HP/Compaq Presario and Linux

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Sat, Jan 29, 2005 at 12:07:38AM -0500, Benjamin Scott wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Jan 2005, at 9:23pm, crschmidt at crschmidt.net wrote
> > Of course, most Linux users probably don't have use for most of those
> > intangibles anyway ...
> 
>   It depends.  Generally speaking, companies care more if you pay more.  So
> an OptiPlex customer who wants to run Linux counts a lot more then the same
> guy with a Dimension instead.  There was also a time where Dell was
> supporting the OptiPlex and Latitude lines with Linux, but never the
> Dimension or Inspiron.  Dell has since dropped official Linux support on
> user stations, but they still provide "informal" support for those same 
> lines.  So it might reduce your hassle.

When I install Linux on any machine, I basically understand that I won't 
be getting support. If I call in, I typically tell them its on Windows; 
I don't expect any support when I call and say 'Yeah, I just compiled 
Kernel 2.6.9 with inotify, and It's not working!" ;) Then again, I don't 
maintain other people's personal computers: only my own, plus stuff 
we've purchased from Dell that's running as servers (where we can get 
Linux support). I'll admit that I've never had a problem I've needed to 
call tech support for since I started running Linux.

>   On the gripping hand, I'd say there are probably better companies then
> Dell *or* HP to buy from for Linux stuff.

True enough. 

Slightly off topic story about tech support:

I bought myself a computer 3.5 years ago. At the time, it was a great 
bargain: $700 plus tax for a P4 1.6 Ghz, 256 meg of ram, 80 gig hard 
drive, XP preinstalled. (This was long before my Linux days.) 4 USB 
ports, built in firewire, S/PDIF out. It was sold by a company no one 
had ever heard of before: Medion, a German company. This was their first 
machine in the US, and it was sold only at Aldi (basically a bargain 
food store: I've not seen one since I moved here). 

When I got the machine, after a couple days, the modem simply stopped 
working. I called Tech support: there was no voice menu, no wait time, 
when I called, a guy named Cory answered the phone. I told him that I 
was pretty sure the modem was physically dead, as I'd run through all 
the possible software steps to fix it. He ran down his script, making 
sure I'd tried them all, and said "Alright, we'll send you a box 
overnight with prepaid postage. Just stick the computer back in the box, 
call Fedex, and they'll bring it back here. Typical turnaround time is 
about 5 days."

From the time Fedex took the computer to the time I got it back was 4. 
The box itself included styrofoam packaging materials and a roll of 
packing tape inside the box. My RMA number was 264.

I can honestly say that's the best support I've ever had. :)

I run Linux full time on that box now. I've upped the memory to 256 and 
installed 240 gigs worth of hard drives in it. I have a DVD burner to 
install in it sometime soon. (Can't give up my 70 days of uptime ;)) I 
still think that it's the best purchase I ever made: it's a great 
computer to this day, and if I had the option, I'd buy Medion again.

Of course, I'm now addicted to Apple hardware, so that probably won't 
happen ;)

-- 
Christopher Schmidt
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