounting FreeDos as a legitimate OS -- Have you ever even heard of someone [other than a FreeDos developer] actually leaving their FreeDos partition permanently on their machine and using it as anything other than a launching point for installing another OS and/or claiming HW support from Dell?_

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[FST777 (913657)]

Actually, I do. I generally have a 4G FreeDOS partition somewhere on my drives. It's one of the four OS'es I have on my system. I use it to troubleshoot, run old games, inspect old floppies, create those whacky Compaq BIOS floppies for some old systems I encounter, etc. Quite usefull at times (and DOS has its beauties). Besides that, the partition is used to swap data between FreeBSD, openSUSE and WinXP.

Your main point stands though.

Re:"Take hold of their dreams"?

[Phisbut (761268)]

Quite true. I've been asking the same question for over 20 years now.... since Linux is so inexpensive to purchase, why isn't it present on a higher percentage of desktops (what, about 1% or less ?) ?

Funny that you've been asking that question for over 20 years now, since Linux (the kernel) has only been released 16 years ago...

What this really means

[Enderandrew (866215)]

Many Linux users are willing to buy their own rigs, or have been content to purchase Windows and then either dual-boot or just format and install Linux.

I don't think this move will equate to widespread acceptance of Linux on the desktop for the home. You're not going to shop Dell's site as a Windows lover with no Linux experience and say, "since Dell is selling Linux, I think I'll give it a try and buy a computer without Windows!"

It is nice that people will save money, however, there is a potential large impact of this move.

Several IT departments in all kinds of large corporations struggle with trying to get corporate suits to accept Linux in the workplace. And while large companies like RedHat or Novell will sell support, corporations like familiarity and standardization. If said corporation has a corporate contract with Dell, and Dell is officially standing behind Ubuntu and selling Ubuntu preinstalled, and you can see it as a cost-cutting move to the suits at the same time, then this might help spread the acceptance of Linux in the workplace.

Re:

[timmarhy (659436)]

i'd liken it to the first tiny crack in the damn. no water comming out yet, but dell openly selling linux pc's would have been unthinkable even 3 years ago.

Re:What this really means

[Eivind (15695)]

But there are several trends coming together. Each individual one may not count for much, but the sum total is still starting to look interesting.

• The average price of new computers is falling.
• The price of Windows, both in pure dollars and in requirements is rising sharply.
• Linux is getting easier and easier for the non-geeks to use.
• You can get pre-installed Linux from vendors people have heard of. This matters.
• There's a large amount (though not as large as I'd like) of articles and news-coverage of consumer-hostile "features" in Vista.
• There is a distinct lack of *advantage* for a consumer moving from XP to Vista, in other words, MS has done next to *nothing* worthwhile for a consumer in the last 5-6 years.
• Vista has horrible hardware-support. Of the 5 usb-gadgets that my wife uses, 2 failed to work with Vista. For one, an Epson-scanner, the status is: "Drivers will be released in february". Meanwhile, Linux supports more hardware out-of-the-box than any other operating-system ever has. (though not more than XP plus additional drivers)

None of these are deal-breakers, really. And most people will certainly buy the "default" choice, Vista, without really giving it second thougths. But *some* will start thinking.

Linux certainly won't displace Windows on the desktop this year, or the next. But it'll continue doing what it's been doing quietly for years already: growing.

Re:What this really means

[Enderandrew (866215)]

Dell also said they'd never sell AMD processors, nor never sell Linux on their desktops.

If big corporations request it, I'm sure Dell will comply.

They'll probably choose Ubuntu because..

[katterjohn (726348)]

.. they're too confused about all the different editions of Vista ;)

Re:

[Tribbin (565963)]

I hope you see the irony of your comment?

With the grand choice you have in Ubuntu alone, the apps, and other distro's.

Re:They'll probably choose Ubuntu because..

[fonik (776566)]

At least with Ubuntu the customers can switch around for free. With windows you have to pay more if you find your license doesn't cover a feature you need, like multilingual support or remote desktop.

It's not 1995 anymore.

[DrYak (748999)]

With the grand choice you have in Ubuntu alone, the apps, and other distro's.

You know these "There's too much choice in Linux, it's too hard to make selection" whine-trolls we see around aren't very accurate.

It's not 1995 anymore. The time when either you had to pick manually everything up or when the default installation included 3 different products all in crash-prone alpha version (because all the application where recent and none functioned 100% of the time requiring you to mix the use of all 3 to cover your needs) is over.

Yes, for each task in Linux there exist at least several dozens of possible candidate application.

*BUT* for most mainstream application, if you just Yes-click-trough the installation (something that the EULA-trained Windows user is very used to) you just get a basic set of everything you need. Most distro will provide with 1 default desktop (Gnome or KDE in most cases, depending on your religion), 1 browser (usually Firefox. Or Konqueror) 1 email program (Thunderbird, or Evolution, or KMail) 1 Office suite (OOo or Abiword+Gnumeric+etc. or KOffice).

No need to choose a solution a default choice has been pre-maid to help you. Just hit the icon in the menu and let the default application startup.
Want something else ? Then only you have to fire up the software package manager (Yast, Synaptic, RpmDrake, Anaconda etc. or whatever starts when you click on the icon labelled "Add/Remove software").
And even here, there's still an easy route :
- Most installator provide a "task oriented" mode. Want to make a web server ? Just check the box next to the webserver "Activity" and the installator will take care to provide you a default set of tools.
- Only when you need a specific package will you have to hunt it in the list.

And all that is when installing a distro yourself. Now, I'm sure that Dell has already put the trouble to make sure that every Ubuntu laptop ships with a perfectly functional set of basic application covering all the needed tasks. User don't have to hesitate between 4 different word processors or a dozen of different web-browsers (include a couple of text-mode only).
Just clic on the menu entry that says "E-Mail".

For the lazy user, everything will be, I suppose, set to go. That "burden of choice" some bloggers always complain about is left only for those who actually care to make very specific choices.

Re:They'll probably choose Ubuntu because..

[glwtta (532858)]

"Let's see... do I need Premium or Ultimate? Oooh! Gutsy Gibbon!!!"

sorry, but...

[by Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, but i gotta say "...who need a little extra push to take hold of their dreams and run Linux." is the single-most pathetic thing i've read on the entire internet, ever.

$50?

[Mystery00 (1100379)]

I don't think that is a big enough incentive, people that have been brainwashed by M$'s propaganda about how great Vista is aren't going to suddenly turn and say "ZoMG! This OS is $50 cheaper! Forget Vista!"

A $50 difference will do nothing in terms of persuasion for the common man, the people that buy Ubuntu pre-installed are only the ones that have done the research and know at least a bit about what they've doing, and what they want, the rest know Windows, and M$'s advertising.

What Ubuntu needs from Dell, isn't a $50 price difference, but some available INFORMATION, look here: www.dell.com/

I don't know about you, but all I see are Vista loaded machines, I didn't check every page, but nobody is going to buy an Ubuntu loaded machine if it's buried somewhere at the back of the site, or the store.

Baby steps...

[kebes (861706)]

You're right, of course. A $50 difference is not that persuasive. However, at least the Ubuntu machine isn't more expensive than the equivalent Vista one. After all, there was considerable worry that Dell would keep the Ubuntu price higher (for a variety of reasons, such as contracts with MS or kickbacks from craplet installs, etc.).

So, I see Dell's offering of Ubuntu machines as a small step in the right direction. And the fact that they are a bit cheaper than the Vista equivalent is also a step in the right direction.

I highly doubt many consumers will be randomly browsing the Dell website and say "damn, those Ubuntu machines look awesome!"... but at least these prices allow those in the know to suggest to others: "If you're looking for a new computer, consider getting a Dell Ubuntu machine. Ubuntu is very stable and secure and you don't need the most expensive computer to run it. In fact, it's a bit cheaper than the equivalent Windows machine!"

Will this give Linux a 15% marketshare overnight? No. But it's a step towards breaking the current OS monoculture... and that's a good thing.

Re:Baby steps...

[Miseph (979059)]

But... but... it isn't solving anything overnight! Totally unacceptable! Incremental change is for the weak and stupid and non-Slashdot readers! None of this pussy ass "right step" shit, we need everything to happen right now and any change short of that is not only inconsequential but should be derided and fought tooth and nail for the M$ propaganda/sell out itg is.

Re:$50?

[fonik (776566)]

Heh, yeah.

I like the part of the www.dell.com/open site where it asks you if you are there by mistake and suggests you go back to looking at Windows machines.

The main thing to note is that when you choose open source you don't get a Windows® operating system. If you're here by mistake and you are looking for a Dell PC with Windows, please use the following link.

Shop Dell PCs with Windows

They even put the link to their Windows machines BEFORE the link to the Ubuntu machines. If you were selling cars and someone showed interest in an import, would you ask, "Are you SURE you want to buy one of THOSE?" Their machines work great, but the website is serious WTF material.

Target market

[idesofmarch (730937)]

Is this the PC for Vista/XP pirates? I mean, why pay an extra $50 when you don't have to?

Not bad

[no-body (127863)]

at all...

Go to dell.com, type in Linux as search, click on suggested link (ignore the recommended M$ stuff)
- select Ubuntu,
"XPS 410 N"
click through "adding features",
leave everything as default and...:

"1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day"

I like it!

"take hold of their dreams and run Linux"?

[bheer (633842)]

Wow, rhinokitty can sure lay on the purple prose. What's next, Linux will help me leverage my key skills and maximize my full potential, making my chakras spin in unison to bring me closer to a fully actualized human being?

I hate Vista but for $50....

[syousef (465911)]

...if I'm spending thousands on a new laptop, I'll still take the OS if it's optional. I can pick up Ubuntu for nothing later on. Vista would cost me hundreds.

This isn't a push in the right direction, it's a slap in the face!

Re:I hate Vista but for $50....

[by Anonymous Coward]

Except the hardware won't work. Most Dell other than their Linux machines use ATI and Broadcom, which are a HORRIBLE combination.

Re:

[Trelane (16124)]

Mod parent up! (Lack of) hardware support due to PCs being "Designed for Windows" is the reason Linux has its reputation for being hard to install.

Re:

[MojoStan (776183)]

Subject: I hate Vista but for $50....

...if I'm spending thousands on a new laptop, I'll still take the OS if it's optional. I can pick up Ubuntu for nothing later on. Vista would cost me hundreds.

Perhaps, but I don't think it's "hundreds." According to the story's scoop, that $50 only gets you Vista Home Basic. Also, it's an OEM version, which means you cannot transfer the license to another computer (like you can with retail versions). An OEM version of Vista Home basic costs $90 to $95 at everybody's favorite egg store [newegg.com].

Also, I think there's significant value in a preinstalled Linux distro that's been tested and confirmed to work with all of the hardware (especially notebooks). Even for supposed

Put up or shut up.

[RomeReactor (1091245)]

This is _exactly_ what most people that wanted Linux pre-installed in their PCs said they wouldn't do: whine about details. Why can't I get a better battery? Why is it only 50$ cheaper? Why is it gray?... We wanted this; now it's time we show we can backup our statements with cash. Vote. Wallet. Now.

Total Cost of Ownership

[Repossessed (1117929)]

Doing a quick one over of the systems available, for a 15 inch screen, you're looking at 1,194 dollars for a minimum Vista notebook with full performance. (2 gigs of RAM, and a 2 GHz dual core processor). A 15 inch Ubuntu notebook, will cost you just 599 dollars. Thanks to the low hardware requirements of Linux systems. (It's quite literally twice as powerful as the desktop I'm typing from now.) There's a couple caveats there, in that I'm not sure if the optical drive and hard drive are comparable between the two. (i'm too lazy too check). And that for a desktop, the price difference won;t be as bad. (An acceptable processor and RAM for Vista gets very expensive for the notebooks, not as much so as for the desktops.) I'm also not sure how long this will last, Dell is still shipping the old 1505s for Ubuntu, the price will probably go up if they start using 1520s instead. (There's no appreciable difference in specs that I can find, though this may change once better Intel processors come out (the 1520 uses a different socket type.)). Oh, and if you want the fancy graphics stuff for Vista, you're going to need another 230 dollars (30 for the software and 200 for a 256 megabyte graphics card.) I'm not sure how much of a hardware upgrade it would take to run the 3D desktop options for Linux though, so I have no point of comparison to make there.

Ubuntu IS ready for the desktop

[moosesocks (264553)]

I've been a pretty strong opponent of Linux on the desktop for a long, long time now.

The first distro installed was Debian 2.2 off of floppy disks, so I've been at this for quite a while. I'd try it out, work with the desktop for a few weeks, and inevitably move back to Windows. I went through the motions with this for a few years, trying out Red Hat, Mandrake, Slackware, and Gentoo in the process. Each time, I reverted back to Windows.

I eventually got a mac, and that was that. I had my unix, and I had my desktop, and I was happy. At school, I would occasionally use the computer labs (running Fedora Core + KDE) to compile some code, or whip up a quick TeX document. It was usable to me, but clearly not ready for the average user (that's what my mac's for)

Fast forward to last month. My mac at work was acting up, and because I only use it to run MATLAB through a remote X server, I figured that I'd give the Ubuntu PPC port a try.

On first impressions, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's just as good as, if not better than Windows for desktop usage. The default install is simple and very well polished. I eventually switched to Xubuntu, which was also extremely simple. The settings/preferences panel is top-notch, and the package manager is flawlessly integrated into the OS.

I still like MacOS for my home computer, if only because of iLife, and all the multimedia and photo/video editing apps that Linux doesn't have yet. However, Ubuntu is a very viable competitor to Windows, even for somebody who's never used Linux before.

Ubuntu Inspiron DESKTOP $150 cheaper than Vista?

[MojoStan (776183)]

TFA [ideastorm.com] refers to $50 savings for an Ubuntu Inspiron notebook over a Vista Home Basic notebook.

However, I just did a quick comparison of Ubuntu vs Vista Home Basic on Dell's new Inspiron desktops (Ubuntu 530N [dell.com] vs Vista 530 [dell.com]), configuring them as closely as possible, and the Ubuntu desktop was $150 cheaper. Did I miss something in the configuration? Here's what I configured (copied/pasted from the last page before adding to the shopping cart):

• Inspiron 530 with Vista Home Basic ($479)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  56K PCI Data Fax Modem
  Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
  Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  
• Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu ($329)
  Intel®Pentium® dual-core processor E2140 (1MB L2,1.60GHz,800 FSB)
  Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 7.04
  No Monitor
  512MB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 1DIMM
  160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
  48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
  256MB NVIDIA Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
  Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
  Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
  1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
  No Modem Option
  Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
  No Productivity software pre-installed

Notes: Integrated Intel GMA 3100 and free 56K modem were available options for Windows but not Ubuntu (I'm assuming it's a driver issue for Ubuntu). For some strange reason, the Ubuntu system is configured with an optional $170 LCD (I removed it for the comparison). The warranty/support for the Ubuntu system covers hardware only and software support can be purchased from Canonical (or you can use their forums for free). The Vista system's warranty includes some software support, of course.

Dell is always doing half-hearted attempt

[2Bits (167227)]

From our own experience, what Dell is doing is just half-hearted attempt, at best, to gather some good press. Their offer of Linux-based laptop is ridiculous. And anyone who thinks that the move may be the beginning of Linux world domination, well, hate to break it to you, that's pipe dream.

We had bought a few Dell laptops in the last six months, and every one of them is so-called Linux-based laptop. When we open the box, here's the list of what we found:

- The machine and components, the usual suspects (no surprise here)
- one CD containing a partial list of different drivers for ... guess... that's right, Windows. And I said partial list because you still need to go out tracking some of the most important drivers, such the graphic driver, sound driver, etc. (I'll explain later)
- one CD of junk softwares that you will never use, for ... guess again... that's right, Windows.
- 3 CDs of Red Flag Linux (yeah, in China, that is).

I booted up the machine, half of them came with DOS installed, but you can't do anything much as there's no driver for anything anyway. The other half came with absolutely nothing installed. Empty disk.

Ok, just for the heck of it, to see if they actually tried to install the linux distro themselves. I installed Red Flag Linux, it installed fine, but missing a few drivers, or won't detect properly. I had to mess with it for a while to get it to work, but still the graphics is not working optimally.

Ok, so far, I don't think any buyer is going with Linux here.

So, I installed Windows XP. And the drivers CD is missing some serious drivers, I ended up with a system which was not any better than with Linux. I looked up the support web site, enter the serial number, and the system told me the serial number of that machine does not exist. Who cares, I just downloaded a bunch of drivers to try out, those drivers that are published for the models close to the one I have. Doesn't work.

After half a day of messing around, I called tech support. Nice guy, actually. He told me that the drivers downloaded from the web site don't work, because I have a "pirated" copy of Windows XP. Ok, fine, give me those that work then. He emailed a few links to get those missing drivers. None of these links showed up on their web site.

Go figure. With that kind of so-called "support", I doubt Joe Sixpacks is going to have Linux on that machine.

Re:

[fonik (776566)]

My little brother just installed Ubuntu on his home machine. He's in the 8th grade and his windows installation had to be wiped after the ISP threatened to shut down his internet service because of all the botware. I'd say it's a pretty easy distro.

Re:Is Ubuntu good?

[Tribbin (565963)]

It's the distro I install for all my friends.

When I reinstall Windows for a friend, I put Ubuntu on their computer next to windows and tell them to boot it if windows fails again.

It takes a couple of months before they really need to fall back on it. And in the meanwhile, at moments when they feel brave, they take a peek in the rabbithole.

And they confirm; Ubuntu does a great job for a fresh user.

Re:Is Ubuntu good? Maybe.

[mpapet (761907)]

In Ubuntu's case, the GUI looks familiar and there isn't any need whatsoever for a firewall and anti-virus software, even though that's available too. If your needs are like most, you won't miss a thing.

There are two steep learning curves:

1. Putting the finishing touches on most of the applications included. An example is the kmail spam filter bogofilter. Sure, there's a gui to sort of get it going, but you'll discover it doesn't really work until you set up the wordlist.db and a cron job to feed the wor

Re:Is Ubuntu good?

[grcumb (781340)]

Is Ubuntu a good distro in this case, given as it's already installed? I mean, from the standpoint of a non-geeky computer user.

I've installed Ubuntu on computers used by well over a thousand new computer users. Common tasks were picked up with as much ease as I've witnessed with first-time Windows users.

A few things that new users tend to find useful:

• The system menus are way easier to find your way around. Software is located in the Applications menu, and it's organised by purpose rather than brand name. Links to your hard drive, USB disk and CD ROM are in the Places menu. System-related tasks are in the System menu. You get the idea.
• USB disks, CDs and other removable media pop open folders when inserted, much as they do in Windows.
• The default interface is much cleaner and simpler than in Windows. Folders are simpler - which is not to say easier - to navigate. (This is useful for non-geeks, but can prove frustrating for power-users.)
• Automatic updates are just as easy as - if not easier then - Windows, and all of your software is covered.
• Upgrades are free. 8^)

Those are just the first few things that spring to mind. I'm sure others can add to this list.

Those who are accustomed to Windows will be accustomed to certain conventions, and this will rankle a little bit at first. But once you get used to the fact that, for example, the Start button is on the top of the screen rather than the bottom, you quickly find a lot to like.

Re:Nice gesture

[fonik (776566)]

I hate to say this because I'm a huge *buntu fanboy. I recently bought a Dell 1501 with much better specs than the 1505n for $300 less off of dell business via slickdeals.net. The buttons on the front of the laptop are the only major difference.

The Ubuntu ones may be cheaper, but the Dell Business ones go on sale very often and the hardware is just as linux friendly.

Re:

[GregPK (991973)]

To be nice, Vista was built with the idea of adding 20 million features to it then trying to make it stable. Which at the moment it really doesn't. Most business customers (Whom BTW account for a vast majority of Microsoft revenues) Want something that that is fast, extremely stable, and consistent. So if it always crashes when you press A 4 and 5 in a sequence it crashes but everything else works perfect. We can work with that. It's stable its easy to predict and easy to fix. Most people in business b

Re:

[rm999 (775449)]

50 dollars AND you don't have to uninstall Vista and then install Ubuntu. Sounds like a decent deal to me.

Re:$50? No way

[LingNoi (1066278)]

Say an SMB buys 10 computers..
$50x10 = $500 savings

Say an Enterprise begins its upgrade/replace rollout of 10,000 computers..
$50x10,000 = $500,000 Savings

It might not seem a lot to a 1 purchase user but that money adds up. In my university they didn't spend $20 extra dollars per Dell for an optic mouse because of the costs.

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[timmarhy (659436)]

hah i know, it's pretty pathetic if your dream is to run linux on a crummy dell laptop.

Re:misprint?

[Hal_Porter (817932)]

56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
how come the Linux system doesn't have this listed?

Lithium is just a plot by M$ to make you less creative. You think Theo de Raadt and Hans Reiser would have achieved what they did if they took their lithium like good little sheeple?