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because PC makers (in our case, Dell), will not sell PCs without software

No, he's actually an actor.
His website

Then compare the performance of the xserve with TWO of the dells from the same chart. Major brand price/performance comparison.

Price out a Dell 1650 here (make sure you add a second processor)

Price an Xserve here (dual model)

The super-villian is not 100% evil, he's got the brains to make all these amazing world-destroying devices, powerful computers, wonderful transportation devices.

The 100% evil people are the ones who haven't quite got the brains. They make crappy computers, pathic transportation devices, not quite soul-destroying robots and then, and this is the evil bit, they persuade us to turn over our hard-earned cash and use them on ourselves :-(

• ASUS A7N 266 Motherboard* $90
• Athlon XP 1800* $90
• 256 megs DDR-SDRAM PC2100* $60
• Pioneer DVD Drive $45
• Sony 32X Write CD burner $80
• Creative Labs 56k Modem* $30
• In-win A500 Midtower case* $60
• IBM 40 GB Hard Drive* $70

Similar dell system with lower quality components runs just under $1000 without shipping.

I'm looking into building a PC myself, and have found that the cheapest way by far is to buy what's called a 'Barebones' system. On pricewatch they are initially listed as 'Kits' but after following the link you seem them called 'Barebones', as all the online super-deal-megastores do. The system will include at least a case, power supply, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and 3 1/2, and some flavor of a ROM drive. It can be configured with basically any standard hardware (and occasionally peripherals) that you want...but they never require you to order an M$ OS (or any OS).

With a barebones system, you get the best of all worlds: when you go to order one (at a quality site), you are linked to a form where you customize your barebones PC like you would a DELL, except with many more options.

All of this cuts down the price...plus, since they're building it for you, they get the deal on the hardware for buying bulk, which is passed onto you. Also, they do what's called 'burn-in', which is where they hook up their software-preloaded-testing-hard-drive and make sure it all works, and then as a guarantee they'll tack on a 1 or 2 year warranty (often upgradable). This way, you don't have to put it together yourself and wonder what's not working, and watch all the tech-support point fingers at each other yelling 'it's-not-me-it's-the-other-part'.

If you look a little, you can find a barebones package that can be configured with all the components you wanted anyway, and certainly with any processor. (Be careful though, the default choices on the form often are cheaper in make, but not in price).

I am personally using AccessMicro to build my system. I'm getting an Athlon XP 2100+, Gigabyte KT333 ATA133 RAID-enabled, 512MB DDR 333MHz DDRAM, plus CD-RW, DVD-ROM, 40GB hard drive, floppy, keyboard and mouse, and a sweet, sweet case for under a grand, easy (NOTE: IAN Affiliated). I couldn't have found but a couple parts I want cheaper, and I'll just install those myself...I'm telling you, this is the way to go, save yourself some time.

So sure, you can like the other folks have already mentioned, use pricewatch, pricegrabber, even mysimon to find good prices on QUALITY components. But don't buy cheapie stuff--the best part of building your own system is that you can use quality parts and get it done for the same price as a system manufacturer might with cheap stuff!

But then you go to a store with a good reputation, such as Dell, NewEgg, Buy.com, etc. to buy all the stuff at a higher price. The best part is when you whip out the Amex Gold card to pay for it. Then you call American Express up and tell them that you found all these items for cheaper at other websites (referencing your searches above). They kindly cut you a check for the difference.

This way, you get the best price and the best service. Ahh how wonderful.

Details on doing Amex pricematching are here which is a link on www.xpbargains.com. XPBargains is a very cool site by the way.

Just buy a different brand of laptop, it's not hard to do. If you are going to use Linux, check out a quick google search first to see people's impressions of the compatibility. This is a good idea anyway since people often sprinkle general comments into these and give you an idea of the quality of the product.

Finally, unless you are going for a Dell please go to a computer store and browse. Laptops are very personal machines and pointing device preference and the feel of the keyboard beneath your fingers as well as general layout of special buttons and the brightness and clarity of the screens are something you need to get a feel for first-hand.

If you get a Dell or other mail-order product it also gives you a point of reference so you know what to look for. For example if you try a box out at a store and realize you can't live without at least 15" screen or something.

I have Dell Inspiron 4000 and have been very happy with the quality of the product. SuSE 7.3 installed with no issues and Sax2 did a better job than Dell in figuring out my video settings.

Castle Wolfenstein looks damn good.

885 grams == 1.95 pounds

This article is a bit of a ridiculous pitch, here are Other machines come close:

The Dell X200 = 2.8 pounds (800 MHz processor, 12.1)

Fujitsu Laptops (Various w/Transmeta) - P1000 is 2.2 pounds, $1299 starting

The Toshiba Portege - 2.6 pounds PIII750, bit expensive, $2199

-Sean

If Dell are so interested in this project, how about giving the option to buy a desktop online with RedHat instead of just offering the latest M$ OS?

I'm sure sales at Dell.com would increase if Linux users could buy a new PC straight from Dell without having to go through the bother of uninstalling Windows and installing their own copy of Linux. Think of the cost savings as well! No XP license!

http://www.dell.com/us/en/biz/learnmore/learnmore_ os_servers_popup_pedge_esg_linux.htm

Hmm, lets see. An overpriced $1100 stripped down budget system or a well equipped budget system for under 900. C'mon Apple, get real. If you want to charge premium prices, you could at least offer a premium product. I've got a new marketing slogain for you... Apple: Pay more get less.

If you want build speed, disable optimization etc.

I understand this when developing on a workstation for a workstation target, but if you're developing a graphics engine that must run within 200,000 machine cycles on fixed hardware, and your engine already runs at 84% CPU usage at -O3, you can't afford to turn off the optimizer.

Also (and more to your point) few if any companies will build with just "any" component the customer specifies because of the time it would take to micro-test each configuration for hardware/software/driver conflicts. There's no way to anticipate every possible problem (not all of which are known, or if known then well-documented) for every component combination. People who home-build often spend weeks querying forums and scrutinizing manufacturer FAQ's -- ask anyone who's tried to enable all the cool features on their Abit KT7-A RAID motherboard. It's just more than a real business would have time for. Better to stick with known parts and supply a CD with drivers known to work.

For the same reason, I wouldn't recommend having your machine built by a friendly enthusiast, unless you're confident they'll be available for substantial support on the chance trouble arises. Any twit can plug the parts together, but that's where the hard part typically begins.

I've worked with this one for my home clients and I like it a lot. I have not, however, seen anything like it on the OEM market. You're right though, I would buy one if in a second if I came across one...

Dell still sells boxes preloaded with RedHat. Although I only find it on there "Precision" line. http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/products/minicat_pre cn_340l.htm

Dell still does offer Linux preinstalled, just not on all boxes. You can check out their Linux page and see the PowerEdge servers and Precision workstations. (No laptops.) My company has one of these in the wiring closet.

My guess is the most teachers are for the most part ignorant about computers in general and if they are going to be teaching about computers, they want something they are comfortable with (ie the same OS they use at home).

Here is an example of that ignorance. My oldest daughter's school will be replacing their Macs real soon. I was talking to the "computer teacher" at the last PTA meeting and she was excited about replacing the aging Macs with brand new "Dells". Her excitement came from the fact that "Dells" have Office and the kids would begin to learn things like Word and PowerPoint. I don't think she realized that Dell was a hardware company, and that she could easily get MS Office for the Mac. I could see her eyes begin to glaze over as I spoke of Linux and OpenOffice.

BTW, my daughter is in first grade and for the life of me I can't figure out when MS Office became educational software.

Bammkkkk

xerofud wrote:
I'm curious if anyone knows the current lightweight champion for laptops with UXGA screens. My Dell is over 9 lbs :)

The Dell Inspiron 4100 has an optional UXGA screen. It is only 14" though. Your 8100 has a 15" screen. 14" gives it ~145ppi and is a plus for me since it is smaller and lighter, but it might be a bit too tight for some folks.

4100 link:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/dhs/products/model_inspn _1_inspn_4000.htm

-nukebuddy

First off, I am just getting around to trying this myself so I'm only posting this as a try it yourself

Check out SapDB.org. Dell has a benchmark test posted. Note that this was v6.2 of SapDb and it is now v7.3.

The documentation is exhaustive. Oh GPL'd also. It has something called the Oracle 7 compatibility mode whatever that is, personally I don't care about that.

I have scoured google and can't find much about if from other users. I even have tried Ask Slashdot but they won't put up my post for some reason. I really wish they would.

See this page. Well below $2K, 1600x1200 and other good specs, on usenet (google groups) I found quite some happy users of this one. Of course 1920x1200 would be even nicer but too expensive IMO.

Reuse the old monitors. Also, keep a few in stock for quick replacements when they do die. Most users will stick with 800x600 on a 17", and 1024x768 on a 19"+ anyways, so the clarity isn't too big an issue. Only your heavy spreadsheet users and graphics pros need a really good monitor.

Another thing to think about is Flat panel monitors.

Yeah, they're expensive, but... you pay the power bill right? In a year, you'd save money with flat panels, besides impressing your employees. AND flat panel monitors absolutely rock for spreadsheet and number reading. They do not, however, rock for gaming, which is precisly what you don't want people doing on the clock.

For office work, flat panels are great. Easy on the eyes, superb clarity of text / numbers, low power consumption.

Just a thought.

Also, I still think the comptuer from dell isn't that bad an ideal: $500 for a P-4 1.7, 128MB ram, 20 gig hard drive. Honestly, that's not bad, and it's from a top provider with a good name. Add 128 MB of ram, and upgrade again in 2005.
Link: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.asp? customer_id=04&keycode=6W300&order_code=dim44pri

~will

I'm a geek too, so I think that rolling my own desktop would be a great thrill, especially if I could make them linux boxen, but I also know that rolling your own is a huge investment in time that you might not be able to afford ... unless you get overtime pay. Good Luck. Hope that you build them.

I say go for it and build your own but have you checked out all your options, like
Dell Outlet

Dell Optiplex refurbished systems

I say go for it and build your own but have you checked out all your options, like
Dell Outlet

Dell Optiplex refurbished systems

Dell Inspiron series with UXGA display. http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/learnmore/learnmore_ screen_notebooks_popup_inspn_gen.htm

LIAR!

*stamps "TROLL!" on your forehead*

Bull, Dell places fall limiters on your parts selection to increase their profit margins.

Example, Pentium 4 Laptops are only available with Geforce4 video cards unless you get the one (/. is SOOO going to mess up that link, it is a link to the Inspirion 8200) model that they have that comes with a video card that is NOT insanly powerful AND has a Pentium 4 chip on it.

This model also happens to need a lot of 'other' upgrades to bring it up to the range of the next cheapest laptop and then you end up paying the same price (or greater) then the bottom most default configuration of the next laptop one level up but without a good video card.

it is insane.

Their Pentium 3 based laptops are decent enough, but for anybody who wants to do a lot of CPU intensive work and NO gaming AT ALL, well hell, heh.

That and they only sell Intel kit, Dell has a significant dedication towards caring more about what Intel says then what AMD says.

Getting a well built laptop is NOT easy, and often times to get a REALLY well built one you have to deal with yee as old technology.

See Here for an example of this tendency. Yeesh. Who knew that waterproofing could cost so much? ^_^

Here is another example

Yeesh. That much money and it can just stand a water STREAM. Ugh. Nothing about full immersion. :(

Anybody know of an x86 laptop that has a 15" screen, 1ghz+ chip, assloads of ram, and is fully submersible? No? Until they make one I am not buying a laptop. :(

clambert asks: "A few co-workers and I are in the market for a new laptop, but it's been incredibly difficult to try and explore what's out there. How do Sony's warranties rank up against Dell's? Can I get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the new Toshibas? What model IBMs feature DDR memory? There doesn't seem to be an AnandTech/Ars/Toms for the notebook market, and short of filtering through all the marketing hype on every {brand}.com, its tough to find out what systems offer what specs. Are there any comprehensive resources out there for those of us in the market for a new laptop?"


Hi! I'm a lazy p.o.s. lard-ass who is too stupid too lookup information for myself on the web about laptop configurations. Can I have /. spoon-feed me since I'm too lazy to look up notebook specs myself?

Jesus! Comprehensive resource? It's called your brain your worthless coprolite! How was this question even allowed to be posted? Oh, that's right. We now have CaptTaco and his minions pandering to drooling morons who can't reverse a cranial-rectal inversion.

How do Sony's warranties rank up against Dell's?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITES!

http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/notebooks/index.shtm l
http:/www.dell.com


Can I get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the new Toshibas?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITE!

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/pc/pc_prod List.jsp?comm=CS&plin=Portable%20Computers


What model IBMs feature DDR memory?
I don't know dimwit, why don't you look it up on their WEBSITE!

http://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/Cate goryDisplay?cgrfnbr=2035724&cntrfnbr=1&cgmenbr=1&c ntry=840&lang=en_US


short of filtering through all the marketing hype on every {brand}.com, its tough to find out what systems offer what specs.

gee, all I had to do was to goto Dell's website to configure a system to the specs I wanted. and if I didn't understand what the technology was, I either clicked on the link that explained it or called up their 1-800-624-9896 and spoke to a technician. Ditto for Toshiba, IBM, and Sony. IT's called PRE-SALES TECH SUPPORT, you lickspittle excuse for a manager retard.

Yeah? So what if this is flaming? It's one thing to ask for opinions, it's quite another to be too damn lazy to look up information that's easily retrievable on the web. Don't like it? sod off you pissant bugger!

I'm in the market as well and I found this article pretty helpful. To summarize, unless all you do is hack audio/video, it's a waste of money to get a P4-M w/ DDR memory, despite the faster bus, etc. Photoshop and AutoCAD tests were actually faster on the PIII-M.

I was leaning toward the Toshiba Satellite 5005-S504 until I read this. Running linux is a must, so now I'm considering a Dell Inspiron 8100.

Both of the above have UXGA (1600x1200) displays. I originally tought I wanted a Powerbook G4, but am not convinced that I can be productive on a 1152x768 display. My development environment looks like this: Left 1/3 of the screen is an Eterm running screen. Right 2/3 is XEmacs. A higher resolution means more code visible at a time and/or a more readable font.

or just go here

People these days would just rather have "somebody else" do it for them in most aspects of their lives.

I understand completely, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The days when one man could do everything himself are nearing an end. There were days when you could make your own tools, chop your own wood, build your own house, hunt all your own food, make your clothes (etc ad nauseum). Now, it is much more advantageous to specialize in one particular skill, and use it to everyone's advantage.

For instance, if you're a really good computer programmer, and you specialize so much that you get paid well for it, then your time is worth more to you as a programmer, than, for instance, building a telescope or computer. If you want to study some astronomy in your spare time, it would take weeks of your "spare time" to make your own telescope first. Whereas, you could spend that time working, bring home some cash, and buy a telescope, so you can focus on what you're really interested in.

Specialization is a direct result of the complexity of our culture. Personally, I love gaming and building PCs, I don't really have the time to sit down and put together my own operating system, so I get pre-made distributions, usually here.

Other people, however, may be so interested in spending time coding that they would rather not put in the effort to build their own PC. So, they buy one (from Compaq, Dell, or, if you have the money, Alienware).

Do I hate people who buy pre-made machines? No. The fact is, I build my PCs out of pre-made parts, so I'm just as guilty, but on a different level. I have no idea how to make a sound card, and frankly, I don't really want to know. (And, there may be some guy out there that DOES know how, and thinks everyone is stupid for buying pre-made ones from Creative).

Do you see where this argument goes?

Dell has an eight port Gb switch for about 500 not too long ago. I think they are loss leading their networking stuff to get you to pay up for their more expensive severs and storage. Here is a link so you can spec it yourself. You have to drop the support option to 1 year and shipping is extra but its an 8 port gigabit switch over coper.

here ya go

$600 buys the whole 1.2GHz system including monitor and everything. The different? Only a 20GB Harddrive...

black dell cases ....

something like this would work nicely.

You know, I used to think building my own box was the way to go. I'd get on Pricewatch and find the best motherboards, CPUs, etc. and build the whole thing. It used to be cheaper.

Then my parents needed three new computers at once, and I decided to check out Dell Refurbished.

For $580 shipped (each), I got 2 computers with a 1.1GHz Celeron processor and one with a 1.6GHz Pentium IV. All had at least 128MB RAM and one had 256MB (I bought extra memory from Crucial.com to bring them all up to 256MB.) All had at least a 20GB hard drive, which was all my parents needed for the office. All came preinstalled with Windows XP Home (fine for office work.) And one came with a Firewire card; one came with a kick-ass video card. All had either Ethernet or a 56K modem (in card format, even, not built on to the motherboard.) All of this also came with free one-year ON-SITE hardware tech support from Dell.

I was a bit worried about the quality, since I've seen how Dell shafts its low-end users with shoddy parts. But the computers performed flawlessly upon arrival and have since, with no system crashes. Then, when it came time to swap out a CD-ROM for a CD-RW, I was truly impressed. Swapping out of a drive consisted of the following:

1. Unplugging the computer.
2. Pulling a thumb-tab at the top of the computer.
3. Pulling a latch that released the CD-ROM drive.
4. Unplugging the CD-ROM drive's cables.
5. Pulling out the CD-ROM drive and putting the drive brackets on the new drive (which just snapped on.)
6. Sliding in the new drive, plugging in cables, snapping case back together.
7. Plug in.

Done! No screws, no screwdriver, no nasty cheap ATX case with a hood you have to struggle with getting in the right place. Check out this picture to see what I'm talking about.

There was no way I could have built these computers, bought Windows XP, and had any money left over to profit at $580 a computer. Plus, I would have had to put them in an ugly case that would have caused hassle for me later.

I don't think it's economical any more to build your own computer. This is a GOOD thing -- it shows that computers have become a commodity. Do you build your own TV? Probably not. Microwave? Heck no. The quality to price ratio of pre-built computers is now such that even geeks are starting to buy pre-built computers. I, for one, am glad. Let Dell take over the hassle of being called when the computer has a problem. I'll spend more time doing things that I'd rather be doing. :)

You know, I used to think building my own box was the way to go. I'd get on Pricewatch and find the best motherboards, CPUs, etc. and build the whole thing. It used to be cheaper.

Then my parents needed three new computers at once, and I decided to check out Dell Refurbished.

For $580 shipped (each), I got 2 computers with a 1.1GHz Celeron processor and one with a 1.6GHz Pentium IV. All had at least 128MB RAM and one had 256MB (I bought extra memory from Crucial.com to bring them all up to 256MB.) All had at least a 20GB hard drive, which was all my parents needed for the office. All came preinstalled with Windows XP Home (fine for office work.) And one came with a Firewire card; one came with a kick-ass video card. All had either Ethernet or a 56K modem (in card format, even, not built on to the motherboard.) All of this also came with free one-year ON-SITE hardware tech support from Dell.

I was a bit worried about the quality, since I've seen how Dell shafts its low-end users with shoddy parts. But the computers performed flawlessly upon arrival and have since, with no system crashes. Then, when it came time to swap out a CD-ROM for a CD-RW, I was truly impressed. Swapping out of a drive consisted of the following:

1. Unplugging the computer.
2. Pulling a thumb-tab at the top of the computer.
3. Pulling a latch that released the CD-ROM drive.
4. Unplugging the CD-ROM drive's cables.
5. Pulling out the CD-ROM drive and putting the drive brackets on the new drive (which just snapped on.)
6. Sliding in the new drive, plugging in cables, snapping case back together.
7. Plug in.

Done! No screws, no screwdriver, no nasty cheap ATX case with a hood you have to struggle with getting in the right place. Check out this picture to see what I'm talking about.

There was no way I could have built these computers, bought Windows XP, and had any money left over to profit at $580 a computer. Plus, I would have had to put them in an ugly case that would have caused hassle for me later.

I don't think it's economical any more to build your own computer. This is a GOOD thing -- it shows that computers have become a commodity. Do you build your own TV? Probably not. Microwave? Heck no. The quality to price ratio of pre-built computers is now such that even geeks are starting to buy pre-built computers. I, for one, am glad. Let Dell take over the hassle of being called when the computer has a problem. I'll spend more time doing things that I'd rather be doing. :)

Not to mention people who want support. Or rack mount servers.

By the time you buy a rack chassis and the compatable parts, you might as well have purchased it from Dell.

Or, if computers is your business, i.e. webhosting, you want something with a warranty, because if it breaks, as far as the clients are concerned, it's *your* problem to fix.

Plus you have to look at: If you can get a system from dell for $500 with a celeron 1.1 Ghz, 256 MB ram, and a 20 gigabyte hard drive, you have to think, by the time you get all that from pricewatch, you're going to spend about $400 by the time you include shipping, they send the parts class R mail, and they're not quality pieces anyway, then you have to pay your employees $10/hr to put it together and test it? Not only do you lose time, but you lose money cause the time could have been spent doing something else.

Even walmart sells computers with no windows. Honestly, its hard to save money building your own low end system anymore.

Your post brings up a question that I've yet to find and an answer for. Many 20-inch LCD monitors (like this Dell monitor) have a native resolution of 1600x1200. Are any there graphics cards out yet that can output DVI at that rate?

I just bought a new notebook, a Dell Inspiron 8200, but I'm still waiting for it to arrive (still a month away).

I went for one of the new UltraSharp (aka Enhanced UXGA) LCD.

Has anyone seen one of these LCDs, or have any comments on their performance?

...but for embedded use or a firewall/mail gateway/proxy/whatever it's close to perfect.

But there are also some tantalizing possibilities that will probably never get exploited. Despite its low stats, this box has roughly the same horsepower as my Linux box. Which has no trouble running KDE, Mozilla, even Kylix. In other words, there's enough computing power here to satisfy 99% of all non-gaming desktop users.

Think of all the folks who share their lives with a big, noisy, cantankerous beige box. Now think of what a smart IS department could do with the Nano. "Hello new hire. I hear you hate fan noise and technicians. Well, here's your computer. No, I won't come install it for you. Just plug it into the keyboard, monitor and network that's already in your cube. You need local storage? Plug this zip drive into the USB port. You can take it home if you want, but you have to provide your own monitor and keyboard. If you need a software upgrade, bring it back and we'll swap in a new flash card. Good bye!"

Yeah, I know. IS people aren't that creative. Oh well!

http://www.dell.com/us/en/esg/topics/esg_pedge_rac kmain_servers_1_pedge_1650.htm

I seem to recall these having decent serial consoles, supported by the BIOS (one can even configure the BIOS via serial console).

It's wha...that's for real...ohh.....

Ah, but Linux has already made great inroads into the FAA... Last year the FAA announced that they were moving the Air Traffic Control System Command Center that manages all the air traffic control throughout the United States... Dell Press Release

"Would I put an air traffic control system on Linux right now? No," says Carey. "But can it get there within five years? Absolutely." That's strange, I seem to remember it getting there last year.

"We still offer [Linux] on the [corporate] side and as needed as customers ask for it," he said.

I tried to get a Linux PC from Dell early December last year.

According to Gene Cook at Dell "I gues MS just has too much power over us."
This was stated when requesting (via email) to order a Dell Dimension 8200 PC with Linux pre-installed. It was denied.
I then asked if it was possible to have a Dell Dimension 8200 PC with no O/S installed. Denied again.
I was then advised (via phone call) the only way I could get PCs with Linux pre-installed was if I ordered at minimum twenty-five.

Dell info:
Dell Linux Dept. -> 1-800-917-3355 x67613

Gene Cook
Business Account Manager
Gene_Cook@dell.com
(800) 901-3355 ext. 63077
Fax 800-607-9327 (Attn. Gene Cook)

but the general market is not a big market for servers, usually only businesses will buy a server, and hence chances are real good you talked to someone on the corporate side, or switched the salesman into corporate mode

What salesman?

I went to their website, priced out their cheapest ($499) server, under the Small Business section.

Dell Power Edge 500 SC

It comes with a choice of:

Windows 2000 Server,5 Client Access Licenses,English,4GB, Partition [add $799]
MS Windows NT Server 4.0 [add $799]
Windows NT4,Primary Domain Controller [add $799]
Windows NT4,Backup Domain Controller [add $799]
Red Hat LINUX 7.2 [add $159]
Red Hat LINUX 7.2,NO DOCS [add $119]
Netware 5.1 with 5 New User Licenses, NFI Image [add $749]
Netware 5.1 with 5 User Upgrade Licenses, NFI Image [add $399]
No Operating System(OTHER)
Netware 5.1 with 5 User Upgrade Licenses for Higher Education, NFI Image [add $399]

• Windows
• Redhat
• Netware
• Nothing

The slashdot article I linked said dropping plans to offer the open-source Linux operating system on some machines it sells. It did not say all machines, only some machines. To quote you, maybe you should try checking the facts first.

I just did another quick check. I went to Dell Search and searched for 'Linux' in all categories. 7 of the first 10 links are no longer valid. Link 2 was when the 11/19/01 press release came out and allows you to get to the medium to large business sytems you found. Link 7 was for video drivers as recent as 7.0. Link 9 was as recent as 6.1. When I narrowed the search to the Home category, I found only one link. It was for the Lexmark Z53 Color Printer.

I realize this goes against the grain of many elite slashdot Linux HAXXORS, but maybe you could try checking the facts first?
Dell still offers Linux!

As far as "not buying the products", you tell me where to buy a Windows-free PC and I'll run there; oh wait, you guys are harassing white-box shops that do that, and you certainly won't be able to get one from the major companies like Compaq, HP, Dell, etc.

Some Dell models can be ordered preloaded with Linux

Look at:
dell.com/linux
compaq.com/linux
hp.com/linux
etc.