Barton's Blog

Six years ago today the first Project Sputnik system appeared on dell.com.

It all started at the beginning of 2012 with a pitch to an internal innovation committee.  A month after the pitch, on the ides of March, the committee gave the go ahead for an exploratory project to test out the idea of a developer laptop.

The original XPS 13 developer edition

Thanks to the interest and support of the community, eight months later, the project became a product.

On November 29, 2012 the Dell XPS 13 developer edition was born.

It takes a village

Beyond the developer community, the reason why Project Sputnik is alive and thriving today is because of the support, both official and unofficial, from dozens of people across Dell.

These individuals have come from marketing, engineering, sales, finance, PR, operations… Here are some of the key contributors over the last six years

Xiao Liang, Wendy, Abby, Lihua, David, Zorro

Aidan

Amber Huang

Amit

Barton George

Brett

Cami Collins

Casey Downing

Chris D

Chris W

Clement

Damon

Derek

Eric

Erin

Frank

Geoff Dunlap

James Jones

Jared Dominguez

Jason

John

Jon

Johnathon Boyd

Juan Martinez

Justin X

Kerry

Lester

Luke Presley

Mano

Mario

Matt

Melissa

Munira

Ray

Ryan

Peter

Sandra

Sarah

Theresa Thomas

Justin Cowan

Eoin

Lauren

Marek

Meg (Mei Kuen, Tusi)

Michal

Patrick Griffin

Randall

Shawn Burton

From then to now

With help from the folks above, Project Sputnik has continued to evolve.

The XPS 13 developer edition, which debuted with only one config and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, is now in its 7th generation, comes with Ubuntu 18.04 and boasts multiple configurations.  Along the way the project also expanded when the Linux-based mobile Precision workstation line joined the effort.

This year was a particularly busy one for the project with new versions of all five Sputnik platforms launching:

• Dell XPS 13 developer edition
• Dell Precision mobile workstation, developer line: 5530, 3530, 7530 and 7730

Thanks

Thanks once again to the community and everyone within Dell who has driven Project Sputnik from idea, to product, to product line.

Stay tuned and see where we go next!

Project Sputnik timeline

2012

• Project Sputnik announced — May 7, 2012
• Project Sputnik to go from Pilot to Product — July 18, 2012
• 1st gen Dell XPS 13 developer edition in the US — November 29, 2012

2013

• 2nd gen developer edition in US and Europe — February 18, 2013
• 3rd gen developer edition in US along with instructions on getting Ubuntu up and running on a Precision 3800 mobile workstation — November 15, 2013
• 3rd gen developer edition in US and Europe — December 20, 2013 

2015

• Dell Precision M3800 mobile workstation joins Project Sputnik  — January 27, 2015
• 4th gen Dell XPS 13 developer edition in US and Europe — April 9, 2015

2016

• 5th gen XPS 13 Developer Edition in US, Ubuntu-based Workstations (5510, 3510, 7510, 7720) available worldwide — March 3, 2016
• 5th gen XPS 13 developer edition in Europe — March 31, 2016
• 6th gen XPS 13 Developer Edition in Europe and US — October 04, 2016

2017

• Next gen Ubuntu-based Precision line-up announced, 5520 and 3520 available — January 9, 2017
• Precision 7520 and 7720 available — March 18, 2017
• Precision All-in-One available – April 18

2018

• 7th gen XPS 13 Developer Edition in Europe and US – January 4
• Next gen Precision line announced, 3530 available – March 24
• Precision 7530 and 7730 available – July 2
• XPS 13 developer edition upgrades to 18.04 – July 27
• Precision 5530 available – August 31

(For a detailed project history please see last year’s 5^th anniversary blog)

Extra-credit reading: news and reviews

Overall program

• An update from Dell’s Barton George on their Linux initiative Sputnik – Linux Unplugged (starts at 40min)

XPS 13 developer edition

• The 2018 XPS 13 Developer’s Edition—Have it your way on a “just works” Linux laptop – Ars Technica
• Dell XPS 13: The best Linux laptop of 2018 – ZDNet
• Project Sputnik turns  6 – Linuxgamecast (starting at 24 min)
• DELL XPS laptop: An amazing piece of hardware for programmers – Tech Republic
• Dell XPS 13 (2018) Review | Linux Edition – TFiR
• Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks With Ubuntu Linux On The Dell XPS 13 – Forbes
• Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition 9370 review, A truly top-notch Linux laptop… 5/5 stars — TechRadar Pro
• The best laptops for programming (XPS 13 is #1) – Digital Trends
• Dell XPS 13 now ships with Ubuntu 18.04 Linux — ZDnet
• Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition: la nuova serie laptop con Ubuntu 18.04 LTS! – Laser Office
• New Dell XPS 13 9370 review: Still the best ultraportable in the world? (reason #5, Ubuntu) — Big Tech Question
• Updating a Dell XPS 13 9370 to Ubuntu 18.04 — Gadgetoid
• Review: the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition Laptop – Linux Journal
• Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition Now Available With Ubuntu 18.04 LTS — Phoronix
• Neue Dell XPS13 Developer Edition Laptops mit Ubuntu 18.04 LTS verfügbar — Nerdzoom
• Dell XPS13 Developer Edition ships with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS pre-installed – Ubuntu blog
• Now Dell XPS 13 Ships With Ubuntu 18.04 LTS – Daily tech journal
• Dell’s XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 18.04 Preinstalled Now Available – Linux Journal
• Dell XPS 13 now ships with Ubuntu 18.04 Linux – Cloud Computing Providers
• Dell XPS 13 9370 review — Linux User magazine
• THE FUTURE OF PROJECT SPUTNIK — Linux User magazine
• Dell XPS 13 9370 review: 5/5 stars — PC Pro

Precision xx30 developer edition line

• Dell Precision 5530 with Ubuntu Review – Linux Unplugged (review starts at ~36min and goes to ~52min)
• Dell Precision 5530, Ubuntu Pre-Installed – This Week in Linux  (13:44)
• Dell Unveils New Ubuntu Laptops — OMG!UBUNTU!
• Dell Precision ‘Developer Edition’ mobile workstations run Ubuntu Linux and are RHEL certified – betanews
• Dell refreshes Precision laptops with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed – ZDnet
• Dell stuffs Intel Coffee Lake CPUs and Ubuntu into latest Precision workstations – The Inquirer
• Dell launches new Precision mobile workstation line-up powered by Ubuntu – Softpedia
• Dell Precision 5530 sale a la venta con Ubuntu y certificado para RHEL » MuyLinux
• Welcome the new Dell Precision developer editions – Barton’s blog
• Developer Editions of Precision Workstations Now Available — Direct2DellEMC
• Introducing the Dell Precision 7530 and 7730 with Ubuntu — Ubuntu blog
• Precision Developer Editions 7530/7730 now online — Welcome the power pair – Barton’s blog

Pau for now…

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2018 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.