[Linuxcommand-announce] [LinuxCommand.org: News And Rants] Review: Dell Inspiron 530N With Ubuntu 8.0...

[William S. <bs...@pa...>]

A couple of months ago I purchased a new desktop system for my office,
a Dell Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS pre-installed by Dell. For
those of you unfamiliar with the "N" series, these systems are sold
without Microsoft Windows installed. They are available with either
Ubuntu Linux pre-installed or with no operating system installed and a
copy of FreeDOS (an open source MS-DOS work-alike) installation media
in the box.My previous computer, another Dell N Series (a Dimension
2400 from 2004) still works but since it's Celeron powered, it's a bit
slow for my contemporary tastes.Ordering from the Dell website was very
straightforward and I configured my system with the optional Intel
Core2 Duo E4600 processor, 2GB RAM, Integrated Intel 3100 Graphics (I'm
not a gamer), and a 22 -inch E228WFP wide-screen flat panel monitor.
The total system price was $703 including $35 shipping charge.After it
arrived (it only took about three days even with ground shipping), I
got it out of the box and set it up. The only interesting thing of note
was that no manual for the computer was included in the box. I don't
know if this was a shipping mistake or if Dell omits it because the
manual is Windows specific. I later went to the Dell support site and
downloaded a PDF version.Physically, the machine is a pretty typical
desktop computer. It features an attractive silver and white case with
front audio and USB sockets behind a sliding cover and it has a glowing
blue power button. When the system powers up, all of its fans turn on
(loudly) for about three seconds and then turn off. Besides that, I
would rate the system as very quiet. The standard keyboard is on the
smallish side, with no excess around the keys themselves and I had
concerns at first about using a keyboard that had no wrist rest, but
after having used it for a while, I like the small size. It leaves
plenty of room on my desk for even more junk.The Ubuntu installation on
the system is pretty good. Dell adds two icons to the desktop, one
linked to a folder named "Dell" which contains a single PDF file of
technical support contact information, and a second icon that links to
a program that generates a DVD recovery image for performing a full
system restore to original factory condition. A recovery partition is
also included on the hard disk which can be selected at boot up. What
is missing is a document that describes how Dell integrated the OS.
Such a document is useful if you later decide to switch to another
Linux distribution and need to know if any special tweaks are required
to support the hardware.After the system was attached to the Internet,
it set about updating itself from the Ubuntu and Dell repositories.
Amazingly, there were over 900 updates available, virtually all of them
from Ubuntu. One thing to note about the Dell repositories, packages
from there will always display "not authenticated" warnings when you
attempt to update them. I looked into this (as the warning you receive
is pretty dire) and it seems to be an Ubuntu problem in that only
packages from the official Ubuntu repositories can be authenticated.All
of the hardware on the machine appears well-supported by Ubuntu. Dell
also includes the closed-source LinDVD program from Corel for DVD (and
other multimedia) playback. While the program could be said to work, it
has two annoying features, first it always sets the volume level
(system-wide) to maximum each time it's started. Second, its user
interface is visually ugly, looking like a 1998 version of XMMS. This
is the inevitable result of it being closed-source. No one in the GNOME
or Ubuntu communities is able to properly integrate it into the
desktop. Since receiving the system, I have installed all of the usual
multimedia packages from the Ubuntu repositories and reserve LinDVD for
DVD watching only and use totem for everything else. The integrated
Intel graphics system is fast enough to display 720p video playback
without problems. This system is also the first system that I have
owned that can run compiz-based visual effects on the desktop and it
works pretty well.Overall, I am very pleased with the system. Dell did
a good (though not perfect) job with the Ubuntu setup and the hardware
performs well. The 22-inch monitor combined with the compiz visual
effects is a delight. For the money, I think this is a very good
system. I've enjoyed it every day so far.You can find out more about
Dell's Ubuntu systems at:http://www.dell.com/ubuntuAlso check out
Dell's other Linux
resources:http://linux.dell.comhttp://www.dell.com/linux

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Posted By William Shotts to LinuxCommand.org: News And Rants at
11/24/2008 03:08:00 PM