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HP Software Linux

HP Will Offer Customized Linux in Notebooks 283

Posted by Zonk from the why-don't-we-get-it? dept.
diegocgteleline.es writes "According with Tom's Hardware, HP is working with Ubuntu to offer a customized GNU/Linux version that works 100% - wireless, bluetooth, IrDA, IEEE1394 - with HP hardware. This offer will be restricted to Europe, Middle East and Africa. The CD includes free support through online resources as well as paid support through Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu."
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HP Will Offer Customized Linux in Notebooks More

HP Will Offer Customized Linux in Notebooks

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  • NO USA? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by skynetos ( 778296 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:29PM (#12531880)
    no USA? :(

    • Re:NO USA? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Stevyn ( 691306 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:36PM (#12531927)
      That would be Unamerican! Go back to Africa!

      In some semblance of serious though, that is troubling. Why would they not want to offer Linux to their American customers in this program? My hope is they are doing it for business reasons ($$) and not because they were quietly asked not to while renewing their contracts with Microsoft ($$$). Ubuntu is a nice distro that seems to "just work". Kubuntu (which does mean something, just just the standard "k+name" nomenclature) works well and looks damn good. I'm all for Ubuntu ending on laptops and desktops than that Linspire or Xandros crap.

      • Re:NO USA? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        It might be easier and cheaper to run the experiment in a smaller more forgiving market. Make it work there, then import it as a more polished endeavor.
        • Good point. I'd rather they hammer out the bugs and shortcomings in a market that's already looking for an alternative to Microsoft rather than a market asking "what's wrong with Microsoft anyway?"
        • Europe is a much bigger Linux market than the USA.
        • HP is now headed by Mike Hurd. He'll be trying to get HP in better shape after the raping it went through with Fiorina.

          Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe not, but by using Europe, Middle East, Africa as a proving ground to get a stable linux version on their laptops, they could use it as a barganing chip against MS to get a better deal for MS OSs.

          If MS gives in, the HP-Ubuntu option stays in EMEA, otherwise it goes global. HP giving such legitimacy would be a nightmare to MS.

          Even if it wasn't intentional
        • That doesn't make sense. They can ship laptops anywhere and Ubuntu is already translated into many lanaguages.
      • Americans have had way more than their slice of cake over the decades, so it's about time we got a look in over here :-) Anyway, what about all those American companies who won't sell outside the contiguous 48 states because it's just too much trouble?

        What worries me more is that HP still don't know their ass from their elbow. Instead of kludging up a distro to work with their non-standard hardware, they'd be far better off just adhering to the prevailing h/w standards, and making sure the specs are availa

        • Re:NO USA? (Score:5, Informative)

          by AJWM ( 19027 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @10:26PM (#12533131) Homepage
          They're talking laptops here, not desktops or servers. There is no "prevailing h/w standard" for laptops -- or rather, if there is it's a couple of years out of date. Laptop manufacturers constantly have to push the edge regarding battery life, display resolution, battery life, weight, battery life, wireless and bluetooth capabilities, and did I mention battery life? (Battery life, of course, implies finding low power versions of the other technologies, as well as the other innards.) And of course some of that cutting edge hardware comes from third-parties with NDAs limiting how open they can make the drivers.

          As far as HP desktops and servers go, they're pretty much supported out of the box by most distros, with most of the drivers for HP/Compaq hardware being GPL'd. (Except perhaps for some server-only features on high-end hardware, like the remote lights-out management system that'll let me power-cycle a box in Singapore from my desk in Colorado.)
      • Hmmm, perhaps you have an issue with Xandros selling their package, but it's not crap.

        I've used Xandros since version 1 and it runs most of the Linux workstations in our company. It is easy to install, complete, and elegant. Basically it's a Debian distribution with Xandros' custom file manager, which provides very nice integration with the network and devices.

        Linspire... I tried it and it was too garish. But it worked well.

        Gratuitous insults are not useful nor "insightful". If you have criticisms it

    • Re:NO USA? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Simon (S2) ( 600188 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:50PM (#12532005) Homepage
      From TFA:
      "According to HP in Europe, the Ubuntu Linux project is currently limited to EMEA - a region that tends to be more receptive to Linux than for example the US - and aims to demonstrate that a Linux desktop can be easily transferred to a notebook. The software is available in a few countries with an expansion to other markets being evaluated at this time, a spokesperson said."

      • Come ooon .. it's software. The hardware is the same in the US and elsewhere. So if the software has already been developed for one region, it would automatically work in other regions, and should really cost them 'next to nothing' to make it available in a huge market like the USA (the 'marginal cost' of selling the same, already-developed software in the US must be so low that it would be nearly impossible not to offset that cost in sales - and there WOULD be sales). It's not as if they have to re-develop

    • Re:NO USA? - end run around bundling agreements (Score:5, Interesting)

      by whitis ( 310873 ) on Sunday May 15, 2005 @02:43AM (#12534139) Homepage

      The lack of support in the US is likely due to the unethical bundling agreements with microsoft. One way to provide a reasonable degree of support without selling machines preinstalled is to publish highly detailed installation instructions. for a few distributions. I log machine installations [freelabs.com] in such a way that you can practically cut and paste the log into a shell prompt and duplicate the install. Only the occasional reboot or a $%@#$% interactive install program prevents running the entire log as a shell script. All file edits are recorded using diff/patch, sed, cat, etc so you have an exact way to reproduce the changes.

      That way, you are covered on your first install, reinstalls, and have a good head start on upgrades. And, this way you don't have to use their configuration. You can partition your hard drive to your specifications, for example. But you don't need to go searching for drivers to download or puzzle out how to install them.

      This approach doesn't work very well for grandma but it will work for power users who may be new to linux as well as those people who normally use linux. And it would be a major selling point to linux people if the installation instructions are on the HP web site and they can view them before they even buy the machine.

      The link above includes an example for an older HP notebook.

  • hmm (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:30PM (#12531884) Journal
    They really need to try and sell this to the "average old lady", who has no use for games but needs a little browser/e-mail system. Surely if they set the specs right this could compete with the mac mini (on price) and be portable.

    • Re:hmm (Score:3, Insightful)

      by 13bPower ( 869223 )
      They aren't installing Ubuntu though, just bundling the CD. Old ladys probably wont like installing an OS no matter how easy.

    • Re:hmm (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 )
      They really need to try and sell this to the "average old lady", who has no use for games but needs a little browser/e-mail system ...and just bought a "10.000 postcards" CD from CompUSA, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, only to discover they don't work on her you-bun-too laptop. Oh and also, she receives funny animated emails from her friends and/or colleagues, and a found Word document with the recipe for werewolf in dung sauce that she can't open...

      Won't work for average old ladies. For average anybody

      • Red Herring, It's what's for dinner (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14, 2005 @07:01PM (#12532066)

        If you really used Linux you wouldn't be serving us Red Herring. ;-)

        she receives funny animated emails from her friends and/or colleagues

        These are usually Flash animations. Flash is available for Linux, I use it regularly. If these animations require some custom executable, she's better off not opening the attachment.

        a found Word document with the recipe for werewolf in dung sauce that she can't open

        Not only does OpenOffice.Org handle Word documents, it's free. Your hypothetical old lady has a better chance with Ubuntu than with Windows of opening that recipe, since Word does not come with Windows XP. If you are lucky, it will be bundled by the OEM, but there's no guarantee.

        just bought a "10.000 postcards" CD from CompUSA, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, only to discover they don't work on her you-bun-too laptop.

        Software requirements apply to everyone. With Windows, our hypothetical old lady has to make sure that she buys for the right Windows version, and that it's not a Mac application.

        Boy, that was a full serving. :-P
        • just bought a "10.000 postcards" CD from CompUSA, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, only to discover they don't work on her you-bun-too laptop.

          Software requirements apply to everyone. With Windows, our hypothetical old lady has to make sure that she buys for the right Windows version, and that it's not a Mac application.

          I reply because I can not mod you up as I do not have mod points.

          I agree in almost everything you said except the last quote, I think for the average people (or the old ladies in this
        • Your hypothetical old lady has a better chance with Ubuntu than with Windows of opening that recipe, since Word does not come with Windows XP.

          But XP *does* come with Wordpad, which can render Word documents. You lose the more advanced features (macros, some fancy formatting, etc), but the text is generally perfectly readable and well presented.

          Software requirements apply to everyone. With Windows, our hypothetical old lady has to make sure that she buys for the right Windows version, and that it's not a
        • These are usually Flash animations. Flash is available for Linux, I use it regularly. If these animations require some custom executable, she's better off not opening the attachment.

          Agreed.

          Not only does OpenOffice.Org handle Word documents, it's free. Your hypothetical old lady has a better chance with Ubuntu than with Windows of opening that recipe, since Word does not come with Windows XP. If you are lucky, it will be bundled by the OEM, but there's no guarantee.

          Agreed.

          just bought a "10.000 postc

        • This is not insightful. This is nonsense. Those animations? Half the time they are not flash at all, but self-contained executables. 99% of the software you buy at Staples and Walmart run on Windows from 98 to XP.

          The real target for Linux is not the hypothetical old ladies. It's people like you and me, who don't need those kinds of silliness that Windows provides.

      • Our users are trained to immediately delete any email with EXE, etc, regardless of who it claims to be from. When they use our mail server software (sendmail + python milter + uwimap), a milter deletes any such attachments for them leaving text intact. The few times they've disobeyed (while using some free webmail service), a nasty virus has erased the BIOS, trashed the disk, or deleted all their documents. So they know we aren't kidding. As a result, the only animated emails they see are done with Flas
        • The few times they've disobeyed (while using some free webmail service), a nasty virus has erased the BIOS, trashed the disk, or deleted all their documents.

          That's a bit harsh isn't it? I normally just slap them on the back of the head, and tell them not to do it again.
          • Presumably, that was a joke. But just to be clear - no, we did not provide the viruses. They are free (as in beer) software that comes to your mailbox - usually by an anonymous author. The license allows unlimited copying. In fact, the software forces you to make lots of copies before it trashes your machine.
      • she receives funny animated emails from her friends and/or colleagues, and a found Word document with the recipe for werewolf in dung sauce that she can't open...

        Won't work for average old ladies.
        Where do you live? Around here, eating wherewolves is so passe- although that dung sauce sounds intriguing.

      • Re:hmm (Score:2, Interesting)

        by diogenes57 ( 43063 )
        It takes average users switching to Linux to solve the problem of only finding Windows software in attachments and at CompUSA. I have installed Ubuntu Linux on other people's Windows laptops that were too virus ridden to be useful and I just told them up-front that they wouldn't be able to run the average piece of software as they were accustomed to. But when I showed them everything they can do (make Powerpoint/Word/Excel documents in OpenOffice, use StarDict in place of Powerword, Kino instead of Window
      • Won't work for average old ladies.

        Why not? Works for my housemate -- and he only surfs for porn!

    • Re:hmm (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 )
      I think a Mac Mini would fit better though, as it supports a lot of free/open software (a lot of these are well-integrated to Mac OS too) AND a lot of commercial software to boot. In comparison, Linux doesn't have much by the way of commercial software support.
      • In comparison, Linux doesn't have much by the way of commercial software support.

        Which is exactly why this move by HP is a good idea ;)

        Bonus points if you can say why it is...

        Cheers,
        SB

      • I think a Mac Mini would fit better though, as it supports a lot of free/open software (a lot of these are well-integrated to Mac OS too) AND a lot of commercial software to boot.

        Just try using a mac mini in your car, or on a train or more than three feet away from a power socket... durrr...

        In comparison, Linux doesn't have much by the way of commercial software support.

        That could be because we don't need our hand holding all over the place and we are safe to go out on the streets unaccompanied... we

  • Perfect (Score:5, Funny)

    by LWATCDR ( 28044 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:31PM (#12531897) Homepage Journal
    1. Work with a hardware manufacture to create modify an OS that works well with there system.
    2 ?????
    3. Profit!
    Oh wait that really does work.

  • how can we show U.S. interest? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yagu ( 721525 ) * <yayagu@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:32PM (#12531904) Journal

    First, any idea why my scroll wheel doesn't work on the referred page??? (It continues to work everywhere else, weird.)

    Second, I wonder why this always starts, and is only going to be available in Europe. I know the article says:

    is currently limited to EMEA - a region that tends to be more receptive to Linux than for example the US - and aims to demonstrate that a Linux desktop can be easily transferred to a notebook....
    but, this sounds like a chicken or egg, or Catch 22 scenario. How do we break that circle? Is there a way to tell HP we do want linux on a laptop? Or are we too hardy and independent a group/demographic we just insist on doing this ourselves our own way. I'd love for all /.'ers who could, to ask HP for the option in US. I can't think there'd ever be any critical mass to make linux commercially available off-the-shelf unless we make some kind of overture.

    Relatedly, and specifically about HP, they don't completely embrace linux yet (though I know some are going to flame me because this may be interpreted as "not about linux"). I have an HP Pavilion ZX5000 -- great little (cough) machine! I configured it dual boot with Mandrake 10.1, and paid the extra to get a Linuxant wireless driver. What a great little (cough) machine! Screen resolution 1920x1200 full color, both OS's. But, when the video connector (my diagnosis) started to loosen and my screen started to flicker I called HP for warranty repair. During the obligatory debugging phase (reboot XP, un-install, re-install video drivers, etc.) it was revealed I had a dual boot setup, and they IMMEDIATELY upon hearing I had linux on the machine refused to do the warranty repair! I escalated three times, talked to three managers and each immediately (by scanning previous call's notes) declined to do the warranty work claiming they had no assurance linux didn't damage the machine. I offered to pay for repairs should they determine in the course of fixing my machine that linux indeed was the cause. No dice.

    On my fourth contact, I found a helpful person who agreed with my diagnosis, and agreed it sounded like a loose cable and agreed to do the warranty repair. She did however (bless her) advise me to remove the hard drive because upon receipt, and debugging, as soon as the technicians would see the dual boot she could not guarantee me they wouldn't immediately re-image the disk.

    Bottom line, HP is dipping their toes in the linux waters, but somehow I think this community should demonstrate willingness and interest. I don't know exactly what that should be but I'm willing to participate -- any replies/suggestions -- I'm willing to try to take action.

    • Re:how can we show U.S. interest? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by lakeland ( 218447 ) <lakeland@acm.org> on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:43PM (#12531970) Homepage
      Interesting; I had something similar but on escalating once (& threatening to sue) they agreed to ignore linux and fix the problem. Of course, linux had nothing to do with the problem. This was back when Bruce Parens was making lots of noise about HP's support for linux so I was pretty pissed to find linux = no warranty.

      (Incidentially, my fault was a little different to yours: the parallel port had been plugged into the MB back-to-front and wouldn't work in either linux or windows.)
    • Is there a way to tell HP we do want linux on a laptop?

      Is there a way to tell HP we do want them to continue making great calculators?

      HP is a silly company these days. They screw one thing after the other...
    • Probably you've got click-focus on one of the adds. Highlight some text in the article and then try scrolling, and make sure you don't mouse over the adds. It's trying to scroll inside the adds instead of the page.

      As for why this isn't going to come to the states, two reasons. One, you don't piss Microsoft off. Two, Americans expect, nay demand, free, year round support (preferably 24/7). I've watched many the small time outfit try and compete with the big guys, only to go under when the find out that t

    • Invoke Magnuson-Moss (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bluGill ( 862 )

      You should have invoked Magnusom-moss [ftc.gov] on them the moment they told you that they cannot support your system with linux.

      Although tie-in sales provisions generally are not allowed, you can include such a provision in your warranty if you can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FTC that your product will not work properly without a specified item or service.

      They will have a hard time demonstrating that you system will not work properly under linux. Even if this is a linux only-system they will have

    • What I never understood is how tech support/technicians can even think about erasing customer's data. From the famous old recommendations of formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows to this. Are we supposed to store all our personal files on floppies or what?

      I know that if anyone re-images my HDD, I am going to re-image his brain with a baseball bat as soon as I find out about it.
    • She did however (bless her) advise me to remove the hard drive because upon receipt, and debugging, as soon as the technicians would see the dual boot she could not guarantee me they wouldn't immediately re-image the disk.

      Last time I bought a laptop with Windows preinstalled, I immediately replaced the hard disk when I received it. When the keyboard needed a replacement some 18 months later, I just swapped the old HD back in before sending the machine to guarantee repair. This procedure allowed me to:

      - R

    • HP support, at least for anything other than servers (corporate market), blows big chunks.

      An HP laptop (shipped with Win95) that I bought has had recurring memory issues -- neither the BIOS not the OS would recognise any add-in memory, only the memory soldered into the mobo.

      The first time it went back, they replaced the add-in memory card AND re-installed the OS (Win95) -- I lost all my personal data.

      The second time I sent the laptop back, I had replaced the internal hard disk with one that dual-booted W

  • Why would they restrict it geographically? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by visualight ( 468005 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:35PM (#12531924) Homepage
    If the cd is available how hard can it be to offer it everywhere? It shouldn't cost them a cent more.

  • Just Europe, Middle East and Africa (Score:3, Interesting)

    by saterdaies ( 842986 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:38PM (#12531942)
    Because I'm sure the GPL'd drivers and hardware support won't find its way into the regular Ubuntu distribution and from there into others. I mean, all that good stuff will probably be tied into proprietary HP graphics included in this system. Without the HP logo, the code will just cease to function.

    On a nicer note, kudos to HP for at least putting a little effort into Linux - maybe to counteract the $100 million investment from Michael Dell into Red Hat?

  • Fair Trade (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:40PM (#12531951) Homepage Journal
    Ubuntu probably needs lots of work (eg. power management) to run well on HP notebooks, like any distro on any particular notebook. Some problems are peculiar to HP hardware, and others are just bugs in Ubuntu packages. If the Ubuntu project pulls off a good deal with HP, as they "work together", HP will contribute to modernizing a lot of packages. As the source is open, those patches will be available to everyone. Whether or not they run HP, or even Ubuntu.
    • I had only a couple adjustments to make to get Ubuntu 5.04 to have good power mgmt on my VAIO. It hibernates when I close the lid, comes back pretty fast and keeps the 802.11g (via ndiswrapper) connection intact. Seems pretty good to me.

    • Re:Fair Trade (Score:3, Informative)

      by aav ( 117550 )
      Err, insightful or uninformed ? Then again, it's Slashdot...

      So, as I'm writing from a HP zv5000 laptop, running Suse 9.1 x86_64, I have to say the following:

      - power management works. No specific patches, kernel compilations or the like. Just set it up as you please.

      - the two things that don't work properly are the memory card reader (some 5-in-1 thing which is not recognised by the kernel) and the integrated modem, which, I haven't even tried to configure.

      - everything else works. Of course, one needs
      • Maybe "uninformed". Linux laptop power management is notoriously incomplete, failing on lots of laptops. Apparently at least some HP models work. If you really want to show off, how about a list of each HP laptop model, and the state of Linux power management support for each?

        BTW, I believe the "insight" mods cited was my insight into the power of getting a corporation to work on OSS upgrades in their own self-interest, then sharing them with everyone. And the value of making a good deal that serves the OS

  • Microsoft Monopolistic Contracts are Frustrating (Score:5, Informative)

    by echusarcana ( 832151 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:40PM (#12531955)
    I've personnaly tried to purchase Linux (Our corporate application were running is UNIX based) on notebooks and servers from HP. I was told that they had to sell me Windows XP Home edition pre-installed for CDN$85. The extra $85 is no big deal for a large corporation, but this really irritated me.

    Why? Well, this was the cheapest version of Windows that could be sold. I was informed by the sales rep that HP's contractual terms with MS required that no hardware could be sold without an operating system. The accounting involved was so onerous that HP could not be bothered to do the extra bookkeeping in North America where the Linux market was so weak.

    So MS gets paid even when Linux is installed. That's just not right!

    • Re:Microsoft Monopolistic Contracts are Frustratin (Score:5, Informative)

      by beforewisdom ( 729725 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @07:23PM (#12532171)
      There was an article on slashdot a few years back how another company got around with their contractual obligation to M$ to not sell a computer without an OS.

      They shipped their computers with Free DOS installed.
    • Buy Powerbooks running YellowDog Linux. http://yellowdoglinux.com/ [yellowdoglinux.com] Screw HP if they are stuck with Microsoft.

    • Ebay XP... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bluGill ( 862 )

      They can do that, but you don't have to accept the license for XP home. So put it on eBay. When lawyers pull it sue. The only thing that prohibits you from selling XP without a CPU/harddrive is the license, which is a contract. When you refuse to accept the contract it cannot apply.

      Even if the contact does apply, it isn't clear that the no re-sell provision is legal. Most states have "first sale" laws which would apply.

      I'm, not a lawyer myself. I'm pretty sure this would work, and I'd like som

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Not only this...

      Here at Brasil, companies can't force you to buy Windows along with the computer. If they don't offer an alternative, you can buy the computer WITHOUT ANY OS.

      I must admit that you actualy have to involve some theatening of moving an lawsuit against the company, but in the end they'll sell even a notebook without Windows.

      To force a coupled sell is a crime against the consumer, and consumer rights are one of the few things that are taken seriously around here.

      But, in the end, even if you c
      • So you know, its virtually the same here in the US. I can't say its law, because I don't know. But I can't think of a PC maker (including HP) that won't sell you a machine without an OS. Sometimes you get an idiot on the phone and you just have to insist until you get someone who knows better.

        Usually you get FreeDOS on the drive instead of windows. The only exception I can think of is Apple. I don't think they sell machines without the OS.
    • Buy HP hardware (Or any PC manufacturer for that matter). Open box. Boot machine. Decline license. Return machine open box for a full refund. Be refused. Say "And I quote, 'IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE PRODUCT; YOU MAY RETURN IT TO YOUR PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.' It's right there at the top of the license." Be refused a full refund again. Return home, wipe drive, install linux, and use machine. File a report with the better business bureau [bbb.org] online. Follow up as necessary
  • Can HP guarantee [100]% that no MS Tax will be added to the cost of these notebook systems? Is this a valid question one can ask HP sales personnel anyway?

  • Will people want the hazzle? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xtracto ( 837672 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @06:58PM (#12532051) Journal
    HP does not open advertise the Ubuntu option, but instead lists FreeDOS as optional pre-installed OS. If requested, HP will provide a CD-ROM with a customized and Debian-based Ubuntu Linux free of charge. The CD also includes description of technical support, which includes free support through online resources as well as paid support through Canonical, the developer of Ubuntu.

    I don't know, but I am quite skeptical about this, from what I read, people that chose the non Windows option would have to make the Ubuntu installation.

    This mean one more step than with the Windows option...

    There could be a difference, if the price of both configuraitons (windows, linux) where different. And even with that, the average user would end acquiring the Windows option because just hearing the "you must Install the OS to use the machine" will sound scary...

    The question is WHY?? OH WHY!!? isnt Ubunty pre installed? what is wrong with that?
    • Because it costs money. I would imagine this HP offer is more of a "feeler", so if they do notice a significant percentage of people going for the Ubuntu option, then they may have that incentive to offer a pre-installed version for a bit extra.
    • They have many offers available with linux pre installed, like mandrake i know for sure, and other distros i think but don't remember quite well.
      And, for OS-less PC offers, they have to provide an OS, because otherwise, you know, the PC "would be for pirated windows".
      So instead of crying for ubuntu not being pre installed, see the bright side of it:
      -linux pre installed on HP PC is a reality
      -probably this is a first step and you will see ubuntu based PCs in the future: they probably have to go through mutual

  • HP and Debian sitting in a Tree. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    HP has always been a big Debian fan, so I am not suprised that they will support Ubuntu... They've been supporting Debian Stable for a long time and even offer a HP pack for it and they use it internally.

    They've been probably waiting for the next Debian Stable, but Ubuntu is great right now so it makes sense.

    Plus it's been a trend for people wanting to get involved in Linux to try to not depend to heavily on commercial Linux versions.
    • They've been probably waiting for the next Debian Stable, but Ubuntu is great right now so it makes sense.

      I'm not sure if you're aware, but the new Debian stable is coming out in like two weeks. If they've waited this long, and waited until after Debian's announcement, it really doesn't make sense for them to go with Ubuntu.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • If requested, HP will provide a CD-ROM with a customized and Debian-based Ubuntu Linux free of charge. ... According to HP in Europe, the Ubuntu Linux project is currently limited to EMEA - a region that tends to be more receptive to Linux than for example the US - and aims to demonstrate that a Linux desktop can be easily transferred to a notebook. ...

    Is that such a novelty? I was able to get Gentoo [gentoo.org] and 2.6 kernel running on a Dell Inspiron 6000 without too much trouble (excluding the Dell wireless

    • (excluding the Dell wireless LAN however)

      I suppose that's the important part. Your average linux user can usually get just about any distro to 95%. You just never get that last thing (or two) working, and its irritating. You paid for that wireless lan, wouldn't it be cool if you could use it? :)

  • But will they open-source it? (Score:4, Informative)

    by wyldeone ( 785673 ) on Saturday May 14, 2005 @07:39PM (#12532246) Homepage Journal
    I have an HP ze5790US laptop, which came preinstalled with XPhome, but which I now dual boot with Ubuntu (and hardly ever boot into XP.) However, something which (despite spending several days recompiling the kernel with the right drivers) I have not been able to get the wireless card to work. Nor does putting the laptop to sleep (it will go to sleep, but not come out of it.) So if they are able to get these things to work with their laptops hopefully they will gpl their software, and make it available to others with their laptops.
  • ... unfortunately, if they just offer bundled binary drivers for everything as they are likely to do, it leaves users up s**t creek come upgrade time.

    This being Linux, upgrades for desktop systems are essentially mandatory (some things don't age well, like IM clients, and upgrades often don't work on older versions, plus there's the issue of security updates) so this may well be a problem.

    I'd be way happier to see them working to make /general/ Linux support for their laptops better rather than tying the
  • The reaso there are no no Linux laptops in America is due to the wierd FCC rules with the wireless ethernet cards. Those cards are damn powerful and not only restricted on teh 2.4 Ghz bandwidth etc.. That could be a reason. ?? Any comments ?

  • marketshare (Score:3, Insightful)

    by noldrin ( 635339 ) on Sunday May 15, 2005 @12:05AM (#12533574)
    So in order to get Linux preinstalled on a laptop, you have to ask for it since it's not listed as an option, know to ask for it since they won't tell you about, and you have to live in a couple select countries, one of them not being the United States. And this is for a product that once it has been developed, is free for them to distribute. It's really sad they go to such lengths to hide their product from consumers. It's even more sad that this feels like a giant improvement over how things were a several years ago.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Didn't HP have a contract with Mandriva, at least back when they were still named Mandrake?

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