Q: Where do I find information on what is available?
A: Go to the Computing Infrastructure Support (CIS) Department home page and choose the "Buy a computer" link. The LBNL Standard PC link will take you first to a Lab procurement page and then to the Micron-maintained on-line store. There is a similar link for laptops which takes you to a Dell-maintained on-line store.

Q: Which one should I buy?
A. If you need to purchase a computer that will be used for administrative computing, take the defaults on the Micron CR-G standard unit.

CIS recently decided to recommend that all new computers (for Windows users) come with the Windows XP professional operating system. This ensures that you will not have to pay for an upgrade to XP down the road, even though you may have to "down rev" the version on your computer for a short time (until compatibility issues with some Lab applications are resolved).

For example, if you happen to use HRIS or FMS, you will need Windows 98SE as the operating system (until further notice). Other users may need Windows2000. You will still buy a computer with XP however.

When your computer arrives, we will confirm which operating system you need and install it on the computer. You will still have title to a legal XP license however.

For customers such as scientific users who may need other options, more technical information follows in this article.

Q: What if I just want to run Linux?
A: Although Micron does not support a Linux operating system for their workstation offerings, CIS has configured a system using Micron's LBNL on-line store that allows customers to get a PC and either have CIS install the standard RedHat distribution of Linux or do the installation work themselves.

This Linux version of our standard PC does not have Microsoft Office and, since the vendor is required to have an operating system on the machine for internal testing and eventual shipment, we have them include the lowest-cost Windows OS that comes as a default (XP home at present). The intent is not to use the Windows OS other than to ensure the hardware that was shipped can be brought up successfully during initial quality assurance tests at the Lab.

The alternative is to acquire a PC from another vendor that will ship with Linux using a Purchase Order, rather than the procurement card.

If you want a dual boot machine with Windows 2000 or XP, order it with XP and when the machine comes in, ask that Linux be configured on a second partition of the disk (or on a second disk). Alternatively, the UNIX group can add VMware, which allows you to run Windows from within a system booted into Linux.

For further information on Linux standards and support offered by the CIS UNIX Group, click here.

Q: What options are available?
A: CIS has added a variety of options, including varying sizes for the primary disks (40 Mb to 120 Mb, depending on the system), a DVD-R/RW combo drive, memory up to 1Gb, and a small variety of Nvidia video cards. Each selection has a minimum processor speed specified as the default, but also includes options that allow the latest to be acquired if you are really pushing the capabilities of a machine (at a price that you may decide is a little too high for the benefit received).

Two basic models are offered. Due to customer requests, the BOA was modified to offer models based on the Athlon chipset (Micron Millenia) as well as the Pentium-4 processor (Client-Pro). Because of more recent advances made by Intel with the Pentium-4, the performance difference between Athlon and Pentium is not as great as it was a year ago. For now, however, CIS plans to continue offering systems based on both processors.

Q: What if I want a PC with a Windows OS, but I already have Microsoft Office that I will use?
A: It is true that on occasion, you will want to buy a computer without Microsoft Office, even though you intend to use a Windows operating sytem. This is usually the case if you have a license for Office that you will be transferring to the new machine. In this case, buy a "Linux machine" that does not come with office. When the machine arrives and CIS representatives call, tell them you want us to provide a copy of a Windows OS and they will buy a license for you.

Q. Can you provide a less expensive computer?
A. Micron does have a Celeron-based system (1 Ghz processor). When we last looked at the cost of this system as compared to the Pentium-4 or Athlon models, it did not appear there was enough of a price difference to make it worthwhile. We are interested in feedback on this, however. If we did add a low end Celeron that was between $100 and $150 cheaper than current models, would you buy it? Are you more interested in buying a computer that has a longer life span because you bought an upgraded model, or is price the most important issue? We'd like to hear your suggestions.

Q: What's next?
A: At the present time, Micron does not market a dual-processor SMP unit, and we know that this is becoming more and more necessary for customers who are running compute-intensive jobs. If CIS cannot find a suitable workstation under the BOA contracts, we will provide buying advice for alternate sources.

Our Linux folks want us to offer a video card that is supported by open source drivers. Nvidia provides Linux drivers, but they are not open source, and CIS has received reports of problems. Until we can find a way around it, order the least costly alternative, and if Nvidia does not work for you, we can order a card that will match your requirements.

Micron will be adopting a newer Intel motherboard for its standard Client Pro line later in the summer. Although we do not have the technical specifications yet, it will come with DDR-SDRAM (double data rate), which should make the systems faster.

If you have any comments on what you would like to see, use the CIS suggestion box on our home page. Past suggestions have resulted in significant changes to what is offered under the BOA.