On answering the question “Is Linux ready for the laptop?”: I don’t think they are - at this moment I wrote this comments - but close enough. User friendliness and hardware compatibility issues should be dealt seriously, and maybe improvise the “after-sales services” for Dell-Ubuntu notebook users.

Well, on the positive note, Ubuntu have done a very good job on breaking the monopoly of Windows in laptop environment - considering its “free”. Still a lot of hurdles to go.

p/s: Working to get more funds to get one Dell-Ubuntu notebook.

Cheers!

Stay tuned for new laptop model additions and countries in the future. It’s a work in progress, but we’ll get there.

I understand that Gutsy will be better than Feisty, similar to how Rawhide will be better than the current Fedora release, but why would I also risk random failures, especially when I need a machine that works, rather than randomly futzing with things?

Take a step back, and think of it from a *user* perspective. Not from a developer perspective. Sometimes, its nice to be a user.

@Marco@Dell: Thanks for your comments. Its interesting to note that you guys are remastering images, and I’m wondering if you’re pushing all these known issues upstream? I’ll be sure to give Gutsy Gibbon a go, the moment it is obviously released.

And you did mention that the D600 and 300m work, but they are older. I have no problems running Linux on older machines. I only have problems running them on relatively new/recent machines (this one I’m using is from February I think).

And I’m glad you guys have certified systems. I just wish it was available for more countries…

So thanks again, for responding, and I can hope that Gutsy serves me better :)

@David: Why would I sue Microsoft, when the software I get from Dell with Microsoft Windows drives all the features that the laptop ships? It is on the onus of the hardware manufacturer to ensure that all their hardware works as advertised. If you sell a laptop that cannot drive an external display (irrespective of software/hardware reasons), you are not selling a laptop that is “fit for purpose”.

Dell is now selling laptops with Ubuntu. And they have a known issues page. A lot of the laptop hardware itself, isn’t fit for purpose. When shipped with Microsoft Windows (which arguably, is software in itself that isn’t fit for purpose), at least all portions of the laptop hardware works.

Apple is another good example. Their laptops come with hardware and software that is fit for purpose. Surely, if you install Linux on it and something doesn’t work, its not Apple’s fault. And neither is it Dell’s fault for selling me this laptop (because it came with Windows XP pre-installed). However, their new “certified” systems, are where I worry, someone may realise that it isn’t fit for purpose, and get annoyed.

Have you ever heard of anyone successfully suing Microsoft? Have you read their EULA? Have you considered your chances of a successful claim against Microsoft after reading the EULA? How did you come to the above conclusion after considering these questions?

The issues will only present themselves to those installing/re-installing Ubuntu from the standard Fiesty 7.04 CD’s. The issues have been resolved in our factory process which means that customers who buy one of the Dell systems will not be affected. Customers can also download the Dell re-mastered Ubuntu images which already include fixes for the known issues. We’re currently working on the Gutsy Gibbon release which will also include the fixes.

I personally have not seen any of these, or your issues, on my Latitude D600 with ATI and Broadcom wireless or a Dell Inspiron 300m with Intel graphics and pro wireless, but they are older machines.

So is Ubuntu ready for the laptop? I would argue that it’s ready enough for more mature hardware, and for certified systems but there is still some work ahead.

I’d included

&gt snark &lt

and

&gt / snark &lt

around the paragraph just above the *grin*.

Me, I’d rather use something that works rather than quibble about what “released” means. If I can download it and use it, that means the developer had to put the code in a place that I could get it.

*grin*

Seriously, though, Gusty (even though in testing) will drive modern Intel laptop hardware better than Feisty does. The bits that make up Gusty are (mostly) available in other distros / releases which are themselves in various stages of testing. See Rawhide, Debian’s Testing version, et al.

If I wanted to be truly bleeding edge, I’d be grabbing the latest X.org since it has better support for hotpluging external monitors than the version that comes with Gusty — but I’d rather have it all packaged up nicely by a distro.

I have the *latest* intel. unless the drivers have been fixed in gutsy, all the better.

I’ll give Gutsy a try when its actually you know released, but till then…

ipw3945 is probably standard with laptops these days, unless you’re getting a different chipset. I don’t think mine’s problematic either, since its standardised - the only restricted bit, really, is the fact that the firmware is not “free” (its binary blobbed)