Dell and Ubuntu certify latest model of XPS 13 ultrabook
- Reference: 1658422804
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/07/21/dell_xps_ubuntu_2204/
- Source link:
Starting next month, the "developer edition" of Dell's long-running XPS series of thin and light laptops, the [1]Alder Lake-based 2022 XPS 13 , will be available with "Jammy Jellyfish" pre-installed, but existing owners can install it now and get full driver support.
This isn't a big surprise, the previous version of the laptop was [2]certified to run the previous Ubuntu LTS. The announcement is the latest installment in Dell's [3]decade-old "Project Sputnik" program , although [4]there were some bumps and it did [5]take a few years to reach worldwide availability.
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For now, five models of XPS 13 seem to be the [7]only certified devices, but more will follow. Canonical lists three whole manufacturers – Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
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There are several reasons this matters. For one, if you're a big customer buying thousands of units, you want assurance they will work. The certification lends legitimacy to both companies, and the work that went into the drivers will help compatibility on other machines.
The device's keyboard is "zero lattice" instead of a chiclet design. This means that there are no gaps between the keys. While that sounds good, the keyboard's total flatness and 1mm key travel do not. The trackpad blends seamlessly into the glass fascia, which looks neat but will doubtless make it hard to locate by eye or by touch, especially the all-important tap zones in the lower corners.
[10]Tavis Ormandy ports WordPerfect for UNIX to Linux
[11]Yocto Project gets big backer and second LTS release – but what is it?
[12]Rocky Linux 9 and its new build service enter the ring
[13]Disentangling the Debian derivatives: Which should you use?
The keyboard has no physical top row, which includes the function keys and Esc / PrtScr / Home / Ins / Del . Instead there are illuminated hotspots in the fascia above the numbers row. When you hold down the Fn key, the illuminated spots shift sideways to reveal different symbols. We haven't tried the device, but this seems like it will be inaccessible to users with vision issues.
The machine also has just two USB-C ports, and all internal components apart from the SSD are soldered in place and can be neither replaced nor upgraded.
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[15]Regular readers may have [16]already ascertained that this sort of device is very much not the sort of kit that The Reg FOSS desk [17]favors .
Still, that hasn't harmed sales of Apple's MacBook Air. It's amusing to note, though, that the recent Apple Silicon MacBooks have returned many of the devices Apple removed in 2016: physical function keys, scissor-switch keyboards instead of butterfly switches, headphone and HDMI sockets, and SD card readers. The [18]new M2-powered MacBook Air even brings back the MagSafe power connector.
Could it be that Apple has worked out something that hasn't reached Dell HQ just yet? ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/09/dell_shows_off_2_new/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/02/dell_xps_13/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/29/dell_launches_sputnik/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2013/11/12/dell_sputnik_second_push/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/11/dell_sputnik_precision_world_wide/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/columnists&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YtnMgcgue-GxOvx4FBhAMAAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://ubuntu.com/certified/laptops?q=&limit=20&release=22.04+LTS
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/columnists&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtnMgcgue-GxOvx4FBhAMAAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/columnists&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YtnMgcgue-GxOvx4FBhAMAAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/20/wordperfect_for_unix_for_linux/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/20/yocto_project_4/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/rocky_linux_9/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/disentangling_the_debian_derivatives/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/columnists&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtnMgcgue-GxOvx4FBhAMAAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/26/thinkpad_motherboard_mod/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/20/framework_modular_laptop_gets_a/
[17] https://canadiangold.tumblr.com/post/675669211762294784/i-will-pay-extra-for-it-to-be-heavy-enough-to
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/08/apple_macbook_air_m2/
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales
-> if you're a big customer buying thousands of units, you want assurance they will work
For servers, I don't dispute this. For Linux laptops, where are all these users?
Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales
I don't have thousands, but I do have a couple of dozen nagging me weekly about when we'll certify a compliant Linux distro that meets all our requirements. The demand might not be massive, but it's definitely not zero.
Re: It would be interesting to see actual numbers of sales
My team buys Ubuntu desktops and laptops from Dell because of their Linux support. We order dozens to hundreds per batch, the largest orders having been about 500 or so at a time.
Like with any medium-sized organisation we deploy our own managed copy of Ubuntu on them in bulk on arrival and wipe the OEM image. It saves immense time knowing that hardware compatibility won't be a problem.
Anon because reasons.
I had hoped from the photo...
...that they had certified the 9310 generation. I still can't get the finger print reader to work on mine. Other than that small annoyance tho I've had a great user experience with it on 22.04.
"When you hold down the Fn key..."
... you remember that you hate this laptop.
From top.to bottom, laptops today are more like portable web kiosks.
Also, can anyone give a good reason to the majority of people for why all laptops are not 2in1's but, almost all laptops can have crappy keyboards? Greed must be the justification.
Re: "When you hold down the Fn key..."
I can't speak for anyone else, but in my own case I find the ergonomics of any laptop to be unacceptable for long stretches unless I've elevated the screen to eye level, which implies a separate keyboard and mouse. Which in turn means I get to use a nice keyboard of my choosing and don't notice the cheap built in one. That's just me though.
The keyboard has no physical top row, which includes the function keys and Esc/PrtScr/Home/Ins/Del
Without that top row, no sale. I use it a lot.
Re: The keyboard has no physical Esc key
Seems they've developed a laptop specifically to make vi nearly impossible to use (rather than just initially appearing impossible to use.) Probably not the best candidate for flogging to Linux developers and I for sure won't be buying one.
Looks like Framework are pretty much the only choice I have for a semi-sane laptop design now.
What Apple has "worked out"
to get those ports back was no longer having Jony Ive in complete control of physical design.