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Dell's Subnotebook To Ship With Ubuntu

Posted by timothy on Tue Aug 19, 2008 07:53 AM
from the welcome-news dept.
Linux Business Portables Hardware
k33l0r writes "Dell's entry into the sub-notebook market, the Inspiron 910, will ship with Ubuntu preinstalled. This was confirmed this morning when Gizmodo published (leaked) specifications for the Inspiron 910." I hope that's not the final form of the keyboard, though -- lots of wasted space on each side.
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Submission: Dell's sub-notebook to ship with Ubuntu by k33l0r (808028)
[+] Mandriva Joins Ubuntu With a Linux For Netbooks 64 comments
Slatterz writes "Linux publisher Mandriva has unveiled a version of its platform designed specifically for the new breed of mini laptops. Mandriva Mini features a fast boot-up, comprehensive connectivity support and multimedia codecs, and is adapted to work on key netbook platforms such as Intel's Atom. Mandriva previously offered a customised version of its 2008 Spring release for the Asus Eee PC, and was a distributor of Linux for Intel's Classmate PC initiative."
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  • That's good news (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Nursie (632944) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @07:56AM (#24657185) Homepage

    I wish my EEE 901 had shipped with ubuntu too, instead of Xandros.

    Not that it's bad for beginners, but I'm not sure I want such a toy OS. I know Ubuntu eee exists, but I'd musch rather have the official distro. Or debian...

    • Ubuntu runs fine on EEE and Classmate (Score:5, Informative)

      by xzvf (924443) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:13AM (#24657365)
      Might be obvious, but a little googling is all it takes to put Ubuntu on an EEE. Edubuntu 7.10 installed on mine with no real problems. But for normal people, yes it would be nice if it came preinstalled. The Intel Classmate comes with a version of Edubuntu 8.04 from Go2PC that is getting more stable every day. This may be Ubuntu's market if they can sign up more OEM's.
    • What's so bad about ubuntu? its basically debian with some spit shine polish.

      • Re:That's good news (Score:5, Informative)

        by Nursie (632944) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:25AM (#24657489) Homepage

        There's nothing wrong with Ubuntu.

        What I don't want is a hacked together, unsupported one-man project on what seems to be fairly generic hardware. "Ubuntu eee" is such a thing, at present, and not the official distro.

    • Re:That's good news (Score:4)

      by cetialphav (246516) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:17AM (#24657419)

      Not that it's bad for beginners, but I'm not sure I want such a toy OS.

      I've heard comments like this a lot and I am curious as to why you consider Xandros a toy operating system. I am a long time Fedora user and have been using Linux seriously for over 12 years and I am quite happy with the distribution that came with my EEE. I don't use the easy mode that the EEE defaults to (though I actually do like that mode), but nothing about the distribution seems "toy" to me.

      • At the present time I'm not aware of anyone having managed to get advanced mode going on the distribution that comes with the 901. That's why I consider it a bit of a toy OS. I should have said toy desktop perhaps.

        Either way, I'm a debian true believer that recently defected to ubuntu on the desktop.

      • Have you tried the eee (900 in my case)? The version of xandros on there is dreadful. Firstly, the package repositories are minute. Most of the packages I'm interested in aren't there (gvim, latex, xfig, gv, fvwm2, doxygen, xv, xpdf). That's one major strike against it. Secondly, it doesn't have any kind of standard login procedure, so I had to do some odd hand hacking to get fvwm2 to run.

        Other than that, the GUI is not good for "real work". I define that as work that I like to do, and for that, I use prett

    • Mandriva supports the Eee PC (Score:5, Informative)

      by flyingfsck (986395) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:48AM (#24657713)
      Mandriva supports the Eee PC directly. Just get the latest version and install it. No big deal.

    • Re:That's good news (Score:4, Interesting)

      by British (51765) <british1500@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 19 2008, @10:08AM (#24658917) Homepage Journal

      I have the opposite view. I have the default Xandros on my EEE PC and like it more than Ubuntu. Still no gcc(haven't figured that one out), but I can:

      1. Tweak my mousewheel settings(still can't find that in Ubuntu)
      2. tweak the GUI easily(through that big config manager)
      3. add/remove/tweak start menu items easily. Look at that, I added MAME to the Games section. Look at that, it put wireshark in a start menu section by itself.
      4. Effortlessly hook up to a wireless network
      5. Numerous other things that have been frustrating in Unbuntu.

      I bought a used IBM desktop(4 Ghz) and it seems sluggish with Unbuntu on it compared to the EEE. Even turning off the bells & whistles didn't do much of a difference.

  • Some specs (Score:4, Informative)

    by Dougmeister (829273) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @07:59AM (#24657227) Journal
    Items of interest (to me at least): 8.9" WSVGA TL 1024x600 (WLED) screen 2.20 lbs w/ 4-cell battery Bluetooth via mini-card (apparently not included) CPU 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz, 512K single core Intel Atom N270 Diamondville Thanks. Hope it does come in at the $299 price...

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Trebonius (29177)

        Actually, your article clearly states that the Intel processor uses less power than the Athlon toward the end. The point of that article to compare two *desktop* solutions, meaning complete motherboards.

        In this case, the total AMD system uses less power than the total Intel system, which is noteworthy, but doesn't necessarily have any bearing at all on this particular laptop, or on the Atom processor itself.

  • This sub notebook.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by BitterOldGUy (1330491) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:00AM (#24657235)
    was it originally developed or the Navy?

    Get it? Sub notebook?

    Oh, alright! I'm going back to work...well, I'll just pretend I have work.

  • I hope that's not the final form of the keyboard, though -- lots of wasted space on each side

    I reckon it IS the final look, given it's true what the source cited in the article says, and the thing is shipping next Friday.
    Anyway, you can use that space for a couple stickers...

  • I have an 8.9" eee pc running on the Intel Mobile Processor (read Celeron). I have both Ubuntu and XP running on dual boot but use Ubuntu more than often. XP is still **very** slow on the laptop and there is continuous disk activity while running it.

    • Re:Probably the right way to go (Score:4, Interesting)

      by cwAllenPoole (1228672) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @09:02AM (#24657923) Homepage
      I'm really surprised that anyone would WANT XP on this. First, MS is poo-pooing its own product. Second, it is a lot harder to get XP customized and paired down enough. Third, (at least for me), one of the big sells of MS OS's is compatibility. With this, however, I'd imagine that most of the work will be with OOo, Mozilla, or equivalent, something which is already cross platform compatible.

  • No docking support... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by east coast (590680) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:04AM (#24657279)
    This would seem a lot neater, if not more worth while, if it had a dock option. I just look at what HP did with the 1100 tablet and it's dock and think that they had the right idea with some slight short comings. Something in the same vein could have been done with this.

  • That's not the only issue with that keyboard (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The wasted space isn't the only problem. What's worse (and far, far worse IMHO) is the way the keyboard is laid out. The 3rd row down is placed too far to the left - the A and Q almost line up. Caps-Lock is WAY too short, and enter is too wide. Bit of the inverse of the crap Apple [stack.nl] once pulled off. To add insult to injury, the >, <, ? and " keys have a different size.

    Really, I'd run away from that keyboard FAST.

    • And there's no shift key on the right side.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by questro (802656)
        Look a bit closer at the picture, the right shift key is on the right side of the "up" cursor key.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bestinshow (985111)

      Yes, because it's a full function computer that requires a full-sized keyboard, with all the function keys.

      Apart from the ASD.. line being a bit too far to the left, the keyboard looks ideally suited for such a device. The alpha keys are larger to make typing easier, at the cost of the other keys.

      Who uses caps lock apart from people who have remapped it to control?

      • I've been waiting for a chance to post this rant...

        Will someone in charge of the tech sites please ban "Laptop" people from reviewing these Netbook thingies. Please god let the "PDA" people review them instead? I'm sick of reading the constant complaints about the size, travel and weighting of the keyboards compared to top of the range laptops and even desktops. Will someone therefore please review these for what they are - PDAs with keyboards - and compare the keyboard to, say, any Windows-Mobile stylus device or even the iPhone. Yes, those ones without keyboards at all.

        And yes, we know you can't play doom 4 on them under vista, that's because WE DONT NEED THE Mhz to do that. 400MHz + 128MB RAM + a few gig storage is perfectly adequate for browsing ebay from the bathtub, cheers /rant

        sorry about that

    • Dammit! I want all 101 keys on my subnotebook! And I don't care if that means that they're all 3mm x 3mm!

  • If it's a linux computer... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Squapper (787068) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:08AM (#24657321)
    ...then print Tux on that silly windows key please?
  • Linux won't really get to Proliferate much if the server keeps melting as this one has ;)

  • Just got my eee1000H for $556 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Fantastic Lad (198284) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @11:23AM (#24660069)

    The other 10" netbook (MSI Wind) is selling on Amazon for $569. It seems that netbooks with 10 inches of screen (measured diagonally btw) are settling into that price range.

    I must say, however, that $300 for an 8.9" screen is a darn good deal for a powerful netbook from Dell. --Though for 10" screens, the Asus eee line still impresses me more than any of the others so far; they've got a year's worth of product development under their belts at this point where everybody else is still scrambling, and Asus seems to be the only manufacturer which isn't shipping units with "crystal-bright" screens, which I know some people prefer, but for me clinched the deal by virtue of its absence. --The other perk is the presence of a massive user support community. This is the first time, possibly in my life, when I've found myself in with the popular crowd. It feels kind of weird to have the 'it' item. I can't decide if I feel dirty or elated. It's rare when "Popular" also means "Damn Good".

    The other elements which I'm impressed with on the 1000H are the default 6-cell battery and its nice long life, the responsive and properly sized keyboard with its sensible layout, the screen real-estate, great audio, quiet fan/HD, and excellent body design, (it's nice and rugged; doesn't feel cheaply made like some of the other netbooks I've handled). I was also pleasantly surprised with the hibernate feature in XP; until it came through the door, I was resigned to putting up with long start-up times, but with the hibernate feature it goes from cold to me typing at full speed in about 14 seconds, though I suspect that would be longer if I doubled up the memory. It currently has 1 gig, but I've not noticed any limiting issues with that at all. A gig is a lot; though it might become a bit annoying if I decide to do any heavy Photoshop work on the thing, although I can't realistically see that happening very often.

    The one thing I do find is that the trackpad keys are a bit too stiff for my liking. --But at least they're in the right place, at the bottom of the trackpad. I don't know what several other designers were thinking when they put them to the sides. Weird. The only other thing I would caution people about is that the eee1000 is just this side of being too big and heavy. You need a bit of muscle to hold it in one hand while typing with the other; it's best on your lap or knee or some other surface. A Blackberry it is not, but it still slides very nicely into a backpack and it's easy enough to treat like a book around the house rather than a piece of fold-up furniture.

    I've not tried out the 8.9" eee, and it does seem that the competitors have some nice netbooks out in that range, so I don't know if I'd go with Asus for one of those if I wanted the smaller screen. This new Dell machine, aside from the glossy screen, looks like a pretty decent choice if they can deliver on the projected price.

    -FL

      • Ho, ho! And the horses are at the gate!

        Levono is being a bit coy, it seems. (Just went through their S10 info).

        You get half the memory (512Mb) and half the battery size (3 cell) of the eee1000, and there's apparently no option on their sales page to upgrade either of these on the main package. Going through their accessories page, you can separately order a gig of memory for $35 and they don't even offer a 6 cell battery yet for the S10. I would hope they make that option available soon for the main pack

    • But does it run linux?

      The question to ask is if it will run Windows? Dell will probably end up giving XP as an option. However, are they pre-installing Ubuntu because XP will not run satisfactorily with the base system configuration (512MB RAM, etc.), or because XP is more expensive?

      I strongly suspect the former, and that Linux flavours and derivatives are being preferred by the OEMs mainly because they're leaner, faster, and offer much better boot times (aka Instant-On versions such as Splashtop) than XP or Vista. This has prob

      • However, are they pre-installing Ubuntu because XP will not run satisfactorily with the base system configuration (512MB RAM, etc.), or because XP is more expensive?

        In a way, a combination of both. My 7-year-old Dell PC has a CPU and RAM comparable to today's netbooks (0.86 GHz PIII, 384 MB RAM), and it runs Windows XP, Firefox 3, VirtualDub, Lockjaw, and StepMania just fine. But then I keep it comparatively clean, without a lot of icons in the tray and with no antivirus other than ClamWin's weekly full system scan. I'm guessing that XP will run just fine on this system, but the trialware that subsidizes an XP license does not.

        You wanna bet that they aren't already working on an "XP-Lite" version to counter this threat?

        There already is Windows XP Lite. It's cal

    • Re:That is great news! But.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Skrynesaver (994435) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:07AM (#24657317) Homepage
      Of course it will, but at least you can seek better paid support elsewhere (Canonical) or indeed the quite excellent ubuntuforums.org for free. I love the way the UMPC market is exposing Linux to people who would never have heard of it otherwise, there was even an MS spokesdrone in our local computing press saying that "Yes, the Linux option is suitable for beginners but experienced users would prefer the Windows option on the EEE", laugh, I nearly wet myself.

      • MS ISV astroturf (Score:5, Insightful)

        by xzvf (924443) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:24AM (#24657475)
        I'm involved with a fairly large Linux desktop deployment and I've noticed that whenever a blog post or article is posted for desktop Linux, a lot of MS apologist come in stating that Windows is a better deeper experience and you are shortchanging your students/workers by giving them Linux. While I'm a Linux zealot, I am willing to deploy Windows and MAC when I need to and it makes since from a performance/cost perspective. I don't believe this is a paid guerrilla advertising campaign from MS, but suspect that a lot of small ISV's that tied their livelihood to supporting Windows installations are nervous about the growing market share of Linux. It might be less than 1% of the market, but start paying attention when you walk into a call center, retail store, hospital or school. Actually paying attention may not be enough because they are well camouflaged.

        • Re:MS ISV astroturf (Score:5, Informative)

          by ozmanjusri (601766) <`moc.liamtoh' `ta' `bob_eissua'> on Tuesday August 19 2008, @09:41AM (#24658487) Journal
          I don't believe this is a paid guerrilla advertising campaign from MS

          Can I ask why not?

          I agree there's a significant effort from ISVs who are encouraged to "get out on the web and support the product", but there's also abundant evidence that Microsoft uses marketing groups like DCI and Law Media Group to astroturf more directly.

          Why wouldn't they?

        • Re:MS ISV astroturf (Score:5, Interesting)

          by should_be_linear (779431) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @10:06AM (#24658895)
          Actually, I noticed exactly the same thing. There were 2 guys sitting on our *linux* news-server day and night and waiting for any article on, specifically, eee or OpenOffice. As soon as there was one, they immediately started stupid trolls on how windows rules (sadly, no rating system on that site) so I asked them: Are you guys professional trolls? I mean, PR agencies could easily be involved in this, so I am asking. They didn't answer and I learned they always quit discussion (trolling) after this little question. I wonder why, they could lie they really believe in what they are saying.

        • Re:MS ISV astroturf (Score:5, Funny)

          by flitty (981864) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @10:13AM (#24658987)
          Well, because Windows IS a better, deeper experience. DUH!

        • Re:MS ISV astroturf (Score:5, Insightful)

          by bigstrat2003 (1058574) * on Tuesday August 19 2008, @10:42AM (#24659449)

          While I'm a Linux zealot, I am willing to deploy Windows and MAC when I need to and it makes since from a performance/cost perspective.

          Then you are not, in fact, a Linux zealot. A zealot wouldn't care about those factors. No, you're a Linux supporter, and have the damn sense to recognize that Linux isn't always the proper choice. This isn't (ok, it is, but it shouldn't be) out of the ordinary.

      • Experienced users are indeed more likely to prefer the Windows option -- as long as they are experienced as in they have Windows experience.

        And Windows users who try to use their existing skills and habits generally also find themselves having many issues. In fact, Windows "Power Users" frequently have more problems with Linux than people with little or no computer experience, for this very reason. Typically, the most vehement "Linux is not ready for the desktop yet" arguments come from ingrained Windows users who reason that if they couldn't make the switch, a less-experienced user has no chance. But this is the exact opposite of the truth.

        http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm [oneandoneis2.org]

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by east coast (590680)
      Maybe you posted as an AC just to get a quick jab in but I would pose that question seriously.

      It seems that, with the gadget crowd, Linux support is always sweet in the beginning as they oogle over the new machine but as soon as something new comes out the old gadget is left to collect dust. Suddenly Ubuntu moves on a version or two and people still running the old gadget are left in no man's land with support issues. The people who really understand Linux are too busy with the new gadget to support the ol

      • Re:That is great news! But.. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Narpak (961733) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @08:51AM (#24657773)
        I reckon a nootbook, or even a subnootbook, is a bit more than just a "gadget". Its in both the interest of people working on Ubuntu, and companies like Dell who use their product, to keep functionality going.

        While the community based support for Linux have always been enough to cover my needs; there are a number of people offering Linux support who is more than willing to take your money and give you all the additional help you would require.

        With the Open Source community continuing to grow I am certain it is only a matter of time until Linux gets the recognition it is beginning to deserve.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by flyingfsck (986395)

        A gadget like this doesn't need support. You install Linux and then you leave it alone - don't fix it if it ain't broke. It will keep running for many years and keep working just like the day you bought it.

        How often do you update the software in your refrigerator?

      • Re:That is great news! But.. (Score:5, Informative)

        by steeviant (677315) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @09:14AM (#24658099)

        You a little deliberately short on specifics, your comment might be worthwhile if you were able to pinpoint a device that shipped with Linux on it where the creator of that product has dropped support, but is still around. Even so, you're still very vague with what's supported or not.

        It seems that, with the gadget crowd, Linux support is always sweet in the beginning as they oogle over the new machine but as soon as something new comes out the old gadget is left to collect dust. Suddenly Ubuntu moves on a version or two and people still running the old gadget are left in no man's land with support issues. The people who really understand Linux are too busy with the new gadget to support the old. It's the long term user who's left holding the bag.

        This is a large company (Dell) buying software from another reasonably large company (Canonical) so it's not really fair to talk about devices that maybe never supported Linux in the first place, made by who knows, supported only by geeks.

        You talk specifically about Ubuntu dropping support for features from a previous release and then ignoring the users left out in the cold because of the new-shiny. Could you name an example of that actually happening? Because it's been my experience that my hardware works better with each release, and I haven't seen forums bubbling over with ignored support issues with older hardware as you imply.

        Will Dell continue to support this as the distro progresses or should the unit come with a sticker warning the user not to upgrade beyond the current version? It's kind of burned my ass the number of times I tried to pull some older gadgets over to Linux only to find that if I use the distro's 2 or 3 year old package I was fine but if I wanted the latest and greatest I was busied with the work of just getting basic functionality going. The upgrade cycle concerns me too much in some cases to give Linux a try if the only support I have is community based.

        Not everyone in the world has the weak consumer laws that you're obviously subject to... if Dell release a product and drop support for it within an unreasonably short timeframe, in much of the world they'll be pilloried and made and example of by the law - because many countries don't allow people to drop a product and run unless they're out of business. So no, I'd say there's no chance whatsoever that Dell will not "continue to support" it, unless they want to be bankrupted in court.

        At any rate there's far, far less chance that Dell will fail to support an operating system that they can pick up and fix themselves if necessary, than there is that they'll drop support for something where they have no recourse if the manufacturer decides to discontinue support. Like, Ooh... I don't know... Windows, and most of the third party device drivers for it.

        I likely will not go "100%" Linux for a long long time. Most of it has to do with working in a Windows shop and, frankly, liking my games. But even if that wasn't an issue I still haven't warmed up to the community support aspect.

        Yes, because Microsoft is just bending over backwards to support it's customers when they have problems. It's not like anyone has to google through forums to find solutions for windows problems because Microsoft's support is SOOOO outstanding.

        Seriously, what does Microsoft offer in the way of support to a single home user that isn't available for a cheaper price for Ubuntu or another commercially supported distribution? This supposed support sounds like a fallacy to me, pretty much like the rest of this post. It's fine that you like Windows, but there's no need to make up FUD about Linux to justify your standpoint.

        Windows seems like a perfectly fine solution for a certain class of user, and to them I say "To each their own, and mind your fucking bullshit when you talk about mine"

        • I've heard of some people having problems after upgrades but I don't believe they are very widespread.

          Actually, I'm running Ubuntu on the EEE-PC due to update problems. To get the advanced Xandros desktop working, I had to do an upgrade. Somehow in there I ended up with a circular dependency involving python, I think, which made it impossible to revert back or go forward. Installing EEEUbuntu via USB thumb drive was the easiest way to fix the issue and get a full desktop.

          • Re:That is great news! But.. (Score:4, Interesting)

            by suggsjc (726146) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @10:04AM (#24658869) Homepage
            Yes, that's a bug...and one I recently encountered. But the fix is easy (but admittedly not obvious). You just kill the processes that hang and then reinstall the locales package once you restart. I fully agree that manually killing processes is not something you want your average user to have to do, but the workarounds are out there and (for the most part) clearly documented in those links you speak of.

            I think this discussion started from someone wondering if Dell will continue to support this laptop several years down the road. To me it seems that as hardware matures its support just gets better. Just think of how many posts you hear about people putting xubuntu on their "old P2 sitting around collecting dust" and it "just works" because that hardware is well understood. So as long as Dell provides enough information about the hardware at the onset, then it will be supported well at first and as bugs/issues arise they will be incorporated into the mainstream codebases.

    • Re:Eh? (Score:4, Informative)

      by gEvil (beta) (945888) on Tuesday August 19 2008, @09:32AM (#24658363)
      Pre- is for events... not verbs. A machine with no operating system installed at all would be "pre"-installed. A "pre"-heated oven would be room temperature.

      Curious, but both Merriam-Webster [merriam-webster.com] and the Oxford English Dictionary seem to disagree with you. Since you need to have a subscription to the OED, I'll quote what they say:
      pre-, prefix
      With verbs, or participial adjectives and verbal nouns derived from them, in sense 'fore-, before, previously, in advance'.

      Would you like to amend your statement to say that the OED is killing the English language? Because that would be a pretty silly argument to make.

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