[PLUG] Dell Inspiron 1420N...

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Sat Aug 11 02:02:02 UTC 2007


On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:46:37 -0700
someone <plug_1 at robinson-west.com> dijo:

> Is there a better Linux option than this from Dell?  I looked at the the 1720,
> it appears to be Vista only though.  Biggest concern is screen size  
> for drafting.
> Linux desired, it just works.  This is a work laptop to replace a flaky iBook.

I completely agree about the display on the 1420. Also, it comes with
32-bit Ubuntu, although you can run anything you want on it, really.
Other than the display I really like the options - even up to 160 GB
7200 RPM hard disk. The price is reasonable, too.

At OSCON I attended a session given by a Dell representative
specifically discussing the new Dell + Ubuntu offerings. The important
fact he told us was that Michael Dell (after looking at the 147,000
pro-Linux responses he got from IdeaStorm) gave his employees 45 days
to deliver at least one notebook and one desktop with Linux. They just
didn't have time to get more than the 1420 with 32-bit Ubuntu ready. He
assured us that 64-bit Linux and more models will be forthcoming. He
also said that part of the problem is that they want the Linux
computers to be completely open source, including drivers. That means
that they may need to modify components in other models, or write the
drivers themselves. Nevertheless, I got the definite impression that
additional announcements could come at any time.

I also got to see a 1420 at the Dell booth at OSCON. Nice computer, but
there were a couple things I didn't like (besides the display). For
one, the top that surrounds the keyboard is painted metal, which will
start looking bad in a very short time. My current laptop is going to
hold me for another year at least, so hopefully there will be more
options by the time I am in the market.



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