Everything you say about the difficulty of getting SGI
phone support
over the hotline (800-800-4SGI) is quite true -- it is engineered to be
that way. However...
I'm an ex-SGI Systems Engineer. The Systems Engineers are part of the
Sales division, and as such are charged with (my words) being "very
friendly and supportive of ANYONE interested in SGI stuff". Obviously
this has limits, as SEs tend to be quite busy (especially now, as there
are fewer of them). But here's the trick to getting great, interested
personal support: get friendly with your local SGI Systems Engineer.
S/He will be (generally) very interested in your call and problem, and
won't (generally) even bother asking for serial numbers, etc. In my
experience working at SGI, the SEs were a very dedicated, helpful and
knowledgeable lot. And believe me, SEs have access to a *LOT* of
information buried inside the company (including knowing who the
old-timers are, etc). I miss that easy access to info...
I'd love to play phone tag with one of them. My only problem is that I
don't have a local SGI Systems Engineer. I've never had a support contract
with SGI, and quite honestly, I doubt I'm *ever* going to have a service
contract on *any* of my computers (as the newest one I own is only a few
years away from being On Topic, and may be upwards of fifth-hand).
Perhaps you remember the extension of a helpful soul who would like to see
the older machines saved from the evil scrappers?
Mark Grieshaber
mvg1(a)earthlink.net
Bob