dell wants your votes

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Dargor · #1 Post by **Dargor** » 2007-03-13 21:37

"In response to overwhelming user demand for Linux, Dell has posted a survey on a company blog that asks 'PC users to choose between Linux flavors such as Fedora and Ubuntu, and to pick more general choices such as notebooks versus desktops, high-end models versus value models and telephone-based support versus community-based support.' Votes will be collected through March 23, and Dell plans to use the feedback to begin selling Linux-based consumer PCs."

http://www.dell.com/linuxsurvey

go vote and spread the joy that is linux.

swirling_vortex · #2 Post by **swirling_vortex** » 2007-03-14 01:58

I voted Debian Stable (using the Other box) because Ubuntu is nice, but the general public isn't going to upgrade to every single release (unless you use the LTS version, but Ubuntu hasn't proven that yet cause they're too new).

In my opinion, I think HP will be the first one because they're always held an interest in *nix.

My next choices would be RHEL and then Ubuntu LTS. I wouldn't recommend Fedora because of how easily it can break.

Still, I'm glad a major pc vendor is starting to show interest in the Linux desktop.

Dargor · #3 Post by **Dargor** » 2007-03-14 03:13

good on you.

i think debian stable has a bad habbit of getting too old to be installed on modern hardware which dell might not be into. They/someone could produce alternate install disks.. i guess it depends how much they want to help people fix ubuntu over make custom install cd's.

Fluenza · #4 Post by **Fluenza** » 2007-03-14 11:13

Dell should just put together their own distro and support that. How much effort could it possibly take to put together a distro? Practically everybody and their brother has their own Linux distro.

Or, why even bother with Linux? Why not offer Solaris or something as their *nix option? Not that I really care what Dell does, my next box will be a Sun.

Pobega · #5 Post by **Pobega** » 2007-03-14 11:38

Dell should just open their own repository with some updated programs (OO.org, small drivers, basically things that are important but can't break a system) and keep the desktops as Stable. At least that's what I think, I mean, it can't be that hard to support 500 or so packages (Including drivers and easy-to-compile things).

Grifter · #6 Post by **Grifter** » 2007-03-14 11:39

stable for a workstation? no way, always testing for workstations, stable is for servers

Pobega · #7 Post by **Pobega** » 2007-03-14 11:43

Grifter wrote:stable for a workstation? no way, always testing for workstations, stable is for servers

That is true, but the problem is nobody wants their systems to break. I think Etch is up to date enough to be used on most new computers, even in a year or so.

And if someone really wants up to date packages all they have to do is edit /etc/apt/sources.list, apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade.

Grifter · #8 Post by **Grifter** » 2007-03-14 11:45

frankly I think they are more likely to break with stable, it just doesn't have the hardware support testing does

swirling_vortex · #9 Post by **swirling_vortex** » 2007-03-15 02:36

Hmm, perhaps Debian could do what Red Hat does & release those little "service packs" that allows older software to run on newer machines.

Grifter · #10 Post by **Grifter** » 2007-03-15 03:09

it's a separate repository called backports, although I may be mistaken in this, I've never actually used it, I only use testing myself

thamarok · #11 Post by **thamarok** » 2007-03-15 07:26

Grifter wrote:it's a separate repository called backports, although I may be mistaken in this, I've never actually used it, I only use testing myself

As far as I know, backports contains newer versions of applications and not older versions.. Anyway, Debian doesn't need those "service packs" to run older software, because I am running some Sarge applications in Etch without any problems.

miksuh · #12 Post by **miksuh** » 2007-03-15 10:48

Grifter wrote:stable for a workstation? no way, always testing for workstations, stable is for servers

I don't agree with you. I want stable desktop, I really don't care about newest software versions which always do have lots of bugs. I want desktop which is well tested and stable. that's why I will use Debian stable. That's also one big reason why I will NOT switch to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is full of bugs and that's unacceptable.

I did not have any problem using Sarge on Desktop. I upgraded to Etch last august merely because release was supposed to be couple of months away. I thought that Etch might already be stable enough, and yeah I have been wery happy with Etch. It has everything I need. I will NOT continue using testing after Etch is released. I want stable desktop, so I will continue to use Etch when it's stable.

I will probably upgrade again month or two before next release. I will not upgrade to Lenny before that.

miksuh · #13 Post by **miksuh** » 2007-03-15 10:54

Dargor wrote:good on you.

i think debian stable has a bad habbit of getting too old to be installed on modern hardware which dell might not be into.

Well I think that's quite ridiculous. Eg. WinXP was released over 5 years ago and people are still using and installing it. Debian Sarge was released less than 2 years ago. I'm sure that Lenny, which will be next Debian release after Etch, will be released years before Microsoft next Windows version which will replace Vista.

Pobega · #14 Post by **Pobega** » 2007-03-15 11:00

miksuh wrote:
Dargor wrote:good on you.

i think debian stable has a bad habbit of getting too old to be installed on modern hardware which dell might not be into.
Well I think that's quite ridiculous. Eg. WinXP was released over 5 years ago and people are still using and installing it. Debian Sarge was released less than 2 years ago. I'm sure that Lenny, which will be next Debian release after Etch, will be released years before Microsoft next Windows version which will replace Vista.

Yeah, but Windows doesn't rely on repositories to install the newest programs, so it really doesn't need much besides upgrades.

Lavene · #15 Post by **Lavene** » 2007-03-15 14:30

miksuh wrote:Well I think that's quite ridiculous. Eg. WinXP was released over 5 years ago and people are still using and installing it. Debian Sarge was released less than 2 years ago. I'm sure that Lenny, which will be next Debian release after Etch, will be released years before Microsoft next Windows version which will replace Vista.

This is another thing that's impossible to compare with Windows. What determine the age of an OS is really not the time since it was released but the available software. People developing software for Windows are stuck with the current release (Try finding new software that will run on Win 95).

Linux developers create their software using the latest libs, compilers and what not. This means that Linux age much much faster than Windows. It is particularly painful with software that use plugins that's not available from the repositories. Finding the plugin that works with Debian's stable version (like Firefox in Sarge which is 1.0) is frustrating at best.

Remember that most packages in the Debian repos is not developed by Debian developers. The DD's merely package it and quite often the upstream developers don't give a flying *** about Debian sta(b)le software.

Other problems with 'legacy' software is documentation and manuals. You go to the upstream website and find manuals, faqs etc that's two or three versions newer than what you have installed.

So to many people using Stable on the desktop is not possible. Not because they crave the bleeding edge but because of trivial needs like a plugin or a manual.

Tina

Dargor · #16 Post by **Dargor** » 2007-03-15 19:20

miksuh wrote:
Dargor wrote:good on you.

i think debian stable has a bad habbit of getting too old to be installed on modern hardware which dell might not be into.
Well I think that's quite ridiculous. Eg. WinXP was released over 5 years ago and people are still using and installing it. Debian Sarge was released less than 2 years ago. I'm sure that Lenny, which will be next Debian release after Etch, will be released years before Microsoft next Windows version which will replace Vista.

thats all true but i can install winxp on my machine no problem, sarge... no.

ElTopo · #17 Post by **ElTopo** » 2007-03-15 20:03

I just put "Debian" there, without specifying "Stable" or "Testing". My only Debian Stable is a server, all other systems are Debian Testing.

mdevour · #18 Post by **mdevour** » 2007-03-15 23:57

Right now I'm still running Sarge with a few backports, and I feel the age of it when trying to deal with web sites running some of the newer multimedia things, or working with Wine, which is really OLD in Sarge and not much newer in backports as far as I can tell... So there's some things I'd like to do that will have to wait until I get around to upgrading to etch.

When etch is released as stable and has a chance to settle a little bit, I will upgrade this machine.

Once I'm confident of what I'm doing with Etch, I will seriously consider upgrading to Lenny, but only after a few months to give the developers a chance to integrate the many packages that are coming from upstream and experimental. I've heard again and again how "testing" is the best compromise between stability and currency. The more I work with Debian, the more I understand and believe that to be true.

If you're running a server that absolutely has to keep on working, stable makes perfect sense. It'll be virtually unchanged and continue to do its job for at least a year and a half or two until the next release comes out.

My desktop doesn't need that kind of bulletproof performance, and running more or less current versions of major software packages will make it easier for me to experiment and try new things with Linux.

Mike D.

garrincha · #19 Post by **garrincha** » 2007-03-31 00:26

Just checked that one of the lead stories on BBC technology news online and interactive is about Dell rolling out pre-installed Linux desktops AND notebooks PC soon. They didn't say which distro or hardware though:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6506027.stm

swirling_vortex · #20 Post by **swirling_vortex** » 2007-03-31 00:39

http://www.linuxworld.com/newsletters/l ... inux2.html
They don't mention it either, but if you look at the desktops for chinese dell, the distro that comes up is Red Flag Linux.

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