Dell Now Follows Apple's Business Model

This is a sad day for me. I have been a big supporter of Dell computers for years. I have spent a lot of money over the years choosing Dell hardware including some PowerEdge servers. When a few batteries had started reaching the end of their lives, I went to Amazon to purchase replacements. This practice has extended the life of the laptops past their supported time.

But all this changed when purchasing new batteries from Amazon. The batteries are not official Dell batteries and are prohibited from charging because the BIOS does not allow it. I surf over to Dell's site to purchase an official battery, but they do not exist. I cannot get an official Dell battery from Dell. (There is the eBay option, but that's no guarantee of a new battery.)

This is the transcript from the technical support when I inquired about batteries and the policy:

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:48:44 AM): Welcome to Dell Out of Warranty Chat Support. My name is Vidya Sehgal.

While I am checking the details, let me also inform you that your chat has landed to paid support queue. 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:49:01 AM): Greetings, Hope you are doing well today! 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:49:37 AM): To confirm, you are contacting us today in regards to the system service tag ******* ? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:49:41 AM): Yes 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:50:35 AM): Thank you for confirming. 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:50:43 AM): I regret the inconvenience this issue has caused and assure you that I will try my best to resolve the issue to your satisfaction. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:51:02 AM): I have purchased third-party batteries for this and other Dell laptops I own to extend their life. But for some reason, the BIOS no longer recognizes these batteries informing me to purchase official Dell batteries. I come ot the site to do that and cannot find official Dell batteries to purchase. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:51:37 AM): Is there no way to get these other batteries to be accepted since Dell can no longer provide what they  require? 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:51:38 AM): Okay! 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:52:33 AM): No! They won't work. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:52:51 AM): And there is no provided batteries from Dell anymore? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:53:13 AM): *are no 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:53:30 AM): Let me check the part availability. 

Vidya S (2/16/2023, 8:54:38 AM): Part is not available. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 8:55:15 AM): Welcome to Dell Out of Warranty Chat Support. My name is Tanuj Sharma.

While I am checking the details, let me also inform you that your chat has landed to paid support queue. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 8:55:29 AM): Greetings, Hope you are doing well today! 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 8:55:45 AM): To confirm, you are contacting us today in regards to the system service tag ******* ? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:56:09 AM): Yes 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 8:56:26 AM): I can see you have mentioned issues with battery, correct ? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:56:58 AM): Since Dell cannot provide the part and third-party batteries are not supported, I have no options to continue using my laptops other than power cord, correct? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 8:58:26 AM): This seems like an Apple approach to business: Only allow use for the supported time and then force new purchases every few years. I'm not a fan of this. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 8:59:22 AM): Unfortunately the part is not available. It is not possible for us to procure parts after certain point of time as the technology advances, the old products gets obsolete from the market. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:00:39 AM): I understand how frustrating it is, but the parts can only be procured for 4-5 years of manufacturing as after that the system is considered as end of life. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:01:13 AM): The option for me to procure parts is possible through Amazon, although they are not official Dell parts. They do work as I have tested them in the past. But the programming of the BIOS restricts it. At the very least, there should be a disclaimer to accept to proceed with the use of the non-Dell batteries. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:01:33 AM): It not just frustrating, it's restrictive. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:04:00 AM): That is true. Every part is not compatible with the system. That is the reason parts goes obsolete as software and hardware products advances. 

Regarding BIOS, you can try to update the BIOS if it is not updated. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:05:56 AM): I will try the BIOS update. but this is a real disappointment in Dell. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:07:39 AM): If that fails, I am going to make a public post about this policy change as a warning to others who consider purchasing equipment from Dell and am going to look for another laptop provider who will support good equipment. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:08:26 AM): Unfortunately there is nothing we can do in this case. This is situation with all the products. We can not procure parts after a certain point of time. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:09:12 AM): This is a sad moment for me. I've been a big Dell supporter for years. I have spend a LOT of money on laptops and other hardware. Knowing Dell will no long honor that loyalty means I need to find another place for  it. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:10:58 AM): We really appreciate you being a loyal Dell customer however you also have to understand that the parts can not be procured for ever.

I wish there is something I can do for you. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:13:30 AM): Is there anything else I can assist you today ? 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:13:50 AM): I realize these laptops will not last forever, but their lives don't need to be truncated because Dell chooses to give up on them. There is a lot of tech out there outliving their expected life cycles with other options. I have extended the lives of these laptops already with third-party batteries, so it's possible. Having Dell cut that option off from customers is the change in all this. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:13:56 AM): No, I guess not. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:14:06 AM): Thanks for confirming all this for me. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:14:43 AM): And if it can make a difference, please let them know about how this affects a former customer. 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:14:57 AM): ...how this affects a now former customer. 

Tanuj S (2/16/2023, 9:15:48 AM): Thank you for choosing Dell and allowing us the opportunity to assist you. Have a wonderful day! 

Mark (2/16/2023, 9:16:02 AM): You too.

At the very least, Dell, provide a legal disclaimer in your BIOS to shift the responsibility of potential problems to the customer. I would gladly accept the waiver knowing that the batteries could cause fires. To be honest, you cannot prevent your own batteries from not catching fire. Will you cover a house fire if your own official batteries overload and cause damage? (Maybe I need to read the fine print on the documentation more closely.)

I post this as knowledge before buying Dell equipment. If you do this, know that you will spend money for a limited life laptop, not because it cannot continue to live but because Dell will not allow it to continue to live.

One more thing: I cannot update the BIOS on these laptops because the BIOS has determined that being plugged into an outlet and a dead battery insufficient power requirement to allow the update. This has turned into a lose-lose scenario.

Very disappointed, Dell.

Bandheight

This quote still seems appropriate in so many places that I built this meme, yet I don't have it readily available. So, I'm posting it here for my future reference.

The source of this was Alex Albretch's guest appearance on Tiki Bar TV years ago when he and Kevin Rose were producing Diggnation. The quote is genius. You can find that episode linked below, which at this point is still online.

I actually made a t-shirt with this quote.

Source video: https://vimeo.com/124379530

Feature Requests for YouVersion

I love the YouVersion app! It's very rich and features and has many options for reading and examining God's Word.

I like the options for many reading plans and guides within the app. I like the notification system built in for those guides as well. But most importantly, I like the ability to cross reference different transitions of the Bible quickly and in one spot. You can even do parallel comparisons which is very convenient!

There are a few things I wish were available within the app.

The first is something I have found I need on a regular basis. There are times when I'm reading through certain passages on my own for my daily consumption and then will click on a link for a reference in a study guide or switch to a different place when following along with my pastor on Sundays. When I make that change, it treats that location as the last location where I want to pick back up when I resume reading. It would be nice to have a way to hold a reference without having to bookmark it.

For example, I'm reading through the Psalms, and I stopped at Psalm 61. Then I go listen to my pastor who is teaching from Romans 4. I would like for a way to be available to hold the Psalm 61 position to easily flip back and resume my progress readings which sometimes are not daily. Having a few of these resume points would be nice.

I was able to find this app which fills the gap for the above desired feature. It's not exactly what I would have in mind for a built-in feature for YouVersion, but it does help me keep track of what I have read and where I need to continue.

Another feature that they offer is the ability to take notes for a verse or a block of verses. These notes usually tied to a specific translation. What I have found is that it would be nice to have a study feature that allows me to take notes separately from verses yet tie back to those verses even across transitions. Currently, the notes are anchored within the content. What I would ask is for is a way to have a section in the app (maybe called "Studes") for notes that links to the verses. The notes would be grouped under a study with links to verses. This is especially helpful when the study is topical.

I did reach out to YouVersion asking about contributing custom studies to their application. It's not exactly what I had intended in order to accomplish some of the functionality, but it might be worth looking into for creating simple reading plans like I would choose.

Traded LIFX for Sengled

I finally replaced all the LIFX bulbs in my house with Sengled bulbs.

After going through yet another change in my networking, getting the LIFX bulbs to connect to a new network was frustrating beyond measure. Even though I can reset the bulbs to choose a new network, that process proved to not be simple. Several bulbs I reset several times without getting any connectivity to the new network. Factor in the changes to the application they made a couple of years ago reducing it to something very non-intuitive, this was the last straw.

On an interesting note, I was going back through the drafts of my blog and found an unpublished post from one year ago in December stating a list of frustrations with LIFX.

I had actually purchased the Sengled bulbs earlier last year with the intent of eventually making the sweeping swap. I already had at least one bulb in the mix when I had decided to test one when I lost my LIFX bulb.

I have been pleased with the bulbs so far with a few exceptions. The Sengled bulbs connected to the network very easily. The app is simple and straightforward, much like LIFX was when I first started using them.

One thing I have noticed is that the bulbs tend to be a little bit brighter at the lowest setting. This becomes any annoying feature when I try to sleep the lights. It changes the color to a warm setting which is very bright compared to the LIFX bulbs. Sleeping the lights should just dim the lights over a 30-minute period rather than changing the color by default. This would be something I would suggest as a feature change to Sengled's firmware/software. (I am also going to try using a Kasa bulb in my master bedroom to see how they handle this behavior.)

Overall, I've been very pleased with Sengled. They have some very unique products which I think should be setting standards on the market.

Note: I did voice my frustrations on Twitter. And I got a response from Dav Kavanagh who is LIFX Head of Experience.

https://twitter.com/12kav/status/1606198944303759360?t=yxtcfEY4HG2m7egqzJ4daA&s=19

Tripping up to Fedora 35

I installed Fedora 35 on my desktop system this past week following the release this week. I thought it would be a benign activity since I've been dnf system-upgrade in place for years now without much ado. Things changed this time,though.

The change to wireplumber for this release had some side effects regarding my HDMI sound output. I have two monitors and one TV all for my displays. I don't have a dedicated sound card in my machine, so I use audio through the output via Intel or Radeon HDMI output. This had been working perfectly in Fedora 34. The upgrade, however, seemed to bork the sound settings completely. My choice in the Setting control panel kept switching to Dummy Output. When I tried to test my speakers, there was no sound. Then when I tried to switch the device to one of the listed HDMI options, the ability to test speakers didn't include speakers to click.

Of course, I hit the IRC support channel and posed my dilemma. ledeni walked me through a few things to try to get more information about what might be missing or misconfigured. After all the effort, I still didn't have sound. One of the things suggested was this addition and a post reboot:

$ echo "options snd-hda-intel model=generic" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

Although it didn't work at the time, it remains in effect. And it might still be part of the solution, but what I ended up doing this morning was the following:

$ sudo dnf swap pulseaudio pipewire-media-session --allowerasing
$ sudo dnf swap pipewire-media-session wireplumber

Then rebooted to find devices discovered. I found the HDMI for the TV and tested the sound successfully.

I'm documenting this for anyone else who might have similar problems. Oh, there is a suggested default answer as the first attempt to get sound working. It is this:

$ systemctl --user enable --now wireplumber

That is also running and active as part of my working configuration.

Fedora Updates Remove vim-default-editor Package

I just recently ran an overdue update on my desktop system. What I didn't expect was for a simple dnf upgrade -y to uninstall the vim-default-editor which is now an intentional choice over that trash editor nano. I consider this action a bug.

Nevertheless, these are the methods I have employed to prevent this shameful deed from happening again. I have added a vim.conf to the /etc/dnf/protected.d directory with the following contents:

───────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────
       │ File: /etc/dnf/protected.d/vim.conf
───────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────
   1   │ vim-common
   2   │ vim-powerline
   3   │ vim-minimal
   4   │ vim-enhanced
   5   │ vim-default-editor
───────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────

This won't prevent nano or nano-default-editor from being reinstalled. So, I added this line in my /etc/dnf/dnf.conf file:

excludepkgs=nano-default-editor,nano

Now, dnf will totally ignore those nano packages from visibility. Safe and clean system!

Netgear Wireless Routers - The Saga Ends

I have been a happy Netgear networking device consumer for a long time. Their small wired eight port hubs have been solid for years. I will even admit to being pleases with their wireless routers too.

But with a change in my home networking design, I really only use either routers as access points rather than firewalls and DHCP servers. My last device purchase was a dedicated access point (WAC-124). I have offloaded those other services to a dedicated appliance for firewall operations. Since Netgear's wireless router software has an access point mode, all should work well.

This all gets complicated by Netgear attempting to make their router management centralized...to themselves. They now require an account at netgear.com to access the admin interface of your home router. I'm sure this is under the guise of "making things easier" for support, but I see it more as a security risk. It's definitely an inconvenience.

The way it works is that I enter the router's IP address which now redirects me to accounts.netgear.com for my official Netgear account login. Once I login to their site (note: not my router), I am redirected back to the IP address of my router. Seems benign, but it turns out to be a point of failure. Recently, I was unable to gain access to my wireless router because after redirecting to accounts.netgear.com, I was blocked by HTTP code 503. I reset my router and tried a few more times. Blocked. There is ko reason to need to go to extra physical steps to directly access this device on my network.

Maybe that's the problem. Maybe Netgear considers this their network since I am using their equipment. This asinine workflow is enough for me to only buy devices reprogrammable with OpenWRT. Linksys is good for this. So is ASUS. And there are other brands not as well known which cater to this sort of configuration. That's where my money will go.

There are some workarounds to Netgear's long way home approach. Disconnecting internet access will let the router time out to direct access. I believe you can connect directly to the device with a cable (maybe disable internet connectivity too?). But you can see the problems with taking those actions. At least give me the option within the router's settings to disable this option, Netgear. It's extra hassle to do something which was once simple.

I'm done with this. Let me access my devices when I want! Give the people freedom!