[KLUG Members] Dell Servers & RH 7.1

[Adam Tauno Williams]

>>   Part 1.1Type: Plain Text (text/plain)
>>FYI, DELL SERVERS, WORKSTATIONS OFFER RED HAT LINUX 7.1
>>Open source operating system gets another plug, with Dell
>>supporting latest release.
>>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,55669,tk,dn071901X,00.asp

It should be noted that they have shipped other versions of RH for some
time,  this simply states they have approved 7.1.  I've seen several
headlines that make it look like Dell have finally "accepted" Linux,
when they've been begrudginingly supporting it for some time.

>Of course they don't tell you about all the "games" Dell plays. 
>E.g., their Linux boxen not only cost more than the Windows

That seems reasonable to me, 99.44% of their boxes ship with M$,
supporting Linux is a politically advantageous pain in the butt.

>versions, but they don't offer all the same memory and CPU options. 
>I understand hardware compatibility testing may limit options, but
>memory and CPU are NOT ones where this should be an issue.  I tried
>to order a Dell Linux workstation with more than 128MB of RAM once
>to no avail.  I've also have other issues with Dell, including
>almost having to get the USPS on them for constantly shipping to an
>address other than billing (ask me sometime -- they made Spencer F.
>Katt's column!).

There general ineptness and incompetence have nothing specifically to do
with their attitude towards Linux.  And they ARE incompetent.

>If you want quality and flexibility in Linux systems, visit ASL: 
>http://www.aslab.com

Nah, three letters : I B M.  They won't even flinch when you say Linux.
The Netfinity series servers are FAST, reliable, and 110% compatible.
Instead of whining "Oh, we have to support that... right", you get "Of
course, sir,  why would you use anything else".  Of course three years
ago when the IBM rep you came to service my RS/6000 he sneered at those
Intel Linux boxes,   but now it's like the back seat of a convertable on
prom night.  IBM is smart, they know a 100% M$ world will eventually
sink everyone but M$.

>They know their stuff, a good 10x more helpful than VALinux when I
>dealt with them, and have all kinds of options, both hardware and
>distro.  And if you won't take my word for it, take Transmeta's.

Doesn't matter. VALinux has gone bye-bye.