[ale] Monarch Computer

Sat Dec 30 14:21:18 EST 2006

Dell makes decent hardware and the PowerEdge line does run RedHat.

Support from a hardware standpoint may be good.

However, support for Linux at Dell BITES even though they claim to do
that! 

So far as I've determined there are exactly 3 people in the "Linux"
support area.  Their skill level leads me to believe they were promoted
from the Windows side rather than being actual Linux experts.  Most
issues I've talked to them about end up with something along the lines
of "boot from Windows and run the following Windows utility".   This
even occurred when THEY shipped a Linux fix and said it was important to
run it on their servers.  The thing didn't work and on pressing them
they told me to boot from Windows and run the Windows version.  The fact
THEY wrote the Linux thing didn't seem to make them feel responsible for
troubleshooting it.  Even once I figured out what was wrong with it and
just sought confirmation for the change to the script included in what
they shipped they simply just didn't bother returning my call.

If it were up to me we wouldn't buy Dell computers for Linux any more.
We certainly don't bother buying our Linux support from them any longer
but go directly to RedHat for it.   Unfortunately we still have to deal
with their non-support for the original Dell RedHat servers we installed
until that (non)support expires.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
Dow_Hurst
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 12:35 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Monarch Computer

James,
Can't you use Dell with Redhat?  I may reload SUSE on to the systems
once we get them, but they are guaranteed to run with Linux.  The
support is good from my experience too.  Of course, this is the
Precision workstation line I'm referring to.  I don't have much
experience with the other systems they sell.  The 20 Dimensions that
were purchased for a Linux based molecular graphics labs have been
supported well for hardware.  You can request AMD CPUs from Dell now for
clusters.

TeamHPC did us well on our cluster.  We've had excellent software
support and never had to use the hardware support.  I believe they sell
individual systems that are multiprocessor.  So, I can recommend them.

For laptops, I like EmperorLinux since they have a good variety and have
excellent support.

My two cents,
Dow

-----Original Message-----
>From: "James P. Kinney III" <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
>Sent: Dec 29, 2006 10:04 AM
>To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>Subject: Re: [ale] Monarch Computer
>
>One the one hand, the apparent death of Monarch is a loss. They were
the
>only quality builder that actively wanted to make Linux systems.
>
>On the other hand, their death is not much of a loss. As their customer
>service has been in near freefall for the past several years, I have
>been forced to go back to building my own systems.  I have been looking
>at adding systems building to my list of other thing I do for an income
>but I keep walking away from it as being more of a hassle than I can do
>successfully with the size of my organization.
>
>At the moment, I don't know of anyplace where I can spec a system and
>have it run (or even get shipped with) RedHat, Debian, Gentoo, or
>Slackware AND get great support after the sale. 
>
>If anyone has some leads for a replacement for the Monarch of about 3
>years ago, don't keep it a secret :) 
>
>In the meantime, I guess I'll go back to evaluating at the business
>model of building solid Linux systems again as the demand for them is
>only going to go up once Vista hits the streets.
>
>If you think Gentoo runs slick on old hardware, you should see what it
>does on new, fast hardware!
>
>On Fri, 2006-12-29 at 02:28 -0500, Vernard Martin wrote:
>> The skinny on Monarch Computer is that they were purchased/merged
with
>> another company. I believe it is StarMax. That is the build/parts
>> division of the same company that owns TigerDirect by the way.
>> 
>> In the last couple of months, the company effectively has laid off
most
>> if not all of its employees with them given the option of going to
work
>> for the new company. They are over 40 days behind their standard
holiday
>> load and customers that are trying to get warranty help have
basically
>> been ignored. They removed their phone numbers from their web site
>> recently if that is any indication.
>> 
>> I used Monarch computer equipment to build a high performance cluster
>> for the Rollins School of public health. Each node costs about $15K
with
>> the head node coming in at around $29K. We had a motherboard go out
and
>> it took us over two weeks to get it resolved and that was only with
us
>> physically driving the unit over to them and with me physically
standing
>> there helping them solve the problem.
>> 
>> It is obvious from what I observed that the company is going through
a
>> transition that has effectively killed all of their credibility. I
pity
>> the company that tries to use their name in the future. My personal
and
>> professional experience with them is that they are no longer worth
the
>> effort to try to do business with them. If you have some equipment
from
>> them, then you are most likely never going to get any service on it
in a
>> timely fashion.
>> 
>> Its sad since they used to be a fantastic company. Alas, all good
things
>> come to an end.
>> 
>> If you want more info, then drop me a private email :-)
>> 
>> V
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>-- 
>James P. Kinney III          
>CEO & Director of Engineering 
>Local Net Solutions,LLC        
>770-493-8244                    
>http://www.localnetsolutions.com
>
>GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
><jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
>Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7

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