Dell, What Gives with Your New Ubuntu PCs?

By | June 6th, 2007 comments icon (6) Comments


dell ubuntu pcsI’ve got to say I’m quite disappointed in what I’ve been reading from the reviews (Inspiron E1505 N, XPS 410 N) out there. It appears that Dell’s new Ubuntu PCs are nothing more than pre-built desktops and laptops with no operating system in place. What’s more, the only thing owners get in the box to get them on their way is an Ubuntu Install CD with a Dell EULA agreement (screenshot) added at the start. That’s pathetic!!! How’s that for a first time user experience (especially for those with no Linux experience)?

If that weren’t bad enough, owners are left on their own to figure out how to configure their monitor settings, network settings, and even deal with suspend/hibernate issues. Oh, that’s right. Dell has a Wiki to help users. Seriously…. It seems to me that if a reputable OEM advertises its systems run a certain operating system, they better make damn sure the OS is INSTALLED, CONFIGURED, and comes with a SYSTEM RECOVERY DISC. Imagine if Dell tried pulling this crap with Windows? My guess Dell would be out of business right now.

I hope for Dell’s sake that they’re learning from this initial rollout (blunder, really) and gets its act together. Until then, STAY AWAY from Dell’s Ubuntu PCs unless you have knowledge, time, and patience to work through these issues. As a computer geek, I don’t mind it so much (in fact, I run Ubuntu on my main work PC), but to someone who’s new to this platform, ouch.

—–

A couple ideas for Dell:
Besides pre-loading the OS before you ship and having everything working out of the box…
1. Install network-manager and nm-applet (most intuitive and advanced networking tool out there for gnome)
2. Pre-set monitor resolutions to the displays consumers are purchasing. If no monitor is purchased, say for a desktop unit, tic off all possible resolutions in xserver-xorg supported by the graphics card.

Resource for NEW Ubuntu users:
http://www.ubuntuguide.org

Alternative Ubuntu PC OEM:
http://www.system76.com/





Filed in: Industry Buzz

  • Lionel – Direct2Dell

    Alexander: Thanks for the tips… I’ll be sure and share them with our Linux development team. Beyond that, wanted to clarify some details. We do indeed ship the E520n and XPS 410n desktops and the E1505 notebook with Ubuntu pre-installed—it’s not just a CD drop-in-the-box.

    Here’s a review out there that’s a bit more like what Linux users can expect: http://rishel.org/2007/06/08/ubuntu…st-impressions/

    and one more thing: here’s the Direct2Dell post that outlines what we do support out of the gate: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/arch…5/21/15563.aspx.

    By the way, that post is the second most read post since we started the blog last July. Before I leave, I’ll just say that we’re committed to doing more in this space. Stay tuned.

    Sincerely,

    Lionel Menchaca
    Digital Media Manager, Direct2Dell

  • octathlon

    Alexander,
    I feel exactly the same way, especially about the screen resolution issue. There is no way a vendor would ever sell a Windows computer that boots up with 1024 X 768 on a 1280 X 800 screen! Basically, although they are on the right track with the hardware choices they made, they didn’t follow through on the software setup.

    To be fair, they did get a lot done in a short period of time, and I hope they are actively working on improving the situation. I think they were wise to “hide” these systems from everyone but experienced Linux users at this point. The problem with the first kernel upgrade making the laptop unbootable shows they didn’t spend enough time to plan and test thoroughly before deploying, but I imagine there are Linux enthusiasts who don’t mind too much being guinea pigs while they make a few mistakes and work the bugs out, in the interest of success in the long-term. (I’m not one of them. :) I do appreciate the fact that they are consciously choosing Linux-compatible hardware as much as possible – e.g., not ATI video, etc.

    Besides the things you mentioned, they should include a CD with a setup script and whatever additional drivers are available for the hardware, such as the nVidia proprietary driver. Ubuntu doesn’t include those in the install CD for several good reasons, but the hardware vendor is not under those restrictions and must provide them.

    The advantage of buying pre-installed Linux is that the user doesn’t have to worry about these kinds of issues. Right now, you are no better off buying one of these Dells than you would be buying any other system with Linux-compatible hardware and installing/setting it up yourself. I do think Dell can succeed at this if they want to, and I hope they do.

  • http://www.alexandergrundner.com Alexander Grundner

    Actually the proprietary drivers are available on Ubuntu’s desktop. You can enable them in System > Administration > Restricted Driver Manager. In Feisty 7.04, Ubuntu has made it very easy to get drivers for NVIDIA and ATI loaded. The other way you can do this is by turning on “Desktop Effects” in your preferences.

    Here’s a screenshot from Michael Larabel who blogs about this feature.

    For people who want to learn about Multimedia Codecs in Ubuntu, check out my previous post on the topic:
    http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/3904/ubuntu_dell_pc

    Here’s a thought…. Maybe Dell should bundle Automatix into their Ubuntu PCs? They bundle AOL and such on Windows, why not? All they would have to do is direct new users to the application to enable functionality that’s not turned on by default. Seems logical to me.

  • octathlon

    But Ubuntu doesn’t include proprietary drivers, it just makes it easy for you to download/install them, which means you have to be connected to the internet, preferably broadband. Dell should provide those for you so you don’t have to do that. (Multimedia codecs are a completely different situation, there can be licensing issues involved).

    Automatix for installing restricted drivers – I believe that bypassing apt and installing them through Automatix is not recommended because it can cause problems later.

  • http://www.alexandergrundner.com Alexander Grundner

    octathlon said: But Ubuntu doesn’t include proprietary drivers, it just makes it easy for you to download/install them, which means you have to be connected to the internet, preferably broadband. Dell should provide those for you so you don’t have to do that. (Multimedia codecs are a completely different situation, there can be licensing issues involved).

    True. But the default open-source linux drivers for NVIDIA (known as “nv“) and ATI (known as “ati“) work quite well — just not for 3D effects or games. They also work with widescreen monitors (I’ve used both with my 1680×1050 Dell 2005FPW 20-inch monitor), but the user or the OEM has to (re)configure xserver-xorg.

    octathlon said: 
    Automatix for installing restricted drivers – I believe that bypassing apt and installing them through Automatix is not recommended because it can cause problems later.

    Possibly. I’d prefer to use the Restricted Driver Manager function that’s now included in Ubuntu. However, for other multimedia codecs and support for popular third party apps and useful apps not apparent to a new user, Automatrix makes installing them drop dead simple (btw, Automatix uses their own apt repository http://www.getautomatix.com/apt feisty main). I just think it would give new users a head start. But then again Dell could provide instruction on using the Add/Remove function in the Applications menu to basically do some of the same things. Also, Automatix allows users to easily install applications not included in the Ubuntu software repository and some commercial software like Skype, Google Picasa, Google Earth, CrossOver Office, etc.

  • octathlon

    And Ubuntu now makes installing any codecs automatic the first time you try to open a file that needs them, so Automatix is no longer needed for codecs. It’s still great for all the other stuff you mentioned, of course. But that reminds me, whatever happened to Linspire’s CNR project that was supposed to start working with Ubuntu and other distros? That was also supposed to make finding and installing all those apps easy, too.

    Anyway, I guess my point is that if preinstallation by Dell offers no advantages to the consumer, what’s the use? If you have to do all the setup yourself anyway, what’s the incentive to buy one of those systems from Dell instead of choosing from the large number of other possibilities open to you? I don’t want to come down too hard on Dell right away, though. I’m giving them more time and watching to see how it goes before I make any conclusions.