Ask your questions about how Dell+Ubuntu support is handled by Canonical

[magicfab]

Hi,

I will be glad to answer any questions people may have here, publically, about how commercial support obtained with Dell computers is handled by Canonical. Please start a new thread if you have an actual technical support question! I will not answer those here.

A few days ago I also posted a number of online resources with lots of information about Dell and Ubuntu (http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/05/24/a-few-notes-about-dell-and-ubuntu-support/). If you haven't see that, it may answer many of your questions.

I don't pretend I can answer everything, but I thought it would be nice to make my self available here, although this is not part of my "official" work at Canonical.

I will be answering as time permits, and with the information I may have at hand, to the best of my knowledge. This is volunteer work so it may take sometime before I answer. Thanks for understanding.

Thank you,

[Twinxor]

I'm a little concerned to see that the restricted 3D drivers weren't installed by default. I know there's some restrictions on their use, but it seems like a no-brainer to work something out with Nvidia to ship them by default. Any comment on why Dell ended up shipping them without the driver?

[magicfab]

I'm a little concerned to see that the restricted 3D drivers weren't installed by default. I know there's some restrictions on their use, but it seems like a no-brainer to work something out with Nvidia to ship them by default. Any comment on why Dell ended up shipping them without the driver?

I am not sure what you mean by 3D drivers - you mean 3D support ?

[SoulinEther]

I think he meant the proprietary drivers.

[Swab]

I'm a little concerned to see that the restricted 3D drivers weren't installed by default. I know there's some restrictions on their use, but it seems like a no-brainer to work something out with Nvidia to ship them by default. Any comment on why Dell ended up shipping them without the driver?

The issue is not with Nvidia, they would allow Dell/Ubuntu to redistribute their drivers. The problem (correct me if I am wrong) is that providing the drivers together with the Kernel violates the GPL.

[magicfab]

Sorry, my mistake. The Ubuntu image provided in pre-installed Dells is the same as a regular OEM installation, except for a few things. The way proprietary graphics drivers are handled, however, is the same as the plain installed Ubuntu, so, no, proprietary graphiucs drivers will not be pre-installed by default when a free version is available (which is the case for nvidia).

The proprietary version remaine easy to install, although not exactly "click here to install" such as most codecs.

[czambran]

Sorry, my mistake. The Ubuntu image provided in pre-installed Dells is the same as a regular OEM installation, except for a few things. The way proprietary graphics drivers are handled, however, is the same as the plain installed Ubuntu, so, no, proprietary graphiucs drivers will not be pre-installed by default when a free version is available (which is the case for nvidia).

The proprietary version remaine easy to install, although not exactly "click here to install" such as most codecs.

Fabian,

I just wanted to say thank you for making yourself available.

I didn't have the money to buy the canonical support when I bought my dell laptop, can I buy it directly from canonical?

[magicfab]

Fabian,

I just wanted to say thank you for making yourself available.
Not a problem :) Other colleagues are doing similar things, except they're on IRC, blogs, websites, etc. I just happened to have a forums account ready (and too much time in my mornings).

I didn't have the money to buy the canonical support when I bought my dell laptop, can I buy it directly from canonical?

Short answer, yes you can.

Long answer, see http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid for exact pricing. Buying it at purchase time with Dell is really much cheaper, specially because it's unlimited. Why is it unlimited ? I personally think because we will see many of the same bugs or problems happening and after a few weeks the resolution time for each one of them will decrease dramatically. There won't be that many new questions or unknown issues within even the next week :)

What system did you get ? Feel free to call me directly at 1-866-UBUNTU (866-982-8688 ) and I can check your service tag and provide more detailed options. I am available 3PM til midnight EST, but any of my colleagues can also help you 24/7 at the same number.


Cheers,