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Dell to do Factory-Installation of Red Hat
Tomas wrote over to remind us about Dell's
announcement that they will be doing factory-installation of RH 6.0 on select "Red-Hat" certified configurations of PowerEdge Severs, Precision Workstations and OptiPlex desktop machines. Dell has been flirting with a while-this looks like an engagement ring.
When I see their commercials, I wonder if they're selling computers or Windows NT.
Tried to order a dual PII server with raid5 from both Dell and Compaq two weeks ago (wanted local hardware maintenance).
Nope, no Linux support for their raid devices.
Hello VAResearch.
It's the winmodems and proprietary sound cards (and network ports) built into the laptop itself that Linux stubs its toes on. Sure you can live without sound and get a PCMCIA modem, but I paid for built-in stuff (hard to find without now) and I want it to work! Maybe this "Linux pre-installed" trend will result in laptops with real (non-lobotomized) modems and true SB-compatible sound hardware.
He doesn't get it and neither do you. It's not about some stupid ABM aphorism which is really a nice way to say: you don't deserve any f*cking choice in this soe called free market.
Linux started because some guy wanted to fill a gaping void that the so called free-market wasn't addressing for him: microcomputer system software that does what it should. It wasn't some anti-M$ or anti-corporate crusade. People wanted to get work done.
That's the real problem that the SCO CEO is having. People are willing to get work done without him. If it weren't Linux, it could just as easily be Sparc Solaris at the prices Sun boxes are going for these days.
It's not A.B.M. but rather the S.B.M. that a free market is supposed to, in theory, be able to provide.
Linux is just a long line of competitors that were able to fullfull some need better but just had the burden of not being the default option with the default HW & app support that tags along with it.
Linux/BSD/GNU/HURD were just the first that didn't have to worry about being killed by the 'free-market' while waiting for an increase in mindshare or marketshare.
there is support for RAID at dell
Now that's an interesting one -- companies come out with crappily written drivers and it's *still* windows's fault. Hm.
I suspect that it is the MS Tax collector without the EULA to issue the rebate, then of course you have to buy the RH to install. So naturally it would be more for the RH version than the MS standard OS. GET A CLUE!!!
Complain and complain..FUD and FUD...
Try in a few weeks time (or at least try today) when the demand increases and will lead to decrease in installation cost
We ordered one last week. I doubt it will have 6.0 as it was probably already put together and shipped already, although we haven't gotten it yet.
...
I am not sure if I would want 6.0 though as I have heard rumors that the 2.2 kernel is not as stable as 2.0, and while I admit that those are just rumors and probably unfounded, this machine is going to be our corporate file server so it needs to be as rock solid as possible.
My feelings about Dell hardware are mixed; we've had problems upgrading the memory in them because they have used some really weird memory configurations, and they overcharge for some surprisingly low-quality hardware (the Montego sound cards in some of our Dell workstations come to mind) but then again they don't seem to break, ever
I'm sure they won't preinstall them, that would be too much to hope for, but will Dell let us get OS-less PCs, or are we going to see people heading to RedHat for refunds on their distro? :-/
Daniel
Hurry up and jump on the individualist bandwagon!
He gets it. Few other outsiders get it. Many Linux users and Slashdot readers don't even get it.
What is it that he gets? It's the fact that Linux itself isn't the big deal. The big deal is the movement, or "religion", surrounding it. As I've said before: Linux could drop out of existance tomorrow and it wouldn't hurt us too much. We'd replace it, maybe with the Hurd, maybe with something else. The important thing is that there is a "We".
We can't blame the man for doing what he does with this insight, namely to use it to his company's advantage. That's his job and it seems he's pretty good at it.
--
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
This was supposed to link to the story on SCO's CEO's comments. Could it be that the slashdot code is fouling up?
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Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
As a linux user I'm still working my way out of the newbie phase, but I still don't think I'd buy it preinstalled on my next PC.
What attracts me most to linux is the DIY attitude needed to get it *really* working for you and support you get from others that already have.
Dell may be good for Linux, but is it a good thing for the user?
-q
"That's the real problem that the SCO CEO is having. People are
willing to get work done without him. If it weren't Linux, it could
just as easily be Sparc Solaris at the prices Sun boxes are
going for these days. "
However, I do get the feeling that if someone
came out ant accused Sun Microsystems of "FRAUD",
there would be some serious legal repercussions already.
I am wanting somebody to give this gentleman a taste of a bitter pill. Accusing a business of
"FRAUD" is a serious matter. Perhaps a smack to
the namecaller's wallet is in order? Maybe that
will teach him not to accuse people of criminal activity without doing some research first?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I work in a computer repair shop, and I've got to say that Dell computers are bad for business. We almost never get those things in. :)
I really think that Dell computers are of much higher quality than most of their competitors. I'm glad to see that they will now ship with a higher quality OS installed. This is a boon to both Red Hat _and_ Dell.
Just over four weeks ago I ordered a Precision 410 Pentium III 500, 256MB RAM, SCSI, the works, from Dell with RH5.2 preinstalled.
It arrived two weeks ago and kicks ass -- booted it on the first go around (just like you could with their NT boxes) and started rocking.
Oh, the price was just shy of $3500, with 17" monitor. Not the cheapest way of getting this linux box, but I think Dell's online ordering is great, and they have a good support contract.
other than problems with drivers not installng properly(which i blame more on the general crappiness of windows) i've run into less problems with the montego's than the other sound cards dell ships.
Laptops?? I'll believe DELL is committed to Linux when they start factory installs on their Laptops.
That's what started the whole Windows refund effort, you couldn't buy a Laptop with Linux on it!
JTFritz
I could have sworn I saw something in the last week or so about Dell and IBM supporting Linux on their laptops... Dell at least would start on th e lower end, and work from there. I thought the article was on ZDNet or InfoWorld, but I can't find it... anyone else seen it?
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In a real emergency, we would have all fled in terror, and you would not have been notified.
This is good news, but I won't be satisfied until Dell and their Ilk provide complete Linux support for their hardware, including RAID controllers and some of the self-diagnositic and hardware management features they build into their boxes.
Until then, Linux will be a second class citizen on these boxes when compaired to NT, Netware and perhaps some of the commercial UNIXs.
I contacted our Dell rep. regarding a potential order of 10 dual Xeon servers. They said they would get back to me regarding the Linux. This was three weeks ago. The systems were $7900 each, so maybe $79,000 was too little money for them.
In a place beyond time and space, in a land far better than this, look for me there...
I priced an OptiPlex a few weeks ago under the educational section of the website (it's the only place where "operating system" is a pull-down option instead of being a when-you-click-on-the-model selection. If you price systems on their website often, you know what I mean.
RedHat costs $50 more than NT and 98, which are priced the same.
What?! Michael, please give me a call and explain why this is an extra expense. Or better yet, have Bill call me, since he's obviously playing at your house.
-Chris
This should be good. When one of the larger computer-makers starts shipping linux away pre-installed, I bet the other ones will get on the train and install it as well. Of course, this is only good as long as you can buy a computer w/o operating-system.
// Simon