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Six years ago I bought an Inspiron 14 that Dell sold with Ubuntu. A few weeks ago I got an XPS 13, the model Dell now sells with Ubuntu (although I didn't purch
by sciurus 13y ago
Six years ago I bought an Inspiron 14 that Dell sold with Ubuntu. A few weeks ago I got an XPS 13, the model Dell now sells with Ubuntu (although I didn't purchase the developer version because it had a longer shipping time and I needed it ASAP). Unfortunately, even on this "reference" hardware there are many frustrations.
I installed 64-bit Ubuntu 13.04. Supposedly all of the special tweaks Dell makes to the version of Ubuntu 12.04 they install on the developer edition are included in 13.04. At first, I was unable to boot the installer; I had to switch the boot mode to Legacy from UEFI. Graphics don't work at the login screen; you have to switch to another virtual console and restart LightDM or just enable automatic login. Adjusting the display brightness doesn't work. If I connect it to my TV, X locks up until I disconnect it. Some of Unity's multitouch gestures work, but some don't. I haven't found any way to configure the touchpad; I'd really like to be able to middle-click.
Today I hooked up my Nexus 4. Rhythmbox, Ubuntu's default media player, sees it as an MTP device but locks up and crashes if you try to transfer any music to it. I switched my Nexus 4 from MTP to PTP mode and fired up Shotwell, Ubuntu's default photo manager. It saw the Nexus 4 as a camera but reported an error and failed when I tried to import my photos from it. At least I can transfer files to and from it using the file manager, but if I try to open any files without copying them to my computer first, it fails.
- steveklabnik 13y agoIf you didn't buy the version with the OS installed, then it's not the same comparison. When you buy a MacBook, OS X is already installed and working. I don't know a whole lot about the Dells, but isn't the same true otherwise?
- herge 13y agoI bought a Macbook Pro with OSX 10.8 already installed, and I am pretty sure I will not have the same problems as sciurus if I buy 10.9. Dell could offer support for 13.04, or maybe Canonical could work to better support one of the few laptops out there with ubuntu on it out of the box.
- steveklabnik 13y agoIf a Dell was purchased with Ubuntu pre-installed, I'm sure that a `sudo apt-get dist-upgrade` wouldn't bork during installation either.
- herge 13y agoI think you mis-read sciurus' comment. He said that installing ubuntu 13.04 caused all sorts of problems. Are you saying he would not have had those problems if he did 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'?
- steveklabnik 13y agoYes, being 'unable to boot the installer' would never happen, by definition.
- Raticide 13y agoIf you have to use the command line then you've already failed.
- steveklabnik 13y agoThere is a GUI equivalent.
- skoob 13y agoI bought an XPS 13 with Ubuntu 12.04 installed. I had absolutely no issues when I upgraded to 13.04.
- sciurus 13y agoAnd if I wipe a MacBook's hard drive, I'll be able to reinstall and everything will still be working. Anyway, the blog post I was responding to doesn't make this distinction. It argued that there are certain laptop models that you can purchase and expect to be as well supported by a Linux distribution as Apple hardware is by OS X. Other people have pointed out that this isn't true for many Thinkpads. I wanted to let people know that even the Dell hardware he mentioned has problems. Additionally, I wanted to point out that it isn't just a question of compatibility with the computer itself. There are many peripheral devices, like smartphones, that matter.