Introducing the 2020 XPS 13 Developer Edition — (this one goes to 32!)

January 1, 2020

We are proud to announce the latest and greatest Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition. The system, which is based on 10th Gen Intel® Core™ 10nm mobile processors, represents the 10th generation of the XPS 13 Developer Edition (see a list of the previous nine generations below).

This 10th generation system features an updated design and comes with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS preloaded.  Two areas of note are that the new XPS 13 will be available with up to 32GB of RAM as well fingerprint-reader support.  (suppport for the fingerprint-reader support will be available post launch and initially as an update.)

The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, 10th generation

 

The Developer Edition, as well as the 32GB Windows configs, will be available in February (initial Windows configs will be available on January 7).  When the Developer Edition launches next month it will be available in the US, Canada and Europe and start at US $1,199.99 (this represents an i5-based Developer Edition with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, an FHD display and with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS preloaded).

But wait, there’s more: Latitudes and monitors

As with the preceding generation, today’s announcement of the latest XPS 13 Developer Edition is not a decoupled event but is part of a broader Dell product unveiling. In addition to the XPS 13 Developer Edition and its Windows counterpart, Dell Technologies is introducing new products and software across its premium Latitude 9000 series and display portfolios.

Dell UltraSharp 43 4K USB-C Monitor

Latitude 9000 series: Featured as the first devices within the new 9000 series, the Latitude 9510 notebook and 2-in-1 laptops represent a new ultra-premium class of products targeted at executives and mobile professionals.  The 15” commercial PC delivers 5G mobile broadband capabilities, AI-based productivity capabilities, and targets 30-plus hours of battery life.

UltraSharp 27” 4K monitor:  In addition, the new family of monitors includes an 86”4K interactive touch monitor, an UltraSharp 27” 4K USB-C Monitor for creatives with VESA DisplayHDRTM 400 for true color reproduction, and the new Alienware 25” Gaming Monitor with 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time.

XPS 13: 32GB, FPR support, larger display & improved unboxing 

Returning to the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, as mentioned in the opening, many will be happy to know that when it debuts next month, it will be available with up to 32GB of RAM.  The addition of an option above 16GB is something is a direct request from the community and we are happy to be able to deliver on it.

Fingerprint-reader support:  Another awaited feature is fingerprint-reader support.  While not available at launch, support will soon follow, first as an OTA (over-the-air) update and then as part of the preloaded image.

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, 10th gen

4-sided InfinityEdge display:  What’s also very cool is that the latest XPS 13 boasts the first-ever 4-sided InfinityEdge display, which means it is virtually borderless.  In addition, the new display features a 16:10 aspect ratio (up from 16:9 on the prior gen) and while this may seem like a small detail, the extra screen space is noticeable. 

Keycaps and trackpad: A larger display, along with larger keycaps, and trackpad are all contained within a form factor both smaller and thinner than the previous generation.

Unboxing experience: As a result of customer feedback, both the XPS 13 Developer Edition and Windows variant will ship with an improved unboxing experience.  This experience is cleaner, simpler and based on more sustainable packaging. While all Dell packaging is sustainable, the new design greatly increases the ease of recyclability by eliminating foam and single use packaging.

XPS 13 Developer Edition specs in brief

The 2020 XPS 13 developer edition will be available with

  • 10th Gen Intel® Core™ 10nm mobile processors
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  • Fingerprint reader support (driver initially available via OTA update)
  • Up to 32GB memory
  • Up to 3x faster wireless with Killer™ AX1650 built on Intel WiFi 6 Chipset, supports up to 2TB PCIe SSD
  • Up to 4K Ultra HD+ (3840 x 2400) display

Project Sputnik and Dell’s Linux portfolio – from then to now

The first generation of the XPS 13 developer edition debuted over eight years ago and represents the first system in the Project Sputnik portfolio of developer systems. (See the list of the initial nine generations below).

Guided by feedback:  Project Sputnik, it began as an exploratory effort to find out what the community wanted in a developer-focused laptop. Since the project’s beginning it has been guided by direct input from the developer community and in fact it was the power of the community that pushed the effort from project to product.

Precision joins: Three years after it launched, the svelte XPS 13 developer edition was joined by a beefy Ubuntu-based Precision Mobile workstation.   Within a year this initial power system became a set of four systems and are now in their fourth generation.  Today the Sputnik portfolio consists of the 2020 XPS 13 developer edition along with the Ubuntu-based Dell Precision 5540, 3540, 3541, 7540 and 7740 mobile workstations.

150+ Linux systems:  While project Sputnik is the most visible Linux-based offerings from Dell, it is only a small fraction of the over 150 systems that make up Dell’s Linux portfolio.


The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition through the generations


Generation One (L321X) — November 29, 2012

  • Ubuntu 12.04LTS
  • CPU: 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor (Sandy Bridge)
  • RAM: 8GB
  • SSD: 256GB
  • Display: 1366×768

Generation Two (L322X) — February 18, 2013

New features

  • FHD display (1920 x 1080)
  • 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ (Ivy Bridge)

Generation Three (9333) — November 15, 2013

New features

  • Touch-enabled FHD display
  • 4th Generation Intel® Core™ (Haswell)

Generation Four (9343) — April 9, 2015

New features

  • Ubuntu 14.04
  • 5th Generation Intel® Core™ (Broadwell)
  • 512GB
  • QHD+ touch (3200×1800

Generation Five (9350) — March 3, 2016

New features

  • 6th Generation Intel® Core™ (Skylake)
  • InfinityEdge™ display — FHD and QHD+ versions available
  • 16GB and 1TB

Generation Six (9360) —  October 04, 2016

New features

 

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
  • 7th generation Intel® Core™ (Kaby lake)

Generation Seven (9370) — January 4, 2018

New features

  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (launched with 16.04 LTS upgraded to 18.04 in July 2018)
  • 8th generation Intel® Core™ (Kaby Lake R)

Generation Eight (9380) — January 23, 2019

New features

  • 9th generation Intel® Core™ (Wiskey lake)
  • 2TB
  • Camera moved to the top of the display

Generation Nine (7390) — August 21, 2019

New features

  • 10th Generation Intel® Core, 6 cores (Comet Lake)

 

 

 

Extra-credit reading

  • The best Linux gifts to buy in 2019 – ZDNet
  • Dell’s Newest XPS 13 Ubuntu Laptop Just Got 16 Additional Configurations – Forbes
  • Dell bets big on Ubuntu Linux laptops for developers – ZDNet
  • Dell XPS 13 7390 Review: The Best Laptop For Desktop Linux Users – Laptop Capri
  • Dell announces new Linux XPS 13 developer edition 7390 laptop – TechBuzz

 

Pau for now…

 

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Posted by Barton George

Project Sputnik: Want to join the cause?

December 18, 2019

Passionate about Linux? About Developers? We’ll have we got the opportunity for you. 😊

The Project Sputnik team is planning to beef up our efforts and we’re looking for a passionate soul to join the cause and help drive Dell’s line of developer laptops and workstations.

This individual would have an opportunity to handle community engagement, represent Dell at developer and open source events as well as shape the future of Dell’s Sputnik program. Live in Austin?  Even better!

Operators are standing by

If the above sounds exciting to you and you are diplomatic, intuitive, have a passion for coding and Linux please DM me at @barton808 on Twitter.  At this point we are gathering names of interested individuals and will reach back out in the new year.

Extra-credit reading

  • Dell Opens Up About Its Linux Efforts And Project Sputnik – Forbes

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Dell’s Linux landing page goes live!

September 27, 2019

One subject we often get feedback on, and it doesn’t tend to be the positive kind, is the difficulty in finding Linux systems on Dell.com. The following tweet does a good job of summing up people’s frustrations

Im sure you get this all the time – but I dont understand why it’s so hard to just search for and find detail on which laptops ship with @ubuntu on a beautiful understandable page.

Earlier this month we took a big step in addressing this issue when launched the new Linux landing page, http://www.dell.com/linux.

Dell’s new responsive landing page as viewed on a mobile or desktop

Out with the old

While we had a previous landing page, it wasn’t anything to write home about and it certainly didn’t leverage the slick and responsive new dell.com template.  When our old page was taken down in a recent web clean up it gave us the push we needed to bump it up on our list of things to do.  The web team who helped us through the process was awesome and we got the new page up in record time. 

The page features the following product lines (we plan to add products over time):  

  • Dell XPS 13 developer edition
  • Dell Precision Mobile workstations, developer edition
  • Ubuntu-based and Red Hat-certified Dell Precision fixed workstations

All roads lead to…

Besides dell.com/linux you can get to the page using any of the following: 

  • dell.com/sputnik
  • dell.com/developer
  • dell.com/developers

A journey of a thousand miles

While we still have more to do to make Linux systems easy to find on dell.com we see this as a great first step and are looking forward to bringing you more good news in the future!

Extra-credit reading:

The new site

  • Dell Has A New Dedicated Site For Ubuntu And RHEL-Certified Linux Desktops And Laptops – Forbes
  • Dell Makes It Easier to Find Its Growing Linux Range – omg!ubuntu!
  • Dedicated Linux site for DELL  (starts @20:33)- LWDW 187
  • Dell’s new web page makes finding Linux laptops and desktops easier – Liliputing
Forbes
  • Linux Laptop Buyer’s Guide 2019: Tips And Resources To Find A Laptop That Meets Your Needs – Forbes
  • Dell’s Beautiful New Linux Laptop Features Ubuntu, 10th Gen Intel CPUs And Super Fast WiFi – Forbes
  • Dell Launches New Ubuntu-Powered XPS 13 9380. Nose Cam Not Included – Forbes
  • Exclusive: Dell Opens Up About Its Linux Efforts And Project Sputnik – Forbes
  • Dell Shipped Linux On 162 Unique Platforms In Fiscal Year 2019 – Forbes
  • Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks With Ubuntu Linux On The Dell XPS 13 – Forbes

 

Pau for now…

 

 

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Posted by Barton George

The new Dell XPS 13 developer edition now available in the US, Europe and Canada

January 23, 2019

Last January the Dell XPS 13 developer edition (9370) made its debut.  Today we’re excited to announce that one year later its successor, the XPS 13 developer edition (9380), is now available in the US, Canada and Europe.  (Note: both the 9370 and 9380 will coexist for a period of time.)9380 xps 13 developer edition 3500x1924

Project Sputnik

The 9380 represents the eighth generation of Dell’s Ubuntu-based XPS 13 developer edition series.  The first generation of the developer edition debuted over six years ago and it, along with the Ubuntu-based Precision mobile workstations that launched in 2015, make up Project Sputnik.  In case you’re not familiar with it, Project Sputnik is Dell’s skunkworks initiative driven by input from the developer community (see the timeline at the end of the post for the complete XPS 13 developer edition progression).

Dell XPS 13 developer edition (9380) — System highlights

Although there are many great features and specs that characterize the latest developer edition (see below), the one that will likely bring the most joy is the new placement of the webcam.  In the 9370 the camera is located directly below the screen.  In the new 9380 the camera has been moved to the top, providing a much more flattering view of the user while still maintaining the system’s sleek, compact design.

Not only that but the 8th generation developer edition supports Suspend-to-idle natively which allows the system to resume much more quickly from sleep.

 9380 Specifications

  • Intel 8th generation i3, i5 and i7 processors (Intel Whiskey Lake U, 15W, non-vPro)
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS preloaded
  • InfinityEdge display with top camera placement
  • Easier to open
  • FHD and UHD resolution support
  • Up to 16GB of LPDDR3 memory at 2133MHz
  • 1 x NVMe slot for 2230-128GB / 2280 up to 2TB
  • Thunderbolt 3 (x2) with USB3.1 Gen2 + type-C x1 with USB3.1 Gen2 speed
  • Improved Thunderbolt runtime power management
  • Killer® 1435 802.11ac [2×2] + Bluetooth 4.2

The United States and Canada 

In the US and Canada there are four base configs that can be configured in a multitude of ways, yielding 22 configurations.  These base configs are:

  • i7 QC|8GB|256GB|FHD T
  • i7 QC|8GB|256GB|UHD T
  • i7 QC|16GB|512GB|UHD T
  • i7 QC|16GB|256GB|UHD T

(Note: unlike Europe, in the United States and Canada the developer edition can only be purchased in the “For Work” section.)

Europe

Beating the US and Canada to the punch, on January 9th the first configurations of the new XPS 13 developer edition became available in Europe.  At the end of last week two more joined to complete the lineup:

  • i7 QC|16GB|512GB|UHD T
  • i7 QC|16GB|1TB|UHD T
  • i7 QC|8GB|256GB|FHD NT
  • i7 QC|16GB|512GB|FHD NT

The above configurations are available in both the “For Home” and “For Work” sections on Dell.com and are available online in the following countries:

  • Austria
  • Belgium (Dutch and French)
  • Switzerland (German and French)
  • Germany
  • Denmark
  • Spain
  • France
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • The Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • The United Kingdom <- The developer editions will be added to shortly to the 9380 product page.  Until then, the systems can be purchased via chat on the product page or by calling the number that pops up.

Stay tuned

Being able to announce the next generation of the XPS 13 developer edition is a great way to begin the year.  Watch this space to see what is next on the agenda for 2019.

XPS 13 developer edition timeline

2012

2013

2015

  • 4th gen Dell XPS 13 developer edition in US and Europe — April 9, 2015

2016

2018

Extra-credit reading

  • Exclusive: Dell Opens Up About Its Linux Efforts And Project Sputnik – Forbes
  • Dell Shipped Linux On 162 Unique Platforms In Fiscal Year 2019 – Forbes

 

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Sputnik turns 6! Presenting the folks behind it

November 29, 2018

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:

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 5th 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

 

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…

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Posted by Barton George

Precision Developer Editions 7530/7730 now online — Welcome the power pair

July 2, 2018

Not long ago I introduced the next gen of Project Sputnik’s Linux-based Dell Precision Mobile workstations: the 3530, 5530, 7530 and the 7730.  At that time the 3530 was available for purchase.

Today I’m happy to announce that the uber-powerful 7530 and 7730 are now live on dell.com

Note: to get to the Ubuntu option, hit “more” in the Operating System section.

7730 and 7530 with screenfill

These new thinner, lighter, premium-built Precision mobile workstations come preloaded with Ubuntu and have been RHEL certified.  The 7530 and 7730 feature the latest Intel Core and Xeon processors, blazing-fast memory and professional graphics.

Of particular note is the increased core count and memory.  In fact the maximum memory has doubled to 128GB which helps with cloud developer local workloads.  In the case of the 7730, it supports up to 8TB of PCIe NVME storage, the most PCIe storage on the market today.  The 7730 is also the first AI/ML ready mobile workstation available.

A double click on the specs

Although the following information was in the previous blog, I wanted to include it here so that you had all the info in one place.

Dell Precision 7530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

The world’s most powerful 15″ mobile workstation, redesigned to be thinner, lighter

  • 8thGen Intel® Core™ and Xeon® processors
  • AMD Radeon Pro WX and NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics
  • 1st 15” Ready for VR mobile workstation with the NVIDIA Quadro P3200 graphics card
  • Largest & fastest memory on the market for mobile workstations up to 128GB of system memory & SuperSpeed memory of 3200MHz
  • Largest PCIe SSD storage capacity available for a 15-inch mobile workstation: up to 6TB
  • Single cable docking and Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

Dell Precision 7730 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

The world’s most powerful 17″ mobile workstation, redesigned to be thinner, lighter 

  • AI developer platform
  • 8thGen Intel® Core™ and Xeon® processors
  • AMD Radeon Pro WX and NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics
  • Largest & fastest memory on the market for mobile workstations up to 128GB of system memory & SuperSpeed memory of 3200MHz
  • Largest PCIe storage capacity available for a mobile workstation (up to 8TB)
  • Single cable docking and Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

RHEL 7.5 certification and drivers 

As mentioned above, these systems will be certified for RHEL 7.5 and the needed drivers will be included in the distro.  That being said, the AMD and NVIDIA drivers that come with 7.5 are inbox drivers.  We will be posting drivers for both graphic cards that will include professional features not included in the inbox drivers.  Stay tuned!

Next up, the 5530.  Stay tuned!

Extra-credit reading

  • Introducing the Dell Precision 7530 and 7730 with Ubuntu — Ubuntu blog
  • Developer Editions of Precision Workstations Now Available — Direct2DellEMC
  • Dell Unveils New Ubuntu Laptops — OMG!UBUNTU!
  • Precision workstations: Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Machine Learning solutions – Dell.com
  • Welcome the new Dell Precision developer editions – Barton’s blog
  • 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

Pau for now….

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Posted by Barton George

Welcome the new Dell Precision developer editions! Gen 3 of the beefy line up

May 24, 2018

Project Sputnik keeps rolling on!

Today I’m proud to announce the new the Linux-based Dell Precision Mobile workstation line: the 3530, 5530, 7530 and the 7730.  These systems, which represent the fourth generation of the Precision developer editions, come preloaded with Ubuntu and have been RHEL certified.

These new thinner, lighter, premium-built Precision mobile workstations feature the latest Intel Core and Xeon processors, blazing-fast memory and professional graphics.

The new Precision 3530

Available today 

Coming soon

  • Dell Precision 5530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition
  • Dell Precision 7530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition
  • Dell Precision 7730 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

A double click on the specs

Dell Precision 3530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

15-inch fully customizable and high-performance mobile workstation at an entry-level price point

  • 8th Gen Intel® Core™ and next-generation Xeon® processors
  • Memory speeds up to 2666MHz up to 32GB
  • PCIe storage capacity up to 2TB
  • NVIDIA Quadro® P600 professional graphics cards with 4GB of memory
  • Support for 4K video to an external monitor at 60fps via HDMI 2.0
  • Ports include HDMI 2.0, Thunderbolt and VGA
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

Dell Precision 5530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

Dell’s thinnest, lightest and smallest 15″ mobile workstation with enhanced graphics, and a stunning design and display

  • Available in Platinum Silver or Brushed Onyx, with a 15.6-inch display fit into a 14-inch chassis.
  • Next-gen graphics up to NVIDIA® Quadro P2000.
  • 8th Gen Intel® Core™ and next-generation Xeon® processors
  • Enhanced 2666MHz memory speeds up to 32GB
  • Up to 4TB of SSD storage
  • USB Type C with x4 PCIe, Thunderbolt™ and HDMI 2.0 ports
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

Dell Precision 7530 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

The world’s most powerful 15″ mobile workstation, redesigned to be thinner, lighter

  • 8th Gen Intel® Core™ and Xeon® processors
  • AMD Radeon WX and NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics
  • Largest & fastest memory on the market for mobile workstations up to 128GB of system memory &  SuperSpeed memory of 3200MHz
  • Largest PCIe SSD storage capacity available for a 15-inch mobile workstation: up to 6TB
  • Single cable docking and Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

Dell Precision 7730 Mobile Workstation, developer edition

The world’s most powerful 17″ mobile workstation, redesigned to be thinner, lighter 

  • 8th Gen Intel® Core™ and Xeon® processors
  • AMD Radeon WX and NVIDIA Quadro® professional graphics
  • Largest & fastest memory on the market for mobile workstations up to 128GB of system memory &  SuperSpeed memory of 3200MHz
  • Largest storage capacity available for a mobile workstation (up to 8TB)
  • Single cable docking and Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preinstalled
  • RHEL 7.5 certified (details below)
  • Available worldwide

RHEL 7.5 certification and drivers

As mentioned above, all four developer editions will be certified for RHEL 7.5 and the needed drivers will be included in the distro.  That being said, the AMD and NVIDIA drivers that come with 7.5 are inbox drivers.  We will be posting drivers for both graphic cards that will include professional features not included in the inbox drivers.  Stay tuned!

How did we get here?

Project Sputnik launched at the end of 2012 with the svelte XPS 13 developer edition.  While this fit the bill for a lot of folks, there was a set of folks who needed something beefier.  The demand stayed steady so Sputnik team member Jared Dominguez decided to take it upon himself to get Ubuntu up and running on the Precision M3800.

Jared hammock hacking

From this he created step-by-step instructions and posted them to Dell Tech Center for community members to follow.

While customers were excited to be able get Ubuntu going on their systems, they wanted more.  Given this sustained demand, in early in 2015 the M3800 developer edition became an official product.

In Spring of the following year our Linux-based Precision offering went from one system to four and the 5510, 3510, 7510 and 7710 developer editions debuted.  Last year this line was revved and the next gen, the 5520, 3520, 7520, 7720 were announced along with the addition of the Precision 5720 All-in-One.  And today… (see above)

Stay tuned

Watch this space for the upcoming availability of the Dell Precision 5530, 7530 and 7730 developer editions as well as the AMD and NVIDIA graphics drivers for RHEL 7.5 .

Extra-credit reading

The History of the Ubuntu-based Dell Precision mobile workstation line

  • November 15, 2013 — Instructions posted to get Ubuntu up and running on a Precision M3800 mobile workstation
  • January 27, 2015 — Precision M3800 officially joins Project Sputnik
  • March 3, 2016 — Ubuntu-based Precision line 5510, 3510, 7510, 7710 announced
  • January 9, 2017 — Next gen Ubuntu-based Precision line-up announced, 5520 and 3520 available
  • March 18, 2017 — Precision 7520 and 7720 available
  • April 18, 2017 — Precision 5720 All-in-One available

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

XPS 13 Developer Edition — the 7th gen is here!

January 4, 2018

-> Updated June 22, 2018 – Three 16GB/FHD configs added to the line up in the US

-> Updated Jan 26, 2018 – Added list of countries that offer the XPS 13 developer edition offline.

Today I am excited to announce the availability of the 7th generation of the Ubuntu-based XPS 13 developer edition.  Project Sputnik’s latest and greatest system is now simultaneously available in Europe, Canada and the United States.

The new XPS 13 developer edition (9370) features the 8th Generation Intel Quad Core, a brand new chassis, an improved display and smaller borders.

The 9370 is even thinner, lighter and smaller than its already svelte predecessor, the 9360. (Note, the 9370 does not replace the 9360, as the two will coexist.)  If you want more detailed specs, please scroll down dear reader. Before we get to the product details however, here’s a quick Project Sputnik backgrounder.

Project Sputnik, a recap

It all started back in 2012 with the wacky idea of creating a high-end Linux laptop targeted at developers.   An internal innovation fund gave the scrappy project team a little bit of money and six months to see if this idea would fly.

From day one, project Sputnik publically solicited input from the developer community.  It was this input and the tremendous community support that pushed the effort from project to a product.

The initial XPS 13 developer edition, available only as one configuration, debuted on November 29, 2012.  Fast forward five years and not only are we announcing the 7th generation of that initial product but the project itself has now expanded to become a full line of developer-targeted systems.

US and Canadian configurations

In North America, as mentioned above, the new XPS 13 developer edition is available in both the US and Canada.  The following are the available configurations in the two countries (Note: the links below point to the US configurations).

CPU | Memory | Storage | Display

Available as of April 3, 2018

European configurations

The new XPS 13 developer edition is available online in Europe in the following countries:

Online: UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland (French and German), Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark.

In the following countries you can get a hold of the XPS 13 developer edition offline (phone or chat):

Offline: Czech Republic, Denmark, Emerging countries , Finland, Greece , Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, South Africa.

The following configurations are available both online and offline.

CPU | Memory | Storage | Display

  • i7 | 16GB |      1TB | UHD touch (3840 x 2160)
  • i7 | 16GB | 512GB | UHD touch (3840 x 2160)
  • i7 | 16GB | 512GB | FHD non-touch (1920 x 1080)
  • i7 |  8GB | 256GB | FHD non-touch (1920 x 1080)

9370 Specifications

Here’s a bit more detail behind the system specs.  These options are available as noted above.

  • 8th Generation Intel® Quad Core™, i5 (US and Canada only) and i7 versions
  • Memory options: 4GB, 8GB or 16GB Dual Channel SDRAM
  • Storage options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB
  • Ports
    • 2x Thunderbolt™ 3
    • Noble lock slot
    • Headset jack
    • DC-In & DisplayPort 1x USB-C 3.1
    • MicroSD card reader
  • Display options
    • UltraSharp 4K Ultra HD (3840×2160) InfinityEdge touch display
    • FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge display
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS preloaded
  • 1 year ProSupport

Who’d a thunk it

I gotta admit that five years ago the team and I would never have thought that we would be posting a blog announcing the 7th generation of the XPS 13 developer edition.  The thought of even a third generation would have bogled our minds.

Five years ago, thanks to the support of the community, Project Sputnik reached escape velocity.  This support, input and direction has not only continued but has grown over the last five years, enabling the Sputnik team to stop focusing on survival and instead focus on supporting a broader range of developer needs.

As we go forward, please keep driving us by sharing your input and experiences, be they be good, bad or ugly. 🙂

Thanks!

Barton

Extra-credit reading

  • 2018 starts with the best Linux laptop by Dell – Swap and I discuss the new system – VIDEO
  • Meet the New XPS 13: Stylish, Powerful and Better by Every Measure – Direct2Dell
  • Line up — New XPS 13 developer edition —  (9370)
  • Line up — XPS 13 developer edition — (9360)
  • Project Sputnik Turns Five! – November 29, 2017
  • 2012 — year one

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Project Sputnik Turns Five!

November 29, 2017

It was five years ago today, on November 29, 2012, that the first Project Sputnik system was launched.  Who would have thought we would have made it this far.

The reason why Project Sputnik is not only still around but keeps growing is because of the developer community.

In fact, without the input and support of the community, Project Sputnik would have been an interesting idea that disappeared after six months.

So how did we get here?

In the beginning

The project began back in early 2012 when I pitched the idea of creating a Linux-based developer laptop.  My audience was three guys in Dell who had put together an innovation fund and were asking employees to bring them their ideas.

When I made my pitch I stressed that in order to be successful, equally as important as what we created, was how we created it.  Development of the system needed to be in the open, and based on input directly from the developer community.  The committee asked me a few questions and told me they’d get back to me.

Ready, set, go

A month later I heard back from the committee.  They had given me the thumbs up, a little pot of money and six months to see if the idea of a developer laptop would fly.  From there I recruited some top and passionate talent and we had ourselves a team.

We started by cobbling together an initial install image that people could test.  In parallel we also sanity checked the idea with a local developers and a couple of web companies.  Since nobody threw up on the idea, on May 7, 2012 we went public.

The power of the community

In the blog post that introduced Project Sputnik we explained that project was “a six month effort to explore the possibility of creating an open source laptop targeted directly at developers.”  We pointed people at our rough install image and asked them to head to the Storm Session we had created and submit feedback, comments and ideas.

The amount of interest and input our initial post generated far exceeded anything we expected.  From there interest kept growing.  The tipping point however, came in response to our beta program.  We asked interested individuals to submit an online form.  We expected a few hundred responses, we got over 6,000.  Senior management was convinced and from there it was the march to launch.

 

Lift off and beyond

On November 29, 2012, a little over 6 months after the initial blog post, the first XPS 13 developer edition became available.  This first system, which came preloaded with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 1 year pro support, was available only as one configuration.  We chose to go with the highest end config we offered:  3rd gen Intel core i7 (Ivy Bridge), 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a screen resolution of 1366×768.

Less than two months later the second generation XPS 13 developer edition was launched.  From there the line has continued to grow and grow (see timeline below).  We will soon be introducing the 7th generation XPS 13 developer edition and over this past year we have rolled out four Ubuntu-based Precision mobile workstations as well as the new Precision All in One.

Thank you

On behalf of myself and the whole Sputnik team we would like to thank the developer community for making project Sputnik possible.  Over the last five years you have let us know what you’ve liked and where we could do better.  It’s because of this amazing support that we are still here today.

Thank you!

Project timeline

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

2018

  • 7th gen XPS 13 developer edition to become available

 

Extra-credit reading

  • Original input from the community with regards to what they wanted in a developer laptop – Dell Idea Storm
  • Dell, Developers & Desktop Linux: the story of Dell’s project Sputnik – Video interview
  • How Dell’s Project Sputnik came to life – CIO.com
  • Project Sputnik News & Reviews, 2012 – 2017

 

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

EdgeX – Open Source IoT effort hosted by the Linux Foundation

November 27, 2017

Last month at the Cloud Foundry Summit Europe, not only did I attend various sessions, but I got to deliver one myself.  The talk, entitled “EdgeX Foundry – Open Interop Platform for the IoT Edge,” gives a high level overview of the EdgeX Foundry which is an open source effort hosted by the Linux Foundation.  The presentation talks about the IoT roadblocks the Foundry addresses and how they plan to tackle them.

Here is a recording of the talk.  Directly below the video I have put an EdgeX Foundry cheat sheet and further down I have included my slides.

Enjoy!

 

EdgeX Foundry — The basics

Vision: Create a common interoperability framework that enables an ecosystem of plug-and-play, “EdgeX certified” components.

  • A vendor-neutral, open source project hosted by The Linux Foundation — launched in April 2017
  • 125,000 lines of code, 50+ members at launch
  • The result of customer and industry feedback

Goals

  • Build and promote EdgeX as unifying the IoT edge via a common open platform.
  • Enable plug-and-play components to allow solutions providers to create ecosystem of interoperable components around EdgeX platform architecture.
  • Certify components to ensure interoperability and compatibility.
  • Provide tools to quickly create EdgeX-based IoT edge solutions that can easily adapt to changing business needs.
  • Collaborate with relevant open source projects, standards groups, and industry alliances to ensure consistency and interoperability across the IoT.

 

Dell goes big on IoT

Coincidentally the same week as the summit Dell announced our new IoT division and how we plan to spend $1 billion over the next three years.  My talk doesn’t mention the announcement but I have put a few related articles below.

 

Extra-credit reading

Dell’s new IoT division

Pau for now…

 

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Posted by Barton George

Harnessing Kubernetes – Cloud Foundry Container Runtime

November 13, 2017

A few weeks ago I attended Cloud Foundry summit Europe 2017 held in Basel, Switzerland.  One of the more interesting topics that came up was the “Cloud Foundry Container Runtime,” an effort formerly known as “Kubo.”

Kubo, which comes from “Kubernetes on Bosh,” was created jointly by Pivotal and Google in order to provide a simple way to deploy and operate production-ready Kubernetes clusters on premise and in the cloud.  Back in June, the Kubo code was donated to the Linux Foundation as an open source project.

To learn more about Cloud Foundry Container Runtime (nee Kubo) and the larger context it fits within I sat down with Ian Andrews, Vice President of Products at Pivotal.  Armed with only a pen and paper Ian provides an overview of the container runtime and explains how it differs from the Cloud Foundry application runtime, as well as which workloads are most appropriate for each.

Ian ends by walking us through the recently announced, Pivotal Container Service (PKS) that VMware and Pivotal worked on together with help from the Google cloud team (PKS is based on the Cloud Foundry container runtime with extra goodies thrown in).

Time markers

  • 00:00 –07:25      Intro/background: How Kubo came about and how it and Cloud Foundry (CF) elastic runtime were renamed “Cloud Foundry container runtime” and “Cloud Foundry application run time”
  • 07:25 – 24:00      Sketches out the CF architecture.  From there he goes through each of the two components that sit on top of BOSH:   CF container runtime and CF application run time.  He then compares the two runtimes
  • 24:00 – 28:55      Goes through Pivotal’s implementation of the above: Pivotal Cloud Foundry and Pivotal Container Service.

Extra-credit reading

  • Take Kubernetes, and bish bash BOSH, you’ve got Container Runtime – The Register
  • Cloud Foundry Morphs Kubo into Container Runtime – sdxcentral
  • VMware teams up with Pivotal, Google Cloud on new container service – ZDNet
  • Google, VMware and Pivotal team for on-premises Kubernetes – The Register
  • Choosing the Right Tool for Your App Modernization Project – VMware | Blogs

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Open Source Summit videos – Sputnik, Bitnami, ARM and OpenShift

October 24, 2017

Last month I attend Open Source Summit (OSS) North America which was held in Los Angeles from September 11- 14.

This year the Linux Foundation brought four conferences under the umbrella name,  “The Open Source Summit” (OSS).  The four conferences were LinuxCon, ContainerCon, CloudOpen plus the new “Open Community Conference.”

Interviewing and being Interviewed

While at the conference, besides giving away an Ubuntu-based XPS 13 developer edition aka “project Sputnik,” I found myself on both sides of the camera.  I was interviewed by Swapnil Bhartiya around the history of Project Sputnik and I in turn interviewed representatives of ARM, Red Hat’s OpenShift, and Bitnami’s Kubernetes effort.

Enjoy!

Project Sputnik

Here I am holding forth with regards to the origins and ideas behind Project Sputnik, our line of Linux-based developer systems.

 

Bitnami and Kubeless

  • Sebastian Goasguen’s Kubernetes-focused company SkipBox was recently acquired by Bitnami – the name comes from “(Skip)per” like Kubernetes and Tool(box) — which helps onboard people to Kubernetes.
  • Bitnami acquired SkipBox as a way to get into the Kubernetes space.  SkipBox’s key offering was “Kubeless,” a Kubernetes-native serverless framework which helps people move from Physical machines/VMs/cloud to containers and then to Kubernetes.

 

ARM’s development platform

  • Julio Suarez of ARM walks us through their demo at the Open Source summit.  The team was demoing their server enterprise development platform “Mali.”  Unlike Raspberry Pi, Mali is pretty beefy with 10GB Ethernet ports, SATA, PCI etc.
  • The platforms are clustered into a group of three using Docker Swarm (could also use Kubernetes, Marathon Mesos).  The swarm is running an ecommerce website, ported to ARM from x86.  The website is composed of 14 microservices.

 

Red Hat’s OpenShift

  • Harish Pillay talks about Red Hat’s Container as a Service offering, OpenShift.  While OpenShift began life with its own version of containers, they have pivoted to employ industry standard containers and Kubernetes.
  • Different pieces and technology can be swapped in and out as long as they are written to standards.

Conference reflections

Given the continued growth in the number of Linux Foundation projects and the number of sub events, the attendance of little over 1,900, albeit from 37 different countries, seemed a bit light.  Additionally the show floor seemed sparse compared to past.

I’m guessing that high level Open Source events don’t have the allure they once did, particularly since open source is a given in most environments today.  In turn, people are seeking out more targeted events around specific technologies eg DockerCon, KubeCon.  All that said it was a valuable conference thanks to the always interesting hallway track.

Dell EMC’s presence

I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention my employer’s presence at the summit.

Dell EMC was represented by the rebranded “{code}” team who now represents the open source efforts across Dell Technologies.  While {code}’s press release introduced their new name and remit, the news they led with concerned REX-Ray:

REX-Ray, an established open source container orchestration engine that enables persistence for cloud-native workloads, now includes plugins for 15 storage integrations, with the addition of NFS, local block services and VFS, immediately making those storage platforms CSI-compatible.

Extra-credit reading

  • Open Source guides:  At the event the Linux foundation introduced a set of succinct Open Source guides targeted at enterprises to help
    • guide their use of and contribution to open source software and communities
    • explain the value of open source to management
    • formalize and organize their existing open source efforts
  • Videos: The keynote sessions were recorded and are available to watch.
  • Event Photos: To view a selection of photos from the events visit the Linux Foundation’s website.

Pau for now…

 

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Posted by Barton George

Video Interviews from Cloud Foundry Summit

August 10, 2017

Back in June I attended the Cloud Foundry Summit in Santa Clara, CA and grabbed a bunch of interviews.  As an example, here is a quick summary of the summit as seen through the eyes of Tech evangelist and commentator Ben Kepes:

Ben Kepes

  • Ben  talks about the great vibe and community as well as how Cloud Foundry and “serverless” computing do or do not fit together.
  • He also gives his thoughts about what over the next year, Cloud Foundry needs to do and watch out for.
  • Ben ends by talking about what he thinks is the most exciting technology/development out there today (spoiler alert, its developer tools).

Some context

Before we get to the rest of the videos here are some quick notes:

There was a bunch of announcements at the event, two of the biggest being Microsoft joining the Cloud Foundry Foundation and the announcement of the Foundation’s inclusion of the Kubo project which is designed to help manage containers using Kubernetes by applying Cloud Foundry’s BOSH.

On the Dell EMC  side we gave a bunch of talks and had a booth where we showed of the work that our “Dojo” is doing in writing and contributing code to the Cloud Foundry foundation.  We also featured our Native Hybrid Cloud offering, which is a turnkey developer platform based on Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

Interviews from the front 

Below are the rest of the videos I captured at Cloud Foundry Summit.  Featured are representatives of Google, Datadog, GE Predix, the Cloud Foundry foundation, anynines and Dell EMC.

Enjoy!

Datadog: 

  • Ray Colletti of Datadog talks about what they do, where they’ve been and where they’re going.  (Datadog is infrastructure monitoring platform that plays well with everyone from Cloud Foundry to AWS to Azure to Google Cloud and more).
  • Ray discusses how Datadog has adapted to the changes in the industry over the last four years, the announcement of Datadog’s official Cloud Foundry integration and general integrations with other ecosystem players.
  • He ends by discussing their focus on alerts over the next year.

 

Native Hybrid Cloud: 

  • Drew Dimmick of Dell EMC’s Native Hybrid Cloud team talks about what this Pivotal Cloud Foundry-based offering is made of and what it allows organizations to do.
  • Drew talks about Dell EMC’s value-add on top of Pivotal Cloud Foundry, the Developer Workbench. The Workbench is made up of the Access tool as well as Fractal.
  • He also explains the different focuses of Native Hybrid Cloud and Enterprise Hybrid Cloud.

 

Kubo: 

  • Chip Childers, CTO of the Cloud Foundry Foundation talks about Kubo which just joined the Cloud Foundry Foundation.
  • Kubo is a packaging of Kubernetes that can be deployed by Cloud Foundry’s “BOSH” onto any cloud infrastructure.
  • Chip also discusses Microsoft joining the Cloud Foundry Foundation.

 

anynines: 

  • Talking to Julian Fischer, founder and CEO of anynines which is based in Germany. AnyNines’ main focus is building data services around Cloud Foundry.
  • Julian see’s the Cloud Foundry runtime as one of its key assets but became aware of its need for production grade data services. As a result they have chosen to focus on these services.
  • Key segments they focus on are insurance and manufacturing which are currently undergoing digital transformation.

 

Google Cloud Platform

  • Colleen Bryant of Google talks about her team which handles Open source integration with google cloud platform as well as her specific focus on the GCP service broker for Cloud Foundry.
  • She explains how Cloud Foundry, GCE (Google’s VM offering) and GCP all work together as well as what the heck’s a “tile.”

 

GE Predix

  • Talking with Ryan Bohm, a Developer evangelist within GE digital, focusing on their Predix Platform.
  • Ryan talks about their Cloud Foundry-based platform and its focus on the Industrial Internet of Things and specifically the analysis of big data.
  • She explains their efforts to build their developer program and the dev certification program they launched recently.

 

Extra-credit reading

Cloud Foundry Summit-related news

Video playlists from other events

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Video Walk thru of the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition (9350)

December 15, 2016

Last night as I was surfing the interwebs, I came across a “Tech Pills” video that covers the XPS 13 developer edition (9350).  [The 9350 is the generation that proceded the current offering (9360) which came out in October.  The two systems utilize the same chassis and the former features the Skylake processor whereas the latter comes with Kabylake.]

The host does a great job of running through the developer edition from both a hardware and software perspective.  In his case, his distro of choice is Arch and the review was originally posted on the Arch Wiki.

Check it out:

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Microsoft and Containers

August 24, 2016

Earlier this summer I was out in Seattle for DockerCon.  Among the people I interviewed was Taylor Brown of Microsoft.  While Microsoft may not be the first company you think of when talking containers, they actually have a bunch going on.  Taylor in fact leads the team focusing on the server container technology coming out of Windows e.g. Hyper-V containers and Windows server containers.

Taylor and I sat down and he took me through what his team has been up to and their goals for the future.

Take a listen

Some of the ground Taylor covers

  • Taylor and his team support customers running Windows on Azure, Amazon, Google and others.
  • The team has been working closely with Docker and the community contributing code to allow Docker to work with Windows
  • Windows Server 2016 will come with full container support
  • Following on Azure’s container services with Linux, they’re adding Windows support
  • Goals for the future: performance and scaling are a big focus; security around authentication and authorization;  also thinking about Linux containers on Windows

Extra-credit reading

  • Docker’s Close Integration with Windows Server – Redmond magazine
  • Microsoft PowerShell Goes Open Source, Arrives On Linux, Mac – InformationWeek
  • VIDEO: Ubuntu comes to the Windows desktop — OpenStack summit – Barton’s Blog

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

An Interview with Cloud Foundry Foundation’s CEO, Sam Ramji

August 23, 2016

A couple of months ago at the Cloud Foundry summit I tried to grab Sam Ramji, CEO of the Cloud Foundry Foundation, to do a short interview.  Unfortunately the stars didn’t align and it didn’t happen.  At SpringOne Platform however I had better luck.

Sam, who lead off the keynotes on day two, sat and talked to me about Cloud Foundry’s origins, what’s going on today and what its goals are for the future.

Take a listen

Some of the ground Sam covers:

  • Cloud Foundry began at VMware in 2009 and was open sourced back in 2011.  The foundation itself was set up a year and half ago.
  • CloudFoundry.org wa established to increase the velocity of contributions (over the last year, over 2000 individuals outside of  the core companies have contributed.)
  • While they want to grow the foundation, they need to be thoughtful on how they grow.
  • What drew Sam to the CEO opportunity and the role that APIs and Warner music played in his decision.
  • The foundation’s goals: 1) increase diversity of contributions, 2) increase the foundation’s population, predominantly via end users, 3) determine how best to build a framework that will allow to the effort to survive and thrive over the next 20 years.

Extra-credit reading

  • Talking Cloud Foundry Foundation – OpenStack summit Austin – Youtube
  • SpringOne: The Spring Platform, Where its Been and Where its Going – Barton’s Blog
  • SpringOne: Native Hybrid Cloud — The Pivotal Cloud Foundry Developer Platform in a Box – Barton’s Blog
  • SpringOne: When Web Companies grow up they turn into Java Shops –Barton’s Blog

Pau for now..

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Posted by Barton George

Of Linux Laptops, Open Source and Hawaiian Food

August 8, 2016

In the last two weeks I’ve had the opportunity to participate in two podcasts.  The first was the wild and wacky Lunduke & Whatnot (with Matt) show where System76 founder CEO, Carl Richell and I talked with our hosts about pre-loaded Linux laptops.  

In the second, which was recorded last week at SpringOne platform, Michael Cote hosts me as we talk about the evolution of Free Software/Open Source as well as the history of Hawaii and it’s foods.

Check them both out below.

Some of the ground Lunduke, Matt, Carl and I  cover:

  • [First I video bomb the intro by mistake]
  • How long System76 and Dell have been selling Linux preloaded on laptops
  • Mandriva as Lunduke’s favorite Linux distro
  • How System76 went from Carl’s basement to an office and a portfolio of 60 offerings
  • Why both companies went with Ubuntu first and why only Ubuntu
  • What are the biggest issues that System76 and Dell face when producing Linux laptops

Podcast #2

Open source and devs at Dell and the changing nature of OSS

The second podcast is audio only and, like the one above, is chock-a-block full of information and zaniness.  Here’s how Cote describes the occurrence:

“I’ve had a theory that the hard-line philosophy of open source has softened in recent times. Rather than thinking closed source is to be avoided at all costs, I think most developer types are a lot more willing to accept closed source bits mixed in with open source bits. That is, open core has “won.” I discuss this topic with my long time pal, Barton George, while at SpringOne Platform, plus the work he’s doing in the developer and OSS worlds at Dell.  We also talk about Hawaiian food.”

Take a listen

Extra-credit reading

  • Cuisine of Hawaii – Wikipedia
  • The XPS 13 Developer Edition THE best Linux laptop. Dell’s fifth-generation open-source developer laptop isn’t just good, it’s great — ZDNet
  • The XPS developer edition: Dell continues to build a reliable Linux lineage – Arstechnica 
  • Dell XPS 13 Skylake (2016) review: A lot for a Linux user to like – CIO
  • Review: The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop is nearly perfect – Network World

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Where LXD fits within the virtualization and container landscape — OpenStack Summit

April 26, 2016

Yesterday here at the OpenStack summit here in Austin I caught a few of the sessions in the track that Canonical was hosting.  One of the sessions dealt with Canonical’s LXD and where it fits into the whole virtualization/container space.

The talk was given by Dustin Kirkland and after he had finished, I grabbed him to explain the basics of LXD and the landscape it fits within.

Have a listen

Some of the ground Dustin covers:

  • What is LXD and how is it different from virtual machines and containers
  • How LXD acts like a hypervisor but is fundamentally a container
  • Application containers vs Machine containers
    • Applications containers like Docker host a single proccess on a filesystem
    • Machine containers from LXD boot a full OS on their filesystems
  • Where do microservices fit in this model
  • How Docker and LXD are complementary
  • 16.04LTS ships with LXD

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Live in Europe: Next gen XPS 13 developer edition

March 31, 2016

[Update — April 8: Offline country URLs added]

A couple of weeks ago we announced the worldwide release of the Ubuntu-based mobile Precision mobile line as well and the US availability of the next gen XPS 13 developer edition.

Today I’m happy to announce that the Skylake-based XPS 13 developer edition is now available in Europe!

Background: As you may remember, as a part of Project Sputnik, these systems began as an open-ended exploratory project to identify what developers wanted in an ideal laptop. With the community’s input, Project Sputnik became an official product and continues to evolve.

Next gen XPS 13 developer edition specsDino

  • 6thGeneration Intel® Core™Processors
  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • Augmented with the necessary hardware drivers, tools and utilities
  • InfinityEdge™ display, FHD and QHD+ versions available

Configurations

The following configurations will be available both online and offline in Europe.  All of three of the XPS 13 developer edition configurations come with the Intel wireless card.

  • i5/8GB: 256GB, FHD, Intel 8260
  • i7/8GB: 256GB, QHD+T, Intel 8260
  • i7/16GB 512GB, QHD+T, Intel 8260

OTA (Over-The-Air) Fixes

There were several minor fixes that were not available in time for launch but have been made available as over the air updates so make sure to run all Ubuntu updates.  (These fixes pertain to both the XPS 13 and Precisions.)

Where to order your system

The following, URLs will take you to the product pages for the developer edition in the various countries.  The countries listed below will offer the XPS 13 online.

There is a second group of nations where the developer edition is available by contacting your local Dell representative.  We will be adding that list, along with URLs, in the next couple of days. – Update: added April 8

Available online

United Kingdom www.dell.co.uk/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Ireland www.dell.ie/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Germany www.dell.de/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Austria www.dell.at/XPS13DeveloperEdition
France www.dell.fr/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Italy www.dell.it/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Spain www.dell.es/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Switzerland (German) www.dell.ch/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Switzerland (French)  www.dell.ch/fr/XPS13DeveloperEdition
The Netherlands www.dell.nl/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Belgium (Dutch) www.dell.be/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Belgium (French) www.dell.be/fr/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Denmark www.dell.dk/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Norway www.dell.no/XPS13DeveloperEdition
Sweden www.dell.se/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Available offline

Estonia http://www.dell.com/ee/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Ghana http://www.dell.com/gh/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Croatia http://www.dell.com/hr/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Israel http://www.dell.com/il/en/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Iceland http://www.dell.com/is/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Finland http://www.dell.com/fi/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Lithuania http://www.dell.com/lt/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Latvia http://www.dell.com/lv/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Libya http://www.dell.com/ly/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Nigeria http://www.dell.com/ng/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Slovenia http://www.dell.com/si/XPS13DeveloperEdition

South Africa http://www.dell.com/za/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Democratic Republic of the Congo http://www.dell.com/cd/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Congo http://www.dell.com/cg/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Algeria http://www.dell.com/dz/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Ivory Coast http://www.dell.com/ed/fr/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Gabon http://www.dell.com/ga/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Moroccο http://www.dell.com/ma/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Senegal http://www.dell.com/sn/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Tunisia http://www.dell.com/tn/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Bahrain (Arabic) http://www.dell.com/ae/ar/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Morocco (Arabic) http://www.dell.com/ma/ar/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Tunisia http://www.dell.com/tn/ar/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Algeria http://www.dell.com/dz/ar/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Russia http://www.dell.com/ru/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Belarus http://www.dell.com/rs/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Ukraine http://www.dell.com/ua/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Czech http://www.dell.com/cz/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Greece http://www.dell.com/gr/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Hungry http://www.dell.com/hu/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Israel http://www.dell.com/il/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Portuguese http://www.dell.com/pt/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Romania http://www.dell.com/ro/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Slovakia http://www.dell.com/sk/XPS13DeveloperEdition

Turkey http://www.dell.com/tr/XPS13DeveloperEdition

 

Thanks!

The entire Sputnik team would like to thank everyone in Europe for both their patience and support!  Happy hacking!

Extra-Credit reading

Pau for now

 

151 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Barton George

XPS 13 Developer Edition launches in US, Ubuntu-based Workstations available worldwide

March 10, 2016

[ Update– April 7: i5 config now available]

[Update — March 28: Precision 7510 and 7710 now available]

Today I am excited to announce the worldwide launch of the Precision line of Ubuntu-based workstations along with the US launch of the 5th generation of the XPS 13 developer edition.

Part of Project Sputnik, these systems began as an open-ended exploratory project to identify what developers wanted in an ideal laptop. With the community’s input, Project Sputnik became an official product and continues to evolve.  For more of the Sputnik story, including why this has become the perfect platform for Docker, see below.

Before getting into today’s details I would like to thank the entire community for their patience and support as we’ve made our way to launch.

The 5th gen XPS 13 developer editionDino

  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • Augmented with the necessary hardware drivers, tools and utilities
  • 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors
  • InfinityEdge™ display, FHD and QHD+ versions available
  • Availability: United Sates (Both Canada and Europe are being readied for launch as we speak, stay tuned for more details.)

Configurations: We are starting out with three i7 configs and plan to add an i5 option.  The i5 configuration will come with 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and FHD NT.  The timing of the i5 config is dependent on the depletion of the current inventory on hand. — Update: i5 config available as of April 7

All of these  XPS 13 developer edition configurations come with the Intel wireless card.

i7/8GB

  • 256GB, QHD+T, Intel 8260

i7/16GB

  • 512GB, QHD+T, Intel 8260
  • 1TB, QHD+T, Intel 8260

i5/8GB

  • 256GB, FHD NT, Intel 8260

The Ubuntu-based Precision mobile workstation line

22029-smb-laptop-precision-5510t-262x157The Precision mobile workstation line up is composed of four systems.  Joining the Precision 5510, successor to the M3800, we have added the Precision 3510, 7510 and 7710 mobile workstations.

This represents our complete Precision mobile workstation portfolio.  All of the systems below are fully configurable.

Dell™ Precision 5510, mobile workstation

  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • Next generation of the world’s thinnest and lightest true 15” mobile workstation
  • PremierColor™ 4K InfinityEdge™ display
  • Starting weight of just 3.93lbs (1.78kg) and a form factor that is less than 0.44” (11.1mm) thick
  • Up to: 6th generation Intel Xeon mobile quad-core processor, professional grade NVIDIA Quadro M1000M graphics, and 32GB of memory
  • Thunderbolt 3
  • Availability: worldwide

Dell™ Precision 3510, mobile workstation

  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • Affordable, fully configurable 15” mobile workstation
  • Up to: 6th generation Intel Xeon mobile quad-core processor, professional grade graphics, and up to 32GB of memory
  • FullHD (1920×1080) anti-glare matte screen option plus optional touchscreen
  • Availability: worldwide

Dell™ Precision 7510, mobile workstation 

  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • World’s most powerful 15” mobile workstation
  • Up to: 6th generation Intel Xeon mobile quad-core processor, professional grade graphics, 3TB of storage and 64GB of memory
  • PremierColor™ UltraSharp™ 4K UltraHD (3840×2160) screen option
  • Availability: worldwide

Dell™ Precision 7710, mobile workstation 

  • Preloaded with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • World’s most powerful 17” mobile workstation
  • Up to: 6th generation Intel Xeon mobile quad-core processor, professional grade graphics, 4TB of storage and 64GB of memory
  • PremierColor™ UltraSharp™ 4K UltraHD (3840×2160) anti-glare screen option
  • Availability: worldwide

Ordering a Precision:  To get to the Ubuntu option, click on the “Customize & Buy” button on the system landing page.  Select Ubuntu Linux in the Operating System section and away you go!

Towers and racks too:  In case you didn’t know, we also have a portfolio of fixed Precision workstations — tower and rack — that are available with Ubuntu.

OTA (Over-The-Air) Fixes

There were several minor fixes that were not available in time for launch but have been made available as over the air updates so make sure to run all Ubuntu updates.  These fixes pertain to both the XPS 13 and Precisions.

In addition to the OTA fixes,  there is a wireless OOBE issue that will be fixed in the factory in the coming weeks.   Until then, please follow the following directions http://www.dell.com/support/article/SLN301251

16.04LTS

With regards to updates, although 16.04LTS will be shipping next month, we don’t have a date for when factory installation will become available.  That being said, we do plan to support 16.04 LTS for those who choose to upgrade.

To upgrade to the latest LTS, please follow the instructions at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade

Project Sputnik — A quick history

How we turned a $40K investment into 10’s of millions of dollars in revenue by focusing on developers.

From humble beginnings

As many of you may know Project Sputnik, as this effort is called, originated with a pitch made to an internal innovation fund four years SputnikScientist2ago.  The fund provided a small pot of money (the $40K mentioned above) and six months to see if the idea of a developer laptop would fly.  A couple months after we had been given the green light, on May 7, 2012 we announced the project publically asking the community what they would like to see in a developer laptop.

A rough ISO was provided for people to kick the tires and folks were told that if we got enough interest we might be able to turn this project into a product.  10 weeks later, thanks to the amazing interest we received around our beta program, we got the OK to turn project Sputnik into an actual product and in November of 2012 the XPS 13 developer edition became available.

You say you want an evolution

As the project has evolved we have continued to solicit and incorporate feedback.  Thanks to your support the XPS 13 developer edition has gone from one, to multiple configs.

On the higher end, we kept getting requests to add a larger system to the lineup.  OS architect Jared Dominguez took note of this and spent a bunch of late nights putting together instructions on how to get Ubuntu running on the Precision M3800.  From here interest kept mounting and a year later the Ubuntu-based M3800 became an official product.  As of today this original workstation offering has expanded to four systems.

DevOps, Cloud launcher and Docker

One of the big ideas we had when we first kicked off project Sputnik was that it would be a DevOps platform.  A key piece of this platformSputnik+Docker
would be a “cloud launcher” that would allow developers to create apps within “micro clouds” on their laptops and then deploy said apps to a public or private cloud.  Unfortunately this turned out to be a lot more difficult than we had hoped and we put it on hold.

As luck would have it however, a couple of years later Docker serendipitously came along.  Docker containers provide the functionality of our envisioned cloud launcher, allowing applications created locally to be pushed, as is, to the cloud.  Because Docker containers run on Linux, with our Ubuntu-based systems, developers can run the containers natively rather than within a virtualized environment like they would on other platforms.

Forward march

Stay tuned to see how, with your support and input, project Sputnik will continue to evolve.  Once again, thanks for all the support and stay tuned for the Canadian and European roll outs!

Extra-Credit reading

Pau for now

 

63 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Barton George

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