HP Dishonors Warranty to Linux Users

[nocturn]

man, these kinds of stories make me glad I that I love system76. I think the only thing that Sys76 needs now is to be able to ship internationally. I know that a lot of people are still waiting for that.

The prices are a bit high, I agree with other posters on that. But what's also important is a local keyboard... None of the online shops offered me that with a Linux preinstall...

[maniacmusician]

The prices are a bit high, I agree with other posters on that. But what's also important is a local keyboard... None of the online shops offered me that with a Linux preinstall...

well I suspect that's one of the reasons that they're not going international yet.

but it was stupid of me to post that (realized an hour after posting). It's almost fanboy-ish and immature and I really shouldn't have done it. As for the price considerations, I think their desktops are pretty expensive, but I thought most of us built our own. I didn't think their laptop offerings were bad at all....It seems to me that they're in line with quality offerings from other vendors. Note: I don't really consider the $600 cheapo Dell Inspiron notebooks to be high quality at all, so maybe that's my problem.

But this is off topic and all, so I apologize.

[nocturn]

well I suspect that's one of the reasons that they're not going international yet.

but it was stupid of me to post that (realized an hour after posting). It's almost fanboy-ish and immature and I really shouldn't have done it. As for the price considerations, I think their desktops are pretty expensive, but I thought most of us built our own. I didn't think their laptop offerings were bad at all....It seems to me that they're in line with quality offerings from other vendors. Note: I don't really consider the $600 cheapo Dell Inspiron notebooks to be high quality at all, so maybe that's my problem.

But this is off topic and all, so I apologize.

No apology needed and I love what sys76 is doing!

[SunnyRabbiera]

Really though I know personally the in built limitations in all major company contracts, the best way to handle it is to back up your data and wipe linux and grub off your HD before taking it in for repairs. and keep that XP disk handy too

[sbergman27]

well I suspect that's one of the reasons that they're not going international yet.

but it was stupid of me to post that (realized an hour after posting). It's almost fanboy-ish and immature and I really shouldn't have done it.

I strongly disagree. There is a strong tendency within the community to go crawling to HP and Dell, begging them to preinstall Linux for us. While we have perfectly good vendors like System76 who do not get *enough* exposure, even here. Let alone in the Linux community at large. And beyond that you can forget it.

These companies need strong word of mouth advertising so that more people realize that they actually *have a choice* not to buy from HP/Compaq, Dell, et. al.

I just pitched System76 to the president of the company I work for, and although we usually buy from Dell, and he had never heard of System76, I got a positive response and think we will be buying from them. In fact, probably 2 laptops for clients this week.

If I had not been "fanboyish", Dell would certainly remain our sole supplier.

If HP has trouble staffing their support centers with agents competent regarding the software we wish to use, that is very much their problem and not ours. Companies like System76 have no such difficulties, and are, consequently, better able to compete in this market. Again, HP's problem and not ours.

[pixeldotz]

this is the exact reason i went and bought another hdd after as soon as i got my compaq laptop.

kept windows on the original and put it away for safe keeping in case of a hardware failure; then put in the new one and installed ubuntu on it.

[newbie2]

She bought it because she wanted to use Ubuntu Edgy and was told by the people in the shop that the C304NR was "Linux ready."

However they didn't tell her that HP would void her warranty if she installed the open Source software.

Everything was working fine, until Breeden's keyboard started playing up. Keys started to stick and the space bar wouldn't always work. Not a software problem, nor one which was unlikely to be one, however HP said that it "does not honour the warranty under Linux".

They told her that she would have to remove Linux and reinstall Windows before they would think of fixing it. µ

http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=38540

[maniacmusician]

I strongly disagree. There is a strong tendency within the community to go crawling to HP and Dell, begging them to preinstall Linux for us. While we have perfectly good vendors like System76 who do not get *enough* exposure, even here. Let alone in the Linux community at large. And beyond that you can forget it.

These companies need strong word of mouth advertising so that more people realize that they actually *have a choice* not to buy from HP/Compaq, Dell, et. al.

I just pitched System76 to the president of the company I work for, and although we usually buy from Dell, and he had never heard of System76, I got a positive response and think we will be buying from them. In fact, probably 2 laptops for clients this week.

If I had not been "fanboyish", Dell would certainly remain our sole supplier.

If HP has trouble staffing their support centers with agents competent regarding the software we wish to use, that is very much their problem and not ours. Companies like System76 have no such difficulties, and are, consequently, better able to compete in this market. Again, HP's problem and not ours.

Sure, It's totally okay to be "fanboyish," as I put it, to users who have no knowledge or concept of this and would benefity from knowing about it. In that case, it wouldn't be fanboyish, but good advertising from us Linux users. However, here, there are other factors. Most people already know about System76, and on top of that, the way I put it was just immature. It's borderline trolling.

But I agree, it's good to spread the word, and they're a great company.

[Zuuswa]

this subject scares me . . . I am about to send my compaq laptop back for its end of waranty tune up. The problem is I never even got a windows recovery cd. I dont see it as too much of a problem though, as my hard drive is locked and cannot be accessed unless through correct BIOS password . . . so they have no way of knowing I dont have windows unless they take the hardrive out and put it in another computer, which is doubtful. Perhaps I will just buy an extra hdd and put it in there blank and tell them 'Oops! something messed up and now windows dont work!!!'

[mips]

I dont see it as too much of a problem though, as my hard drive is locked and cannot be accessed unless through correct BIOS password . . . so they have no way of knowing I dont have windows unless they take the hardrive out and put it in another computer, which is doubtful.!'

Very easy to unlock that password...