aysiu
July 27th, 2009, 07:58 PM
For years the conventional wisdom on the forums has been that Linux coming preinstalled will give a close-to-seamless experience for users.
Finally, Dell started preinstalling Ubuntu. And a bunch of netbook vendors started putting various Linux distros on their netbooks (before eventually switching over to XP).
For those of you who bought Linux preinstalled, did you find it to be a good experience as configured by the OEM? Or did you do your own installation of Ubuntu (or whatever your preferred Linux distro is) because the preinstalled experience was deficient in some way?
Please do not confuse my question with "Did you do your own installation of Linux because you were just curious about how it would go?" or "Did you do your own installation of Linux because you are simply more comfortable with another version of Linux?"
I want to know specifically if your preinstalled experience was deficient in some way.
Personally, since I started using Linux back in spring 2005, I've had the opportunity to buy two computers, both netbooks, both with Linux preinstalled, and both with crippled preinstalled Linux distros.
I started with the Asus Eee 701 that came with a crippled version of Xandros. At first I liked it because of the hardware compatibility (everything worked out of the box), but I quickly found that adding software repositories was difficult, making the distro prompt you for a password for root tasks was impossible, and that the flexibility of Linux had basically been taken away. So I quickly installed Ubuntu on it and had a much better experience (if a slower boot time).
Then I sold my 701 and bought an HP Mini 1120nr that came again with a crippled version of Linux, this time a crippled version of Ubuntu Hardy. It was deathly slow, and the interface simply could not be customized (can't move the taskbar, can't remove applets from it, can't change what appears in the three-column interface). Vanilla Ubuntu, after a couple of fixes for sound, runs like a dream on it, though.
Others' experiences with Linux preinstalled? Was your own installation better?
Finally, Dell started preinstalling Ubuntu. And a bunch of netbook vendors started putting various Linux distros on their netbooks (before eventually switching over to XP).
For those of you who bought Linux preinstalled, did you find it to be a good experience as configured by the OEM? Or did you do your own installation of Ubuntu (or whatever your preferred Linux distro is) because the preinstalled experience was deficient in some way?
Please do not confuse my question with "Did you do your own installation of Linux because you were just curious about how it would go?" or "Did you do your own installation of Linux because you are simply more comfortable with another version of Linux?"
I want to know specifically if your preinstalled experience was deficient in some way.
Personally, since I started using Linux back in spring 2005, I've had the opportunity to buy two computers, both netbooks, both with Linux preinstalled, and both with crippled preinstalled Linux distros.
I started with the Asus Eee 701 that came with a crippled version of Xandros. At first I liked it because of the hardware compatibility (everything worked out of the box), but I quickly found that adding software repositories was difficult, making the distro prompt you for a password for root tasks was impossible, and that the flexibility of Linux had basically been taken away. So I quickly installed Ubuntu on it and had a much better experience (if a slower boot time).
Then I sold my 701 and bought an HP Mini 1120nr that came again with a crippled version of Linux, this time a crippled version of Ubuntu Hardy. It was deathly slow, and the interface simply could not be customized (can't move the taskbar, can't remove applets from it, can't change what appears in the three-column interface). Vanilla Ubuntu, after a couple of fixes for sound, runs like a dream on it, though.
Others' experiences with Linux preinstalled? Was your own installation better?