18 Jul
2002
18 Jul
'02
10:01 a.m.
On Jul 18, 11:55, Dan Wright wrote:
Robert F Schaefer said:
>
> What kind of pain? An arbitrary `NO', or just following the finger-
> pointing to the right desk? If I knew I'd just get the former I
wouldn't
> bother, but the latter I could deal with to get
some info on my 4D/35.
It's pretty much the latter.
[...]
You
can't really get into their system without a supported system serial #.
You
could always try giving them the serial for your 4D/35
-- who knows,
someone
might (accidently) still be paying maintenace on it :)
I'm afraid my experience (in the UK) is similar to Dan's. If you try to
call SGI nowadays, you won't get far without a support contract and a
serial number to match. Otherwise, you tend to just get referred to sales,
who will try to sell you support (or an OS upgrade or whatever) if the
machine is recent enough to be supportable.
You might have some luck if you can find someone with a support contract
who regularly sees the engineer. The older ones tend to be quite
knowledgable and may even have worked on such a system or know someone who
has -- and might put you in touch.
Otherwise, the best resources are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups, which are
fairly active and populated by a number of SGI employees as well as
enthusiasts.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
19 Jul
19 Jul
4:27 a.m.
New subject: SGI support -- the easy way
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...
Mark Grieshaber
mvg1(a)earthlink.net
On Thu, Jul 18, 2002 at 05:36:21PM +0000, Pete Turnbull wrote:
On Jul 18, 11:55, Dan Wright wrote:
Robert F Schaefer said:
>
> What kind of pain? An arbitrary `NO', or just following the finger-
> pointing to the right desk? If I knew I'd just get the former I
wouldn't
> bother, but the latter I could deal with to
get some info on my 4D/35.
It's pretty much the latter.
[...]
You
can't really get into their system without a supported system serial #.
You
could always try giving them the serial for your
4D/35 -- who knows,
someone
might (accidently) still be paying maintenace on
it :)
I'm afraid my experience (in the UK) is similar to Dan's. If you try to
call SGI nowadays, you won't get far without a support contract and a
serial number to match. Otherwise, you tend to just get referred to sales,
who will try to sell you support (or an OS upgrade or whatever) if the
machine is recent enough to be supportable.
You might have some luck if you can find someone with a support contract
who regularly sees the engineer. The older ones tend to be quite
knowledgable and may even have worked on such a system or know someone who
has -- and might put you in touch.
Otherwise, the best resources are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups, which are
fairly active and populated by a number of SGI employees as well as
enthusiasts.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York 
4:52 a.m.
New subject: SGI support -- the easy way
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
20 Jul
20 Jul
1:40 p.m.
New subject: SGI support -- the easy way
On Fri, Jul 19, 2002 at 09:47:43AM -0400, Robert F Schaefer wrote:
I exited SGI over a year ago now (along with about 1000 other folks at
the same time). A year ago I could easily have given you names and
numbers of half a dozen SEs who would have been delighted to talk with
you at length. At this point, I unfortunately no longer recall phone
numbers (and many of those folks are gone, of course -- there have been
at least two more purges since I departed).
If you want to give me a few days to get an ok, I might be able to pass
on a contact for the most experienced Field Service Engineer I know
(also no longer with SGI!). He was my FSE when I was a customer, back
when we had one of the first 4D/240s, and one of the first 4D/340s,
etc. He knows it all. I'll contact him and ask if he has time for
questions (like me, he's currently swamped with startup stuff).
Mark
mvg1(a)earthlink.net
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?
Bob
3:09 p.m.
New subject: SGI support -- the easy way
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Grieshaber" <mvg1(a)earthlink.net>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2002 06:38 PM
Subject: Re: SGI support -- the easy way
I hope you found greener pastures!
> Perhaps you remember the extension of a helpful
soul who would like to
see
the older
machines saved from the evil scrappers?
Bob
I exited SGI over a year ago now (along with about 1000 other folks at
the same time). A year ago I could easily have given you names and
numbers of half a dozen SEs who would have been delighted to talk with
you at length. At this point, I unfortunately no longer recall phone
numbers (and many of those folks are gone, of course -- there have been
at least two more purges since I departed).
If you want to give me a few days to get an ok, I might be able to pass
on a contact for the most experienced Field Service Engineer I know
(also no longer with SGI!). He was my FSE when I was a customer, back
when we had one of the first 4D/240s, and one of the first 4D/340s,
etc. He knows it all. I'll contact him and ask if he has time for
questions (like me, he's currently swamped with startup stuff).
That'd be great! Tell him I'm very low-maintenance and properly awestruck
by people who remember The Good Old Days.
Mark
Bob
8044
days inactive
8046
days old
4 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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mvg1＠earthlink.net -
pete＠dunnington.u-net.com -
rschaefe＠gcfn.org