student buys dell laptop comes with ubuntu

Hello,
i found this on another forum
link
a student brought a laptop from dell to do her education.
the sales person at dell reccomended ubuntu and said everything she wants to use will work with it.
of course microsoft word wont work and she found out it has openoffice.
she couldnt install the cd that came from her ISP (verizon)

im surprised dell didnt help her use the network manager to try to connect to her wireless router (i assume verizon comes with wireless router?) most of the time you dont need the cd from isp anyway.
if she managed to get internet it wouldnt be so bad. at least with the internet you can search on google and find out some more information.

 

It's pretty ridiculous really... It's partially Dell's fault for pushing Ubuntu on her, but it's also mostly her fault for accepting it and not insisting on what she really needed to begin with. And if she didn't know what she needed, then she shouldn't be purchasing. There is no cure for a clueless buyer.

 

As a matter of interest, and only slightly off-topic, which notebook brands
generally have the best hardware support for Linux? I have heard Lenovo
is Linux 'friendly'.

(Will probably be switching from desktop to notebook sometime later
this year... I will miss my WD Raptor 10000rpm).

 

I found Dell and Lenovo to be nice and HW-friendly.
Mrk

 

The Verizon card doesn't connect to a wireless router. It connects to a cell phone tower. I've seen an article on how to connect a Sprint card using Linux but not a Verizon one. This isn't Dell's fault. It is Verizon's for not telling her the card she purchased didn't have Linux support.

But this link shows how to make it work with Linux:
http://www.ka9q.net/5220.html

It took me about thirty seconds to find that article by typing "verizon linux support" in google. If people spent as much time finding solutions as they did jumping to conclusions, they would find the there is a solution to just about any problem in Linux.

 

I'm kind of skeptical about this story. Has it been authenticated, I wonder?

Just off hand, I can think of at least one rival OS in who's interest it would be to generate bad publicity about Linux.

 

I've heard that Lenovo works nicely with Linux, haven't tried it mind you but I might. I wonder does it run BSD as well?

 

Hey lewmur,
I assumed that you would use the wireless card in the laptop to connect to a verizone wireless router.
I didnt relise verizone supplyed a wireless pcmcia card.
more companies should support linux.

 

IMO anything with an intel wireless and graphics card will work great in Linux as Intel's drivers are all open source and of good quality (including their OpenGL drivers).
No messing with NDISWrapper for wireless or installing 3rd Party ATi or Nvidia drivers for best graphics stability and performance.

 

I wonder if she thought to read the documentation (assuming it was provided and IMO should provide a FAQ for explaining things like Open Office can open MS Office files)

 

'That thing called ubuntu' I actually thought it was a nice machine although seemed a little expensive. I admire Dell but maybe the sales didn't go into it enough, perhaps to save face they should change it for her.

 

Why should they exchange it for her? They didn't charge her for the OS. All they need to do, if she isn't satisfied with Ubuntu, is sell her Vista at their OEM price. When she bought the computer she had the option of paying more money and getting Vista. Why should she now get it for free?

And, as I said, if she couldn't get the Verizon card to work, that's Verizon's fault and not Dell's. The card will work with Ubuntu. It's just that Verizon's tech support is to dumb to tell her how to set it up.