Has anyone bought a Dell with Ubuntu preinstalled?

[tc101]

Has anyone bought a Dell with Ubuntu preinstalled? How was it? Any problems?

[LaRoza]

I ordered a Dell 910. Haven't got it yet (obviously)

Perhaps you should say "Has anyone used a Dell with Ubuntu preinstalled" :-)

[tc101]

The 910 is not listed on this page.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Do they preinstall it on other systems? If so, where is the list?

[zmjjmz]

The 910 is not listed on this page.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Do they preinstall it on other systems? If so, where is the list?

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

[LaRoza]

Do they preinstall it on other systems? If so, where is the list?

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

It is their new mini laptop costing $349 with Ubuntu.

[purplepaint]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 which came with Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed. I have since upgraded to 8.04 via the update manager and, apart from some issues with the sound after upgrading which were incredibly easy to fix with a few copied/pasted terminal commands from Dell's Linux Wiki, I haven't had a single problem (well, at least none caused by the operating system itself).

Also, it already had the media codecs installed, not that that looks particularly difficult to do manually.

[steeleyuk]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 which came with Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed. I have since upgraded to 8.04 via the update manager and, apart from some issues with the sound after upgrading which were incredibly easy to fix with a few copied/pasted terminal commands from Dell's Linux Wiki, I haven't had a single problem (well, at least none caused by the operating system itself).

Also, it already had the media codecs installed, not that that looks particularly difficult to do manually.

Same. No problems.

Ours came with 7.04 just after Christmas and a 7.10 disc in the package. The upgrade to Hardy was painless.

[chris4585]

Has anyone bought a Dell with Ubuntu preinstalled? How was it? Any problems?

I ordered a inspiron 1420n last year with Ubuntu 7.10 preinstalled, erased what they did have on there it was so stripped down, and installed the regular Ubuntu 7.10 desktop edition. (I recommend this, but do save the iso image they give you for backup)

Specs:

HDD: 160gb
RAM: 4GB
2.2ghz centrino cpu
2x 9 cell lithium ion batteries (each last up to 3 something hours
Graphics card: Nvidia 8600

the works

Basically it works like a charm, detected my wireless AP no problem, s-video to my TV works flawlessly, I was happy about it, the only down side was.. the damn brown color was not brown enough! it looks like I ordered a black laptop but its still nothing big. I've since upgraded to hardy heron with no problem clean install. All of the buttons on above the keyboard work too.

How much was it? $1,700 with all the bells and whistles.

[AndyCooll]

I bought a couple of Dell Inspiron 6400's which came with Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed IIRC (might have been 7.04, I can't remember). I've upgraded since and haven't had any problems

Anyway, when I first got them everything worked out-of-the-box. I've been very pleased with them.

:cool:

[tc101]

I ordered a inspiron 1420n last year with Ubuntu 7.10 preinstalled, erased what they did have on there it was so stripped down, and installed the regular Ubuntu 7.10 desktop edition. (I recommend this, but do save the iso image they give you for backup)


Has everyone else done the same? Why do they give you a stripped down version. Are they still doing this with 8.04?

[LaRoza]

Has everyone else done the same? Why do they give you a stripped down version. Are they still doing this with 8.04?

I don't know.

I didn't know the other computers had a stripped down version, and I knew they were given more for media playback and such.

[chris4585]

sorry for saying the wrong thing, what I mean by stripped down, the repos were nearly empty, at least they were for me, I tried to install some things and they weren't in the repos, I know I could of simply added the repos that were missing, but I decided it was better to start off clean so I know whats going on on my system

[tc101]

the repos were nearly empty

What are "repos"?

Obviously I'm new at this.

[Lorelei-]

I got a Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed back in August and I've had zero problems with it :)

As its also my first time using a Linux machine, its only adding to my perception of Linux as an ideal OS.

[Darrell Lawrence]

I bought a Dell XPS M1530 laptop preloaded with Ubuntu 8.04 about a month ago. Absolutely no problems at all. I absolutely love it. I've included an attachment of my desktop.

[ticopelp]

Two of them. Both worked fine.

[Pogeymanz]

I got an uber cheap Dell Inspiron 530n for something like $400 US! Then another $150 for a monitor.

2 Ghz dual Pentium (same as Core2Duo, but with half the L2cache)
1GB RAM
250GB HDD

I had no problems with it at all and I used the preinstalled Ubuntu 7.10 for about a month before I got the chance to install Arch Linux on it. Which also works flawlessly, by the way.

[50words]

I bought a 530n with Ubuntu preinstalled. I tried to reinstall and ran into this problem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=765195). There are easy workarounds, but they still result in overall reduced function. I was pretty disappointed that Dell couldn't get put together a truly Linux-friendly box.

[chris4585]

What are "repos"?

Obviously I'm new at this.

A repo is short for repository. Usually when you see someone mention repo they mean the software repositories.

In the terminal type


cat /etc/apt/sources.list

Those are repos, the more lines, the more repos = more software, what dell did was limit the repos, dunno why, its a easy fix none the least

[K.Mandla]

My mother bought a 1420n (I think?) and upgraded it from 7.10 (?) to 8.04. Completely painless. She even got some tech support from one of their Windows staff who had an Ubuntu live CD at home and had tried it. She absolutely loves it, and heartily recommends it.

[chris4585]

My mother bought a 1420n (I think?) and upgraded it from 7.10 (?) to 8.04. Completely painless. She even got some tech support from one of their Windows staff who had an Ubuntu live CD at home and had tried it. She absolutely loves it, and heartily recommends it.

That's awesome K.Mandla, how old is your mother if you don't mind me asking?

[K.Mandla]

Well, you can see my age on my profile page, so you can extrapolate upwards from that, and it will give you an idea. :D

[chris4585]

Well, you can see my age on my profile page, so you can extrapolate upwards from that, and it will give you an idea. :D

I see, still amazing

[matthew]

I bought a desktop system for my wife. It arrived this week. I plugged everything in, it all worked beautifully the first time. I plugged in an HP printer (that I already had) before the first boot, and it was recognized and the driver installed without me having to do anything. I am very pleased. My wife, who is very much not a techy, loves it and has had no problems so far.

I'll wait a week or two to let her use it for a while, and then I hope to blog about it more fully.

[mihai.ile]

I didn't yet but I am looking forward to buy two of XPS M1330, one for me, other for my girlfriend, just that I don't know if it's possible to buy from dell UK and ship it to Portugal, they don't have the ubuntu version here.

[Ms_Angel_D]

I haven't bought one yet, but I'm planning on my Desktop from Dell. I'm pretty excited about it too :D

[mybunche]

I would buy one if they sell them in Australia. Come on Dell. Microsoft doesn't need my money.

[notwen]

Ordered the Inspiron 1420n back when they were pre-installing Feisty. Zero issues to date. Upgrades from Feisty to Gutsy, from Gutsy to Hardy went w/o a hitch. I'd highly recommend them, check out the Dell sub-forum for more info on their pre-installed systems along w/ the issues you may/may not run into. =]

[BigSilly]

The missus bought a Dell 1525n laptop with Gutsy pre-installed earlier on this year. She's absolutely thrilled to bits with it. I themed it a bit nicer, stuck in the codecs she might need, and showed her around Synaptic. No problems at all.

Still trying to convince her to upgrade to Hardy. I'll get there....:biggrin:

[james_xxx]

I just received my 530n a few hours ago, and am in the middle of doing the upgrades right now. I went ahead and ordered the 2.5 Ghz Core 2 Quad CPU, 4GB RAM and the 256MB Radeon HD 2600 XT.

For just having taken it out of the box, I can already tell it is a nice machine, however... it already appears that this video driver (fglrx) is having some issues with this card, and I was afraid of that. I just figured that since they had this card listed, that surely they tested to see that it worked well. That does not, at this point in time, appear to be the case. This is just my first impression, so I may report back.

Also, before I ordered this machine, I spoke to a Dell support person via chat, and asked if by any chance this machine had PS/2 ports. I was assured that it did. Well, it doesn't. I should have known better. I have several PCs connected via a PS/2 KVM switch, so I need my PS/2 ports.

I may try to experiment with the OS ATI/AMD video driver to see how well that works. I may also see how well the onboard Intel video works.

[NET WT]

I am having problems with my old HP laptop, and have been wanting to replace it for some time. I have been thinking of getting the XPS M1330 for myself. Haven't bought one yet though, because I am not sure which options to get. I also want to see one in person, before I spend that much money.

[I-75]

Pat from the Linux Link Tech show got one, there are screen shots in his blog. He is really happy with it.

http://pdavila.homelinux.org:8080/blog/?p=304

Pat talks about it on the Linux link Tech Show Podcast 257

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheLinuxLinkTechShowMp3Feed/~3/358029832/tllts_257-08-06-08.mp3

[Helios1276]

I tried to buy a Dell with Ubuntu but they don't want to sell it to us paddys apparently. We are only allowed build and ship them.

[tc101]

I just received my 530n a few hours ago, and am in the middle of doing the upgrades right now. I went ahead and ordered the 2.5 Ghz Core 2 Quad CPU, 4GB RAM and the 256MB Radeon HD 2600 XT.


I am going to order one soon. I am curious about why you need all that memory.

I am thinking of getting the basic on model on this page

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

The only thing I think I want is a dual drive so I can copy CDs. What good reasons would there be to get any other upgrades?

[LaRoza]

I am going to order one soon. I am curious about why you need all that memory.


If an upgrade is cheap, it is tempting to do it :-)

Also, your link isn't helpful. Could you give the model number? Dynamic sites like that don't link to well.

[tc101]

your link isn't helpful. Could you give the model number? Dynamic sites like that don't link to well.


Sorry, I meant to say "Basic Desktop" model. Here are specs:

Dell Inspiron 530N
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2200 (1MB L2, 2.2GHz, 800FSB)
Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
17 inch SE178WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
16x DVD+/-RW Drive

This is the only link I know how to give.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

[LaRoza]

Sorry, I meant to say "Basic Desktop" model. Here are specs:

Dell Inspiron 530N
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E2200 (1MB L2, 2.2GHz, 800FSB)
Ubuntu 8.04 with DVD Playback
17 inch SE178WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
16x DVD+/-RW Drive

This is the only link I know how to give.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

That looks like it will run well, however, the geek is that is my is crying over the processor. I guess I am Core 2 Duo or better happy :-)