Availability

[miles]

Hey Guys,

I've become very interested in the SheevaPlug and Plug Computers lately and I have a development idea involving them... the problem is availability. Where can you get a plug shipped to you within a week? Is it just me or does Marvel's distribution just suck?

Thanks,
Miles

[feffer]

AFAIK, the only US distributor is Globalscale...and yes availability is slow. I don't know anything about the European distributor. Some things come to mind. If you only want one or a few devices for testing/development don't expect them in a week. Probably 2-3 weeks. If you are in Southern CA, you could try calling them and requesting a pick up. I don't know if anyone has done this before, but it might be worth a try. If you want some SheevaPlugs, and some GuruPlugs, call them and request they send what they have and you will accept more than one shipping charge.

In Feb, I made the mistake of ordering one SheevaPlug and one GuruPlug Plus (on pre-order at the time). They held the SheevaPlug until the GuruPlug became available in late May.

There are some threads here that bad-mouth either Globalscale and/or the various Plugs, but I take these with a grain of salt. These are "development" products, and they have issues. As developers or hobbyists we just have to struggle through these. My calls to Globalscale have been handled reasonably well. Some others report email is next to useless. I could be wrong, but I have the impression that the "Globalscale" facility is just a small import shop with few employees. They probably don't have the people or resources to respond to requests out of the ordinary. They do seem to be dealing with the GuruPlug heat issues responsibly, or at least they're trying to make good with a reworked model.

I don't know the relationship between Marvell and Globalscale, or who does the actual Plug manufacture, but I'm guessing it's a third party. Personally, I'm a bit miffed at Marvell as I think the buck stops with them. I think the idea of small efficient headless computers is very exciting one compared to fixed NAS type devices with embedded, limited chipsets. Perhaps Marvell should get more involved! Sorry for the rant...

Regards,
feffer

[charles67]

I can attest to the lousy customer service I emailed Globalscale about my 6 week old order, and got no response. So then I called them, and the operator handled my call and told me someone would call me back in 30 minutes.

Well! The clocks at GlobalScam must be as bad as their overheating products, because  a WEEK has passed and no one has called me back.

Not only am I canceling today, but I'm also going to fire off an email to Marvell about my experience!   

[sk.akties]

[...]
There are some threads here that bad-mouth either Globalscale and/or the various Plugs, but I take these with a grain of salt. These are "development" products, and they have issues. As developers or hobbyists we just have to struggle through these. My calls to Globalscale have been handled reasonably well. Some others report email is next to useless. I could be wrong, but I have the impression that the "Globalscale" facility is just a small import shop with few employees. They probably don't have the people or resources to respond to requests out of the ordinary. They do seem to be dealing with the GuruPlug heat issues responsibly, or at least they're trying to make good with a reworked model.
[...]

I do not agree: of course there are customers who want to be creative and mod/wait until it works as promised. But there is a huge
amount of customers who thought that they would buy a product out of the box that is tested (look at the QA pages at Globalscale's website). They are NOT working on a solution: they just downscaled the specs. And these suggestions still do not work: there is still a heat problem.

[tylernt]

If you're hot to get a Sheeva-like device fast, consider the PogoPlug, Tonidoplug, or the Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar. They should run your software pretty much the same as a Sheeva or Guru.