From adavis@hayson.vmarketing.com Sat Mar 21 21:49:07 1998 From: adavis@hayson.vmarketing.com To: users@lists.opensuse.org Subject: Re: [S.u.S.E. Linux] What we are dealing with. Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 22:49:07 +0100 Message-ID: <6f1ckj$jmf$1@Galois.suse.de> In-Reply-To: <[S.u.S.E. Linux] What we are dealing with.> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============6050760684046199616==" --===============6050760684046199616== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, Mar 21, 1998 at 12:55:26PM +0000, Robert Drzyzgula wrote: >=20 > Not to bash anyone, but I don't feel like the original question has > been answered, even though it was, to me, a pretty interesting one. >=20 > I've thought about it a little and have some ideas, but there were > quite a few considerations left unspoken: >=20 > * What is the target market? Are these business systems or home > systems? > * Servers or workstations? business systems, servers=20 > * What kinds of communications facilities would be required... > Modem? Ethernet? ISDN? Ethernet, for most of the people I deal with. I work for a wireless internet provider; we provide speeds anywhere from ISDN to T1. =20 > * How good a monitor (at $800, you can blow your whole budget on a > monitor, no sweat...) On a server, clearly you need only be able to > configure the system, so an el cheapo monchrome unit would do... > For a home/websurfing unit would TV output be sufficient? > * Is this for gaming? WebSurfing? Is 3D Support required? High > resolution/performance? Cheap, cheap, they only have servers > * What would be more important... stability or performance? > * Will tape backup be a neccesity for your target market? > * Are you an integrator or just a reseller? Can you cobble these > things together yourselves or do you need COTS finished units > in a box? > * What Memory/disk space requirements do you envision? 32 meg or maybe 64 meg Memory and about 6 gig HD. For the same functionality on a NT box you would need at least 128 meg for memory and a PII processor. > * How do you rank all these things in priority? What would you give up > first to cut the price? >=20 > Now If I were going to try to put together a solid Linux Box to stamp > out and sell at a eye-catching price, I'd probably do something like > this: >=20 > $ 85 DFI P5XV3 (ATX VP-3 MB, 512KB, not O/C-able but rock stable) > $100 Intel or AMD processor, whatever you can get at this price > $ 45 EIDE CD-ROM, Whatever you can get in overstock, 12X or higher > $ 40 Rockwell (non win-modem) 33.6 Modem (Acer?) > $ 50 One 32MB SDRAM DIMM, 10ns > $ 40 Jaton 67TV 2MB video card (explicit SuSE X support, TV output) > $140 Fujitsu MPA3032ATA 3.2GB Drive (great warranty) > $ 15 3.5" Floppy > $ 25 Generic Sound Card (which sound chips work well in Linux?) > $ 10 Basic Speakers > $ 25 IBM Win95 Keyboard > $ 13 Logitech OEM Mouse (PS/2) > $ 12 High-quality Ball-bearing HS & Fan, with tach for DFI board > $ 40 Basic ATX Chassis & Power Supply > $140 Basic 14" 1024x768 .28 Monitor > $ 50 SuSE Distribution & Manual >=20 > This gets it down to about $825, and I think that the result should be > pretty functional. One might be able to push it under $800 with volume > purchases of some of the parts. The IBM keyboard and Logitech mouse are > possible targets for cutting back, but these parts do have a substantial > impact on a customer's perception of quality. This system also has a > great deal of headroom for upgrades should the user outgrow the basic > configuration. >=20 > Also in the perception category, one thing that I personally would do > to make the system *seem* more substantial would be to spend a little > extra on the chassis. It would add about $200 to the price (for a total > price tag more like $1000) but I particularly like the products from > California PC Products (http://www.calpc.com>). They are reasonably > expensive as chassis go (don't try to buy one or two... the prices > only get tolerable in moderate quantities), but are made completely > of heavy-weight steel and use top-grade power supplies. The mid-tower > chassis outfitted with casters & fenders is wonderfully roomy to work in > and easy to move around. If you are selling to business these would make > an impressive product that would capture attention and scream "quality". >=20 > I know that this isn't what most hardware geeks (myself included) would > put together for themselves, but we are talking (I thought) about > putting out a stable product in moderate volumes that will give people > a perception of quality and reliability, in part to build a mainstream > image for Linux. I'd be interested to know how other people would > modify this design to make it more suitable for mainstream buyers > who are looking for a solution platform rather than a hot-rod. everything else you mentioned would be perfect for home use. The same=20 configuration would work for business but with a bigger hard drive no sound, speakers, mouse, a cheaper video card and maybe add some sort of backup syste= m. This machine would be doing mail, web hosting, file serving, acting as firewa= ll and connecting everybody to the internet at the same time. All this for arou= nd 1500 dollars give or take some. A similar NT product would cost 6000 dollars and that is only for 25 people. I guess my beef is that the consultants arou= nd here think that this is the perfect solution, even better than anything that = might be out there. --=20 Andrew L. Davis Network Operations adavis(a)vprlnk.net ViperLink International -- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo(a)suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e --===============6050760684046199616==--