Can we get Studio Hybrid with Ubuntu?

Desktops, Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by arhere Aug 1

I LOVE the new Studio Hybrid PC's. Can we get it preinstalled with Ubuntu? This would drop the price even more and be a GREAT PC for surfing the Web and such.

If you say no to this idea, can we at least get a "Ubuntu capable" certification for the hardware?


41 Comments »

Pre-Installed Linux | Ubuntu | Fedora | OpenSUSE | Multi-Boot

Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot, Sales Strategies, Desktops and Laptops submitted by dhart 02/16/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Offer the 3 top free Linux versions for free pre-installation on all Dell PCs.

Quality free and open source software drastically lowers the cost of new PCs, and helps prevent software piracy. For example OpenOffice.org, the Microsoft Office alternative, can shave hundreds of dollars off the price of a new PC. Cast your vote for OpenOffice and other free software.

Offer easy multi-boot options with Windows Vista, Windows XP, or NO Windows (yes, Linux can entirely replace Windows!)

Offer trade-ins and Linux CDs for older model Dell PCs. Cast your vote for the mini Linux Dell PC and the Universal Education Dell PC, both utilizing free software.

Would you try Linux if it were this easy?

CHOICE is what consumers want on their new PCs, not annoying surprise circus-ware (the typical smattering of confusing 3rd party popup-infested software found on most new Dell PCs). Quality free and open source software is well behaved, and may be legally pre-installed on PCs, and legally shared with friends and family, sharing is encouraged! Cast your vote for consumer CHOICE and public transparency at Dell.


Please take a look at www.dell.com/open for linux options on the Inspiron.

1824 Comments »

Ubuntu & Win XP Dual boot; Open office and Firefox /Thunderbird

Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot, Desktops and Laptops submitted by bsteff 02/20/07

Sell desktops (and yes laptops) with dual boot of Ubuntu AND Win XP. My particular work environment cannot tolerate Vista and I don't like the control Microsoft is attempting to exert over my PC. Consumers are NOT mindless idiots!!! GEt rid of DRM. I will gladly pay for digital content and I will not sell/give it to a friend or acquaintance (read pirate/thief). GWA is bad enough with threats from Microsoft to crank up the pressure on non-genuine PC's. I am a physician and I control, to a large extent, at my hospital system what type of software we get in the form of PACS (computerized x-ray digital image viewing on local PC's - thin client) Almost all of imaging is now digital.

The threat of Microsoft DRM degrading images used for the critical diagnosis of patients is intolerable such that we are exerting considerable pressure on vendors to provide clients that run under open source. Why open source? Simplyu because it puts us back in control. If images are degraded and critical diagnoses missed, we docs and our patients are going to pay the price. Ubuntu, and other GUI's of LInux (such as Xandros) can let us avoid this. I run Ubuntu routinely and find it dependable and easy to use. I can trust it. Microsoft has lost my last shred of trust with Vista and its DRM and driver situation.

On another front, we in medicine are under tremendous pressure to cut costs. For a faculty of over 400 at my medical school and staff of about 1500, the cost of MS Office is tremendous. Open Office Org. software is a great help in this regared and even has features that MS Office does not offer. MS has lost our trust. We will probably all use Open Office Org in the future - so why not offer it as loaded at purchase time. I would be willing to pay a nominal fee, say $30-50 for the loading up of the software on my PC so htat i can use it immediately when I receive it.

Dell should know that the loading of all the JUNK software that comes on my PC's from Dell is a Large factor in my reluctance to order new PC's at shorter intervals, no matter what the technical hardware advances.

Brad A. Steffler, MD
Medical School Professor 2 Comments »

Add Mac OSX

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by rmartin 02/17/07

Need to add Mac OSX. Esp good idea when bundled with Parallels software so you could run Windows and linux at the same time. v10.5 will be out soon that makes it an ever better idea. 136 Comments »

Dual boot OS

Operating Systems - Multiboot, Desktops and Laptops submitted by gpd 02/20/07

Could be great to have a dual boot OS, like Windows XP and Ubuntu. With a partition for shared data. It's not easy to do it on your own. 39 Comments »

Don't charge up to $50 more to downgrade from Vista to XP

Operating Systems - Multiboot, Desktops and Laptops submitted by jervis961 Jun 17

Dell is going to start charging customers up to $50 to downgrade thier systems operating system from Vista to XP after Wednesday. While some people see XP as an upgrade, I don't think there should be a charge for it. 43 Comments »

Ubuntu-Vista Dual-boot

Linux, Operating Systems, Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by badblood 06/08/07 **NOT NOW**

As Dell Ubuntu and Vista computer systems are priced roughly the same, then Dell could give us both OS' for the same price.

Sounds reasonable, no? 17 Comments »

Preinstalled Multiboot OS (Linux and XP)

Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by coiledwire 02/24/07

I am so amaze that all this people (90% of them (I am pretty) sure never used linux) want suddenly LINUX.

I am not AGAINST LINUX at all. But we need to baby step toward LINUX. dell should offer preinstalled XP and LINUX to make peoples life easy.

- Do u guys know that U have to be PROGRAMMER in order to use current LINUX.
- lots of HARDWARE dont have linux drivers (not linux fault)
- DELL will need one hack of customer service if only Linux is offered (not every person is programmer).

That is why I suggest they should offer preinstalled Linux and XP for smooth transition. 4 Comments »

Dual boot Windows and Linux

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by randomperson 06/19/07

Everytime I get a new laptop or desktop, I usually resize my partitions so I can dual boot windows and linux. Ubuntu is a great OS for people to start learning linux. This way you have the best of both worlds. Users would not have to worry about their software being compatible with their OS. I do not know any other company that offers this and would make Dell stand out as doing something different. 6 Comments »

Unleash the full potential of Linux's multi-user capabilities: Ubuntu + Ndiyo's Hubster

Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot, Desktops and Laptops submitted by limulus 08/02/07

When you think of a Windows machine, generally speaking, its a box connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, which one user uses at a time. Dell's Desktop Ubuntu machines are currently shipped the same way.



But Ubuntu is Linux and so has the potential for many users to use the same computer at the same time, as is done with a server.



Imagine if you will being able to buy a single computer and everyone in the house can use it at the same time; no more fighting over who gets to use it when or who gets stuck using the old computer if there is another one. This is the exciting potential of Ndiyo's Hubster.



"Hubster is the first ultra-thin-client terminal with completely user-configurable hardware"

* plug a USB hub into your computer
* plug the Hubster, a USB keyboard and mouse into the hub
* plug a monitor into the Hubster

and you have a Terminal that behaves just as if it were its own computer. Repeat the process for a second Terminal, etc.



Some new monitors will even have the hub built right in to make it that much easier.

Watch the demo video on their page and be as awe-struck as I was :-)

AFAIK, there is nothing currently like this offered by any major OEM; if Dell were to get it to market I'm sure many families would want one! 18 Comments »

Multi-boot OS as an ordering option.... and a competitive edge for Dell

Operating Systems - Multiboot, Sales Strategies submitted by stevebaumann 02/25/07

One of the reasons that Linux has not gained more traction on the desktop, is that none of the major PC/laptop manufacturers has really gotten on board supporting one or more of the Linux distributions with <font>good</font> drivers and software support.
Now, I understand that it would be difficult for <font>Dell</font> to train its' support people to support multiple Linux distributions along with Windows, however, it would not be difficult for <font>Dell</font> to offer a support contract for (Linux distro 'X'), that would be supported by the company that manages that distro (in fact, they'd LOVE IT if you did offer their support contracts to your customers [they might even give you a $mall per¢entage of the contract amount]). In the same way that you offer a section during the configuration process to add an optional 2nd hard drive (for a fee), you could add a section for customers to add an optional 2nd operating system (for a fee?). Windows and all the Linux distros offer multi-boot support, which is very easy to implement, so if that might prompt more PC/laptop sales, it would be worth it in the long run. If one or more Linux distros became popular enough, it might even be able to act as a leverage tool to get Microsoft to charge the OEM's less for each copy of Windows that goes on a computer(due to the increased competition from Linux), thereby letting <font>Dell</font> either reduce the selling price of each computer (and undercut other companies), and/or increase the profit on each one. There are so many ways that a well supported Linux option could benefit <font>Dell</font>, which would only be limited by <font>Dell</font>'s imagination and business savvy.
I look forward to seeing more imagination and business savvy.

Good journey,

Steve 1 Comment »

Dell shoulld give multiple OS pre install

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by winner 07/20/07 **NOT LIKELY**

Their are many users who have problems while using vista.when they come to know that vista is not working well,They go for XP .So why not preinstall both XP & vista in the same computer. 13 Comments »

Contribute Code to Ubuntu

New Product Ideas, Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by loneowais Jul 23

I always wanted Dell to make a Ubuntu based OS for Dell System like Apple have. But why should Dell so such a thing when it already has a great OS like ubuntu.

I think Dell should not just remaster ubuntu but customize it & add new features to it for Dell system.

This code should be then supplied to Cannonical so that they can benifit from it & make a great software even greater. 13 Comments »

what about OS X?

Linux, Operating Systems - Multiboot, Service and Support submitted by spedbugy 02/26/07

I see everyone clamoring for linux and I agree that would be a great option, but I'd like to see drivers and support for dual or triple booting with OS X. I would like to work with that operating system, however Apple systems are rather expensive when compared to others. 6 Comments »

Renegotiate your Microsoft contracts.

Dell, Operating Systems - Multiboot, Software submitted by jmxz 05/07/07

Of the profit in a PC you sell, consider how much of the profit goes to the OS vendor.

Looking at the quarterly reports for Microsoft it seems that there's quite a bit of room between what you pay them and what they need to still make a profit.

Start treating Microsoft the same way you treat the rest of your software vendors --- make them pay for the exposure they get for being pre-installed on a Dell. And, like the rest of your software vendors, make them make money off of the upgrades from their Basic versions of the software to the full ones. And, like some of the rest of your software vendors, make them share some of that upgrade revenue back to you.

There are many reasons they should accept such a proposal:

First, remember how important DELL is to making Vista a success. Keep posting lies about Vista being better than it is (http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/66173 , http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/67016/ ) and Vista will succeed at the expense of your credibility. For this, THEY charge YOU money?!? Tell Microsoft that you'll start being honest and recommending that customers choose XP for gaming and Linux for Security, and you'll see how much they'll be begging/paying you to support Vista.

Secondly, consider the long term. There are only so many dollars of profit in a PC that the market will support. Chip and component companies get a piece of this. Software vendors get a piece of this. You get the remainder. Your long term hope for profits demand that the software and chip parts of this equation stay small. Apple has an easy time because they collect both the software and the system manufacturer parts. For Dell, your best hope of competing with Apple would be to either get part of the software piece (http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/64581) or minimize the profits of the software vendors by making them pay you instead of you paying them.

The way today's market looks to me, it seems like you should be insisting that Microsoft sell you a deeply discounted XP for as long as your customers want it --- and for them to pay you for inflicting Vista on the world, just as the rest of your crippleware vendors pay you for the exposure.

But to do that, you first have to prove to them that Ubuntu is a viable alternative, or else they'll call your bluff.

If you can show that Ubuntu could replace them, all their profit can be yours. 8 Comments »

forum vista FAQ section... add xp & vista duel boot into the list

Dell Community, Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by jdelidc Jan 19 **IMPLEMENTED**

i've been on there only since storm room started but it's a popular question. "i got vista and want to also have xp on my machine. how do i do it?" add it to the FAQ list


You can now find details about dual boot here on the Vista FAQ page.





12 Comments »

Live Boot

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by jprin3 Jul 14

I thought of this when i Dual-Booted my laptop, what if you could switch from Ubuntu to Vista in 1 click, and in under 1 second? I had a load of viruses on my laptop and had lost the recovery cd so I installed ubuntu and sorted windows out, but the annoying thing now is that i have a load of files that can only be read in ubuntu that i need in vista and vice-versa. This would be very helpful for peope who want to get the most out of each OS, eg. Games on windows, iPhone SDK on Mac Leopard, and the brilliant built-in security and open-sourceness of Ubuntu. 3 Comments »

ESX VMware

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by comprevolution Aug 6

http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/

Where i work we just recently started to mess around with ESX to run the machines that run our VM. And I have to say it is probably the greatest thing I've seen in a while. the ability to have an os run but not touch the hardware performance so you can use all of the computers potential for your VM's Is amazing. also having the ability to move a VM from one machine to the other Flawlessly in my eyes is amazing. i don't work in the finance department so i'm not sure on cost of this item, but offering ESX on your server line would be one of the greatest things dell could do for people like me. 1 Comment »

computer with beos/zeta

Operating Systems - Multiboot submitted by ampo 04/02/07

BeOS (new name is zeta) is a powerful Multimedial OS.
Install it or dual boot with other os (like linux) 2 Comments »

Offer virtualized Windows XP with Vista laptops

Operating Systems - Multiboot, Sales Strategies, Software submitted by mmmx 05/07/07

Offer an option to get a virtualized version of Windows XP when purchasing a Vista laptop, so the end user can have all the benefits of Vista (if any, really) but can be able to run old software apps, and games seamlessly. The extra price for licencing and virtualization, should be reduced over time with the increased demand. Since almost any hardware now offers dual core processors, this task should be easy to achieve. 12 Comments »