I was starting to worry a bit about Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth — my fears that Ubuntu was becoming just a little bit more non-free every day, that they weren’t really pursuing the goals that I’d like to see them pursue. Obviously, they aren’t obliged to do what I say — I suspect that Shuttleworth’s opinion would be that I am welcome to make myself eight hundred million dollars and start my own Linux distribution if I don’t like the way he does it — but I’m deeply, deeply pleased to see that I was wrong all along. First, there’s Gobuntu, the promised totally-free version of Ubuntu, as part of the next Ubuntu release. (I’ve already tried a nightly, and, er, tasksel failed during the installer. I’d file a bug but I’m not sure where to put it; there seems to be no Gobuntu product in Launchpad.) Fantastic news; I’ll leave it a little while to stabilise and then try it (or I’ll try it very soon if someone can tell me where I should send bug reports). It’s Guadec this week, so I can’t afford to sod up my (working, free-drivers only) laptop before I do my talk, but I want to help with Gobuntu. Second, Mark’s also flagged the idea of being able to buy a laptop filled with free-software-supported hardware. Those of you who listen to LugRadio will know that I’ve whittled on repeatedly about how people don’t want to install Linux, they want to just buy a computer that works. It’d be so good if I could just go and buy a laptop that works, the next time I need a laptop, something which supports all the cool stuff that the free desktop can do. I’m pretty tired of people saying “I don’t like Linux, my OS X just works”, when half the problem there is that if I tried to install OS X on some random arbitrary computer it wouldn’t have any drivers there either. Having “Linux-specific” laptops isn’t by any means the only approach we should take, but if they existed it’d be such a good way to get things out to people — someone says “I’d like to try Linux, I’ve booted it a bit and it seems good and I want to buy a machine” and I point them at this. Greatness. I’ve signed up to the mailing list; hope there’s some discussion there soon. In brief, then: sorry for doubting you, Mark. Those of you reading who are busy preparing the word “fanboy” in a retort — yeah, I am a fan, a fan who’s just had his faith renewed. Now, when can I buy an OpenMoko phone that seamlessly integrates perfectly with my Ubuntu desktop?
<blockquote>people don’t want to install Linux, they want to just buy a computer that works. </blockquote>
Bloody right. I would *love* to rid myself of Microsoft stuff, but have no wish to look for drivers, compile kernals or such geeky shite.
whatever
dunno what happened there! Got an https error – something about “Woverine” and it’s inserted “whatever” as a separate comment. (I don’t talk like your mate’s sulky 13 year old, honest ..!)
bruce: have you tried just running an Ubuntu Live CD on your machine to see if all your hardware works? It might well already work, and then you won’t have to worry about it.
Bug reports go on the relevant package in the Ubuntu distro in Launchpad, the same way as they do for Kubuntu etc. Gobuntu is a flavour (jargon: built from the exact same archive, but with different default packages, different installer preseeding, etc.) rather than a full derivative that would need separate bug reporting too.
tasksel should be fixed now; it was an unholy combination of a non-Gobuntu-specific bug in the CD build system that generated tasks with the wrong names, a Gobuntu-specific bug where I’d apparently fat-fingered the preseeding, and a bug in apt that meant we didn’t notice the first bug until the apt bug metamorphosed into a slightly different bug that broke the entire world. Anyway, we banged on it at the distro sprint in London this week and it should be working better now.
.. but if I run Ubuntu on my XP box, don’t I have to partition stuff and install operating systems and all the dull stuff that stops people from using non-Windows stuff?
Bruce: Yeah, sorry about that. (I run the subscribeme service Aq uses) My sysadmin decided to fuck with apache without telling me he was going to, and took down most of my sites for a large part of today.
http://www.xephi.co.uk
came up in a discussion recently. They sell laptops and desktops pre-installed with ubuntu. The laptops are all intel components so the drivers are free (or at least mostly free).
bruce: you can test out Linux by running it from a CD without any installation at all. If you do install it, then you get asked a few questions, but it handles all the “partitioning” and stuff like that for you.
Right. The wife and kids are away next week so I’m going to install Linux.
You owe me a pint for every device that won’t work, every late night forum post I make and every time i weep in frustration, Mr Linux evangelist …
bruce: I shall be around all next week – family on holiday – so instant messaging or a phone call might be a good idea.
I hear that Linux Emporium in Birmingham sells laptops from Lenovo with Linux pre-installed. If you buy one of those you shouldn’t have to worry about drivers.
http://www.linuxemporium.co.uk/products/laptops/
[...] Stuart, you come cheap.
Remember, any time you hear ‘gobuntu’, think ‘stooge distro‘. And any time you hear ‘database layer’, ask ‘where’s the beef?‘ Next time you hear ‘free laptop’, ask ‘why aren’t you investing in the project that is already building one?’ [...]
[...] Luis Villa gives me a beating about regaining my respect for Mark Shuttleworth’s commitment to free software. I, personally, think that Gobuntu is not a stooge distro, but it remains to be seen whether it’s actually pushed as an important thing when gutsy is released or whether it’s buried in some back alley bit of the website. I agree totally about there being no Launchpad source, indeed. As to why Shuttleworth isn’t investing in OLPC, well…you can only do so much at once. OLPC are indeed building a free software laptop. On the other hand, it’s not a free software laptop that I, Stuart, will be able to buy; someone ought to be trying to persuade people to make existing Western laptops run only free software as well. OLPC is a valuable project, indeed, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Whether the Ubuntu/Dell deal, etc, counts as doing this depends on your point of view. [...]