Note from Lionel: It's been a while since I've talked about Linux on Direct2Dell. Shortly after Ubuntu 9.04 was released in April 2009, we had a request from IdeaStorm user Shannon VanWagner to start pre-loading 9.04. Though it's late, we're now offering Ubuntu 9.04 on a few more Dell machines to customers in the United States. Specifically the Studio XPS 13, Inspiron 15, and the Inspiron 537 desktop. The Mini 10 and the 10v are still running a customized version of the 8.04 version of the Ubuntu OS. And the Mini 10v can be ordered with Ubuntu Moblin Remix Developer Edition.
To see all the systems we're offering with Linux, go to www.dell.com/ubuntu.
With that context, I'll turn things over to John Hull so he can shed light on what to expect from Ubunu 9.04.
--Lionel
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I'd like to give a quick update on the technical details for what we have added with our 9.04 release. We have continued to build and improve upon on what we did for our previous Ubuntu offerings, and here are some of the highlights:
For more information, our Dell wiki page for 9.04 can be found at the previous link. If you would like to download and install 9.04 with our custom Ubuntu ISO, it can be downloaded here.
As always, please report any OS issues in Launchpad, or you can always ask any general questions to our linux-desktops mailing list..
Update: Fixed broken links
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The 64-bit flash plugin is actually quite stable, it hasn't caused me a single problem since the initial release (as opposed to the 32-bit plugin under nspluginwrapper, which stops works literally every few minutes). Last time I checked, 32-bit and 64-bit plugins are also tagged with the same version, so the 64-bit plugin probably has the same security fixes. Debian's (64-bit) flashplugin-nonfree package works fine on Ubuntu, and that's what I've been using that lately.
Also, as a Canadian, I'm disappointed that Dell Canada has simply stopped selling machines with Ubuntu on them a while ago. I don't even care if Ubuntu is preinstalled, I just want to be able to buy a laptop without buying a Windows license. It's surreal to me that I don't have that option.
Hi,
Great to see that you continue this project. However, has I am a french custommer, I just regret (as Simon80) that the french store didn't allow to buy anything else that the Mini10. It would be better to have the same choice than US custommers.
Hope you will spread this offer all over the world as soon as possible!
Heh so Dell starts shipping 9.04 two weeks before 9.10 is released. Oh well - any linux is better than no linux! Glad to hear about the wireless drivers too. Wireless cards in general used to be a major hurdle to would-be linux adopters and sometimes a royal pain to existing linux users. I was also puzzled by the 64 bit flash comment. I've been using flash on 64 bit linux for a couple of years. Granted, some of that time it was 32 bit and I used a 32 bit browser (opera) so it worked out well. But I've been using the 64 bit flash-nonfree package for a while now and haven't seen any more instability than what I recall of the 32 bit version. Of course there are still a few other application compatibility issues under 64 bit and they probably don't want to waste drive space installing the 32 bit compatibility libraries if this is being installed on netbooks with 4GB drives so I certainly understand the reluctance.