Talking about Project Sputnik and the importance of Devs to Dell

January 15, 2013

At Dell World I was interviewed about Project Sputnik, the resulting XPS 13 Developer Edition we launched and the importance of developers.

Here’s the interview (notice my fashion forward blue Dell shirt ;)

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

XPS 13 Developer Edition takes off

December 19, 2012

Pitching Sputnik at Dell World

Pitching Sputnik at Dell World (photo credit: Ryan the lawyer)

I wanted to get one more quick post in before I head out for the holidays.  Things have been crazy since the XPS 13 Developer Edition launched almost three weeks ago.

In fact no sooner did we start to catch our breath from the product’s launch that Dell World took place.  We had a lot of interest at the event and Im looking at following up with the folks I met.

Launch response

For the actual launch we had fantastic press, see the list below.   That having been said, there were two areas where we got dinged by folks:

  1. Price — This turned out to be due to an internal pricing inconsistency and we were able to jump on it right away and dropped the price by $100 by the afternoon.
  2. Monitor resolution — We have heard the community loud and clear and are looking at ways to address this, stay tuned.

Partial Media Coverage

  • Dell launches Sputnik Linux Ultrabook – The Register
  • Dell releases powerful, well-supported Linux Ultrabook – Ars Technica
  • Dell ships lightweight XPS 13 laptop with Ubuntu Linux – IDG
  • Dell XPS 13 laptop: The Ubuntu developer edition arrives – ZDNet
  • Dell’s ‘Sputnik’ Ubuntu Linux ultrabook: First in a new line? – PC World
  • Dell launches Ubuntu-powered Sputnik for developers – The H-Online
  • Dell’s Ubuntu Ultrabook goes on sale in the US – PC Pro
  • Dell Ships High-End Ubuntu Laptop for Cloud Developers  – The Var Guy
  • Dell Unveils Powerful Linux Ultrabook for $1,449 – Mobile Magazine
  • Dell Launches XPS 13 Ultrabook Developed Edition, Comes With Ubuntu Linux – StudentNews.ie
  • Dell’s $1,549 Ubuntu-based XPS 13 goes on sale, $50 more than Windows variant (update: $100 price drop) – Engadget
  • Dell is selling a nicely configured version of its XPS 13 ultrabook with Ubuntu Linux – CNET
  • Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook With Linux Ubuntu Almost Ready For Launch – iTech Post

Thanks to everyone for helping to turn this idea from project to product.  Stay tuned as we we continue to refine and expand on developer offerings in 2013

Happy Holidays!

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Initial thoughts from the Project Sputnik Beta Cosmonauts

October 2, 2012

The Project Sputnik Beta program has been going for several weeks now.  We have an intrepid group of cosmonauts and there have been a bunch of blogs posted, tweets tweeted and a flurry of activity on the forum.

In general the feedback has been very positive with some folks having issues around wifi and the touch pad.

So far four of the cosmonauts have posted detailed entries around their Sputnik experiences.   Here are excerpts from the postings.

The Sputnik Out of Box Experience

For a good look at the OOBE, complete with photos, check out Theron’s “#ProjectSputnik – first impressions“.  Here’s the summary at the end:

After initial load and getting my standard working environment up and running, I’ve got to say this little beast is pretty amazing. From the tight OS integration to the feel of the laptop, it looks and feels like a solid build. I’m going to be busy working with OpenStack over the coming months and I’m excited to see how closely integrated I can get my build envionment on this laptop to the ubuntu server I’m using for testing. After watching Mark Shuttleworth talk this year at Oscon about JuJu and #ProjectSputnik, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be amazing. More blog posts to follow.

One man’s journey back to Linux

This next blog kicked off a huge discussion on hacker news around developer laptops, OS’s and the merits of their various incarnations.  Geoffrey Papillion wrote about his odyssey through time and across various OS’s which has led him to the present and Linux once again.

Here is how he concludes his post “Thanks Mr. Jobs, But it seems I can use a linux laptop now“

Two days ago I got my Dell XPS 13 as part of a Dell beta progam called project Sputnik. I got a special version of Ubuntu, with some kernel patches, and some patched packages for sleep and hibernation. After an hour of struggling with making a bootable USB drive from my Mac for my Dell(turns out it was an issue with the USB drive), I had a working computer. By 8pm I had my development enviroment setup, I had chef up and running, and even my VPN was working. I was amazed.

So, far its been good; most apps I use are web apps. I spend 70% of my time in a terminal, and 30% of my time in a web browser. Honestly its the perfect computer for me right now. So, I’m waving goodbye to the ecosystem Mr. Jobs built, and moving to the world of linux full time.

On Beyond ThinkPad

Matt Urbanski who is coming from a linux mint based Lenovo ThinkPad x220 that he has been really happy with, gives his initial thoughts in Project Sputnik Beta Day one. He concludes his post with:

I sound much like a crochety old man who dislikes change. I’m going to give this a go and see what happens. I’m now embarking on the always annoying task of getting my homedir and configurations from one machine to the other. I’ll report back after some real usage.

The Woodward Trilogy

The most prolific cosmonaut award goes to Matt Woodward who has been putting his project Sputnik laptop through its paces and written three entries about it.

Dell Sputnik: Initial impressions

Conclusion: The Dell XPS 13 is a huge winner in my book. It’s exceedingly well built, light, quiet, and has all the bells and whistles you need in an ultrabook — particularly one aimed at developers — and Dell made intelligent omissions across the board with the possible exception of the amount of RAM pre-installed.

If like me you’ve had Dells in the past and hadn’t thought about Dell in a while, this machine may well change your mind about Dell. After only a few hours of using it it’s certainly starting to change mine, and I can already see myself gravitating to the Sputnik as my go-to machine.

Dell Sputnik: Battery life test

Results: The results are quite impressive, with a run time of about 8 hours 20 minutes in my usage

A week at a conference with Dell Sputnik

Summary: After living with the Sputnik as my only machine for a week I continue to be extremely impressed. Particularly in a developer conference situation where power isn’t available at every seat and you have to fight for the few outlets that are available, the Sputnik’s fantastic battery life let me focus on the conference instead of worrying about whether or not my laptop was going to conk out.Other than the occasional issues with the trackpad I thoroughly enjoyed using the Sputnik at DjangoCon — it makes a great conference companion!

So that’s the initial round up.  Stay tuned for more!

Extra-credit reading/Resource links

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

OSCON: Project Sputnik Explained + Coverage recap

July 30, 2012

The week before last I had a fantastic time at OSCON, seeing old friends and making new ones.  As always, the hallway track was the one I found most enlightening.

On the second day we announced that project Sputnik would be going from project to product in the fall and got a fantastic response (see some of the articles written about it at the end).  On the day of the announce Mike Hendrickson, O’Reilly’s VP of content strategy, interviewed me about the project (check out Mike’s project Sputnik review).  That video is the first one below.

I also did a “cliffs notes” version with Janet Bartleson which clocked in at one minute and 47 seconds so if you’re short on time you can check out the second one.

Extra-credit reading

  • Slideshow: Linux, Open Source & Ubuntu: OSCON 2012: The Open-Source Creative Engine Drives the Economy – eWeek
  • Dell announces Ubuntu developer laptop – ITWeb
  • Dell Launching Ubuntu Linux Developer Laptop After Successful Pilot Program Dubbed ‘Project Sputnik’ – International Digital Times
  • Dell set to launch their Ubuntu developer laptop, Sputnik, later this year – TweakTown
  • Dell’s Sputnik project is a go – Technoholik
  • Dell expands open source initiatives – ITWeb
  • Linux fans rejoice: Dell XPS 13 will come with Ubuntu – BetaNews
  • Dell Takes Another Crack at Linux Boxes with Project Sputnik, Launching This Fall – HotHardware
  • Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook For Developers Will Launch In 2012 – The Droid Guy
  • Dell launching Sputnik, the Ubuntu developer laptop, this year – Ars Technica
  • Dell to launch Ubuntu-based XPS 13 laptop this fall – Hardware.Info (UK)
  • Open-Source Goes Ultraportable With Dell Pre-Installed Ubuntu XPS 13 Offering – Mobile Magazine
  • Dell to ship XPS 13 with Ubuntu Linux in some areas, Precise Pangolin goes ultraportable – Engadget
  • Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook with Ubuntu Linux Installed Launches This Fall – Geeky Gadgets
  • Linux comes to ultrabooks: Dell to preload OS on XPS 13 – CNET
  • Dell to launch Linux ultrabook in Fall – Fierce CIO
  • 4 Ways Dell Is Becoming An Open Source Company – TechCrunch
  • Shuttleworth talks up Ubuntu 12.10, growing acceptance of Linux on desktop and Ubuntu Unity – ZDNET
  • Dell’s Developer Laptop – i-Programmer
  • Dell announces expansion of three open source initiatives – eChannelLine
  • Dell’s Development Computer, Project Sputnik, Coming this Fall – LAPTOP Magazine
  • Dell Opens Up To Open Source Again – RedOrbit
  • As Windows 8 looms, Dell readies Ubuntu laptop for fall release – ExtremeTech
  • Dell adds to OpenStack and creates cloud notebook – DatacenterDynamics
  • Dell’s Project Sputnik is go for launch – Bit-tech.net
  • Dell Solidifies Commitment to Open Source, Developers at OSCON – eWeek
  • Dell Linux-Based Laptop Goes On Sale This Fall – The Inquisitr
  • Dell Expands OpenStack Cloud Efforts, and Other Open Source Programs – OStatic
  • The Ultrabooks Dell Ubuntu developers arrive later this year – Xataka (Spain)
  • Dell ready to sell laptops with Ubuntu – hwjournal.net (Italy)
  • Dell puts Linux ultrabook – PuntoInformatico (Italy)
  • Dell brings XPS 13 laptop from Ubuntu – Hardware.info (Dutch)
  • Dell’s New Ubuntu Linux Laptop Is Coming This Fall – PC World
  • A first look at Dell’s “Sputnik” Ubuntu Linux developer laptop – ZDNet
  • A first look at Ubuntu 12.04 (Photo Gallery) – ZDNet
  • Dell Gives Linux Laptops Another Chance – TechCrunch
  • Dell launching Project Sputnik developer laptops in fall – Ubergizmo
  • Dell to release Project Sputnik developer laptop this fall – The Verge
  • Dell to launch Project Sputnik developer laptops this fall – SlashGear
  • Pentaho, Datameer Join Dell’s Project Sputnik – The VAR Guy
  • Dell to offer Ubuntu XPS 13 laptops this Autumn – Inquirer
  • Dell introduced based on OpenStack cloud solutions – Servers.PCOnline (China)
  • Dell’s to sell Ubuntu ultrabooks this fall, Project Sputnik graduates from beta – Liliputing
  • New Ubuntu Laptop, from Dell, to Head for Developers – OStatic
  • Dell confirms Linux laptop and expands OpenStack cloud solutions – V3.co.uk
  • Dell’s Ubuntu Ultrabook arrives this autumn – PC Pro
  • Dell readies Linux Ultrabook for autumn release – Reg Hardware
  • Coming: Dell Ultrabook with Ubuntu 12.04 for Developers – The H
  • Dell Ubuntu Linux Developer Laptop Launches this Fall: Project Sputnik FTW – Mobile & Apps
  • Project Sputnik Versus Microsoft – PC Magazine
  • Dell’s Ubuntu Laptop Program Enters Beta, ‘Blows Away’ Expectations – PC World
  • Dell’s Project Sputnik Set To Build The Ultimate Developer Laptop – Crazy Engineers
  • Dell release a Linux laptop in autumn‎ – TICbeat (Spain)
  • Project Sputnik: The Ubuntu laptop from Dell in approach – Blogeee.net, CNET (France)
  • Project Sputnik: the laptop to cloud developers – Tom’s Hardware (France)
  • Dell puts a foot in the Linux market – Mac Generation (France)
  • Soon an XPS 13 from Dell with Ubuntu 4.12 – Revioo.com (France)
  • Sputnik is concretely: Dell Ultra with Ubuntu Book 12:04 in Autumn – Pro-Linux (Germany)
  • Officially launched the project “Sputnik” notebook PC development to developers only with Dell, the Ubuntu – SourceForge.JP Magazine (Japan)
  • Dell XPS 13 starts this autumn sale with Ubuntu – Tweakers.net (Netherlands)
  • New Linux PC from Dell – Computerworld (Norway)
  • Dell materializes its Linux project – Silicon News (Spain)
  • Dell is preparing a new laptop with GNU / Linux – Somos Libres (Peru)
  • Dell will begin selling computers with Linux preinstalled at the factory – FayerWayer (Spanish)
  • Laptop Dell Launches Special Project Developer Sputnik This September – Chip Online Portal (Indonesia)
  • Dell returns to the market for Linux-Laptop– CyberSecurity (Russia)
  • Dell offers Linux-laptops a second chance – DailyComm (Russia)
  • Dell revives project for Linux laptops – Tech News (Bulgaria)
  • Dell Returned to the Market for Linux Laptops – siteua.org (Russia)
  • 4 Intriguing Desktop Linux Options Coming Soon to Retail Stores – Linux.com

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Posted by Barton George

Project Sputnik to go from Pilot to Product

July 18, 2012

A couple of weeks ago we announced a Beta program for the four-month old Project Sputnik — an effort to investigate creating a developer focused laptop based on Ubuntu and Dell’s XPS13 laptop.

Since the beta announcement we have received thousands of applications from around the world.  This tremendous response, on top of fantastic amount of input we have received on the Project Sputnik storm session, has convinced us to take this project from pilot to product.

This fall we will be offering an Ubuntu 12.04LTS-based laptop pre-loaded on Dell’s XPS13 laptop.

Going from skunk works to mainstream

Back in the Spring, project Sputnik was the first effort green-lighted by an internal incubation program at Dell.  Thanks to the incubation program we got a little bit of funding and some executive advisers.  This incubation program notwithstanding, project Sputnik  has been a pretty scrappy skunk works effort to date.

The idea behind the incubation program is to harness that scrappiness and inventiveness to explore & validate new ideas & products outside mainstream Dell processes. Thanks to the tremendous amount of support both outside (you, the community!) and inside Dell,  with today’s announcement, we will begin making our transition to an official, “mainstream” Dell product.

  I should also mention, if its not obvious, that we have not been doing the work alone. Canonical  has been “scrappin” right besides us, helping to drive the project and doing a ton of engineering on the software side.

Beta program

As I mentioned at the start we have been completely blown away by the number of applications we have received.  We’re currently working through logistics of how to handle the tons of applications, we’ll notify all applicants soon, and intend to keep that process and the future product aligned with the spirit of the program.

To make sure that we are listening to your ideas, please continue to post any thoughts about what you would like to see in a developer laptop on our Storm session.   If you have an XPS13 running Ubuntu and want to share your experience or report a bug or issue, see our forum on Dell Tech center.

For more information on the program see the Project Sputnik FAQ

Thanks everyone for all the interest and passion, stay tuned as we push forward!

Reference: current solution details

Hardware

The solution is based on the high-end configuration of the Dell XPS13 laptop.

Software

Available now

  • drivers/patches for Hardware enablement
  • basic offering of key tools and utilities

Coming soon

  • Profile tool: a software management tool to go out to a github repository to pull down various developer profiles e.g. javascript, ruby, android.
  • Cloud tool: will allow developers to create “microclouds” on their laptops, simulating a proper, at-scale environment, and then deploy that environment seamlessly to the cloud.

Extra-credit reading

  • Press release: Dell Demonstrates Commitment to Open Source Software, Developer Communities
  • Dell Tech Center: Sputnik wiki
  • PC World — Dell’s ‪Ubuntu‬ Laptop Program Enters Beta, ‘Blows Away’ Expectations
  • Initial thoughts on Project Sputnik from O’Reilly’s Mike Hendrickson
  • Transcript from last week’s Sputnik chat on Tech Center

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Announcing project Sputnik Beta program

July 2, 2012

Last week project Sputnik got an official presence on dell.com.  While the project is still a skunk works effort rather than a product, we are rapidly gaining traction within the company.

If you’re not familiar with project Sputnik, its a laptop pilot targeted at developers and based on Dell’s XPS13 ultrabook and Ubuntu 12.04LTS.

The new page points you to where you can buy an XPS13 (unfortunately still pre-loaded with Windows at this time), where you can get the image to load, where you can offer suggestions, read about people’s experiences and where you can sign up for a beta unit.

Be a Beta Cosmonaut

If you are interested in getting your hands on a project Sputnik beta unit we are now recruiting volunteers for the Sputnik Beta Cosmonaut program (and yes we know the original Sputnik was unmanned, we’re taking artistic license here).  A limited number of applicants will be selected to receive a discounted, beta version solution (Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook with Ubuntu 12.04LTS pre-loaded).

If selected, all we ask is that you use the system regularly and give us your honest feedback on the project Sputnik forum.  It will be interesting to see if we get five people applying to be cosmonauts or 5,000.  Stay tuned…

To apply, please fill out this form.

Project Sputnik forum and wiki

Along with a landing page on dell.com, we recently launched a project Sputnik presence on Dell TechCenter.  On TechCenter, you can find a Sputnik wiki as well as the forum I mentioned above to share experiences with Sputnik and file bugs.

BTW both Dell and Canonical will be at OSCON and one of the things we’ll be talking up is project Sputnik.  Stop by and say hi if you’re there.

Key links

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Sputnik update: Touchpad driver now available!!!

June 20, 2012

If you’ve been following project Sputnik — a developer laptop pilot based on Dell’s XPS13 ultrabook and Ubuntu 12.04LTS — you’ll know that the biggest draw back in these initial weeks has been the lack of multi-touch support in the touchpad.  For some this has been annoying, for others this has been such a pain that they have put their system aside until the driver becomes available.  I’m happy to say that as of a few hours ago, a fully open source driver is now publicly available.

Here are the details from Canonical’s Kamal :

The Sputnik ISO image is pre-configured to use the PPA for updates so all systems which were previously installed with that ISO will automatically be offered the PPA update and their touchpads will just start working.  Furthermore, even systems which are installed now (or later) using that ISO will still automatically be offered the updated PPA kernel when they do their first software update.

There is also a link on the Sputnik PPA page to the Cypress driver patch (and also to the whole DellXPS patch set), so folks building their own kernels from source can get it from there.

Shout outs to…

A big thanks to Kamal from Canonical, Mario on the Dell side for driving this, and the vendor Cypress for doing the work!

Extra credit reading

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Posted by Barton George

Sputnik update: Profile tool and touchpad

June 18, 2012

I’ve meant to blog more frequently around Sputnik but it’s been crazy busy marshalling resources within Dell for our little skunk works project.

We have captured a lot attention within the company and are trying to leverage that attention to help beef up our core team.  One of the areas outside the company we have gotten a great deal of support from is Canonical, the commercial sponsor behind Ubuntu.

Here are a couple of the areas we’ve been working on with Canonical:

The Touchpad

Probably the area we’ve gotten the most amount of inquiries into is the status of the driver being written for the touchpad to allow multi-touch support.  Last week Dell and Canonical received two code drops from the vendor and they are looking very good.  Its only a matter of time now before we have driver in the XPS enablement PPA.  Stay tuned.

Update June 21: the driver for the touchpad is now available!

The Profile tool

Over the last couple of weeks we had a series of calls with folks from Canonical to scope out the effort around the profile tool.

The basic idea around the tool is that instead of stuffing the system with every possible tool or app a developer could possibly want, we are keeping  the actual “stuff” on the install image  pretty basic.

Instead we are working with Canonical to put together a tool that can go out to a github repository and pull down various developer profiles e.g. Android, Ruby, Javascript…

After our conversations we decided to break the effort into two phases:

Phase I – “System Configuration”:

  • The first phase will focus on installing bundles of packages with a YAML-driven approach. This will allow developers to get installable components of the toolchains they need

Phase II – “User Configuration”:

  • The second phase is focused on automating the configuration of the developer’s toolchain and environment, using a model-driven automation tool like Chef, Puppet etc.
  • The idea would be to create an open community where developers can share these profiles, extend them, etc.
  • We are still figuring out the feasibility of this phase and gauging interest.

We’d be interested in any comments or thoughts you have around the profile tool, or anything else having to do with Sputnik.

I’m hoping to start providing more updates (keep you fingers crossed)

Extra-Credit reading:

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Posted by Barton George

Sputnik…Wow!!

May 29, 2012

Courtesy of nasaimages.org

We knew that project Sputnik, the idea of creating a developer laptop based on Dell’s XPS13 ultrabook and Ubuntu 12.04LTS, would have appeal but we never could have anticipated the response we’ve gotten.

To put it into perspective, the most cumulative views I’ve had of a blog entry before Sputnik was 2,700.   My post introducing Sputnik, as of tonight, has had over 42,000 views!  And the news has been carried by a boatload of   pubs and blogs around the world (see a partial list below).

Silent but not sleeping

In case you’re wondering, the radio silence for the last couple of weeks  hasn’t been intentional our little team has just been crazy busy.   Not only have we gotten attention outside of Dell but our profile has raised quite a bit inside as well.  Our skunk works team has been scrambling to leverage that attention to see what we can do to put this on a faster track.  We have also had a bunch of meetings with Canonical to talk about the best way forward given the intense interest.

Whole lot of feedback

We have been deluged with comments and suggestions both on my blog and the Sputnik Storm session and while there were plenty of people who said they would  buy it now if it was available, we also received some clear direction on where people would like to see this offering go.   Some of the key areas for improving the offering are:

  • Multi gesture support for the touch pad  (more on that in a second)
  • Screen resolution
  • More memory (8GB+)
  • Matte screen
  • Pricing: don’t make it more expensive than Windows

We are making note of these suggestions as we plot our way through this six month pilot.

The track pad

Its no surprise that the number one complaint has been the lack of multi gesture support in the touchpad.  Canonical and Dell have reached out to the vendor and last week they began working on an open source driver.  The vendor is sending both Dell and Canonical intermediary versions which will allow us to iterate on them as they’re developing and provide feedback about what’s working and what isn’t with the way things are assembled.  Fingers crossed, we hope to see the completed driver by the end of June.

Update June 21: the driver for the touchpad is now available!

Thanks everyone for their amazing interest Sputnik and look for a bunch more info soon.

Extra-credit reading — some Sputnik coverage

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Posted by Barton George

Copper: Dell goes out ARMed

May 29, 2012

We’ve been watching the ARM market develop over the past few years as these highly efficient chips that have been driving tablets and cell phones have been finding their way more and more into hyperscale servers.   Well watch no more, today were are sallying forth.  Why now?  Because some of our biggest customers have told us that they felt the time is now to start working with these low powered, highly efficient chips for their servers.

HW + SW = Solution

Today we announced that we will be shipping the new Dell “Copper” ARM servers via a seed unit program to select hyperscale customers worldwide.  But a server does not an ecosystem make so we are doing what we can to help partners and developers get started building out applications for the platform.  Given that two of the key areas where the extreme efficiencies of ARM play particularly well are Web front-ends and Hadoop environments, we have “ARMed” key partners like Canonical and Cloudera with units.

Early days

At this point it is still early days in the world of ARM servers so we designed Copper specifically for developers and customers to create code and test performance, not for production.  To help developers get started we have struck a partnership between the Dell Solutions Centers and Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to provide devs with remotely accessible clusters to develop and collaborate on.  And speaking of developers,  Dells own devs are working to deliver an ARM-based version of our open source infrastructure management software, Crowbar.

Speeds and Feeds

And in case your wondering about the specs of the hardware:

  • Dell Copper servers are a shared infrastructure design, which allows easy deployment and reconfiguration of the sleds.
  • Each ARM server node draws about 15 watts max power, so the total power draw for a full chassis is less than 750 watts.
  • The server nodes discover themselves and interconnect when deployed, so workloads can easily run across the entire 48 nodes.
  • And it’s still powerful, with four ARM server nodes per sled, and 12 total sleds, bringing a total of 48 server nodes to a single 3U C5000 chassis.

Stay tuned for more…

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Redmonk on Developers and Project Sputnik

May 8, 2012

Today at the Ubuntu Cloud Summit here in Oakland I grabbed sometime with Redmonk analyst Stephen O’Grady.  It was Stephen who originally brought up the idea of creating a Dell laptop running Ubuntu targeted at developers.

I talked to Stephen about how he would characterize today’s world of developers and what he feels project Sputnik needs to deliver on to be successful.

Updated March 22

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Talking about Project Sputnik

May 8, 2012

Last Friday Cote and I took a break from the mad rush getting ready for today’s Sputnik announce and grabbed a conference room to record a short video.  Below we discuss the project, how it came about, what its goals are and where it could go from here.

-> Weigh in on Dell IdeaStorm: Project Sputnik

Extra-credit reading

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Posted by Barton George

Introducing Project Sputnik: Developer laptop

May 7, 2012

-> Update 2/18/2013: Sputnik 2 is here: Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition goes 1080p and lands in Europe

-> Update 11/29/2012: Sputnik has landed! Introducing the Dell XPS 13 Laptop, Developer Edition

Today I am very excited, I finally get to talk about project Sputnik!  In a nutshell, drumroll please, here it is:

Made possible by an internal innovation fund, project Sputnik is a 6 month effort to explore the possibility of creating an open source laptop targeted directly at developers.  It is based on Ubuntu 12.04 and Dell’s XPS13 laptop.

To put it in context, Sputnik is part of an effort by Dell to better understand and serve the needs of developers in Web companies.  We want to finds ways to make the developer experience as powerful and simple as possible.  And what better way to do that than beginning with a laptop that is both highly mobile and extremely stylish, running the 12.04 LTS release of Ubuntu Linux.

Why a developer laptop

When we first started setting up the web vertical to focus on companies who use the internet as their platform, we brought in Stephen O’Grady of Redmonk to learn as much as we could about the needs of developers.  One of the ideas that Stephen tossed out was a Dell laptop running Ubuntu, targeting developers.  We thought the idea was pretty cool and filed it away.

As we continued talking to customers and developers the topic of Ubuntu kept coming up and we came across a fair number of devs who were asking for a Dell laptop specifically based on it.  To my knowledge, no other OEM has yet made a system specifically targeted at devs and figured it was time to see what that might mean.  When the XPS13 launched we realized that we found the perfect platform to start with and when Dell’s incubation program was announced we knew I had the vehicle to get the effort kick started.

I should also add that Ubuntu was a natural choice not only because of its popularity in the Web world but Dell has quite a bit of experience with it.  In fact Dell has enabled and pre-installed out-of-the-factory Ubuntu on more computer models than any other OEM.

What’s Sputnik actually running?

The install image available for Sputnik contains

  1. drivers/patches for Hardware enablement
  2. a basic offering of key tools and utilities (see the complete list at the end of this entry)
  3. coming soon, a software management tool to go out to a github repository to pull down various developer profiles.

Hardware enablement

In putting together the project, the area that we focused on first was hardware enablement.  As Linux users are all too painfully aware, Linux drivers are not always available for various platforms.  We have been working hand in hand with Canonical, the commercial sponsor behind Ubuntu and identified three main areas on the XPS13:

  1. An issue with brightness
  2. The Wifi hotkey
  3. The touchpad and multi touch support

The first two have been resolved but the last one re the touchpad is still at large.  The issue is a bit of a pain particularly the lack of palm rejection support which can cause your cursor to jump by mistake.  We have contacted the vendor who makes the touchpad and they are sizing the effort to fix this and at the same time we are working with Canonical to find an interim solution.

Update June 21: the driver for the touchpad is now available!

Developer profile management

Hardware enablement is table stakes but where Sputnik starts to get interesting is when we talk about profiles.  No two developers are alike so instead of stuffing the system with every possible tool or app a developer could possibly want, we are trying a different approach.  As mentioned above, the actual “stuff” on the install image is pretty basic, instead we are working with a few developers to put together a tool that can go out to a github repository and pull down various developer profiles.  The first profiles we are targeting are Android, Ruby and JavaScript.

As a one of our alpha cosmonauts, Charles Lowell, explained (we have been working with three local developers in Austin, Charles, Mike Pav and Dustin Kirkland to put together our initial offering together.   And yes I know Sputnik was unmanned but its our project and we wanted to call the testers “cosmonauts.” )

What I’d like to see is not only a gold-standard configuration, but also a meta-system to manage your developer configuration… The devops revolution is about configuration as code. How cool would it be if my laptop configuration were code that I could store in a source repo somewhere?

After we build the management tool and some basic profiles to get the effort started, we are hoping that the community will take over and began creating profiles of their own.

Getting Feedback and UDS activities

The idea is to conduct project Sputnik out in the open.  There is a Storm Session that went live this morning on Dell Idea Storm for people to discuss the project and submit feedback, comments and ideas.  Later today here at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, Dustin, Mario Limonciello of Dell and I will be hosting a UDS session to discuss Sputnik.  Additionally at UDS there is a coding contest that has been kicked off.  The three people who write the best Juju charms will each get an XPS13.

The Vision: a Launchpad to the cloud

As mentioned at the start, Sputnik is currently a 6month project to investigate an Ubuntu laptop.  If successful, we have big plans for the effort. :)

When we initially pitched Sputnik to Ubuntu’s founder Mark Shuttleworth a couple months ago he really liked the idea.  In his eyes however, he saw something bigger.  Where it got really interesting for him was when this laptop was optimized for DevOps.  In this scenario we would have a common set of tools from client, to test, to production, thereby tying Sputnik via a common tool chain to a cloud backend powered by OpenStack.  Developers could create “micro clouds” locally and then push them to the cloud writ large.

We see a lot of potential in Sputnik to provide developers with a simple and powerful tool.  Only time will tell however so stay tuned to this blog, check out the Sputnik Storm session and weigh in on the project, what you’d like to see and how you think it can be made better.

Pau for now…

Extra-credit reading

Links and notes

Basic Install

== standard meta packages ==

ubuntu-desktop^

standard^

== scm ==

git

git-core

bzr

bzr-gtk

bzr-git

python-launchpadlib

== utilities ==

screen

byobu

tmux

meld

juju

charm-tools

charm-helper-sh

euca2ools

puppet

chef (available post install)

== editors ==

emacs

vim

vim-gnome

== browsers ==

chromium-browser

firefox

== common build tools/utilities & dependencies ==

fakeroot

build-essential

crash

kexec-tools

kvm

makedumpfile

kernel-wedge

fwts

devscripts

libncurses5

libncurses5-dev

libelf-dev

asciidoc

binutils-dev

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Posted by Barton George

DevOpsDays: Crowbar, where its been and where its going

April 25, 2012

Earlier this month at DevOpsDays here in Austin the Dell Crowbar crew hosted a session and gave a demo.  If you’re not familiar with it, Crowbar is an open source software framework written at Dell.  I grabbed some time with Crowbar architect Rob Hirschfeld and got him to recap how far we’ve come in its less than a year and where he sees us going over the next year.

Extra-credit reading

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Posted by Barton George

DevOpsDays Austin kicks off, A short history

April 3, 2012

Yesterday, DevOpsDays Austin kicked off at National Instruments.  If you’re not familiar with DevOps, its the idea of using people, processes and tools to break down the wall that traditionally exists between developers and operations with the idea of removing friction and increasing velocity to better support and drive the business.

The Austin event was maxed out the day after it was announced a couple months ago and there was a waiting list of over one hundred people.   About half the crowd was from out of town with a big contingent from the Valley and New York.   Near the end of the day yesterday I caught up with one of the organizers, Damon Edwards to learn more about the event and how it came to be.

Some of the ground Damon covers:

  • How “DevOps” and DevOps Days came to be: How John Allspaw‘s talk at Velocity to Patrick Debois to set up the first event
  • 3:36:  How the event has transformed over time:  from a focus on people to a focus on tools and now back to a focus on people
  • 4:56  Who attends DevOps Days and how the mix between developers and operations folks has shifted over time.

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

SXSW: Our first developer Chill and Chat

March 10, 2012

This is the 26th year of the SXSW (South by Southwest), the annual music, film, and interactive conference.  Everybody whose anybody, and even a few who aren’t, are here.   Yesterday the 10-day event kicked off.  As a company, Dell is a big participant and sponsor from panels, to music lounges, to an entrepreneur’s UnConference, to education, to gaming.

As for the Web|Tech vertical we have taken our own guerrilla approach to participation in this shindig in our own backyard.  Besides going to parties that customers and partners are throwing, Cote and I have organized a series of informal “chill and chat” meet ups for developers and tech types.

Last night we held our first soiree at Opal Divines.  Here is a mini-montage I made featuring a few of the attendees:

I asked the folks to say who they are, where they’re from, who they work for and what they hope to get out of SXSW.

The line-up

Our next events

If you’re around here’s where we’ll be tonight and tomorrow:

  • Saturday, March 10th  7-9:00pm  – Speakeasy – Downstairs (412 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX)
  • Sunday, March 11th 5:30-7:30pm – Hilton Bar (Finn and Porter)  (500 East 4th Street, Austin, TX)

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Dell Officially Launches Web|Tech vertical — the 100 second overview

February 29, 2012

Last month I mentioned that Dell was launching a Web|Tech vertical targeted at those companies who use the internet as their primary platform.  Well, a couple of weeks ago at our annual sales kick off (FRS) we debuted our six new commercial verticals to our sales teams from around the world.

At the show, which was held in Vegas, we had booths on the expo floor to talk about our solutions.  We also delivered breakout sessions to present an overview of customer needs and concerns for each of the six — Retail, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Web|Tech, Energy and TME (Telco, Media & Entertainment), as well as for our existing three verticals in the Public space, Government, Education and Healthcare.

Here is a quick overview I did of the Web|Tech vertical from the show floor in a mocked up developer’s cube in our booth.

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Kanban2go — How to build a cloud-based offering

February 27, 2012

Dell corporate strategist by day, entrepreneur by night, Prabhakar Gopalan recently launched a SaaS offering called kanban2go that helps you manage and share your task list in the cloud.  Prabhakar’s endeavor provides a quick overview of what it means to launch a cloud-based app today.  Take a listen as he talks about the process and what he learned:

Some of the ground Prabhakar covers:

  • Where he got the idea
  • From laptop to github to Rackspace
  • Desktop and mobile HTML5 version
  • Finding the right tools
  • Lessons learned

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

The World of Web and Developers, getting to know it better

January 16, 2012

A couple years back, on the Public side of the house, Dell set up specific marketing teams  to focus on customer needs in three areas: Healthcare, Government and Education.  This vertical approach turned out to be a great way to get to better know our customers and their pain points and ultimately meet their needs.

Based on this success, a little while ago we kicked off a similar effort in our commercial business.  The first six verticals we are setting up are: Retail, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Web|Tech, Energy and TME (Telco, Media & Entertainment).  Web|Tech is the group I belong to (I lead marketing for the group).

Developers, Developers, Developers

In the Internet space we have already had a fair amount of success through our DCS group.  The idea with the new Web vertical is to learn even more about the customer set, companies that use the internet as their platform, and take this knowledge along with our accumulated experience, to a wider audience.  Two of the key areas of focus of this new vertical will be developers and open source software.

Look it up

One of the ways we are helping our teams get a better understand of the wild and wacky world of the Web and Web developers is via a glossary we’ve created.  In compiling this I pulled information from various and sundry sources across the Web including wikipedia, community and company web sites and the brain of Cote.

The glossary is organized into the following sections:

[Update Feb 1: I've gone back and linked the entries below]

Over the next several entries I will be posting the glossary.  Feel free to bookmark it, delete it, offer corrections, comments or additions.

Extra-credit reading

Pau for now…

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Posted by Barton George

Mark Shuttleworth part two: Developers, DevOps & the Cloud

January 13, 2012

As I mentioned in my last entry, Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu fame stopped by Dell this morning on his way back from CES.  Between meetings Mark and I did a couple of quick videos.  Here is the second of the two.  Whereas the first focused on the client, this one focuses on the Cloud and the back-end.

Some of the ground Mark covers

  • The cloud, Ubuntu and OpenStack involvement
  • The developer story: connecting the dots between app work on the client and testing and then deployment on the other end.
  • The world of DevOps and how JuJu fits in
  • Apple’s iOS as a developer platform and where Linux might have the edge going forward

Extra-credit reading

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Posted by Barton George

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