[lug] How to purchase a dual (linux/windows) boot machine

Tue Jan 23 00:20:16 MST 2007

On Monday, January 22, 2007, at 07:52PM, "Siegried Heintze" <siegfried at heintze.com> wrote:
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>I just had a prospective client tell me I might need to supply my own notebook computer to work 1099.<br /><br />For my work, I need to be able to work with both windows and linux.<br /><br />begin horror story...<br /><br />In the spring of 2005 I went to PC club and explained that I wanted a dual boot desktop machine. I gave them a long list of requirements like dual monitors, redundant disk drives etc... They insisted I put money down on the hardware and I reluctantly complied.<br /><br />When the machine arrived in early May I tried to install linux and I could not get it to install. So I took it back to them and they explained that for $300 they would install linux. Finally in August I was tired of waiting and took home a machine that could boot linux but did not have the linux video drivers or linux nic drivers loaded and could not use dual monitors in linux. After a lot of work I finally finished the installation of fedora core 4 myself with the proper drivers.<br /><br />end horror story....<br /><br />Needless to say, this was an awful experience. The problem was that once they had my credit card, I could not get a refund on the hardware (which I asked for). I'm not too hopefull that anyone would build a machine with out money down. What do you think?<br /><br />How can I prevent this from happening again? I was thinking of hiring a lawyer to draft a contract so I could be assured to get the features (e.g., boot linux (suse) and windows vista via both primary and secondary drive bays and via USB 2.0) the retailer or vendor agrees to?<br /><br />I wonder if Del, or IBM or toshiba would sign such a contract after I pay a lawyer to write one? Lawyers are not inexpensive!<br /><br /><br />Thanks,<br />Siegfried

Check out http://www.system76.com. They're a local (Denver area) company selling Linux (Ubuntu) laptops, desktops, and servers. You said you need a notebook - you might consider getting a higher-end notebook running Linux and install Windows as a Xen or VMware virtual machine.

As to PC Club - you'll note they're not around anymore - at least in Colorado. :-)