On Mon, 2008-04-14 at 09:15 +0530, shirish wrote: > 3. Are there any hardware-vendors who have or are thinking of having a > GNU/Linux service support team. That would make a big difference to an > everyday user rather than people like us who just like to tinker/fool > around and do have time to see what works and what doesn't. ;)
In the US as well as in Europe, there are several hardware vendors who produce, sell, and provide technical support for their own native Linux machines. That includes both desktops and laptops. These machines come with Linux--mostly Ubuntu--preconfigured on them. Some of them provide the option for a dual boot with XP or Vista at your request. But all come with a Linux OS, with the guarantee that all of the hardware in the computer works out of the box with the OS. That includes sound, video, DVD playback, wireless, and webcam. And they provide ongoing support as well, mostly 1-3 years for the hardware warranty with unlimited technical phone and email support. I have become fascinated with these companies, as a user who currently owns a preconfigured windows machine and has spent an extraordinary amount of time in the past year working on getting Ubuntu working on his machine in all the various aspects. I am looking to purchase a laptop, and after consideration of what is available on the market today, decided that since I spend 99.9% of my time on the Linux side of my dual boot, I am going to invest in a machine in which professional people have dedicated to making LINUX work on it, and NOT Windows. Let the purchase price go toward making the OS you are actually going to USE, work. I am more familiar with the US companies which provide such machines, and will give you some of their websites below. I have been impressed with their product profiles, and after extensive communication with their personnel, are impressed with the staff as well. These companies are dedicated to the production of excellent Linux machines, in which all the hardware components have been carefully selected to work explicitly with Linux. Here below are the sites. Enjoy. These two build their own machines and supply only Ubuntu on them (they will supply a dual boot with XP at your request, but Ubuntu is the only Linux distribution they supply; their default configuration is one OS: Ubuntu alone.): 1. http://system76.com/ 2. http://www.zareason.com/shop/home.php This company builds its own machines and supplies your choice of Linux distrubution (Ubuntu/Fedora/RedHat) http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux_laptops.html This company purchases high-end laptops from large OEM companies (Sony,IBM,Dell,Panasonic) and sets them up and sells and supports them as preconfigured Linux machines (distribution your choice): http://www.emperorlinux.com/ Swarup -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
