Re: Gateway's Linux support

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

>>---Joel Turmo <turmo@mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Joel,
>> 
>>Thank you for your message.  This type of request is not covered under the
>>terms and conditions sold with your system. For future reference, I can 
>>offer you the following suggestions:  use your help files or we do have 
>>technicians that offer support regarding "how to" questions for a cost of 
>>$25.  You can either pay by credit card at 1-800-229-1103 or have a $1.95
>>per minute charged to your monthly phone bill by dialing 1-900-555-4695.
>>
>>In order to better handle your needs for technical support, it has become
>> necessary to focus our support on topics covered under the terms and
>> conditions sold with your system.
>> 
>> Thank you for understanding.
>> 
>> Thank you for your message, we look forward to assisting you in the
>future.
>> 
>> 
>> Online Client Support Team
>> Gateway

>Dirk Frazier <dfrazier@yahoo.com> write...
>Same here.  I purchased a new G6-450 and found that my Voodoo Banshee
>video hardware isn't yet supported by Xfree86...  I got RH5.2 up and
>running using a generic VGA Xserver, but only in 16 colors...  I'm a
>newby at LINUX, and feel that my only recourse is to wait until my
>hardware is "supported" by the LINUX community, or see if we have any
>'spare' x486 machines lying around the office :)
>
>I'd be interested to know what you're going to do Joel, if your
>situation is similar...

Gentlemen:
   With all due respect, what do you expect? Gateway is merely living up to
the letter of its agreement with you. When one purchases computer systems
from anywhere, one must be aware of the abilities of each component in the 
system, and whether or not it is compatible with the software one intends 
to run on it. We ALL have this situation, it's a condition of the industry,
and is true of EVERY OS I know of.
    Now, If I were going to buy a system from Gateway and use it for Linux,
I'd be very up-front with them. I would go over each component of the system
and satisfy myself that it can be used from Linux. This means no "Winmodems",
network cards that aren't on the Hardware Compatibility List, or funny,
proprietary mice. I'd look over those DVD drives with some suspicion, too.
And so on.
     Did you purchase your Gateway assuming they would make good on this sort
of thing? Sorry, assumptions have little place here. Why should they make good?
Would you? One thing that Gateway plans to do, sometime this years, is offer
Linux as another OS; you can be sure they will have tested any configuration
that they ship, and they'll stand behind it for operating in Linux.
     But until then, I'm afraid they will not help you. I suspect you can 
simply purchase another video card and install it, which may void your war-
ranty, which is also part of the contract you've signed. Thus, you can have
better video support, or a machine under warranty.
     ALL of the machines on which I run Linux have been assembled from scratch,
except one (and that's my gateway/ip masq/firewall box). Not only is the mark-
up Gateway gets some thing on the order of 80%, but you do not have the same 
sort of control over what goes into the box. If you don't want to/cat't assemble yourself, there are plenty of folks out there who do custom assembly,
and many of them are less costly than Gateway, given equal performance.

Sorry, wish this could help more.
                                                          ---> RGB <---