[K12OSN] So close....

[Calvin Dodge]

On 11/9/06, Rob Owens <hick518 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Speaking of Dell, I've heard and read (but never
> experienced it first hand) that some of their hardware
> is only upgradeable with other Dell hardware.
> Sometimes because of physical size, sometimes because
> the BIOS doesn't allow non-Dell stuff.  Can anybody
> confirm this or give further details?
>

Well, I'm aware of two Dell hardware issues.

The first one is reasonably well-known. Around 1998 Dell switched
power lines in their motherboard connectors and power supplies. The
connector looked exactly the same, but if you plugged a non-Dell power
supply in, the typical result was death for the power supply and
motherboard.

It was thought Dell did this to achieve hardware "lock-in", forcing
people to go to Dell for replacement power supplies.  It didn't work,
since other suppliers (www.pcpowercooling.com, for example) came out
with Dell-compatible supplies.

The second hardware issue is one which applied to one model, but might
illustrate the sort of mindset at Dell.  A user decided to put a
better soundcard in his Dell, and then found the computer wouldn't
boot up.  Apparently the BIOS needed something from the original
soundcard, or simply required that soundcard to be there.

So, I'd say you can replace RAM in a Dell (IIRC, they used to charge
through the nose for RAM, and might still do so), but I don't think
I'd count on being able to replace anything else (you might very well
be able, but don't bet your life on it).


While we're having this server discussion, I thought I'd throw in a
plug for ABMX (www.abmx.com).  A customer of mine bought a couple of
4U _quiet_ Athlon64 servers from them, and has been happy with them
since (they're much quieter than the little Cisco router which
inhabits the same room). I don't know how their multi-CPU servers
compare on pricing, and I don't know if they take POs. But I can vouch
for their reliability and quietude.

If you buy one, be sure to install FC6 or the latest respin of FC5,
since the original FC5 kernel didn't recognize their Intel gigabit
NICs.

Calvin