5 ms·

When I saw this, I was about to comment about how in seemingly every single case of a major laptop vendor selling a Linux model, it turns out the Linux version

When I saw this, I was about to comment about how in seemingly every single case of a major laptop vendor selling a Linux model, it turns out the Linux version is unavailable in the UK. Then at the end of the article, I saw it list the UK as a country in which the laptop is available, and was pleasantly surprised: "As of today, the Dell XPS 13 Plus developer edition with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is available in the following countries (available configurations may vary by country):" The words "United Kingdom" are even a link to the Dell UK page to buy it. I click on the words. The configure-and-buy page opens. Operating system: Only Windows 11 is listed. Just... what? What is going on here? They explicitly said the Ubuntu edition is available in the UK, and then it isn't. Why does it feel like there's some bizarre conspiracy to deprive people in the UK of the Linux SKUs?

Freak_NL 4y ago
Call them. :( I had the same problem in the Netherlands with my XPS 13 with Ubuntu 20.04. The local website didn't list it, but when I gave the phone rep one of the codes they use for it on the US website they could order it (they were genuinely surprised at that). Dell's website really sucks, and it hides or shows things based either on outdated inventory data, or really black-boxy algorithms.
- eCa 4y ago
  > Dell's website really sucks Even their cookie box is weird. I’ve never seen ”Declinate all” as an option.
  - Freak_NL 4y ago
    I agree with you on the weirdness, but I actually got the 'Decline All' option just now. The weirdness then? The other option is called 'Everyone's the Acceptor'. I… guess something to do with having en_GB as language set in my browser? Am I the only one getting this option to accept cookies for everyone? It feels like a huge responsibility. (Screenshot: https://postimg.cc/t1D1n3Pq https://postimg.cc/t1D1n3Pq)
    - superhuzza 4y ago
      The Dell website has a few of those development "left-overs" littered across the site. I saw that same "Everyone's the acceptor" at least a year back and it still hasn't been fixed.
- michaelt 4y ago
  Did you get a choice in keyboard layout? Or did the US SKU give you a US keyboard?
  - Freak_NL 4y ago
    I didn't notice to be honest, because the Dutch use the US layout with the only difference being € printed on the 5 keycap to the right of the numeral. Mine has the € on the 5, and ₹ on the 4. I suppose that might be some US international layout.
black_puppydog 4y ago
Same for France. I've been continually "impressed" by how manufacturers (this is both Dell and Lenovo, the two big ones I'd personally check) list Linux devices in their US stores but then they're unavailable in other countries. The filtering functions of their shops insist there's no options for Linux laptops. Then you use full text search and some show up. Obviously not the dev laptops I'd have wanted, but still. These companies need to get their act together; it's unbelievable how bad their online shops are in 2022.
- vladvasiliu 4y ago
  Some are even worse. I'm not sure why exactly providing Linux would vary by region, I don't expect it to have any kind of regulatory issue, like say radios would. But a few months ago, I had bought an HP EliteBook 845 G8 for work. Note the 5, it's the AMD version. We went through an intermediary to buy (our usual supplier), and I suspected there was some funny business going on, since it physically had a Realtek WiFi card while the merchant's description said Intel and I specifically wanted Intel. This wasn't some kind of shady seller off Amazon, mind, but a reputable local business. Lo and behold, HP's site didn't have any such model. I was checking it from the computer in front of me. Not only did their online store not seem to carry any EB845, even the "models" only tangentially mentioned it. They wouldn't show any details when clicking on it. But if I went to Google and looked for the computer's manual, it would show up, on the local HP France site, in French. The warranty check would correctly identify the product, with the correct country and date of purchase. Digging around the manuals, with my SKU in hand, it was indeed supposed to have the RTL Wifi card.
- black3r 4y ago
  At least you live in a country where you have the official shops available.., I still don't understand to this day what's the problem in having one e-shop that ships to whole EU, even if they didn't support all the languages. In Slovakia there's no official e-shop for Dell, Google, Apple (and presumably others), you have to go through resellers, where prices are higher and vary from one shop to another, and most of them don't have the build your own system option and/or don't list all available configurations...
bdcravens 4y ago
Interestingly, selecting Ireland does show the Ubuntu option (many other countries from that list do not)
xps13nolinux 4y ago
11 of the ~ 25 links are not actually loading. 10 of the links do actually have the Ubuntu option: USA, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Norway 3 of the links DO NOT have the Ubuntu option: Germany, France, UK
- usr1106 4y ago
  It's been a couple of months when I visited the Dell website, but the experience was horrible. I could not even find out whether they sell directly (as they exclusively did many years ago) or via resellers here in Finland. They had several links to resellers, but all of them were broken. Visiting those businesses directly did not result in satisfactory results either. We still have a Dell laptop bought as high end developer machine well over 10 years ago running Linux as surf PC here at home. The support Web site was excellent back then and the build quality obviously, too. Nowadays they seem to be unable to sell. No idea whether it would be worth making any efforts to buy.
benhoyt 4y ago
Strange. A couple of weeks ago I ordered one on the .uk site and shipped to a UK address. It was before this announcement, but it had Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed. I haven't picked it up yet so I can't confirm that it actually has Linux installed, but that's what it said on the website and the order confirmation.
mrtksn 4y ago
i18n is hard and I haven't seen anyone other than Apple do it properly. On Dell's website, when you visit the UK store and you are not in the UK, it prompts you with a modal that covers the center of the screen to switch to your local version and when you switch, it does't take you to the product page or sorry this is not available in your country page but to homepage. It's such a poor experience. On the other hand, if you visit Apple, Apple will simply provide you a passive but prominent banner at the top with an option to change country store and it will take you to the correct product page. The website pages are consistent between countries and you can even guess the product page in another country by changing country code in the URL(http://apple.com/uk/iphone-13/ http://apple.com/uk/iphone-13/ => http://apple.com/de/iphone-13/ http://apple.com/de/iphone-13/). I guess, unlike Apple, Dell and others use fancy optimisation and analytics to provide the best and most optimised local experience which leads to inconsistencies and complexities.
happymellon 4y ago
I remember the last time Dell did the whole Ubuntu on Dell about 15-20 years ago. They claimed it was available in the UK but it wasn't really. Have they stopped gimping the Linux versions by removing hardware that doesn't have Linux drivers like the fingerprint reader rather than doing a Lenovo and writing the drivers for them?

Freak_NL 4y ago

Call them. :( I had the same problem in the Netherlands with my XPS 13 with Ubuntu 20.04. The local website didn't list it, but when I gave the phone rep one of the codes they use for it on the US website they could order it (they were genuinely surprised at that). Dell's website really sucks, and it hides or shows things based either on outdated inventory data, or really black-boxy algorithms.

eCa 4y ago
> Dell's website really sucks Even their cookie box is weird. I’ve never seen ”Declinate all” as an option.
- Freak_NL 4y ago
  I agree with you on the weirdness, but I actually got the 'Decline All' option just now. The weirdness then? The other option is called 'Everyone's the Acceptor'. I… guess something to do with having en_GB as language set in my browser? Am I the only one getting this option to accept cookies for everyone? It feels like a huge responsibility. (Screenshot: https://postimg.cc/t1D1n3Pq https://postimg.cc/t1D1n3Pq)
  - superhuzza 4y ago
    The Dell website has a few of those development "left-overs" littered across the site. I saw that same "Everyone's the acceptor" at least a year back and it still hasn't been fixed.
michaelt 4y ago
Did you get a choice in keyboard layout? Or did the US SKU give you a US keyboard?
- Freak_NL 4y ago
  I didn't notice to be honest, because the Dutch use the US layout with the only difference being € printed on the 5 keycap to the right of the numeral. Mine has the € on the 5, and ₹ on the 4. I suppose that might be some US international layout.

black_puppydog 4y ago

Same for France. I've been continually "impressed" by how manufacturers (this is both Dell and Lenovo, the two big ones I'd personally check) list Linux devices in their US stores but then they're unavailable in other countries. The filtering functions of their shops insist there's no options for Linux laptops. Then you use full text search and some show up. Obviously not the dev laptops I'd have wanted, but still. These companies need to get their act together; it's unbelievable how bad their online shops are in 2022.

vladvasiliu 4y ago
Some are even worse. I'm not sure why exactly providing Linux would vary by region, I don't expect it to have any kind of regulatory issue, like say radios would. But a few months ago, I had bought an HP EliteBook 845 G8 for work. Note the 5, it's the AMD version. We went through an intermediary to buy (our usual supplier), and I suspected there was some funny business going on, since it physically had a Realtek WiFi card while the merchant's description said Intel and I specifically wanted Intel. This wasn't some kind of shady seller off Amazon, mind, but a reputable local business. Lo and behold, HP's site didn't have any such model. I was checking it from the computer in front of me. Not only did their online store not seem to carry any EB845, even the "models" only tangentially mentioned it. They wouldn't show any details when clicking on it. But if I went to Google and looked for the computer's manual, it would show up, on the local HP France site, in French. The warranty check would correctly identify the product, with the correct country and date of purchase. Digging around the manuals, with my SKU in hand, it was indeed supposed to have the RTL Wifi card.
black3r 4y ago
At least you live in a country where you have the official shops available.., I still don't understand to this day what's the problem in having one e-shop that ships to whole EU, even if they didn't support all the languages. In Slovakia there's no official e-shop for Dell, Google, Apple (and presumably others), you have to go through resellers, where prices are higher and vary from one shop to another, and most of them don't have the build your own system option and/or don't list all available configurations...

bdcravens 4y ago

Interestingly, selecting Ireland does show the Ubuntu option (many other countries from that list do not)

xps13nolinux 4y ago

11 of the ~ 25 links are not actually loading. 10 of the links do actually have the Ubuntu option: USA, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Norway 3 of the links DO NOT have the Ubuntu option: Germany, France, UK

usr1106 4y ago
It's been a couple of months when I visited the Dell website, but the experience was horrible. I could not even find out whether they sell directly (as they exclusively did many years ago) or via resellers here in Finland. They had several links to resellers, but all of them were broken. Visiting those businesses directly did not result in satisfactory results either. We still have a Dell laptop bought as high end developer machine well over 10 years ago running Linux as surf PC here at home. The support Web site was excellent back then and the build quality obviously, too. Nowadays they seem to be unable to sell. No idea whether it would be worth making any efforts to buy.

benhoyt 4y ago

Strange. A couple of weeks ago I ordered one on the .uk site and shipped to a UK address. It was before this announcement, but it had Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed. I haven't picked it up yet so I can't confirm that it actually has Linux installed, but that's what it said on the website and the order confirmation.

mrtksn 4y ago

i18n is hard and I haven't seen anyone other than Apple do it properly. On Dell's website, when you visit the UK store and you are not in the UK, it prompts you with a modal that covers the center of the screen to switch to your local version and when you switch, it does't take you to the product page or sorry this is not available in your country page but to homepage. It's such a poor experience. On the other hand, if you visit Apple, Apple will simply provide you a passive but prominent banner at the top with an option to change country store and it will take you to the correct product page. The website pages are consistent between countries and you can even guess the product page in another country by changing country code in the URL(http://apple.com/uk/iphone-13/ http://apple.com/uk/iphone-13/ => http://apple.com/de/iphone-13/ http://apple.com/de/iphone-13/). I guess, unlike Apple, Dell and others use fancy optimisation and analytics to provide the best and most optimised local experience which leads to inconsistencies and complexities.

happymellon 4y ago

I remember the last time Dell did the whole Ubuntu on Dell about 15-20 years ago. They claimed it was available in the UK but it wasn't really. Have they stopped gimping the Linux versions by removing hardware that doesn't have Linux drivers like the fingerprint reader rather than doing a Lenovo and writing the drivers for them?