Ubuntu on Dell laptops here in Aus?

[Dov]

Not sure if the market out this part of the world is considered big
enough. Hey, Dells ship to here from Malaysia! Dell does offer great
bang for your buck though and it has a good Dell-Linux section on the
web. I got my Inspiron 1501 a while ago and put Ubuntu on it. Learned
enough in the process to give the following tips:

- For general Laptop selection, try and get one with nVidia instead of
ATI (although the ATI drivers for Linux are improving a lot)
- Try and get a model that is supported for Linux in the US.
- You can download the Dell version of Ubuntu Gutsy off their website
with all their hacks and drivers in it. Unfortunately it's a DVD sized
download. No idea why.
- When you reformat the hard drive, leave the two small Dell
partitions intact (one at the start of the drive and another at the
end). If you have issues with your laptop, they expect that you will
be able to run their own diagnostics on it to help them with problem
shooting. The other partition is a restore partition that restores the
whole hard drive to it's original specs when it left the factory.
- If you adapt your system on the Dell website (I recommend that you
do!), choose XP instead of Vista. The price of the OS's looks the
same, but they increase the price of the OTHER parts of the laptop if
you select Vista. Spread the price elsewhere.

I really do recommend the Dells though. They're working hard to be
Linux friendly overall and they can't be beaten on price.

While you're in NZ, Dick Smith used to sell computers without an OS
and hand you a Linux CD on the way out. Not sure if they still do
though...

dov



On Jan 11, 10:08 am, Andrew G <mrgolly... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi there. I'm probably going to get a laptop this year... and I found
> this (http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/ubuntu?
> c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dgc=IR&cid=11973&lid=471885) and am pretty
> stoked. After perusing the Dell Aussie site though, this doesn't seem
> to be an option for us.. is that right?
>
> thanks,
> Andrew
>
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