Thread: Got my Mom a Dell ubuntu

Earlier this year in April i got my mom a Ubuntu laptop for her birthday
dell-vostro-notebook-400x400-imads32ucshys9h5.jpeg
Its a Dell Vostro 2520 Laptop, came preinstalled with Ubuntu. I ordered this one from Flipkart.. all details and specs are here - http://www.flipkart.com/dell-vostro-...MDS2DGF7FRTK93
Flipkart wasnt my first choice as a place to buy a laptop.. but had to do.. since i couldn't find it on the Dell site(My current and previous laptops were also Dells that i got directly from Dell)

I have been using ubuntu for years now, and since my mom had frequently used one of my machines that had it(with minimum instructions from me) i decided to gift her her own laptop. She only does email, writes stuff and skypes sometimes... All things that Ubuntu is perfectly adept at.

The start up config and installation of Ubuntu 12.04 (that the vostro came with) went smoothly and my mom loved it. then a few days later i upgraded it to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS using a thumb drive.. since it wasn't an LTS version it had to do a clean wipe rather than a migration. Nevertheless, it took 20min to complete.

Trusty Tahr looks great on it. the newer graphics drivers plus optimisations in 14.04 make it look really pollished.. the fonts and icons look beautiful on the screen.

the only weird thing.. or maybe its a joke on the part of the seller:
it came with a mcaffee disc!!
heres my tweet about that https://twitter.com/chaitanyak/statu...72697130868736

The billboards for dell's Ubuntu machine seem to tout libre office as the answer to everyone's needs.. but it does have some weird glytches.. my mom kept finding it difficult to enable spell check.. even i had to google the issue to figure out that i had to switch Libre Office to a different dictionary for spell check to be enabled.. minor frustration but worh noting.

NOTE: the bad comments on that page are from people who are looking for a windows machine, or something with a bit more muscle.. as far as i've seen(and i'm a windows and linux power user of sorts) its hardware surpasses my mom's needs. She uses it to write, facebook, skype and blog. I've installed all the requisite media playing codecs.. so its also a pretty good video and music machine.

To wrap up: I wouldn't buy it for myself.. i do a lot of 3d and 2d graphics work as well as gaming(for my experience with Steam on ubuntu check out - http://chaitanyakrishnan.blogspot.in...on-ubuntu.html ) however if your needs are the same as my moms.. this is going to be pretty perfect for you.

Thanks! Will read it in detail. Hope it helps others

Vostro series are ment for business use. and they are not powerfull, but they are (usually) robust. it's actually ment for users that use computers like your mum.

Originally Posted by chaitanyak

...
Flipkart wasnt my first choice as a place to buy a laptop.. but had to do.. since i couldn't find it on the Dell site(My current and previous laptops were also Dells that i got directly from Dell)
...

Hi, the Dell site had no mention of Ubuntu or Linux under "Products" but their affiliate site, http://www.compuindia.com/, has several models. I wonder why they're not on Dell's main site. I also don't know anything about this affiliate site and how lasting that affiliation will be.

The billboards for dell's Ubuntu machine seem to tout libre office as the answer to everyone's needs.. but it does have some weird glytches.. my mom kept finding it difficult to enable spell check.. even i had to google the issue to figure out that i had to switch Libre Office to a different dictionary for spell check to be enabled.. minor frustration but worh noting.

Give Abiword a try. It does everything LibreOffice's 'Writer' will do.....but it doesn't have those weird glitches that you mentioned. (At least, I haven't found any, yet.) Plus it's a lot easier to print from, for some reason.

Spell-checker works fine, too...

Regards,

Mike.

I think that is a perfect choice for your mom. I'm sure she will enjoy it.