HCL suggestion
 

I was going to post in the HCL about the Dell Optiplex GX270s we use in my office as linux workstations. There isn't a forum in the HCL for pre-built computers, only parts (and laptops). I suppose I could break down the individual parts and post those, but if someone is looking for a pre-built computer to install linux on, or if their pre-built will run linux then they have to go to the hassel of looking up the individual parts as well.

As such, I think a section in the HCL for name-brand built computers would be a good idea.

yeah i'd go with that...

This was actually suggested before but there was never really much discussion:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=198177

If I recall, the thinking was that most computers are just a collection of generally available hardware (while laptops are not). Would having a section for computers be something members would find useful?

--jeremy

I'm against it.

To me most of these prebuilt computers from manufacturer's are just consisting of different parts from different manufacturer's. I see no difference or the hassle of getting the different parts to enter into the HCL.

I'm just worried that there is just going to be alot of repeats. Take example the Dell GX270's. Most of the parts are no different from the GX260 or GX240 except for RAM slight differences, hard drive sizes or slight differences in make or model which most I've seen are maxtors probably already listed in the HCL and so on.

I don't see this being beneficial and would hate to see 5 or 6 entries of pretty much the same machine but with slight differences from one person ordering one with this and another with that. It would just get confusing, hard for Fin and anyone else approving them to look up the differences, etc.

As i was discussing with rossy earlier, how about letting a prebuilt unit essentially be a group of prodcuts already in the HCL, as that's what it is. can be tricky to find the full spec of some boxes, but being able to effectively access a set of components as a stripped down unit would be useful i thing. essentially a jumped up search.

Maybe come for a different angle and let each HCL entry be tagged to have been known to have been included within an off-the-shelf setup. externally very similar, with with a different internal implementation

Or how about members who submit their hardware parts also mention if its part of a specific prebuilt system they bought, maybe adding just an additional field for the Make, Model, etc? Seems like less work and still searchable. :p

One of the reasons I suggested having a "name-brand" section is that I thought it would be easier to check when purchasing a pre-built box.

For instance, lets say I see an ad in the local Best Buy circular that says they have a Compaq Presario on sale. It would list the Model Number and possibly some specs. For arguments sake, I checked Best Buy's website and one of the specs listed for a Presario is "Integrated graphics with 64MB shared video memory" and another is "9-in-1 media card reader supports CompactFlash Type I/II..." and yet another is "Built-in 10/100Base-T ethernet..." . A quick check on Compaqs site reveals little: basically just that the motherboard is an ASUS. It doesn't list the integrated video type (one has to go check ASUSs website for that) nor does it list the ethernet control model (again you have to check ASUSs site). But wait, ASUSs site doesn't have an exact match for that MB! So either I give up on what could be a potentially good deal, or I try my luck and buy it anyway and hope it all works.

This comparison was made with a new pre-built PC. Imagine trying to find the specs of out-dated machine that you found at a computer show, or a local mom & pop computer shop. Granted, most comptuers today are built with off the shelf componets. Still, some are built with propriatary hardware, older machines are even worse about this.

The one problem I can see with a prebuilt section is that their shelf life tends to be low. Take the Dell 240/260/270. If you buy a 240, in no time at all it disappears and the 260 is on the scene, blaink again and it's the 270. I once bought a cutting edge brand new pc which disappeared entirely from shops within 2 weeks of it's purchase. I then spent time adding hardware - memory, cpu, hard drives and in no time at all, it wasn't the same machine.

If I were to create an HCL for the box at the time I got into Linux, it would barely resemble the original configuration, rendering the HCL entry useless for someone with the same original machine. I'd much rather we stick with individual components - we are much likely to find a number of people using it and the parts are usually the same as when they were bought.

Thats almost exactly the point of why I thought a pre-built section was a good idea. Historically (at least in my experiance) hobbiests don't run Linux on the newest whiz-bang hardware. They run it on older hardware that they can buy cheaply. If a manufacture stops supporting that hardware, or worse, never documented the hardware on their website in the first place, then you either have to do alot of research to find out what the components are, or you have to install and hope it works, or you just have to not use that particular box.

But then, if it's that tricky, 9 times out of 10 it'll either be here or on another website - normally the problem lies with a particular piece of hardware rather than with the whole pc.

sir

we are custmer of gnnetcom we have GN8110 usb xp headset.
so problem is we want to use usb headset .on linux 9.0 redhat
oparating system
but linux not supported usb headset from last two weeks we are traying to configure on linux os but it is not work so pls help us to solve the problem head set serial number is 0204cj50880
its verry urjent so pls reply at sysadmin@aptlinkindia.com
thanks