Dell Adds Ubuntu Machines to Notebook Portfolio

This was the announcement made by Dell PR manager Anne Camden in her blog. Dell waited for the first point release (8.04.1) before making this move. Camden also mentions that there will be two new Linux notebooks as of August.

Camden quotes a blog entry by Daniel Judd, who is responsible for the product group, as the source of this information, according to which the XPS M1530 and the Studio 15 from the new Studio series will be available with Ubuntu 8.04 preinstalled as of the end of August. Dell will be revealing details at Linuxworld-Expo in San Francisco. The fair takes place August 4 through 8. Dell developers have added a language selector to 8.04 update which sees Dell's Ubuntu range extended to Canada, Mexico and Colombia. Users can now choose their preferred language at first boot.

Besides LinDVD for DVD output, a feature that is preinstalled on all Ubuntu notebooks, Dell wil be adding more goodies in future. The list includes MP3, WMA, and WMV file playback. According to the blog, Dell has also invested a fair amount of time in improving support for ATI graphics cards, fingerprint scanners, Dell WLAN devices, the HDMI port and Bluetooth on its Ubuntu notebooks.