Ever since I got the laptop I use at work, I always wondered what it was like to have a GNU/Linux OS on it. I've experimentet with a Compaq Evo N800 and Fedora releases before, but that didn't work like a charm. However, the Dell 620 and the Ubuntu Studio based on Feisty Fawn really worked like a charm!
I'm not posing as a preacher of GNU/Linux OS here, but it works mate. The install was much easier than the Windows, but there are some quirks yet to be fixed; The partitioning is not fit for a layman, you know as well as I do that to fiddle with partitioning when you don't have a clue is a no-no.
Ok, this is what works out of the box:
- Intel 945 Wireless (restriced driver)
- Sound, Basic Graphix (max 1024) and Networking
- Mute and volume buttons
This did not work out of the box:
- Widescreen Support and Resolution (had to spend 3 hours fixing this, and face it, 1024 looks idiotic on a 24 inch wide monitor.)
- The Alt Gr key was not working, a real pain in the ass when you program as much as I.
As you can see, this is not really big issues Ubuntu has with out of the box installs. The gap between GNU/Linux and Mac Os/Windows is closing in faster and faster. I believe that after Dell has launched their Ubuntu boxed deliveries to outside of US countries, the gap would soon be gone, forever.
As a little note: I still remain to find a program in Windows that does not have an equal or better opposite in GNU/Linux. Do you?