[comp.arch] NeXT Memory - No Error Checking or Parity !

ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) (11/07/88)

In article <8348@alice.UUCP> debra@alice.UUCP () writes:
>In article <549@gt-eedsp.UUCP> jensen@gt-eedsp.UUCP (P. Allen Jensen) writes:
>>Ok, Straight from a NeXT salesrep in response to the question:
>>Q: Does the memory have a parity check bit ?
>>A: "No"
>>... "memory is reliable enough that the added cost was not justified."
>NO. (memory is NOT reliable enough)
>
And this is such a religious issue that I believe it should be left up to the
end user/systems integrator.   Add an 'extra' SIMM socket or two for a bank of
chips to be used for parity/ECC, and make sure it is jumper-or even software 
selectable, depending on the users taste and wealth.  For some applications
(like digitized speech), I might rather have 10M of 99.9999% reliable memory
than 9M+parity (all Unix can do is panic) or 8M+ECC.

Anyone want to design a memory controller/MMU for this?
-- 
					- Ralph W. Hyre, Jr.
Internet: ralphw@ius3.cs.cmu.edu    Phone:(412) CMU-BUGS
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"You can do what you want with my computer, but leave me alone!8-)"