Comments Page (1 of 6)

1 2 3 4 5 6 Next

Ideas:   All | Recent | Trending | Comments

Sell ARM based systems

Mar 22, 2010

Posted By shiningarcanine

10 Votes

Status: Partially Implemented

Intel based systems are power hungry and with rising energy costs, many people are realizing that they do not need power hungry Intel based systems and they would be happy to move to systems using alternative ISAs. In the past, computer companies such as Dell had to sell Intel-based systems because Windows required it, but the success Dell has had with Linux (and the fact that I am typing this on a Dell laptop running Gentoo Linux) shows that people do not need Windows anymore. Power is becoming an ever growing concern in many places.Laptops, netbooks, datacenters and embedded systems are all places where power consumption is key. I had a Dell Inspiron 4000 in 2000 and I loved it because it had a dual-battery feature that gave me an 8 hour battery life. When I purchased a Dell Inspiron E1705 in 2006 because of the experience I had with my previous Dell laptop, I noticed the difference in battery life immediately and I have been very disappointed. Improvements in operating systems has improved the situation, where I can manage to get a 3 hour battery life, but still, that is a far cry form the 8 hour battery life where I could go someone, work all day on something and not need to plug my system into a power outlet once. Netbooks, which tend to have lower power requirements and corresponding good battery life have become very popular because of this. While a market for high-end systems that use enormous amounts of energy certainly exists, it is quite small compared to the mainstream, which Dell's offerings have not targeted well since Dell abandoned the energy efficiency of the Inspiron 4000. Another example of this is the sheevaplug, which has become quite popular among hobbyists:http://www.openplug.org/The sheevaplug is an embedded system, but it is being targetted for datacenters, and as virtualization becomes more persuasive, systems like it that have enormous numbers of computational cores will begin to phase out existing Intel-based systems.My proposal for Dell is simple. In each product segment where power consumption is a concern (netbook, laptop, desktop, datacenter) offer a system that is based on the ARM architecture. Nvidia has a chip called the Tegra 2 which would be excellent for netbooks and laptops:http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3714&p=1The laptops could run either some flavor of Linux (likely Ubuntu as Dell already offers it) or Google Chrome OS. Budget desktops could be produced with the Tegra 2 as well. Google is said to be designing a Google Chrome Netbook based on the Tegra 2, which would likely harm Dell's business should Dell not produce a similar product:http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/Google-Chrome-Netbook-to-Feature-NVIDIA-Tegra-2-Chipset-7022-01.htmlFor datacenters, Dell could license the ARM architecture, have its engineers design a multicore chip (with an accompanying chipset) suitable for server virtualization and contract TSMC to produce the chips. Dell could then cheaply produce servers for tomorrow's datacenter, running Linux with network cards installed that have hardware acceleration support for virtualization. Anandtech has an article on one such network card that Dell could use, which would enable Dell to produce systems that will replace dozens of others:http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=3759I realize that the idea of having a single server that replaces many others would likely be detrimental to other areas of Dell's business, but this is the future and if Dell does not do it, some other company will and Dell will lose far more business in the long run than they would if they produced such a product themselves.In summary, I believe Dell should offer ARM-based laptops, netbooks, desktops and servers (intended for datacenters). A single good quality product in each segment designed and marketed for low-power and low-cost to test the waters would be sufficient. I imagine that if Dell were to bring ARM-based systems to market, even as a trial to test the market demand, your company would have such success that you would want to replace some of your existing product lines outright with ARM-based systems.Status Update: This idea has been partially implemented with the announcement of the "Copper" ARM server. Thank you for posting.

10 Votes | 4 Comments

Categories: Linux, Operating Systems, Sales Strategies,

Provide Ubuntu on all computers and 8.04-current ubuntu releases

Aug 23, 2009

Posted By freez

19 Votes

Status: Partially Implemented

 2 ideas in 1: 1. Make ubuntu an option for ALL computers, not just a few ALL! People are really liking ubuntu, provide it as an option. 2. Offer 8.04, 8.10, and 9.04 as options, i want the most up to date ubuntu without 3 hours downloading + 3 upgrading. Status Update Please see this blog for details

19 Votes | 1 Comment

Categories: Linux,

Preload Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

Apr 30, 2009

Posted By shannon_vanwagner

60 Votes

Status: Implemented

The new Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope GNU/Linux has many great features to make it a significant upgrade from the 8.04. Some improvements are: Much faster boot times due to ext4 file system and other optimizationsCleaner graphics and a better notifications mechanismNewer Linux KernelImproved Power ManagementImproved cd burner applicationImproved handling of multiple monitors, formerly a sore spot for LinuxPerformance increases across the boardBetter themes and backgrounds I also suggest that Dell keep with the latest LTS upgrades yearly to remain cutting edge. Shannon VanWagner Status Update Please see this blog for more details

60 Votes | 2 Comments

Categories: Desktops and Laptops, Linux, Netbooks,

Use Ubuntu Netbook Remix instead of the custom Dell application strip

Feb 9, 2009

Posted By jlnogo87

14 Votes

Status: Implemented

Please use the netbook remix images on your netbooks. This will help users get used to a single simple UI developed for netbooks. The Dell strip is "ok" but seems tacky and out of place. Also please continue using teh 8.04 images not the 8.10. the non-LTS releases tend to have small glitches that case some serious headaches (PulseAudio). Thank you so much for listening. http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/06/hands-on-with-the-ubuntu-netbook-remix.ars http://www.ubuntumini.com/2008/10/installing-ubuntu-netbook-remix.html Status Update Please see this blog for details

14 Votes | 0 Comment

Categories: Linux, Software,

Preload 8.10

Jan 25, 2009

Posted By schmindy

34 Votes

Status: Implemented

Please include Ubuntu 8.10 with your linux systems! 8.04 is outdated. Do you intend to upgrade only when a new LTS comes out? 9.04 is almost here and you're not even up to 8.10. If system 76 and zareason can do it, why not you? Status Update Please see this blog about info on updated Ubuntu offerings

34 Votes | 10 Comments

Categories: Desktops and Laptops, Linux,

Please provide dell mini 12 with Ubuntu

Nov 13, 2008

Posted By swapnasarit

66 Votes

Status: Implemented

hi,  I use Ubuntu in my dell. it just great specially the Ibex which just works for everything and really fast in 1GB ram. I am looking to buy a netbook .. I was eagerly waiting for dell mini 12 for 2 months when the news came up, as I don't like 10 inch screen with low resolution. But I am disapointed  to find that dell decides Vista instead of Ubuntu. Vista is even slow in 2GB dual core machines .What performance will it give in netbook ?? Ultimately I have to remove the OS to install Ubuntu in it. So there no reason to pay microsoft for it's OS which I am not going to use. It would be nice if dell mini 12 is also lanched with ubuntu like mini 9 with less price .So lot of people like who wanna use Ubuntu will save some money . Status Update Please see vida_k's comment

66 Votes | 4 Comments

Categories: Linux, Operating Systems,

The SSD in the mini 9 should have a partition as big as the actual size (currently limited to 4GB)

Oct 17, 2008

Posted By feranick

26 Votes

Status: Implemented

Regardless of the size of the SSD (mine is a 16GB), the disk has a 4GB partition where the Ubuntu OS is installed. The rest is not even formatted. This is a BIG bug, because for the partition to be resized it takes actually a high level of expertize. The unoccupied space can be formatted as an additional partition, but the original is simply to small to accommodate more than the bare minimum. But this is besides the point. If I buy 16GB of space I demand all of it to be available with no further action. Status Update Please see john_h's comment

26 Votes | 4 Comments

Categories: Linux, Netbooks,

Dell Mini Ubuntu (Linux) Missing Webcam

Oct 4, 2008

Posted By ewalk153

72 Votes

Status: Implemented

It would be great if the Dell Mini product site would add back the webcam option for the Unbuntu Linux version of the product. When the site first launched http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9 , both the 0.3 megapixel camera and the 1.3 megapixel camera were available as configuration options, but they have since been dropped from the site when ordering the linux version of the product. Any ideas from Dell on why the change in product offering? Any chance that this will be added back in as a product configuration offering? I have to imagine that the drivers for a webcam are available, and if not, there are plenty of developers who would be interested in building them. This site lists a lot of information on getting a webcam running on a linux pc: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Webcam-HOWTO/ Status Update

72 Votes | 31 Comments

Categories: Dell Web Site, Linux, Netbooks,

1 2 3 4 5 6 Next