The truth about hardware support

Since the time I first started using Linux at home I know that one must be careful when choosing hardware to avoid pain when installing Linux.

When people say that Windows supports more hardware than Linux I always confirmed from my own experience.

But: Linux - out-of-the-box supports more hardware than Windows does (out-of-the-box)! Microsoft "outsourced" most hardware support to the vendors and when you buy new hardware with Windows preinstalled, vendors did the job in getting everything to work!

Lately I wanted to help out a new co-worker reinstalling Windows on his work laptop (HP Pavilion g6). There was an extra partition prepared by the vendor which probably contained possible required drivers. However, somehow it was inaccessible so we couldn't get drivers from there. After a clean Windows 7 installation: No WLAN, no sound and no ethernet either! After long search on the net (from another machine of course), my co-worker found the most important download (ethernet driver) on a separate site from HP for businesses (after finally also identifying the exact sub-model of the g6) - more than 100 MB download - for a freakin' ethernet card!

After that I was so frustrated loosing so much time just to get the normal ethernet to work (let alone WLAN and the rest), that I left the rest up to him. Later in the evening he called me about activating Windows and Office and I could not get to the Microsoft action pack site because somehow the login did not work any more.

The next day he arrived at the office with Ubuntu installed on the HP Pavilion g6 - everything worked out-of-the-box - no single extra driver required and of course fully usable (without the need of activating any software)!

But this is not always the case. There are plenty of vendors that do not write drivers for Linux and many even do not publish the specifications so that somebody else could write the driver. If there is an open source driver - or at least a free driver available, Linux already contains it, where on Windows you need to get separate driver setups or CDs from the appropriate box or vendor site.

There are currently software updates running on a Dell Latitude E6530 next to me. As usual, all I need to tell Dell: I need a laptop and I don't pay the Microsoft tax, I will install Ubuntu on it and the hardware must support it. I don't want and don't need to search forums for possible problems, I can rely on Dell shipping fully supported hardware - everything out-of-the-box - also no additional drivers required.

My recommendation: Even if you don't plan yet to use Linux, tell your vendor when buying a new PC or laptop that you want the hardware to be Windows AND Linux compatible. If you plan to use Windows: Hope that you don't need to reinstall yourself grabbing all the required drivers from the internet!

Related posts: Ubuntu compatible hardware, About Dell, The hardware.

Use cases for netbooks

For a long time I could not see a sense in netbooks. I am a developer and hence write a lot of code and a lot of documentation. The screen of a netbook seemed too small at all and keyboards too. But there are a few cases when it makes really sense to carry a netbook instead of a full notebook (that is heavier, and occupies more space on the table), for example:

• When I sit in front of the TV with my family, for checking a little email or do a little web surfing, it is perfectly enough and I can put it aside easier simply because needs less space and if it has enough battery power, you either don't need the cable having around all the time even if it is kept in reach for a few hours.
   
• I have a customer where employees walk around with mobile phones for entering data on the street. The data typing could be done more efficiently on a netbook than on a mobile phone if they sit in the car or have somehow something to put it down (wall, table, knee, ...).
   
• Many IT admins need to be available quite all the time in case of emergencies. I have heard of some doing SSH over the mobile phone in such emergency cases when they are on the way - and they don't want to always carry a notebook with them. If you are a server admin only a mobile phone might be sufficient but I am doing also client support and it sounds just crazy to me doing end-user-support through the mobile phone. I am used to carry a small bag with me (to avoid having the wallet, keys and the like in different small pockets where they either could be stolen easier) which I also do recommend to others and with only a little bigger bag the netbook already fits in there.
   
• There are a lot of branches where salesmen found it exaggerated to carry a notebook with them. However, looking up customer or product data through the phone is frickle work IMHO. A netbook fits there well I would say.
   
• When I go to meetings outside the office (e.g. in hotels or restaurants) a netbook is more handy than a big notebook and in those cases I usually just need to take a few notes, do a little surfing or email.
   
• Despite all the features that are put into smartphones these days, I hardly think, they will get a full features PC soon. PGP plugins for email, Password managers like keepassx, serious word processors and many other things I use on my normal notebook are missing. On a netbook I can use all these as usual - it's just the screen that is smaller (but still bigger than on every smart phone).
   
• After ripping DVDs to disk a netbook can also be used as a mobile DVD player.

Related posts: The Dell Latitude 2110 and Ubuntu 10.04.1, Ubuntu compatible hardware, The mobile device, The hardware.

The Dell Latitude 2110 and Ubuntu 10.04.1

Despite the rumors that Dell does not offer Ubuntu any more, I was able to get the Dell Latitude 2110 with Ubuntu (netbook remix) preinstalled - so (again) no Microsoft tax paid. ;-)

I must admit, that they first did not want to give me the full featured thing (the optional Ubuntu version comes without webcam), but I insisted and got the thing with webcam and Ubuntu preinstalled. In reality they could have shipped without OS, the first thing anyway was putting the latest Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS Lucid Lynx on it (because it came with 9.10 which worked out-of-the-box on delivery).

Installation of 10.04.1 needed a few quirks: After I installed from an USB stick, I had to add the following additional repositories to get the WLAN to work:

• deb file:///media/yourusbsticksname lucid main
• deb file:///media/yourusbsticksname lucid restricted

After that I could go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and searching it found the driver for the WLAN. I was fearing more trouble with the WLAN as this is quite usual (not only for Linux) in the netbook world to have troubles with the WLAN (as far as I have read in forums). But just adding the USB-stick as repository is not much trouble (although it took me a while to find out ;-) ).

Webcam worked out-of-the-box (I was assuming to get problems with that because missing in the Ubuntu variant by default, but as working, I think there are just political reasons that they omit the web cam for the Ubuntu variant by default).

Anyway, what did not work out-of-the-box was the built-in microphone: Again, I had to add another repository and install a single patch from there (see Bug #563215 and below):

• ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev

Then install this package:

sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-$(uname -r)

In addition to that I had to go into terminal window and run "alsamixer" - it shows more volume nobs that you might have known or guessed. I had to push up two from the input section. I guess Skype did that after installation as by default it sets the option allowing the program to manipulate audio settings (I already had this several times on other Ubuntu installations that Skype modified the mixer settings messing them up).

Finally I had to plug in a headset just for a few seconds - then also the external microphone worked. Strangely it did not work until I plugged in the headset's mic in once. Since then it works. But I have to say that speakers and microphone are not top-level. The speakers could be louder and mic could be better also - so in noise environments (I have two little children around ;-) ) you should use a headset.

My two mobile internet sticks work too - just not with autoconnect (it seems both try to connect - same happens on my main Lucid notebook also so guess it is a general issue introduced a short while ago - having configured just one works fine).

The netbook feels very well made. The keyboard is big enough to be used without hassle and it feels robust (as usually for Dell Latitude keyboards). I have ordered the bigger battery which adds a little to weight and size of course. The bigger battery extends versus bottom so it makes the keyboard getting a slightly more diagonal position so now the netbook does not lie flat on the table. This way it is more ergonomic IMHO. Time estimated with fully charged battery pack is more than 6 hours. The only thing: It was harder to find a matching case with the extended battery. The normal small bags for 10,1" notebooks were fitting only very tight which was a hassle. Finally I bought a larger bag where now also fit more other things.

Related posts: Ubuntu compatible hardware, About Dell, The hardware, The mobile device, Going Linux, The sad thing about Linux..., Use cases for netbooks.

Ubuntu compatible hardware

In the last months I faced several different hardware environments and experienced several issues when installing Ubuntu. For example: Since 2005 I always recommended NVidia and told people to better stay away from ATI. But lately I had problems with a machine with NVidia and on the other hand heard from a friend about an Ubuntu machine with ATI running flawlessly. So I started to fear for issues no matter what hardware I recommend.

I talked with several people and sent out emails and the result is a collection of links that help a lot. First of all - what I did not know - there is an Ubuntu certification for hardware - and there is more:

• Ubuntu-certified Hardware
  http://webapps.ubuntu.com/certification/
  
• Ubuntu Wiki - Hardware-Support
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/
  
• Linux-compatible hardware lists (GoingLinux-collection)
  http://goinglinux.com/articles/Resources.html#hardware-compatibility
  
• Linux Hardware Compatibility List (linux hcl)
  http://linuxhcl.org/
  
• Linux-Drivers.org
  http://www.linux-drivers.org/
  
• Ubuntuusers.de Hardwaredatenbank (German)
  http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Hardwaredatenbank
  
• Linux-Laptop
  http://www.linux-laptop.net/

And more hardware help is available here:

• Ubuntu Forums - Hardware section
  http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=332
  
• Ubuntuusers.de - Kaufberatung (German)
  http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/forum/grundlegende-fragen/
  
• Ubuntu-Austria Forum - Hardware section (German)
  http://www.ubuntu-austria.at/viewforum.php?f=13
  Note: This is not the official forum from Canonical, which can be found here (again hardware section): http://ubuntu-at.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

Related posts: The hardware, Why Linux?, Going Linux, The sad thing about Linux, About Dell, Ubuntu 10.04 experiences, The Dell Latitude 2110 and Ubuntu 10.04.1, Use cases for netbooks, The truth about hardware support.

About Dell

"Finally" I can tell a little about personal experience with DELL hardware and their service:

The issue: After about two months the motherboard of a DELL Latitude E5500 suddenly broke. That was quite clear after not getting any noise from the fan, HD and no BIOS message. Just the CAPS lock blinking. Called support hotline and explained what happened and what I already tried.

For the guy on the phone it took a longer while to identify my guess that it must be the motherboard, but anyway - better to be sure. The last thing to figure out was the particular main board type that was built in because there were two options. I didn't know in detail because it was DELL assembling the thing, not me.

To keep a short story short: "Next business day" to DELL really means "fix on next business day" - it's not just the first reaction on next business day. A guy from a partner company came to me / to the notebook with two spare boards and repaired the notebook. Other "local" support contracts expect that you bring in the thing to some shop in your more or less neighborhood.

It is really a pity, that the quality of computer hardware parts in general is not what it was 15 years ago. Unfortunately I see the reduced quality everywhere. Therefore a good service is essential nowadays.

Related post: The hardware, Going Linux, Ubuntu compatible hardware, The Dell Latitude 2110 and Ubuntu 10.04.1, The truth about hardware support.

The License keys

Arriving in the office today I got notice of a notebook that a customer brought in and it should be reinstalled. Unfortunately nobody can find an install CD that is matching the license key labeled to bottom of the notebook - neither the customer nor our technical staff.

...yes, it is a Windows installation. Variants of license keys must match the variant of CD used.

It is typical - especially for home users - that they do not find their (correct) install CDs when needed. Unfortunately many people are not well organized.

Similar things happen to different type of software pieces. For instance, I used the Wise Installation System software and we have bought an upgrade a long while ago. When I later reinstalled my development machine I first had to install the older version, enter the license key and then - you might guess - upgrade and enter the new update license key. I do not know if current versions are still made this way. When reinstalling a complete machine you can easily get in rage entering (typos included) serial numbers.

There was a time when I argued against software automatically connecting to the internet and automatically retrieving their license from the internet. But now I think this is maybe the less annoying variant. - However, we also have bought software in the past designed that way and often we had to argue that the old machine was replaced with a new one and that they can be sure there is still only one license used.

What companies do to ensure that people do legally use their product caused me to avoid commercial software wherever possible. And indeed even on my Windows machine at work I use mainly free and open source software. This is the best way from avoiding pain when reinstall is required.

Related posts: The Open Source movement, Paying for free and Open Source, The Open Source idea.

The hardware

When thinking of hardware, one of the first things I think about is hard disk capacity. A few weeks ago I could see the first tera-byte HDs available at a discounter in the neighborhood. Although my notebook has "only" a 160 GB HD, I have consumed about 4 hard disks in about a year! Not to tell that Windows didn't warn me in any of those cases...

The HD was always the part in a computer that goes rotten most often - that is usually the weak point in a computer hardware system. But as there is price pressure nowadays on memory manufacturers I fear quality going down for main memory also in the next years...

Lately I was at my parents with my 1 1/2 year old son and he likes very much pushing buttons - so "by accident" he pushed the power button of my very old 486 which I left 1997 there. I wondered why it was still connected to power supply. I could see the machine booting DOS 6.22 and I was expecting a scary noise and immediate HD crash (as manufacturers also say you shouldn't leave a HD too long without using it). - But nothing. Even Windows 3.11 started up. Then I got really curious and started a complete surface check of the 2 HDs - if I remember right a 120 and 420 MB HD - something like this. Result: Not a single bad sector! And I was using the newer disk at least from 1995 to 1997.

I am convinced that with the increase of hardware capacity and performance as well as in the same time reducing the size manufacturers do work hard on the physical limits (as currently known).

Further I lately consume one mouse per year and although the quality of the keyboard is very important thing for me when choosing a notebook, my 3 year old HP notebook now gets problems with the keys and accurracy - even the external HP keyboard.

When I look at current special offers in the neighborhood, usually some keys of the demo machines are already missing or broken. There are only two options: Either those got rotten so easily or people are stealing them because their models at home have the keys broken and people are looking for spare parts.

So what I miss is a little more focus on reliability and quality of the hardware in general!

And when looking for models that fit my needs I find notebooks with reflecting screens (they tell the colors are more brilliant - but reflecting screens are much more annoying then less brilliant colors...), horryful keyboard layouts (nothing for power-keyboard users) and strange combinations of HD size, main memory capacity and other hardware options. Netbooks currently get better, but for my needs too small for daily intensive work. Those are something for people that are permanently on the road or somewhere else where is not very much a working place and they want to look mails or surf the internet just occassionally (IMHO). And last but not least most vendors automatically include a Microsoft Windows preinstalled. For my private life I am not willing to pay that tax - I want a clean peace of hardware.

So when I went a few weeks ago to buy a new private notebook, it was difficult to find a notebook fitting my needs and the only vendor I found that was enough flexible was DELL (finally I got something assembled that was not officially available at their webshop). Although I can't tell about a long time experience right now, the overall quality seems to be better than everything else I have seen lately. - So fortunately it is still possibly to get a reasonable configuration.

But why it must be so difficult? - I think hardware vendors do not have the right to complain about bad business if they do not produce what people really need.

In many cases vendors produce configurations and focus on features, that do not fit the real-world needs of the customers.

Related posts: The operating system, The mobile device, The features, Bronce age of IT, About Dell, Ubuntu compatible hardware, The Dell Latitude 2110 and Ubuntu 10.04.1, Use cases for netbooks, The truth about hardware support.