With all the fuss going on about Ubuntu I thought why not give it a try! I downloaded the latest Desktop version of Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) from Ubuntu website. I decided to install it on my External USB HDD. I booted it from the CD and started the installation which was as simple as clicking an icon on the Desktop. I also noticed that it did a good job detecting my External HDD and the system’s NTFS partitions even at that stage.

However I also noticed that it didn’t detect my wireless card, doesn’t matter anyway at this stage. The way throughout the wizard was easy and simple until the disk partitioning page. I couldn’t use the entire space of the Disk since I’ve got some movies and stuff on an NTFS partition. So I manually created a swap and a root partition, and wasn’t a pain in the butt at all…

The last page of the installation wizard had a little ‘Advanced’ button in the bottom right corner, I couldn’t help pressing it, just to check out. I was a little shocked to see that it allowed me to control the installation of grub on different partitions and that it was going to install grub on my primary HDD of the system.

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Also:

As DaniWeb reported back in February, the trouble with asking what your customers want is that they have a habit of letting you know in no uncertain terms. When Dell did that at their IdeaStorm site, the masses yelled ‘what we want is Linux pre-installed’ and the Michael Dell yelled back ‘we are listening’ and then it all went very quiet indeed.

The official Dell response included such snippets as “there is no single customer preference for a distribution of Linux” and “we don't want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another.”

Until now, that is. Dell has announced that it will be selling certain consumer PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed and by so doing admitting that Linux is actually ready for the mainstream consumer big time.

Will Dell Ubuntu deal hurt Microsoft, Novell or Red Hat the hardest

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So what may happen? I can see several scenarios straight off. First is that for people who like windows XP and don't want Vista (there are a lot of those) will want to avoid the unnecessary cost of a Vista license and get a Linux Dell, Or should that be a Delnux . They may boot up the machine out of curiosity and have a play. This will have a percentage of previous windows fanboys turning into Linux fanboys.

Secondly there will be the linux users buying from Dell so they don't have to pay for a windows license they will never use. If they were a Fedora or SUSE user they may become enamoured with the Ubuntu on the Dell (possibly called Dubuntu and thus increase the popularity of this arguably best ever Linux.

Thirdly there will be the first time PC buyers. Fourthly the enterprise buyers will find that a bonus.

Dell and Linux. Delnux? or Dubuntu?