Please help: Latest Sunfire v20Z bios, etc.
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From: Martin Paul on 3 Aug 2010 03:02 ITguy wrote: > Robbery indeed! Firmware and driver updates rarely ever contain > additional functionality - they fix bugs. So once you've paid for > premium hardware, you have to continue paying to get WORKING > firmware?!! While "robbery" is a (too) strong word, I agree with the rest. I'm surprised that this policy is often even defended by customers. If you buy a car, DVD player, whatever, and it doesn't work as it should, would you think it's OK to pay extra money to the producer for making it do what it's supposed to do originally? mp. -- SysAdmin | Institute of Scientific Computing, University of Vienna PCA | Analyze, download and install patches for Solaris | http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/
From: chuckers on 3 Aug 2010 03:16 On Aug 3, 4:02 pm, Martin Paul <m...(a)par.univie.ac.at> wrote: > ITguy wrote: > > Robbery indeed! Firmware and driver updates rarely ever contain > > additional functionality - they fix bugs. So once you've paid for > > premium hardware, you have to continue paying to get WORKING > > firmware?!! > > While "robbery" is a (too) strong word, I agree with the rest. I'm > surprised that this policy is often even defended by customers. > > If you buy a car, DVD player, whatever, and it doesn't work as it > should, would you think it's OK to pay extra money to the producer for > making it do what it's supposed to do originally? > > mp. Nowhere was it stated that it didn't work. The OP wanted to update it to the latest version to fix bugs that may or may not be affecting its functionality. The machine was purchased "AS IS" 2nd (or even 3rd) hand. Had the OP bought from the original manufacturer (Sun/Oracle), a support contract would have been required as well and the problem would have been self rectifying. As it is, the machine is EOL and to expect support for it for free seems a bit too strong as well. It sucks but those are about the only available options.
From: Martin Paul on 3 Aug 2010 06:20 chuckers wrote: > The machine was purchased "AS IS" 2nd (or even 3rd) hand. That's not the point. As you says yourself, the situation would be the same if he had bought the machine from the original manufacturer. > As it is, the machine is EOL and to expect support for > it for free seems a bit too strong as well. We're not talking about "support" here, like in allowing him to send the machine in and getting it repaired for free. It's about getting access to already existing fixes. The README of the BIOS update says it includes e.g. fixes for AMD errata, ie. known problems which affect the functionality of the machine. How would any manufacturer be motivated to produce flaw-free products, when he can save money spent for in-house testing and later earn more money by selling "support" at the same time? That's a win-win situation, albeit for the company only. mp. -- SysAdmin | Institute of Scientific Computing, University of Vienna PCA | Analyze, download and install patches for Solaris | http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/
From: Richard B. Gilbert on 3 Aug 2010 13:38 Martin Paul wrote: > ITguy wrote: >> Robbery indeed! Firmware and driver updates rarely ever contain >> additional functionality - they fix bugs. So once you've paid for >> premium hardware, you have to continue paying to get WORKING >> firmware?!! > > While "robbery" is a (too) strong word, I agree with the rest. I'm > surprised that this policy is often even defended by customers. > > If you buy a car, DVD player, whatever, and it doesn't work as it > should, would you think it's OK to pay extra money to the producer for > making it do what it's supposed to do originally? > > mp. New cars, DVD players, etc, are sold with a warranty! The initial purchaser gets repair service for; e.g. 90 days or 10,000 miles, or whatever is popular this day, month, and year. Used merchandise may, or may not, come with the *dealer's* 30 day warranty or 3000 mile warranty or something like that. I'm sure that the firmware he has works. It may be a three year old release and there may, or may not, be updated versions available. I don't see anything that would entitle the OP to any upgrade. If he wanted a system with up-to-date firmware he should have bought one. Caveat emptor!
From: Chris Cox on 3 Aug 2010 17:58
On Sun, 2010-08-01 at 21:01 -0700, UnixUser wrote: > Unfortunately, I am unable to download the latest BIOS, firmware. SP, > and drivers from sun/oracle because I need a service contract. I > purchased a sunfire v20z used (end of life system) on ebay ( pretty > cheap), I wish to upgrade my very old bios, etc. I think it is robbery > for oracle/sun to charge for bios updates, especially when other PC > companies provide such things for free. > > Hopefully, someone here can help by e-mailing the latest bios, etc to me. I sort of hope somebody does send it to you... however, it would be illegal to do so. I think Sunoracle has been a fiasco so far. Difficult to tell if it's too late for Oracle to turn things around or not... but I'd certainly support allowing the firmware downloads... and many other downloads as well (it just makes sense). I feel sorry for the engineers at Sun. They (used to) tout their openness and their contributions to free software, yet, now that Oracle is in control, none of that is allowed or encouraged anymore. Not saying they have to open up their firmware etc, but if it WERE open, we might not be having this conversation at all. The question is: What is support? Sunoracle is trying to get any and every dollar they can... so they are taking the stance that EVERYTHING they do is a chargeable item... everything becomes support.... everything... This has created problems with the (used to be) open source side of the company formally called Sun Microsystems. Sunoracle's answer so far is to abandon any and all work that would not directly result in forced cash transactions happening with Oracle. Thus, if you ever thought of Oracle as being a nice community player, Oracle must now be viewed as a community enemy (a leech). The bad part is their amount of DEPENDENCE on community aided software and other technologies. Again, this is why a line needs to be drawn... Oracle has become an enemy. So... yep... no help from me here (sorry).... but I DO SYMPATHIZE and eventually, ALL (and I mean ALL) Sun customers (support contract or not) will be FORCED to EMPATHIZE... unless some dramatic changes happen at Sunoracle. >From openoffice.org, you can read: Can Sun ever take away the code? The simple answer is NO. Once code is released under the LGPL, it can never be taken away. Once LGPL, always LGPL. Sun has no plans to return to a closed-development model. Sun is subject to the same rules as the rest of the community, including giving back modifications under the LGPL . Thus, Sun can never take away the code and the community's contributions to it. This code belongs to the community as guaranteed by the LGPL. "Sun has no plans to return to a closed-development model"... anyone here believe that Sunoracle would say this?? I don't think so. And remember, also from openoffice.org: The OpenOffice.org project is primarily sponsored by Oracle, which is the primary contributor of code to the Project. What this means is that OpenOffice.org needs a NEW sponsor and possibly more contributors, though I imagine many might be former Oracle employees. I fully expect Sunoracle to cease any and all funding and "support" for anything that is free or open or beneficial to the world (that last one is a hint to stop using the Oracle DB.. so maybe they don't choose to do that... but eventually it will happen, and it might be VERY soon). |