OT: Dell to offer linux pre-installed on desktops

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Mar 30, 2007 at 07:53:22AM -0400, James Knott wrote:
> My work computer is a Dell notebook.  It's nowhere near as good as my
> ThinkPad.

Thinkpads are hard to beat.  They usually have hardware that is well
supported even under windows (although they decision to now mainly use
ATI video chips doesn't please me, although you can always just get the
intel integrated instead which works fine).  Too bad they cost quite a
bit more than most comparable models (although I guess it isn't fair to
compare against given thinkpads tend to have a better built case than
most other laptops).

> According to what I've been reading, binary drivers are not an issue,
> provided they remain in user space.  Create the binary blob and then
> wrap it in the appropriate API for the OS.

Except someone has to maintain the wrapper so it works with future
kernels, and since it won't ever be included with the kernel it will
always make installations more work than it is for properly supported
hardware.  I don't really care one way or the other about the arguments
over whether binary blobs for drivers are legal under the GPL.  I just
care about maintainable and supportable systems, and binary blobs get in
the way of that.

--
Len Sorensen
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