Which Linux OS would you like to see pre-installed?

[vrkalak]

On another Linux oriented website, there is a link to a website for computer manufacturers.
On this particular link/website they, of course, make PC, laptops and netbooks with Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS pre-installed.

They have a Poll running on ... What other Linux OS people would like to see pre-installed on computers
http://linpc.us/index.php?option=com_po ... ng-systems

Mint is only a few votes behind Ubuntu, and both are leaps-and-bounds ahead of any other Linux OS.

I think, we should all go, check out that site, and vote to have Mint pre-installed on their new computers.
Of course, whichever Linux OS distro they use, is furthering the worlds knowledge of alternate Operating Systems, as opposed to M$.

[rich_roast]

Mint came in first by a single vote, apparently.

Is the poll now over or am I too stupid to vote on a web poll?

[exploder]

I would love to see Mint pre-installed on computers but I live in the US. I am not certain if the Universal Edition could be used in the US or not because of the way it installs multimedia components and codecs, this would be a gray area. I am not so sure computer manufacturers in the US and a few other countries would take the risk of being sued. I don't like the current patent laws but until they are changed I have to live with them. Prison or a huge fine just doesn't set well with me.

Ubuntu squeaks by in the US because of the way it installs codecs, what it can install and the warning messages it gives. Ubuntu will not install libdvdcss2 for you, it is patented. Large companies tend to protect themselves from multi-million dollar lawsuits.

PCLinux and Mepis pay for some of the codecs they include by default because they are US based distributions. I actually asked Texstar what was legal and how PCLinuxOS deals with codecs and he was nice enough to write me back and tell me. I still have the pm. Clem asked about codecs a while back and no one wants to change the way they are included so you will probably never see any US based manufacturer offer Mint pre-installed on their hardware.

Fedora and OpenSuse community members offer one click installs to get proprietary codecs installed, this takes away all liability from these distributions and manufacturers use these distributions without fear of lawsuits. Dell and HP are the largest computer manufacturers in the world and I would think at least Dell would be interested in Mint if not for the fear of lawsuits. Micheal Dell fully realizes the potential of Linux but does not want to be the target of legal action.

Unfortunately, unless we change the way we deal with codecs you are never going to see any of the major manufacturers selling LinuxMint based systems. This is a real shame because LinuxMint is one of the most user friendly distributions in the world and could further open source it it came pre-installed on new systems.

[exploder]

Is the poll now over or am I too stupid to vote on a web poll?

Look to the lower right side of the page to make your selection for the poll.

[Pierre]

Clem asked about codecs a while back and no one wants to change the way they are included so you will probably never see any US based manufacturer offer Mint pre-installed on their hardware.

Mint beat Ubuntu by several votes. not much in a overall of 680 in total, but still a lead, nevertheless.

& I would still love to see Mint grow in popularity outside of the USA.
- where there is No Issue with crazy software laws.

& for those who, unfortunately Do Live in the USA, then you guys will just have to promote Mint to the masses,
even more so.

[ESM]

It wouldn't surprise me if Mint has at the moment more users OUTside of the USA than inside...

[vrkalak]

I believe that the 'key' feature, should be user-bility.

As most people that would buy a laptop or netbook, with an OS other than MS Windows, are most-likely new to Linux.
(an experienced Linux-user doesn't care what OS is pre-installed -- they're gonna change it anyway)

So, whichever Operating System is pre-installed, needs to be extremely 'user-friendly.'
Everything must work and be eye-appealing. Simple. Easy.

Which Linux OS distributions do that?

There are a few ...a very few. I, for one, believe that LinuxMint is on the top of that list

[DrHu]

So, whichever Operating System is pre-installed, needs to be extremely 'user-friendly.' Everything must work and be eye-appealing. Simple. Easy. ... Which Linux OS distributions do that?

Which Linux OS distributions do that?..
Several, although that "user friendly TAG" is a deceptive entity; who knows what it means per individual

User Friendly
OpenSuse or Suse
Fedora
Freespire
--also claims to be legal in the USA with codecs, and includes them
Mandriva
Mepis
Mint
Sabayon
Ubuntu or Kubuntu
--you see, anyone could be

Not considered user friendly ?
Gentoo
DSL
LSB

[Hutch]

I would clearly love to see Mint pre-installed as it is one of the top few distros, in my experience, that work out of the box. Unfortunately another distro (PCLinuxOS2009) has one advantage and it is a big one in my opinion-Broadcom firmware for laptops.

Mint and others running the B43-fwcutter driver have to be connected by ethernet to download this proprietary code. This is not documented on startup. I recently tried out a PCLOS2009 livecd and was amazed to find that it picked up my wireless connection from another room without having to use the cable. Now if we can do that on Mint then we are really going to make a great leap forward in tems of useability for new users.

[ibm450]

I would clearly love to see Mint pre-installed as it is one of the top few distros, in my experience, that work out of the box. Unfortunately another distro (PCLinuxOS2009) has one advantage and it is a big one in my opinion-Broadcom firmware for laptops.

Mint and others running the B43-fwcutter driver have to be connected by ethernet to download this proprietary code. This is not documented on startup. I recently tried out a PCLOS2009 livecd and was amazed to find that it picked up my wireless connection from another room without having to use the cable. Now if we can do that on Mint then we are really going to make a great leap forward in tems of useability for new users.

+1

[GrayWizardLinux]

Mint!

nothing else.



Just tried pclinux09 gnome and zenmini on an old dell and with some trials got the wireless working that mint could not but i had no sound whatsoever! both versions so I was not impressed. way too much setup and the setup says not working but it does - wireless ---- and the sound seems to have the right setup but nothing; so go figure.


This just reifies my point about the sweetness of Mint. The most complete linux there is.

[Oscar799]

vrkalak
The poll is still running,I just voted for Mint a couple of minutes ago.
Its now in the lead by a clear 2% out of a poll of 800.
Looking good.

[MintHat]

The poll is still open

Ubuntu is in 1st place with 26.7% of the votes (340)
Mint is in 2nd place with 25.5% of the votes (324)
Windows has 3.7% of the votes (47)

[_h_]

Definitely Mint, which I just voted for.

[tower]

PClinux OS has a quirk, the sound is turned down to zero unlike mint which seems to be 80% by default

[tower]

sorry mis-posted!

[tower]

Some of the distros in the list seem a bit odd, so are the distros that are missing
Free BSD on the list
PCLINUXOS not on the list
It seems they have just take the nominees from the top distros at Distrowatch
I wonder if folks are voting for distros they have actually used.
Still, my vote goes to MINT!

[MALsPa]

To me, it's not so important which distro is pre-installed. I've purchased a couple of computers that came with Linux pre-installed, and in both cases I didn't end up keeping the original distro; but both machines worked well with most of the other distros I tried on them. In my opinion, purchasing a machine with any Linux distro pre-installed is preferable to purchasing a Windows machine and then installing Linux on it.

[vincent]

I voted for Mint as well...now we're tied with Ubuntu at 345 votes apiece!

[dawgdoc]

You can buy a laptop pre-installed with LM8, Helena, from The Linux Laptop Company

Their website opens to:

New! Now shipping with Linux Mint "Helena" version 8! Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution. It's "smooth" tones and amazingly fast speed make it a popular choice for many of our customers. It's based on the same structure as Ubuntu, and offers some great new features