Why Linux on desktop is taking a sudden leap forward

[xenopeek]

I think this is kind of bigs news. Lenovo will soon have the option to order Thinkpads with Fedora installed instead of with Windows:
https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo-laptops/

Dell has had the option to order PCs and laptops with Ubuntu for a longer time, and there are various computer stores that sell their products with Linux, but is this Linux being big enough that big brands can't do without offering it? In any case welcome news that there is another mainstream offering for Linux laptops.

[Pippin]

So after Ubuntu, now Fedora follows:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/06/len ... einstalled

[xenopeek]

I think I completely missed that earlier news.

[Pippin]

We all "miss" things.

I think Linux is big for a long time already, just not for the average desktop user.

[Pjotr]

Fedora is a strange choice, though.... One would expect an LTS Linux; in the RPM-family CentOS comes to mind. Not bleeding edge short-lived Fedora....

[Portreve]

Fedora is a strange choice, though.... One would expect an LTS Linux; in the RPM-family CentOS comes to mind. Not bleeding edge short-lived Fedora....

+1

Fedora has never been, nor has it ever been intended to be, anything along the lines of an LTS. It absolutely does not have the stability or (oftentimes) sanity which other distros, such as Debian, Ubuntu, LM, etc., do. I used to love playing around with it (about a lifetime ago) but it's always been a bleeding edge tinker-toy (at least in my view).

Speaking of CentOS, I tried repeatedly and failed to be able to get it to install on my MacBook Pro. The installer simply refused to complete the partition configuration setup, so I couldn't go anywhere. I've no idea why, but it makes me wonder if it supports UEFI, or Apple's implementation thereof.

[xenopeek]

Fedora releases are supported for 13 months which is longer than the 9 months of Ubuntu's interim releases and means you can upgrade every other release instead of each release. Anyway, it's obviously not LTS but given also the existence of Ubuntu interim releases there are clearly people whose needs aren't met by LTS.

Linux Mint now only uses LTS releases but with Flatpaks, AppImages, PPAs and such there are now many more options to get extra/newer software and that may suffice for many users. Still, I've seen others here (and myself) get stuck trying to compile some additional programs Ubuntu 18.04 libraries are too old.

[trytip]

ThinkPad P Series: ‘P’ is For Pricey, The cheapest model starts at $1499
ThinkPad P73 Mobile Workstation Starting at: $3,609.00

that's just too expensive which they advertise battery life to be 8 or 10 hrs. my lenovo battery life brand new is rated at 6 hrs and i maybe get 2 hrs

[thx-1138]

2 June 2020

...Probably the most interesting part:

What’s more, Lenovo will also upstream device drivers directly to the Linux kernel, to help maintain stability and compatibility etc etc...

[Portreve]

I just saw an article in my news feed (from Forbes, I believe) that they're also bundling Ubuntu.

I think that's a much better step. However, I think LM would be even better. But, hey... what do I know?

[Pippin]

viewtopic.php?p=1800732#p1800732

[Lanser]

IBM > Thinkpads > Lenovo // IBM + Redhat (Fedora) => Marketing Synergy : Lenovo/Thinkpad + IBM / Redhat/ Cloud Vision / End User Vision
The Marketing folk will have KPIs to drive any linkage back to IBM/Redhat . Fedora is a logical low cost, low risk option.
Lanser

[Portreve]

Looks like Lenovo will now actually be certifying all of their systems for GNU+Linux and I guess offering RHEL and Ubuntu as options.

[English Invader]

I just saw an article in my news feed (from Forbes, I believe) that they're also bundling Ubuntu.

I think that's a much better step. However, I think LM would be even better. But, hey... what do I know?

I think LM would be the best choice all round but, at the same time, it's a commercial step that I think would be unpopular with many LM users and would effectively turn us into Ubuntu. This forum would get a lot more traffic for tech support and would have to turn into one of those 1984 type forums where you have to do a million different things before someone will even look at your problem and the moment you say a word out of turn you get banned.

One of the best things about being a LM user is the support from this forum and I would hate for that to have to change to meet the demands of mass-market interest.

I'm also of the belief that installing Linux onto a system for yourself is a vital step towards taking control of your system and if new users are robbed of that first step they will find it harder to adopt the user control ethos that makes Linux so rewarding.

[Portreve]

The only way I see Lenovo, Dell, or any other mainstream PC maker bundling Linux Mint is they choose to do it on their own. I don't speak for Clem and the others; heck, I don't even know what their thoughts are about that, but I get the impression they don't have too much interest in it and likely wouldn't be too terribly inclined to change how they handle and manage this distro.

There's some extremely good guides and resources out there, thanks to all the mainstream distros (past and present) but, of course, one needs to know how to conceptualize things in order to have a clue about the sort of questions to ask.

[lsemmens]

Lenovo is planning to offer enterprise versions of the Red Hat and Ubuntu distributions as a pre-loaded option across its P Series ThinkPad and WorkStation range. Good news for those who are looking for a new machine. Hopefully others will take note!

(I don't think the article is paywalled, if it is, please let me know and I'll C&P.)