[PLUG] Dell Inspiron 1420N...

Kenneth B. Hill ken at scottshill.com
Sat Aug 11 03:43:51 UTC 2007


On Aug 10, 2007, at 7:02 PM, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> 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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>

I think Dell is experiencing what we all already experienced...; that  
is that Linux is a cusotm OS tool and that there are too many distros  
out there that make it an offering that is "consistent" across the  
consumer market place.



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