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71 Comments
- IEatHamburgers, on 10/11/2007, -2/+23PETA and Myspace at the same time? That's more evil than one person can stand!
- ericodom, on 10/11/2007, -3/+24The PETA newsletter? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
- MrSarcasm, on 10/11/2007, -8/+22No, I wan't to buy a high-end, software-that-does-what-i-need-and-i-don't-care-about-the-license-only pc.
- stolenisotope1, on 10/11/2007, -5/+16PETA is another tolerated terrorist group. People who support PETA are like scientologists, brainwashed for the agendas of the people that run the organisations. PURE SCUM.
- superjan, on 10/11/2007, -10/+20This is actually a big story. Ubuntu is gonna start selling hardware, and it is gonna be rather soon. (before gutsy +1). Mark Shuttleworth seems to be the right man at the right time at the right place.
- kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Porn Everwhere Thats Awesome...... Whats wrong with the newsletter again?
- allywilson, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9In no way does he say this will be an Ubuntu laptop. All he states is that he'll approach an OEM.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10No, there's no documentation. That is a misleading comment.
- benanzo, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11I'm interested. My girlfriend wants a laptop purely for MySpace and reading the PETA newsletter. Maybe I'll look into this.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I can understand it. PETA and Myspace! Damaged goods.
- mournsanity, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8In an instant.
- Vinvin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6software-that-does-what-i-need-and-i-don't-care-about-the-license-only pc are already available. He's trying to set up something new here, be constructive ;-)
And I agree with SVPirate. - gcnaddict, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Well gee, no *****?
- boredsam, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4When you post a statement like this, you've gotta back it up w/ a link to your Microsoft employee blog.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4It's not about greed. It's about methodology. Companies can be as greedy as they want provided they respect the license. It's not about capitalism v socialism (though admittedly some would like to turn it into that on both sides).
- Krumm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5You should probably spend the money on acquiring a new girlfriend...
- saftaplan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I sure hope not. EFI makes things even more closed and DRM/TCPA-friendly and that isn't worth the small improvement.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4You'd buy a high end laptop for that?
Frankly for that purpose an Nvidia card with the NV driver would suffice. - cr1t, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6You have a girlfriend? Photo for proof.
- dsn0wman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Sounds cool. Is there any supporting documentation?
- cmister, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3mark says in a comment on this blog, “Right now I can proudly say that all distributions of Ubuntu cost nothing, and that nearly 99.5% of the software and materials we ship gives users and the community the freedoms to share, customize and improve the software however they see fit. To help remove those bits and pieces that aren’t completely free, we have worked together with the makers of gNewSense put out a distribution called Gobuntu. We hope that some day that all distributsions of Ubuntu can carry 100% of the freedoms that 99% of Ubuntu already comes with. To make that happen, and to make an all free software operating system a reality, there is a lot that needs to happen, but, most of all we need your help.”
- SVPirate, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8The day you stop caring about the license is the day it bites you in the ass...
- generalloy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"Another important thing to realize about EFI is that it also contemplates enabling chipset features that will trap certain OS operations to an EFI-based control system running in System Management Mode. In other words, under EFI, there is no guarantee that the OS owns the platform. Accesses to IDE I/O addresses, or certain memory addresses, can be trapped to EFI code and potentially examined and modified or aborted. Many see this as an effort to build a "DRM BIOS". I am not sure what the real intent of this design is, but is is a real concern in secure environments (such as those found in governments, banks, and large search engine companies). A number of vendors and users have told me that they are not sure they can ship an EFI system they are willing to trust in a secure environment."
From the creator of Open/LinuxBIOS.
http://fosdem.org/2007/interview/ronald+g+minnich
For ordinary users, Vandewege says, LinuxBIOS is also a guarantee against digital rights management technologies, such as the sandboxing feature of Intel's EFI, which controls software access to hardware. According to Vandewege, the introduction of such a feature raises issues of privacy and consumer rights, because "whoever controls the BIOS controls the computer. If you control the BIOS, you can lock out whatever loads after it."
http://www.linux.com/articles/58781 - Apreche, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3The problem is that I do very much want a laptop that can be supported by free software. However, it is more important to me to have a very small laptop with lots of battery life and the latest technology. This open laptop will most likely be a very generic piece of hardware. That's not cool.
I use free software because it is the best software. However, I also want to use the best hardware. Right now, the two are incompatible. - Leviathan777, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3You are probably putting the cart before the horse. There is really just one problem: laptop hardware is often funky and closed-spec.
I'd like a laptop that Just Works, all of it, on Linux & BSDs. I'd like it to work without binary-only drivers, not because I'm zealous about running on FOSS, but just because I want free operating systems to Just Work on the hardware without a lot of farting around with driver installation.
Getting everything working first, and FOSS later is one of those things that will never happen, because you'll never get everything working as long as the hardware makers don't care about openness or standards - they'll just screw you into a perpetual game of catchup. - ours, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3According to wikipedia: "one of the stated goals of EFI is to "protect hardware vendors' intellectual property". This raises security concerns and notably makes creating a free software implementation impossible."
- aaronm67, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Way to miss the point of the article. You installed ubuntu on your laptop using dozens of proprietary drivers to get it to work correctly.
- doomfiend, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Best troll ever.
- benanzo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I have a hilarious life
- trogdoor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Intel
- superjan, on 10/11/2007, -6/+8excuse me? Maybe you should read the blog before you comment on it?
Here is the wike page (its ubuntu, the specs are written by the community!): https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FreeSoftwareLaptop You could have cut and pasted that one yourself.
and to prove my point, here is what Shuttleworth wrote:
"If we can get sufficient numbers of people to express interest in such a laptop then I will start hunting for an OEM to offer a solution for pre-order." - gcnaddict, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5I'd prefer a high-end PC that works with everything without any problems, including my corporate network (specifically Active Directory).
- eliasg, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3OpenBIOS? I thought everything was moving to EFI?
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Active Directory is just LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol for those who care). Linux has supported LDAP for years. We just call it by it's proper name.
- drlha, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1How so?
- Vinvin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1He might just try to pursuade an OEM to ship such a high-end laptop with Gobuntu if there is enough interest.
Still, it's big news. I mean, imagine being able to get your hands on a totally free laptop, that still works! And that in combination with Ubuntu (allright, Gobuntu) and the fact that it's high-end... Almost too good to be true. - RyGiL, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2As long as it A) can run a web browser so I can use all my online web apps and B) remote desktop so I can access my dev machine, I'm happy.
- saftaplan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1As long as a company doesn't use vendor lock-in or other dirty tactics instead of just improving their products to get more money, I don't care if they're greedy. Besides, Canonical still doesn't make profit, you can hardly call them greedy.
- Vinvin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1But this is about getting Gobuntu to run on a laptop, so without including proprietary drivers.
- DarkDakota, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"marked by fervent partisanship for a person, a cause, or an ideal " How is this related to anything near religion?
I don't like your misleading phrase, dugg down - ZenMasterJG, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1What was it like, firebombing research labs, vandalizing zoos, and hating human beings? Has it turned out well for you? You seem like such an ignorant sarcastic jackass.
- drlha, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Yes, I'm sure a lot of Linux fans will say this, but how many will actually end up paying the money?
- snerfu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think this would be much better suited for something like that new cheap Acer laptop, the "eee pc." People aren't going to want to buy a new laptop with a suped up Nvidia adapter until the Nouveau project comes up to speed or close to it on the driver side. The completely free software thing would work out much better on the lower end, affordable side of the scale.
- Shaman666, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I installed Ubuntu on my Laptop the other day and it worked perfectly. Everything, including the wireless link.
Top marks from me. Debian wouldn't see the wireless hardware at all. - cantormath, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4You know what Mark, we should probably get Linux completely working on Laptops before we start complaining about them not working completely with FOSS..............Working at ALL is a good thing....and for many Laptop, Linux is still not working 100%. I am also refering to things like the bios not the built in camera. Many new and old laptops still do not have functioning power management systems; for some of my machines I would just like to see it work at all, free or not free.
Here are some companies that I have noticed work well and provide linux Support.
acceptance list(from this post)
1) Intel
2) Nvidia
3) Visioneer (scanner)
4) HP (except special key functions on keyboards).
5) AMD
6) Brother
7) Orinoco (wireless)
8 )GIGABYTE Technology (First Motherboard using LinuxBios)
9) Twinhead (Redhat and Solaris Certifed Laptops)
10) Seagate (external hard drives)
11) Digium ( Open Source telecommunications supplier, PBX stuff etc)
12) Ralink
13) Maxtor (Hard drives)
14) Umax Astra ( ie, 2000U scanner)
15) Atheros (wireless)
16) Sun Microsystems
17) Presonus (pro soundcards - support for the freebob project)
18 ) Minitar - (wireless - responsible for opensourcing the ralink wireless chipset)
19) BridgeCo-(Multimedia Hardware production)
20) Terratec- (Multimedia Hardware production)
21) Ego Systems Inc. - (Hardware for audio production)
22) Dell (Manufacture of Desktops and PC's)
23) Polaroid (Cameras)
24) Kodak
25) System76 (Manufacture of Desktops and PC's)
26) NEC
27) Samsung
28 )LG
29) e-Blue. - mrsteveman1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yes its a great idea and a great model, i just question what valuable input Mark thinks he will get from most of the community.
If you read that page, he outlined what NOT to ask for, and everyone went ahead and asked for it anyway, with some rather ridiculous responses that are completely outside the scope of an easy to build linux laptop, some of them don't even make rational sense. - brasso, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1As I said; If it got something like IBMs TrackPoint, then I can’t see how I would not be willing to buy that laptop.
- MeneerR, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Dude, Mac' s don't count. Windows is an illogical crappy piece of software. The main reason windows is so crappy is economics. They need to sell new hardware, they want you to upgrade someday (so it should never be perfect) and it should be a market place of competing products that don't play nicely together.
There are two ways to get a great ecosystem:
- write everything yourself (the Apple Approach (tm)) and have some goddamn taste while you're at it
- write everything together and share your code
What does not work:
- have several competing products on a closed-source OS by another manufacturer.
Mac's don't give you freedom like Linux does, but as dictators come and go, its not a bad overlord. - HalfNakedPappy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Then don't sign up for the mailing list.
- ordminute, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm quite familiar with OS/X and have used it as my sole OS in the past. Having used Ubuntu though I realise now though that having an OS artificially tied to a single hardware base, one made in Taiwan with all the other laptops, is simply not practical.
I like my OS to move with me: I can't expect so-called "Apple Hardware" to be with me everywhere I go. Secondly, OSX is simpy not as performant as Ubuntu or as customiseable, even on the same hardware.
I don't want to live in some designer's day-dream of what allcomputer user's need. I'm not an evangelist, just pragmatic. -
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