The cost of hardware

Modern hardware is suprisingly cheap

Our economy is going to hell and domestic prices are rocketing. Fortunately good hardware is now as cheap as chips.

In the very fancy web development agency which has been unwise enough to employ me; we run a Windows network, and all our users run Windows too. Plus we have a dedicated hardware supplier. Hardly surprising for a large corporate. Fortunately being a linux user - I am - uniquely - exempt from this regime. *Get the stuff you need* they said. Cool. Within the limits of reasonableness and justification I had an unlimited budget. Great.

Now; at home I adopt a different philosophy. I am not a shiny box person. Out of sheer cussedness I am a person for running clapped out hardware bought at fairs and charity shops and making it really rock with light software for lightening fast responsiveness. Just going to vendor X and spending big bucks is contrary to my penny pinching, open source, hack it to bits philosophy. I don't do bloat in hardware or apps. And I do not do financial bloat either. And heck. If I can help the environment too that must be good too right?

So: What to buy? Oddly I have a pathological aversion to spending money - mine - or anybody elses. And because my home network runs on linux friendly hardware like my Gateway box with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 where do I begin? I am - rather quaintly - out of touch with corporate credit cards and the hardware market.

First up we check out Dell. Much loved by corporates. Dell - with an unseemly brouhaha - tried to bluff the punters into believing that they had gone linux friendly. Forget it. And for good measure their site is on my list of *sites that suck*. Not to mention their byzantine order tracking system which I have had dealings with before.

So then I went where I really wanted to go. IBM / Lenovo. Rock solid. Robust. Industry Standard components. Linux friendly. Won't embarrass me. Great value. I have absolutely loved them for years.

First up we check out the OMG absolutely beautiful and hyper cool new WorkStation. I mean these really are the real deal. As used by aircraft designers, earthquake trackers, and other cool dudes. And just relentlessly compellingly gorgeous in a *sell your granny - buy me now* - kind of way.

But - unfortunately - and in my sensible head - I simply do need that much power. In our office some of our developers have gone down the big box route. We have some computer towers like the Tardis. Big. Sulky. Impressive. For the max effect they put them on their desks not the floor :) Bags of flashing lights. Some other folk have gone gone down the *look at me and my big monitor* route. If they had the money they would be having penis extensions and buying Ferraris.

I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : *This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.* Being a linux user I have two huge advantages. One is my OS has about 20% of the footprint of any Windows OS in terms of RAM. The other is that I am about to save the company relatively significant sums over the years in terms of licensing costs. Because I do Open Source Software. Exclusively. This is a first in my agency and they do seem quite interested in the process. Well some do. A couple of guys have told me that I need to keep my Windows box as well *so you can get your email*. You can't get email in Linux ? LOL.

So I settled on the Think Station A55. The business. Suitably sexy. Suitably - up yours. Suitably understated. Suitably linux. It's got everything. Including OMG 64 bit architecture. I mean - who could want anything else?

And it is also available at a very suitable £260 including VAT and delivery. Now that is value for money. These are the kind of numbers the bean counters feel comfortable with. A mate of mine is downloading the SimplyMEPIS 7.0 OS and burning the CD. Come Monday I will be rocking. And I have just saved the company a shed full of money. A double whammy. And another linux win. I will be in the group of leading devs at the agency. And I won't be costing them a penny in licensing costs. Well obviously it is going to take them time to get their head around that. I understand that. I do. Really.

Oh I forgot. The company has very graciously supplied me with an extremely cool and very useable Logitech ergonomic keyboard and the absolutely fantastic Kensington gel pad mouse mat. A big up to *A* the *Executive Assistant*

The head honchos at the agency rock. No really. They do.

Comment

  1. I chuckled all the way through reading this article and from time to time I even laughed out loud — not at you but with you. What made me smile most of all was this quote because it describes exactly what I had concluded about you. “I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.“
    Thumbs up!

    Comment by brightfeather Apr 26, 06:03 PM #

  2. it’s amazing/amusing that dell is able to take something like pre-configured linux machines, and turn them into nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Rather than removing the cost of a windows license, they just pocket it.

    Comment by adam Apr 26, 06:17 PM #

Add your two cents









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The cost of hardware

Modern hardware is suprisingly cheap

Our economy is going to hell and domestic prices are rocketing. Fortunately good hardware is now as cheap as chips.

In the very fancy web development agency which has been unwise enough to employ me; we run a Windows network, and all our users run Windows too. Plus we have a dedicated hardware supplier. Hardly surprising for a large corporate. Fortunately being a linux user - I am - uniquely - exempt from this regime. *Get the stuff you need* they said. Cool. Within the limits of reasonableness and justification I had an unlimited budget. Great.

Now; at home I adopt a different philosophy. I am not a shiny box person. Out of sheer cussedness I am a person for running clapped out hardware bought at fairs and charity shops and making it really rock with light software for lightening fast responsiveness. Just going to vendor X and spending big bucks is contrary to my penny pinching, open source, hack it to bits philosophy. I don't do bloat in hardware or apps. And I do not do financial bloat either. And heck. If I can help the environment too that must be good too right?

So: What to buy? Oddly I have a pathological aversion to spending money - mine - or anybody elses. And because my home network runs on linux friendly hardware like my Gateway box with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 where do I begin? I am - rather quaintly - out of touch with corporate credit cards and the hardware market.

First up we check out Dell. Much loved by corporates. Dell - with an unseemly brouhaha - tried to bluff the punters into believing that they had gone linux friendly. Forget it. And for good measure their site is on my list of *sites that suck*. Not to mention their byzantine order tracking system which I have had dealings with before.

So then I went where I really wanted to go. IBM / Lenovo. Rock solid. Robust. Industry Standard components. Linux friendly. Won't embarrass me. Great value. I have absolutely loved them for years.

First up we check out the OMG absolutely beautiful and hyper cool new WorkStation. I mean these really are the real deal. As used by aircraft designers, earthquake trackers, and other cool dudes. And just relentlessly compellingly gorgeous in a *sell your granny - buy me now* - kind of way.

But - unfortunately - and in my sensible head - I simply do need that much power. In our office some of our developers have gone down the big box route. We have some computer towers like the Tardis. Big. Sulky. Impressive. For the max effect they put them on their desks not the floor :) Bags of flashing lights. Some other folk have gone gone down the *look at me and my big monitor* route. If they had the money they would be having penis extensions and buying Ferraris.

I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : *This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.* Being a linux user I have two huge advantages. One is my OS has about 20% of the footprint of any Windows OS in terms of RAM. The other is that I am about to save the company relatively significant sums over the years in terms of licensing costs. Because I do Open Source Software. Exclusively. This is a first in my agency and they do seem quite interested in the process. Well some do. A couple of guys have told me that I need to keep my Windows box as well *so you can get your email*. You can't get email in Linux ? LOL.

So I settled on the Think Station A55. The business. Suitably sexy. Suitably - up yours. Suitably understated. Suitably linux. It's got everything. Including OMG 64 bit architecture. I mean - who could want anything else?

And it is also available at a very suitable £260 including VAT and delivery. Now that is value for money. These are the kind of numbers the bean counters feel comfortable with. A mate of mine is downloading the SimplyMEPIS 7.0 OS and burning the CD. Come Monday I will be rocking. And I have just saved the company a shed full of money. A double whammy. And another linux win. I will be in the group of leading devs at the agency. And I won't be costing them a penny in licensing costs. Well obviously it is going to take them time to get their head around that. I understand that. I do. Really.

Oh I forgot. The company has very graciously supplied me with an extremely cool and very useable Logitech ergonomic keyboard and the absolutely fantastic Kensington gel pad mouse mat. A big up to *A* the *Executive Assistant*

The head honchos at the agency rock. No really. They do.

Comment

  1. I chuckled all the way through reading this article and from time to time I even laughed out loud — not at you but with you. What made me smile most of all was this quote because it describes exactly what I had concluded about you. “I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.“
    Thumbs up!

    Comment by brightfeather Apr 26, 06:03 PM #

  2. it’s amazing/amusing that dell is able to take something like pre-configured linux machines, and turn them into nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Rather than removing the cost of a windows license, they just pocket it.

    Comment by adam Apr 26, 06:17 PM #

Add your two cents









Textile Help

The cost of hardware

Modern hardware is suprisingly cheap

Our economy is going to hell and domestic prices are rocketing. Fortunately good hardware is now as cheap as chips.

In the very fancy web development agency which has been unwise enough to employ me; we run a Windows network, and all our users run Windows too. Plus we have a dedicated hardware supplier. Hardly surprising for a large corporate. Fortunately being a linux user - I am - uniquely - exempt from this regime. *Get the stuff you need* they said. Cool. Within the limits of reasonableness and justification I had an unlimited budget. Great.

Now; at home I adopt a different philosophy. I am not a shiny box person. Out of sheer cussedness I am a person for running clapped out hardware bought at fairs and charity shops and making it really rock with light software for lightening fast responsiveness. Just going to vendor X and spending big bucks is contrary to my penny pinching, open source, hack it to bits philosophy. I don't do bloat in hardware or apps. And I do not do financial bloat either. And heck. If I can help the environment too that must be good too right?

So: What to buy? Oddly I have a pathological aversion to spending money - mine - or anybody elses. And because my home network runs on linux friendly hardware like my Gateway box with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 where do I begin? I am - rather quaintly - out of touch with corporate credit cards and the hardware market.

First up we check out Dell. Much loved by corporates. Dell - with an unseemly brouhaha - tried to bluff the punters into believing that they had gone linux friendly. Forget it. And for good measure their site is on my list of *sites that suck*. Not to mention their byzantine order tracking system which I have had dealings with before.

So then I went where I really wanted to go. IBM / Lenovo. Rock solid. Robust. Industry Standard components. Linux friendly. Won't embarrass me. Great value. I have absolutely loved them for years.

First up we check out the OMG absolutely beautiful and hyper cool new WorkStation. I mean these really are the real deal. As used by aircraft designers, earthquake trackers, and other cool dudes. And just relentlessly compellingly gorgeous in a *sell your granny - buy me now* - kind of way.

But - unfortunately - and in my sensible head - I simply do need that much power. In our office some of our developers have gone down the big box route. We have some computer towers like the Tardis. Big. Sulky. Impressive. For the max effect they put them on their desks not the floor :) Bags of flashing lights. Some other folk have gone gone down the *look at me and my big monitor* route. If they had the money they would be having penis extensions and buying Ferraris.

I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : *This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.* Being a linux user I have two huge advantages. One is my OS has about 20% of the footprint of any Windows OS in terms of RAM. The other is that I am about to save the company relatively significant sums over the years in terms of licensing costs. Because I do Open Source Software. Exclusively. This is a first in my agency and they do seem quite interested in the process. Well some do. A couple of guys have told me that I need to keep my Windows box as well *so you can get your email*. You can't get email in Linux ? LOL.

So I settled on the Think Station A55. The business. Suitably sexy. Suitably - up yours. Suitably understated. Suitably linux. It's got everything. Including OMG 64 bit architecture. I mean - who could want anything else?

And it is also available at a very suitable £260 including VAT and delivery. Now that is value for money. These are the kind of numbers the bean counters feel comfortable with. A mate of mine is downloading the SimplyMEPIS 7.0 OS and burning the CD. Come Monday I will be rocking. And I have just saved the company a shed full of money. A double whammy. And another linux win. I will be in the group of leading devs at the agency. And I won't be costing them a penny in licensing costs. Well obviously it is going to take them time to get their head around that. I understand that. I do. Really.

Oh I forgot. The company has very graciously supplied me with an extremely cool and very useable Logitech ergonomic keyboard and the absolutely fantastic Kensington gel pad mouse mat. A big up to *A* the *Executive Assistant*

The head honchos at the agency rock. No really. They do.

Comment

  1. I chuckled all the way through reading this article and from time to time I even laughed out loud — not at you but with you. What made me smile most of all was this quote because it describes exactly what I had concluded about you. “I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.“
    Thumbs up!

    Comment by brightfeather Apr 26, 06:03 PM #

  2. it’s amazing/amusing that dell is able to take something like pre-configured linux machines, and turn them into nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Rather than removing the cost of a windows license, they just pocket it.

    Comment by adam Apr 26, 06:17 PM #

Add your two cents









Textile Help

The cost of hardware

Modern hardware is suprisingly cheap

Our economy is going to hell and domestic prices are rocketing. Fortunately good hardware is now as cheap as chips.

In the very fancy web development agency which has been unwise enough to employ me; we run a Windows network, and all our users run Windows too. Plus we have a dedicated hardware supplier. Hardly surprising for a large corporate. Fortunately being a linux user - I am - uniquely - exempt from this regime. *Get the stuff you need* they said. Cool. Within the limits of reasonableness and justification I had an unlimited budget. Great.

Now; at home I adopt a different philosophy. I am not a shiny box person. Out of sheer cussedness I am a person for running clapped out hardware bought at fairs and charity shops and making it really rock with light software for lightening fast responsiveness. Just going to vendor X and spending big bucks is contrary to my penny pinching, open source, hack it to bits philosophy. I don't do bloat in hardware or apps. And I do not do financial bloat either. And heck. If I can help the environment too that must be good too right?

So: What to buy? Oddly I have a pathological aversion to spending money - mine - or anybody elses. And because my home network runs on linux friendly hardware like my Gateway box with SimplyMEPIS 6.0 where do I begin? I am - rather quaintly - out of touch with corporate credit cards and the hardware market.

First up we check out Dell. Much loved by corporates. Dell - with an unseemly brouhaha - tried to bluff the punters into believing that they had gone linux friendly. Forget it. And for good measure their site is on my list of *sites that suck*. Not to mention their byzantine order tracking system which I have had dealings with before.

So then I went where I really wanted to go. IBM / Lenovo. Rock solid. Robust. Industry Standard components. Linux friendly. Won't embarrass me. Great value. I have absolutely loved them for years.

First up we check out the OMG absolutely beautiful and hyper cool new WorkStation. I mean these really are the real deal. As used by aircraft designers, earthquake trackers, and other cool dudes. And just relentlessly compellingly gorgeous in a *sell your granny - buy me now* - kind of way.

But - unfortunately - and in my sensible head - I simply do need that much power. In our office some of our developers have gone down the big box route. We have some computer towers like the Tardis. Big. Sulky. Impressive. For the max effect they put them on their desks not the floor :) Bags of flashing lights. Some other folk have gone gone down the *look at me and my big monitor* route. If they had the money they would be having penis extensions and buying Ferraris.

I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : *This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.* Being a linux user I have two huge advantages. One is my OS has about 20% of the footprint of any Windows OS in terms of RAM. The other is that I am about to save the company relatively significant sums over the years in terms of licensing costs. Because I do Open Source Software. Exclusively. This is a first in my agency and they do seem quite interested in the process. Well some do. A couple of guys have told me that I need to keep my Windows box as well *so you can get your email*. You can't get email in Linux ? LOL.

So I settled on the Think Station A55. The business. Suitably sexy. Suitably - up yours. Suitably understated. Suitably linux. It's got everything. Including OMG 64 bit architecture. I mean - who could want anything else?

And it is also available at a very suitable £260 including VAT and delivery. Now that is value for money. These are the kind of numbers the bean counters feel comfortable with. A mate of mine is downloading the SimplyMEPIS 7.0 OS and burning the CD. Come Monday I will be rocking. And I have just saved the company a shed full of money. A double whammy. And another linux win. I will be in the group of leading devs at the agency. And I won't be costing them a penny in licensing costs. Well obviously it is going to take them time to get their head around that. I understand that. I do. Really.

Oh I forgot. The company has very graciously supplied me with an extremely cool and very useable Logitech ergonomic keyboard and the absolutely fantastic Kensington gel pad mouse mat. A big up to *A* the *Executive Assistant*

The head honchos at the agency rock. No really. They do.

Comment

  1. I chuckled all the way through reading this article and from time to time I even laughed out loud — not at you but with you. What made me smile most of all was this quote because it describes exactly what I had concluded about you. “I want raw, naked, but understated OMG geekiness. I want my box to say : This guy is cool. He does not do flashy. He just does performance. And quality.“
    Thumbs up!

    Comment by brightfeather Apr 26, 06:03 PM #

  2. it’s amazing/amusing that dell is able to take something like pre-configured linux machines, and turn them into nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Rather than removing the cost of a windows license, they just pocket it.

    Comment by adam Apr 26, 06:17 PM #

Add your two cents









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