this is sad [LWN.net]

this is sad

Posted Jun 20, 2016 17:35 UTC (Mon) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: this is sad by anselm
Parent article: Klumpp: A few words about the future of the Limba project

> All the pre-installed Linux desktops I've seen were low-spec machines with weird Linux distributions that were built in a slap-dash way.
I've seen all kinds.

> Even the mainstream vendors that experimented with pre-installed Linux often didn't do a great job on it.
Dell is still selling Linux laptops and they actually tried to make them nice (for example, they wrote DKMS for Debian/Ubuntu).

Ultimately, making a Linux PC is not complicated. The fact that it has never attracted more than a trace interest is notable.

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this is sad

Posted Jun 21, 2016 15:28 UTC (Tue) by krake (guest, #55996) [Link] (2 responses)

> I've seen all kinds.

Then you are in luck.
I've never seen any other then maybe Netbooks in physical stores and online stores still fail to offer Linux as an OS option.

> Dell is still selling Linux laptops

They started recently with single models for which reports often say that things don't actually work and official blogs telling about workarounds or making promises of updates.
They have yet to actually offer Linux as an option on their machines for customers who buy computers based on requirements.

> The fact that it has never attracted more than a trace interest is notable.

We don't know, since there has never been any attempt in offering Linux as a pre-install option from any of the major vendors.
Only specialized vendors such as ZaReason or System76 do and they don't have widespread presence and only a limited range of models.

So far, whenever I needed to buy a new laptop, none of the vendors who's products met the requirements closely enough to get into the final consideration was able to offer the device without OS, let alone with Linux.

It is great if that is different in the place where you are from.

this is sad

Posted Jun 21, 2016 21:49 UTC (Tue) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

> They started recently with single models for which reports often say that things don't actually work and official blogs telling about workarounds or making promises of updates.
You mean, 8 years ago is "recently"? And their models are reasonable.

> So far, whenever I needed to buy a new laptop, none of the vendors who's products met the requirements closely enough to get into the final consideration was able to offer the device without OS, let alone with Linux.
Not anymore, after anti-piracy laws got stricter.

"Reports"

Posted Jun 21, 2016 22:31 UTC (Tue) by zlynx (guest, #2285) [Link]

Going by "reports", my report is that the 2013 Dell XPS 13 Developer with Ubuntu worked really well for me. Another "report" is that I am right now using a 2015 Dell m3800, which was going to be a Developer model but I didn't want to wait so I bought the Windows 8.1 version and installed Fedora on it. It also works great.

> We don't know, since there has never been any attempt in offering Linux as a pre-install option from any of the major vendors.

Dell seems pretty major to me.

And they have the small laptop (XPS 13) and the big laptop (m3800) with Linux. I am having a hard time imagining requirements that can't be met by one or the other. Maybe price. Neither one is particularly cheap. Optical drives, wired Ethernet, or old weird ports are handled by adapters.