[ILUG] New Machine ,Linux Compatible? Good Value?

[Niall O Broin]

On Tue, Nov 07, 2000 at 06:58:24PM +0000, Colin Fowler wrote:

> Everything is compatible as far as I can see - not 100% sure about the
> ISDN tho.

Diva is Linux compatible, as long as the cable is plugged in :-)

> If your spending all that cash then splooge the tiny bit extra on a SCSI
> CDRW as they are a lot easier to setup and more reliable. 

Absolutely - IDE CD burner support under Linux is a horrible kludge IMHO.

> I wanted about 40 gigs I'd go for 2 or more smaller drives for speed and 
> also the peace of mind that If 1 drive goes - everything doesnt :)

Absolutely - Dell want nearly 100 quid of your cash for an upgrade to 40G -
spend that or so yourself and buy a separate 20G drive.

> Forget sticking Redhat 7.0 on it tho. Go with 6.2 if you _REALLLLLLY_
> must use redhat. 7.0 even with errata patches is still less than stable.

Presumably, using RH is a good idea if you want any kind of support from
Dell, though if you want any kind of Linux support from Dell you have to pay
Linuxcare a boatload of cash. And as we're mentioning Dell and RH - when you
get RH factory installed they charge you £71 or £126 including
documentation. An interesting question arises - what documentation do they
supply that they think is worth £55 ? And what's their financial arrangement
with RH ? Do they kick RH back something for every Linux install ? Why would
they ? OTOH why would RH be in bed with them if not - purely for the kudos ?

I'm merely curious (but thankfully I'm not a cat).




Regards,



Niall