Ubuntu on Dell - Good for Linux or just for Canonical?

According to the stories I have read Canonical will make sure all the hardware plays right before the end of May. From my experience playing with similar hardware with Ubuntu it won't take much effort to get it working even if Ubuntu would not work properly on that hardware at present.

Will they use proprietary drivers? My guess is yes since Ubuntu have spent a lot of time in the last few months developing a package to do exactly that (restricted-manager).

That would work for the Nvidia driver but not for the ndiswrapper-powered Broadcom Windows driver. And even then it's a nightmare to get working. The most heared suggestion/complaint I hear over here from Ubuntu people is "stay far, far away from Broadcom" (right along the "stay away from ATI too" line).

Dell's engineering policy toward Linux drivers was explained at http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/03/28/9655.aspx "Linux: Driver Support is Key"

(A hint about what's what inside Dell: When it comes from Matt, it's not marketing fluff. (You'll find his name in the kernel source files, for example.))

If they're going to stick to that policy then they'll have to replace the Broadcom wireless cards with something that's supported under Linux. It's okay to advice your customers to buy Linux supported hardware (e.g. printers) but the wireless cards are supplied by Dell themselves. The customer has no say over that.

My thought is that it might not be so good for Canonical. In the optimistic world where they sell well it could lave more support being demanded than capacity a common problem with sudden growth for that area of companies.

If I understand your post correctly, I agree: Dell alone has always had trouble keeping enough support staff to keep their promises.

Apparently Dell's "standard" promise: "24/7 support of everything on the order, including the OS and paid-for apps for ever and ever" is not going to be presented for buyers of the Ubuntu systems. More like "24/7 support of all hardware on the order and call Canonical about anything else."

This could be a problem, knowing Dell's customers.

Yes and no. The customers will call the Dell helpdesk, who will probably try to sell then a canonical support contract and transfer their call (or simply give Canonical's phone number).

Having been a Dell Technician, when I hear the accusation that Dell's phone techs are "trained monkeys," my response is always, "What do you mean trained?"

> "What do you mean trained?"

Support is a cost center. Training costs money. Guess what's one of the first things to get cut when belt tightening time comes around. The problem is that once tightened, the belt never seems to get loosened again.

jdixon:

100% right. In my case, the training at Dell had been dropped long before I got there in 2000.

Taking Tech Support calls for Dell is much like "beating your head on a brick wall."

May explain my eccentricities having done it for 5 years straight.

>May explain my eccentricities having done it for 5 years straight.

So...you'd have been better off doing it stoned?