Last few weeks I have been one of the biggest linux newsmaker has been Dell’s decision to offer Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. My initial reaction was being very pleased. It had always been irritating for me to see the screwed up faces of dealers followed by a shaking of head when I asked them about Ubuntu or even Linux preloaded. Indeed they are not even aware what is Ubuntu.
It seemed great since it would have offered out-of-box functionality, pre-loaded codecs and restricted driver support as well. But I was a touch dissapointed when I read the review of Dell’s Ubuntu PC at this post at ubuntuforums.
The Dell XPS 410n with Ubuntu Feisty
The Dell Ubuntu PC consumer purchased a Dell XPS 410n with Feisty and had the following first impression:
Opening the box I was immediately met with a glaring view of the Windows Vista logo on the giant instruction poster. The instructions detailed how to use the remote that comes bundled with Vista for use with Vista Media Center (among other things.) Uggh. I quickly discarded that to the side. I rifled through the other documentation provided searching for any sign of a Quick Start pamphlet for Ubuntu…no luck. Nothing whatsoever in the paper documentation mentioned Ubuntu in any way and nowhere did I even see the Ubuntu logo. In fact, the Dell XPS 410 Owner’s Manual offers a significant amount of information for troubleshooting drivers, but it was all Windows-specific. Nowhere in the box was an Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn” install disc. No discs of any kind.
UPDATE:
After being contacted by Dell, I was informed that I should have received an Ubuntu install disc with the system. I did not, however. And after reviewing some others’ experiences with their machines, I realize that I am in the minority of those who didn’t get the disc.
What this points out that Dell has not bothered to take care of the packaging. The glaring issue is that there was no starter guide nor any tips, tricks, or troubleshooting for Ubuntu Feisty. Inclusion of Windows based is surprising and the vista poster … -is this a joke. What bothers me is that they did not even bother to package an Ubuntu install disc, even though in minority.
I hooked up my gear and powered it on. This machine is remarkably silent. The disk spun up and the Dell BIOS screen appeared. I was required to accept the DELL EULA by pressing “any key” in order to continue the boot process:
License Agreement in Ubuntu! This astonishes me. Why would an Ubuntu user need to agree to a Dell EULA, this beats me.
Everything else about the system is rather unremarkable. It works the same way any other Ubuntu system would. Beryl installed and runs great (after the nvidia driver was installed properly.) It uses the default Ubuntu repositories, nothing Dell-specific. There are no Dell logos anywhere on the desktop and nothing in the menus. There is no crapware (AKA unsolicited software trial-versions) installed anywhere obvious. This is basically a vanilla Feisty install. The only tinkering Dell did, (I think), was add some resos to xorg.conf and add some recovery/diagnostic partitions.
It is disappointing that Dell only included a basic vanilla install of Feisty. The dell user had to bother as any other user with installing restricted drivers. I ask why the nVidia drivers did not come installed by default when it should really have. Users who would purchase Dell’s Ubuntu PC, they will want 3D acceleration. I understand that the nVidia drivers are non free and buggy and Dell is trying to make the best of the situation but Dell should have at least offered options for installing nVidia drivers during first boot.
As I mentioned in the review, this machine is incredibly quiet. I cracked open the case and had a look inside and was delighted. They’v got some crazy fan-thing on the CPU that spins almost entirely silently. Everything inside is removable just by lifting a lever or two, or by pinching a clamp. It is very easy to add/remove drives etc. Both the hard disk and the DVD-r/w that shipped with it are SATA2. There are a total of 6 SATA channels, 1 IDE channel (two drives master/slave), 1 floppy, 3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 2 PCI-E x1, 6 rear USB, 2 front USB, 1 rear IEEE1394, front panel mic/headphone jacks. There is room for a total of two 3.5″ internal drives and 2 external 5.25″ drives as well as 2 external 3.5″ slot for floppy or mem. card reader etc. As I said, everything snaps in/out. It is extremely trivial to add/remove hardware.
A great positive. I feared that Dell might offer their old stock PCs with Ubuntu preloaded.
What the preloaded desktop should have been
- The preloaded Ubuntu should have installed the Kubuntu-desktop package as well, and offer the choice of using which desktop during startup along with applications of both GNOME and KDE installed.
- The nVidia drivers along the DVD and other non free codecs should come built in.
- The manual should contain solutions to common problems, migration assistance, as well troubleshooting tips (like fixing X-server)
- The notebooks preloaded with Ubuntu should be preconfigured for power settings as well as wireless networking.
Closing thoughts
I sincerely feel it is a brave move by Dell to offer preloaded Ubuntu Feisty. What I hope that Dell undergo a more professional approach in offering Ubuntu PCs.
The PC hardware specs were excellent and dell offered decent bundling but if they would have cared for a user manual and assistance for users through their guides (probably bundle ‘The Official Ubuntu Book’), it would have been so much better.
What I would hate is to believe that this was just a cheap marketing strategy by Dell.
