Dell Releases Ubuntu Technical Details

There were no surprises in Dell’s announcement of the technical details of their Ubuntu installations.

Dell will install the normal Ubuntu 7.04 Linux kernel and applications. No extra media codecs will be installed, however, open source device drivers will be set up if needed. Closed source drivers will also be installed it there are no other options.

The Dell systems with Ubuntu are expected to be the Dimension E520, the Inspirion 1505, and the XPS 410. Only hardware options that have been tested with Ubuntu will be available. Dell also recommended buying printers with postscript support.

The most significant part of the announcement was that Dell will work with hardware vendors to improve Linux support. This will benefit not only Ubuntu but all Linux users if Dell can pressure vendors like ATI for better Linux support.

For hardware options not offered with this release, we are working with the vendors of those devices to improve the maturity and stability of their associated Linux drivers. While this may not happen overnight, we do expect to have a broader range of hardware support with Linux over time.

Go here to read Dell’s post on their blog. You can read more about the announcement at Ars Technica and DesktopLinux.com.