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Adrian Midgley wrote:
>
> But the components arrive in boxes?
>
> The problem with these things is quality control, isn't it. The line,
> and the quality control engineer and so on seem to make a difference.
> Still, building machines is an occasionally entertaining thing.
I think the problem is Simon's ham-fistedness.
But the components are usually tested at manufacture, and assembly of
most PCs is pretty straight forward (Think Lego for adults). Almost
invariably if it boots and installs, it'll work fine.
I think the assembled unit quality control is more important if your
installation method is "insert preformatted drive with Windows XP SP2
and DELL software". Most small providers don't install that way,
although they probably should!
But whilst it might be fine for ZyNet to hand assemble low end PCs,
because it doesn't require anything beyond in-house skills, most firms
aren't going to want to do it.
Similarly my "mini ITX" box had some "issues", which were well known to
the guys who sold the "mini ITX" components ("the yes it does fit in
that case, you just need to ....." answer). As such experience/support
is vital.
There are still a couple of businesses in Exeter that assemble PCs to
order, and provide support. I don't know if the PC place in Woodbury
Salterton is still going, they use to do bespoke servers, and sold a lot
to the MOD. So perhaps a list of components for a supported GNU/Linux
box is the way to go. None of them were providing GNU/Linux support last
time I talked to them.
I did discuss this with the UserLinux crowd, and we started outlining
how these things might work from the business side. i.e. What a small
computer shop would need to be able to supply UserLinux desktop and
server boxes, in terms of hardware lists, software/CDs, and support
services. So any old PC shop could make a UserLinux box, install
UserLinux, and sell it with support.
Part of the effort though was to build a viable business model for the
"standard provider", since it is all well and nice helping others make
money assembling and selling UserLinux boxes, but someone has to feed
the brains behind it. The assumption we were working on, is that
outsourced second/third line support, and training for the providers
would probably provide enough revenue IF you could interest enough shops***.
The risk of course being one or two shops do it well, and end up
monopolising your resources. And then the advantages of having created a
market in GNU/Linux support dry up for the others. Kind of reason that
Debian think being "volunteer" is important, and why Canonical see the
foundation as crucial.
I think it far easier for a small PC shop to do this, than a large one,
as they can reasonably rely on one, or two, locals to provide support.
And the change in their business model is to answer "Yes" when a
customer asks "Can you do that free software Linux thingy?", rather than
"No", and buy a little training for new staff.
Simon
*** This is why I haven't done it yet. The maths didn't look good at the
time, especially when some shops came back and said "no one ever asks
for Linux".
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