The Vanishing Act of VA Linux Hardware Docs?

Joshua Johnston asks: "Yesterday, my roommate and I picked up a used (and slightly abused) VA Linux 2231 2U server system at a computer show here in New Hampshire. Given the manufacturer, I had expected that support documentation would be a piece of cake to locate. Unfortunately, I couldn't have been any further away from the truth. Only the Internet Archive copies of the VA Linux/VA Software website had any information whatsoever on the system, with even Google striking out badly on almost any reference material. This comes as a complete surprise, as I had expected much more to be available in regards to a system once touted as a success for the Open Source movement. The current VA Software site has nothing even mentioning the fact they once made some solid server-class hardware, let alone a buried archive of the PDF manuals. What kind of options still remain for reviving some kind of community archive of these files? In the span of three years, are we left with nearly no trace of information on these machines?"

Comments

California Digital

[blunte]

California Digital bought VA's hardware line when VA got out of the hardware business.

Did you try contacting them?

The six servers (of three flavors) that I had were all Intel server motherboards, Intel CPUs, popular raid controllers (I forget brand/model), and VXA standard tape drives. What's confusing about that?

Re:California Digital

[Anonymous Coward]

VA Linux Legacy Parts

California Digital acquired the Systems Division of VA Linux in November 2001. We continue to support VA's award winning line of Linux Server and Cluster products. If you are the owner of an existing VA Linux product, please contact us to determine if you can purchase extended warranty and support coverage.

In addition to providing support for warranty holders, we stock almost all of the replacement components for VA Linux products. The items listed here are available for immediate delivery. If you have a need for an part not listed below, please contact us at sales@californiadigital.com.

Look at who owns VA's hardware business now...

[gabe]

California Digital Corporation bought VA's hardware business back in 2002. Maybe they have information that'd help you.

Re:Japan

[jgaynor]

I don't think there's anything especially unusual about those VA boxes, apart from blue LED's

Ehh they're fairly proprietary once you open the case. Here's what Ive found - I've only looked into their 2u and smaller cases so larger ones may be more brown-bag:

-Case specific power supplies in some models (cant replace)
-Model specific PCI risers
-Short ATX mobo header cables (wont reach some boards)
-Proprietary power/reset/LED headers (unusable unless cut and spliced - good luck tracing through multi-layered PCB)

With a little work though they do make kick-ass cases and can usually be had on the cheap since no one wants to waste time modding them.

Always cache copies of useful web content

[G4from128k]

Anytime I find a useful web page, I cache a copy on my local disk (strictly for personal/ time shifted use only). Personal sites have a way of disappearing when the owner loses interest and corporate sites have a tendency to flush old data when they reorg a site. Even with the cost of backups (I use 3 x 250 GB HDs for onsite/offsite backup), keeping a local copy costs a few tenths of a penny per MB.

The loss of old content is sad, really. The web is sometimes more like the spoken word than the written word. It is ephemeral -- if you weren't there when the page was posted, you have a high chance of never getting it.