Supported Hardware

The integration and support of networked Personal Computers in the Lab computing environment can be extremely complex, therefore the supported configurations listed below have been developed. These are the only hardware configurations that are supported with SLAC's standard Windows XP Professional and RedHat Linux configurations.   Non-standard  computers chosen by users  may not work properly in the SLAC's computing environment.  Also, requests for non-standard system support is handled on a best-effort basis at substantial increased cost, and will not be priority.

Pre-arranged agreements make it easy for SLAC to purchase and support the standard Dell desktop and laptop configurations listed below.   There is on-site warranty repairs also available for these supported configurations, and they will be given priority.

• Dell Dimension desktop and Inspiron laptop are not supported. 
  
  
• Please order the system factory-installed from Dell with the operating system you want to run (Windows XP Professional or RedHat Linux), so that proper drivers are installed.  For Linux users, no user data should be stored on the system disk (which would be lost during re-install of the OS), a 2nd hard drive should be ordered if you need local space for user data.
  
   
• Dell supports RedHat Linux on the Precision Workstation model.  For the Optiplex and Latitude models, SCS will work with the vendor and the user on a best effort basis if problems arise for Linux installations.
  
   
• If your order involves new hardware for the Dell standard models that are not yet supported by the SLAC standard install, there may be a delay of up to 2 weeks or longer for SCS to debug the install scripts and add drivers for new components.
  
  
• Dell Warranty. Dell computers come with a standard 3-year Next Business Day On-Site Service warranty.  Please do not remove hardware from Dell computers or add foreign components within the warranty period since this invalidates the warranty.  For repairs, please fill out the Hardware Vendor Repair  request (which notifies the Help Desk to contact SLAC's Dell warranty repair).