Dell Teams Up With SUSE

good news by dns_server · 2004-10-29 00:07 · Score: 5, Interesting

things are starting to look good for linux, we now have a veriety of different companys that are starting to support linux. hopefully this will mean drivers will be better supported (atleast for the hardware provided).

Re:good news by Methuseus · 2004-10-29 01:14 · Score: 4, Interesting

I actually have a couple dells, 6 and 8 years old, still running on all the original hardware. They may be pretty slow compared to newer computers, but they still run. Now, a Dell from 2-3 years ago is probably not running anymore unless the person got the extended warranty, since Dell's quality went to shit in the past 4 years.

I agree that I largely hate Dell machines, but when you get them free you generally don't argue. I also hate most other machines, but lately Gateway and eMachines have had good quality. The only problems I've seen with *them* in the past 2 years have been user error. You are correct about NEC and IBM being probably the most stable prefabs, however.

You also don't tell us how old you are, just that you have been building computers since you were 11. You could be 13 now for all we know. (at least for what the average user knows)

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Re:good news by BlackHawk-666 · 2004-10-29 02:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

I used to work for a company that supplied Dell servers for the web sites we created. We had maybe 20 of these machines, and at least five of them had major issues in the first few years. One broke down so many times that eventually every single part of it had been replaced several times except the case, which I was threatening to smash in order to force them to replace this awful machine. And yeh, it was a critical production machine.
When I got a new workstation from Dell it took them 56 days to get a working one delivered to me after I told them the one they first delivered was broken. That's two fucking months!!! The reason it was broken, for the curious, is because they put the heatsink on top of the CPU but didn't strap it into place, so it wasn't doing any heat sinking at all.
I'm sure there are people out there who haven't had trouble with Dell, but for me it's always going to be a reputable company like IBM or HP in future, Dell is cheap (but costly) rubbish.

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Re:good news by Scumbumbo · 2004-10-29 02:57 · Score: 5, Interesting

Dell's hardware (at least on the server side) has always been well supported in Linux thanks to their work with Red Hat. I'm hoping this latest move makes their management utilities work better with SuSE.

A few months back I mentioned to our Sr. Dell rep that I wished they supported SuSE (preferably by releasing tarballed sources) with their management utilities. The "Red Hat only" afacli RAID management RPM installs and runs great on SuSE, but installing the other management stuff (specifically for the DRAC management) is a pain in the arse. She seemed really interested in my comment and kept asking me questions regarding my experiences with SuSE on Dell. Makes me wonder if she either knew something was coming down the pipe or if she was actually high-level enough at Dell to be one of the instigators of this.

Future partnerships... by jmcmunn · 2004-10-29 00:08 · Score: 4, Interesting

If we keep seeing these types of partnerships, perhaps more PC manufacturers will jump on board and start shipping Linux PC's as well. Even if it is just a Linux Live CD for someone to play with, at least then they can get their feet wet.

Re:Future partnerships... by GreyPoopon · 2004-10-29 01:15 · Score: 2, Interesting

I am quite certain that doing something like that would cause the manufacturer no end of problems with Microsoft.
Yes, and such a response may cause Microsoft no end of problems with the DoJ. If there was *ever* a time for manufacturers to do something like this, it is now. Although Microsoft only received a "slap on the wrist," they are nevertheless being watched more closely at the moment.

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I wonder by Moby+Cock · 2004-10-29 00:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

I could not RTFA, the thing is /.ed already. However, I wonder if the move with SuSE is an attempt to move into some bigger European markets. SuSE is the de facto linux standard over there (as opposed to RHEL in NA) and I wonder if Dell is trying to squeeze into some business operations on the continent.

Re:Windows XP? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-29 00:18 · Score: 3, Interesting

I think Microsoft pay/threaten/reward (delete according to bias) system builders to say that, a lot of ads contain the same phrasing with different manufacturers pasted in.

So it's probablary just part of a standard page template, and not some conspiracy on Dell's part to confuse customers.

Re:Windows XP? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-29 00:22 · Score: 3, Interesting

Well it means:

Dell is paid by Microsoft to recommend it's OS. ("$COMPNAME recommends Windows XP" is so generic it can't be a accident, it's marketting.)

Dell supports Linux because that's what it's customer wants.

how much tweaking... by gp310ad · 2004-10-29 00:23 · Score: 3, Interesting

What does it mean when Dell and Suse or IBM and ??? (RedHat?, Debian?, Knoppix?, all three and more?) deliver a server with 'certified' linux?

Has anyone bought one of these for work and taken a good look at the install?

I see the 'support' part, but do they:
1. compile kernel (./config options) for that particular box?
2. config all applications for that particular box?
3. more than '1' and '2'?

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Re:how much tweaking... by jimicus · 2004-10-29 00:58 · Score: 4, Interesting

What does it mean when Dell and Suse or IBM and ??? (RedHat?, Debian?, Knoppix?, all three and more?) deliver a server with 'certified' linux?

Has anyone bought one of these for work and taken a good look at the install?

Yes. My former employer was an IBM shop, had 250 Linux servers and around 1,200 desktops.

We bought servers without an operating system. Some (not all) models arrived in parts - disks, memory processors and rack-mounting kit were all shipped in separate boxes and you fitted them yourself. My understanding was "every bit of hardware here works under Linux".

Experience demonstrated that this was indeed the case, only you sometimes had to download kernel patches (which were generally open source, they just hadn't made it to the mainstream kernel).

I don't know whether or not the pre-built servers had these patches pre-installed - I'd imagine so.

SuSE on the Desktop, please ! by InodoroPereyra · 2004-10-29 00:27 · Score: 4, Interesting

I would bet that with the gaining momentum of Linux as a corporate/govenrment desktop environment, teaming up with SuSE could be a good idea for Dell. Not that RedHat is horrible unusable or anything, but SuSE is more polished and integrated for the end user, and they are in a position of offering top of the line KDE, GNOME or a combination of both.

I'm curious by numbski · 2004-10-29 00:32 · Score: 2, Interesting

One of the benefits of SuSE is that (at least last time I used it, I'm a FreeBSD/MacOS X user currently) it comes with every tested package imaginable...something like 10 cd's or 3 DVDs...?

Are they just shipping with a base install, and giving you the DVDs? Putting all of the packages on there, just not installing them for convenience on a huge drive?

What's the best OEM config for something like SuSE? Presume people are going to use an online repository?

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Bad news for Red Hat... by Thaidog · 2004-10-29 00:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

Now that novell has bought SuSE, major fundage means major comp now for Red Hat. Personally I think SuSE is more user friendly than Red Hat is now... with YAST playing a major role in that. Easy to configure, even for an end user to get a basic server up and running or whatever else. I see this hittin the lowend workstation level big time as well since most of the hardware cerifications Red Hat has SuSE has too (too a point).

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Re:Bad news for Red Hat... by Greenisloved · 2004-10-29 02:56 · Score: 2, Interesting

I agree SUSE is user friendly and YAST is awesome , however , the basic installation is so complex than Redhat.Redhat has easy isos to download , burn and install.However , I do not see easy installation procedure .

How would one expect to use SUSE if installation is so hard.Besides Redhat is already well known.
May be its just me..

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Re:Windows XP? by I+confirm+I'm+not+a · 2004-10-29 00:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

It's an ad that's always amused me: Dell recommendsWindows XP Professional, but supplies Windows XP Home (unless you choose to "upgrade").

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SuSE vs Red Hat by DrugCheese · 2004-10-29 00:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

I was always under the impression that SuSE was the most popular distro. I think they were the first to commercially distribute linux. While Red Hat as the most popular in the U.S. SuSe was the most popular world wide?

I've long thought SuSE to be far FAR superior to all other distros I've tried and have said over and over again that it can be used by a newbie to linux or a mission critical server application out of the same box.
In a couple years (or less the way SuSE is in the news more and more recently) people will agree that Red Hat is no longer the name when it comes to a great pre-packaged linux.

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Dell was offering RedHat 3 years ago by vasqzr · 2004-10-29 00:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

What's this have to do with anything? It really doesn't mean anything.

Linux is EXPENSIVE from Dell. Most people are going to do what we did, buy Dell $329 servers, and install a downloaded version of (insert your favorite distribution)

Considering the limited.. by Tracer_Bullet82 · 2004-10-29 00:43 · Score: 3, Interesting

product options and the somewhat contradictory message in Dell's policy, this may not seem to be a significant step.

Dell however has the image of providing good support(at least in my neck of the woods)

Seeing that Dell can ofer and support for Linux;I'm presuming they will, this can show to the general public that (Dell considers) Linux is/as a viable option.

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Re:No such thing as bad news. by Thaidog · 2004-10-29 00:44 · Score: 2, Interesting

I would say as long as Novell development stays opensource as much as possible. After all the are porting their products to Linux.

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Re:Windows XP? by thakadu · 2004-10-29 01:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

I just went to www.dell.com. No mention of Linux. So I chose the "Home and Small Office" link. Top of page says "Dell recommends Windows XP". Still no mention of "Linux" (I did a search) So now I chose "desktop systems" link. Again "Dell recommends XP" at the top and again no mention of Linux. So I choose a model, the 4600, again Dell recommends.... and even when I customize my chosen model there is not even an option to select Linux. Only an upgrade to XP professional.

Bingo! Novell can sell Enterprise Stack by HighOrbit · 2004-10-29 02:12 · Score: 2, Interesting

SuSE might be the "enterprise" Linux?

This is a good way for Novell to "get it's foot in the door" with Suse and then sell more server applications. I would expect the Dell SuSe installation to be preconfigured and marketed as "NDS ready" or "Groupwise Ready". The more Novell's existing application stack becomes integrated with Suse, the more Novell will be able to sell. Compared to Redhat, Novell's application stack is much larger, more mature, and the Novell name still has a lot of trust. This will open up an avenue for Novell to have "certified" hardware for running all of their application stuff. Novell has things like Directory Services (NDS) and ZenWorks that are as good or better than MS's Active Directory stuff. They also have Groupwise and OpenExchange in the groupware area. They have Ximian Evolution for a client that works with both. Redhat already realizes this and they know that Novell can overtake them as the perfered Linux vendor with an integrated directory service and middleware/groupware stack and that is why they bought out the Netscape Enterprise Suite & Directory Server. They had to have it to compete with Novell NDS on SuSe.

Has anyone noticed the WinXP ad at the top by DarknessFallen · 2004-10-29 05:35 · Score: 2, Interesting

Wasnt sure if anyone had noticed the blatent line at the top of the article but just before the headline of dell teaming up with novell/suse there is a line that states "dell recommends running microsoft windows xp" seems strange to announce a linux partnership and still have that of all things at the top of the page dont you all think?

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