[PLUG] Dell and Ubuntu

[Pomeroy Lab]

You are right and wrong. Linux 32 bit drivers are not as compatible as Windows 32 bit drivers because there are more of them. However when you can't install Windows VISTA 64 bit on your laptop because if you did the drivers probably would not be available and you would not even be able to connect to the internet or play sounds. You may not even get your video to work resulting in a Blue Screen. Now those 32 bit drivers for Linux we were talking about well they work just fine for Linux 64 bit. Why? Because they are open source and can just be recompiled. 64 bit runs way faster on a 64 or 128 bit computer. Now Microsoft and computer manufacturers know this and so they only install Vista 32 bit on their new computers. Sure they should run faster but because they only have Windows 32 bit on them they run as slow as the computers 3 years ago. Most people don't understand this. You on the other hand have used both Ubuntu 64 bit and 32 bit so you know full well what runs faster.
 On a laptop this can be interesting anyway because most laptop hard drives are slow.

"Kenneth B. Hill" <ken at scottshill.com> wrote: 
On May 27, 2007, at 10:46 PM, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> On Sun, 27 May 2007 14:49:01 -0700
> "Kenneth B. Hill"  dijo:
>
>> I hope the built-in wireless NIC works with Ubuntu on the laptop. I
>> have a 1 year old Gateway laptop that runs on Ubuntu, and I have not
>> been able to get the built-in wireless NIC to work.
>
> I was curious about that too, so I checked the rest of the details. As
> far as I can tell, it comes with a PCMCIA wireless card as standard
> equipment. It doesn't specifically say why, but my guess is that,  
> if it
> has a built in wireless chip, it won't work out of the box with  
> Ubuntu.
> I didn't check further, as I'm not in the market for a new laptop at
> the moment. But if I were, I'd insist on "the rest of the story"  
> before
> placing the order.
>
> Another issue that has been brought up occasionally on the Ubuntu
> forums is whether it ships with 64-bit or 32-bit Ubuntu. That' another
> question I would ask before getting out the plastic.
>
> Please do not take my comments as negative toward Dell. I think what
> they've done is awesome. Even if it is not a perfect first step, it's
> still something no other major computer manufacturer has done and Dell
> deserves a major pat on the back. More importantly, I hope the sales
> figures will give Dell the bottom line support that will entice  
> them to
> expand the offerings.
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My Gateway laptop ships with 64-bit. It runs Ubuntu Edgy (I think  
this is the current version just fine); however, I had to install the  
i386 version of Ubuntu last year because of recommendations to not  
use the 64-bit version of Ubuntu at that time. I've been using an  
older Linksys wireless card (about 5 years old) on my laptop and that  
works fine. Yes, the laptop uses a PCMCIA wireless card that is built  
into the board. I think my experience is just another example of the  
lack of hardware drivers for the numerous Linux distros.
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