whose taking bets on the distro dell goes with?

[eraker]

Did you guys read this:

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8436091466.html

I guessed ubuntu, but the article indicates something Novellish.

[Redman]

It does seem likely, based on comments from Dell insiders, that Novell SLED 10 (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) will be one of the supported distributions. Dell is already known to have been working with Novell to certify SLED on its business desktop line, including OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks, and Dell Precision workstations.

Not definately

[Zelmo]

SuSE and RedHat make the most sense, considering that Dell would want to offload their software support to the software provider, and Novell and RedHat have the business infrastructure to provide that support.

A few years ago, IBM selected SuSE as the distro to pre-load onto their blade servers. I'm guessing there were good reasons behind that decision, and Dell will probably come to a similar conclusion.

Of course, this all assumes Dell actually does start offering Linux pre-loaded.

[Dark_Stang]

If I had to guess I'd say they're going to go with SuSE. It's going to be something with a company backing it.

[techieMoe]

Of course, this all assumes Dell actually does start offering Linux pre-loaded.

That's where I might be willing to bet money: whether or not Dell will actually follow through with it. I think this whole "we're looking for options for Linux on the desktop" is just lip service. I'll believe it when I see a full-fledged rollout and a regular person can customize a Dell on their site with Linux pre-loaded.

Don't everybody hold your breath at once. ::

[Hollow06]

The only way a person will buy a linux computer from dell. is if they don't have the money on-hand to put together one themself and need the financial back-up and payments that dell generously offers(don't miss 2 payments..errr). Building a comp with linux is cheaper than buying from dell w/windows. If they offer it

(around march 1st) Plus I've actually compared 2 dell systems one with windows and the other with free-dos. Well to put it this way, dell only took the price down $31 w/o an OS. They say they support it, but they won't lose or break even while doing so, they will go for more money.

Though I do have a notebook coming from dell in a week.

There is a reason that this is not a big announcment on dell's website.

PS. Whats the diff b/t a laptop and a notebook. ???

[techieMoe]

PS. Whats the diff b/t a laptop and a notebook. ???

I could be wrong, but I think in light of lawsuits involving people getting burned from putting their portables on their lap, some companies started using the term "notebook" or "portable" instead of "laptop".

[carlosponti]

The only way a person will buy a linux computer from dell. is if they don't have the money on-hand to put together one themself and need the financial back-up and payments that dell generously offers(don't miss 2 payments..errr). Building a comp with linux is cheaper than buying from dell w/windows. If they offer it

thats not exactly true. I have been building my own systems for quite a few systems and its a hassle. i would like to buy a dell preloaded with Ubuntu or something else easy to use for my wife. plus due to the fact that you cant really build a notebook that a preloaded linux dell would be nice as well.

[bryansmith]

I am skeptical of a full roll-out anytime soon but should it happen, my guess is that Suse or RH/Fedora will be the distro of choice simply because, as others have stated, there will be the infrastructure to support it.

[carlosponti]

I took the survey they had and stated that they ought to offer 4 or 5 popular distros and software support could be based on the community it comes from. only thing they would support is hardware. However, I agree with Bryan and Moe that until it happens I wont believe it. There have been many promises from Dell as well as others. I for one am sick of promises with no delivery. I do see them only offering Suse or Redhat. The only draw back to limiting to one distro that they support is that if you change distros and some hardware component goes bad they wont support you on it until you put the original OS on it. believe it or not it happened. this woman had a notebook she bought from best buy, an HP, and had gotten Ubuntu installed after not getting along with windows. well the keyboard started flaking on it and they wouldn't honor the warranty when they found out it had Linux on it that is until she put windows back on it. If they offered 4 or 5 simple to use Distros with community support consumers wouldnt run into issues like that. it would make me mad if i bought a preloaded linux notebook and decided to switch to slackware and the hard drive went out but dell wouldn't honor the replacement because of the switch from red hat or suse.