I have been listening to many media providers (YouTube/Podcasts) about this topic.

Hopefully I can provide my opinion in a respectful and thought-provoking way.

I do want to say that at the moment I do agree with the Red Hat overall end goals.

My main disagreement is with Red Hat public messaging and quick system braking methods.

Red Hat promoted trust with the CentOS model in January 2014 with the official joining with Red Hat.

Red Hat/Cent OS community promoted CentOS 8 on 24-09-2019 as a normal viable upgrade option. (10 Years)

Red Hat announced on December 8th, 2020 that work on CentOS Linux 8 will cease at the end of 2021. (Way below the 10 year)

This is where my disappointment in Red Hat decisions & messaging starts. I agree with the CentOS Stream Community goals, but to not match CentOS 7 Support window for 8 at least. I think caused their own "Clone" problem. (AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, etc)

After changing the terms (rug pulling in a harsher term) CentOS community website provided a FAQ which stated. "A: Yes, the source code for Red Hat Enterprise Linux will continue to be published on git.centos.org. Nothing will change about how the source code is published. This change is only related to the binaries the CentOS Project is building and how they are published."

Then on 21/06/2023 Red Hat stated "CentOS Stream will now be the sole repository for public RHEL-related source code releases".

I don't disagree with this approach but to then hear they did this change before the statement, and it was even planned to release no statement, was an extra low point for communication/messaging from Red Hat.

I believe a slower time frame for this transition and good communication would have solved most of the community issues.

We would criticize a closed sourced company going back on their word multiple times, I feel we should do the same with an open source company, but not to the extreme as some third parties/people.

If Red Hat management put their hands up on these mistakes and stated to review their public messaging methods, I would be less concerned. At the moment, Red Hat are not matching their very high communication standard.

After all that, will this stop me recommending Red Hat Linux to clients... No, and I will still applaud their work.

(Small note: At the moment, I do respect AlmaLinux with knowledge I have, but this could change over time)

I purchased an Entroware Apollo laptop in 2019. I have used this laptop every day extensively. So I have decided to write a little review of my experience with the device.

Hardware / Software

14" Apollo

• Processor: Core i5 8265U - Up to 3.9 GHz [4 Cores, 8 Threads]
• Memory: 8GB DDR4 2400MHz
• Storage: 250GB PCIe SSD ⚡️
• Additional Storage: No Additional Storage
• Operating System: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• Keyboard: Backlit UK Keyboard
• Power Lead: UK Power Lead
• Dead Pixel Guarantee: 7-Day Guarantee
• Warranty: 3 Year Silver (See Terms & Conditions, 6.3.1)
• Production Service: Standard Service

Model: EL02R6
Purchased: 17 July 2019

Price: £809.99

When I first got the device I used Clonzilla to create factory reset image. This gives me a copy of the OS as it was shipped by Entroware.

The device came with Ubuntu 18.04 but I decided to install Kubuntu.

Positives

The Apollo is an aluminium build laptop that feels excellent in the hand. I have had people say it looks like a MacBook which is not a bad thing. The no banding on the laptop does make it stand out and make it nice and clean. I think that the product looks good and professional.

The typing experience is good on the laptop and does have a backlight keyboard for working in the dark which I do more often than I like to admit.

It has a pretty nice 1080p screen with matte finished. I have never had a big issue with the screen even with the dead pixel warning on Entroware website.

I do not like using trackpads on laptops and use wireless mouse when possible. When I do use the trackpad it works well enough, I would say it is a little small.

The laptop has quite a lot of nice ports that I use quite often, and it is nice to avoid dongles as much as possible. The laptop has Ethernet, Audio Jack, USB-C 3.1, USB A 3.1, SD Card, HDMI, Mini Display Port.

Negatives (My)

It now time to point out some of the small nagatives I have found with the laptop.

The laptop fan noise can be very loud at times which is noticible by people in a room it only does this in boosts.

Think this bios hardware limitation where I was unable to keep laptop keyboard light on automatically.

The small Plastic points on the laptop are licky to wear overtime in my experance. Rubber pads on bottom laptop fallen off think caused by heat.

Speakers are not great but I mainly use headphones so was not a real issue for me but can see it being issues to other people.

No USB-C charging available.

No faster than USB 3.1 available

Struggle to see screen in very sunny light think this could be solve with brighter backlight

It worth noting some of these limitations are caused by Clevo Hardware and not really controlled by Entroware but the small issue still exists.

These issues would have not stopped me purchasing the product in 2018/2019.

Conclusion

I am happy with this Apollo purchase. I have used it nearly ever day for a few hours and it has really worked well for my personal needs. I plan to keep on using the Apollo for for quite a while yet.

Would you buy again?

I would (& did) purchase the Entroware Apollo in 2018/2019, but I am not sure that I would again in 2020/2021.

The laptop market has change and I think there are some nice options provided from bigger players from Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc.

I think support for USB-C Charging is a big factor for my future laptops.

I have to review the other options available when I purchase but at the moment of writing this post, I would say Dell XPS 13 (Linux Edition) is my front runner.

Resources

Entroware - Ubuntu Desktops, Laptops, and Servers

Entroware is the UK’s best dedicated supplier of Linux powered Desktops and Laptops. View our full Ubuntu range.

Entroware

CLEVO Computer | Integrator von konfigurierbaren Computersystemen

Mehr als nur Notebooks von der Stange - Über 50 Modelle von CLEVO – Von Office Gerät bis High-End Gaming, die wir nach Ihrem Wunsch konfigurieren und auch opti…

CLEVO Computer | Integrator von konfigurierbaren Computersystemen

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed is now available | Ubuntu

The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is now available in North America and selected EMEA countries* certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed to work straight out of the box. This is the first system available on the market with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, released in April 2020, and continues the long-stand…

Ubuntu

Lenovo Launches Linux-Ready ThinkPad and ThinkStation PCs Preinstalled with Ubuntu | Lenovo StoryHub

Lenovo announces a global expansion of its Linux® portfolio, extending its certification program to include PCs preinstalled with Canonical’s Ubuntu® LTS operating system.

Lenovo StoryHub

Enterprise Open Source and Linux | Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the modern, open source operating system on Linux for the enterprise server, desktop, cloud, and IoT.

Ubuntu

Kubuntu | Friendly Computing

Friendly Computing

Clonezilla - About

AboutDRBL/Clonezilla Team.

LanguageTool is an Open Source proofreading software for English, French, German, Polish, Russian, and more than 20 other languages. It finds many errors that a simple spell checker cannot detect.

The main reason I have moved to LanguageTool is because it can be used with LibreOffice which I do use.

Grammarly is also a good product and does seem to be the standard for corporate environments.

Please do think of the possible attack vectors of these products, an example of this is Grammarly Vulnerability that was discovered in 2018.

If you’re working on something with security concerns it might be worth disabling the add-on. This can be set up using private windows.

This tool has become fundamental for me in the work environment.