From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 26 20:09:12 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0D95E16A403 for ; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:09:12 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from mail.scls.lib.wi.us (mail.scls.lib.wi.us [198.150.40.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ADB4843D45 for ; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:09:11 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Received: from [172.26.2.238] ([172.26.2.238]) by mail.scls.lib.wi.us (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id k3QK9BuE070768; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 15:09:11 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from nalists@scls.lib.wi.us) Message-ID: <444FD366.5040605@scls.lib.wi.us> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 15:09:10 -0500 From: Greg Barniskis User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (Windows/20051201) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Questions References: <4993f7e10604260733t168451f6n52c260a9889ae3f0@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <4993f7e10604260733t168451f6n52c260a9889ae3f0@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Dell vs. Silicon Mechanics vs. FreeBSD Systems X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:09:12 -0000 Questions wrote: > Anyone have any opinions about the quality and/or value of these > respective vendors? [snip] > > How does Dell fit into all of this? I haven't dealt with Dell in > years but when I have in the past, there didn't seem to be any major > issues. I'm looking at a Power Edge 1850 with the Embedded RAID > (ROMB) - PERC4e/Si Controller. Folks' mileage with Dell really seems to vary, so I'd guess you're going to get a broad range of responses on that question. Our experience here is pretty consistent, over a long period of time: Dell's low end consumer systems (e.g. Dimension models) tend to be flaky, to the point where we simply won't buy them anymore, while their high end business systems (e.g. Optiplex, PowerEdge) tend to be pretty reliable, to the point where we'd need a pretty compelling reason to change vendors. There have been exceptions (like a large percentage of GX270 mobo's dying early due to bulging capacitors), but they've been pretty good about providing replacement parts, once we jump through all the hoops that their first tier phone support throws up. > Does Dell support Serial Console Redirection without their extra > lights out card? Can't comment on that as we've never needed to try. -- Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator South Central Library System (SCLS) Library Interchange Network (LINK) , (608) 266-6348