stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) (12/30/87)
Our 8550 showed up today and our DEC field service person looked over
the 15 boxes for damage. He then asked if I knew if the 20mg (or
40mb) Pro-380 hard disk had already been loaded with the boot software.
"No, why?", I asked innocently.
"Because, if you have to load it -- it takes 3 hours of feeding the
380 floppies to boot the 8550."
"What happens if the 380's hard disk dies?"
"We keep a hot hard disk ready to go in the office just in case."
Now I'm paranoid of the hard disk in the 380 (if it;s as good as the
ones in the Rainbow, it's time to get worried) and the possibility
of another system blowing their 380 and using the hot disk just when
our hard disk goes South.
Does anyone have a feel for how their pro-380 works, lives, dies,
and does other socially redeaming things. I've also been told we could
make the pro a decnet node but I'm concerened about overhead for
the 8550.
--
David Stokes "USD where the future is tomorrow
Academic Computing Department and today is slightly behind schedule"
University of San Diego
(619) 260-4810 or {sdcsvax, sdsu, ucsdhub}!udiego!stokesiav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik) (12/31/87)
[Etched along the walls of the CD's groove, the words: EAT HOT LASER BREATH] In article <714@udiego.UUCP> stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) writes: [Article severly trimmed. This item is specifically about the mini-flame on the Rainbow and my rebuttal.] >Now I'm paranoid of the hard disk in the 380 (if it;s as good as the >ones in the Rainbow, it's time to get worried) Gads, talk about taking an idle comment and blowing it up!... Ahem. OK, David, I hate to complain about this point but it's late and I am bored. Anyway, being a Rainbow software developer (yes, we still exist!), I can only let you flame the Rainbow's RX50 floppies (or RX50 floppies, no matter what machine they're in!). The harddisks, however, are another story. If there is one thing DEC did right was QAing the disks they sell. OK, so you pay 3x the cost of a drive, but you get one that is guaranteed to work. Now, of course, I don't buy MY harddisks from DEC. But, I want to say here that I haven't been aware of any real problems with harddisks in Rainbows except where users tried to install a harddisk that the controller couldn't handle. Oh, of course, DEC will replace one if it fails and your service contract is still active. That's another story. As for myself, I have a 5 and 10 meg drive sitting idle on my shelf since I just installed an RD52 (33 meg drive) in my machine. All have worked absolutely perfect. The machine's been vertical, horizontal, and on its side. No problems. I have two friends running Rainbows with RD53s (71 meg drives) for almost a year without problems. So, all in all, it's been my experience that the harddisks in the Rainbows have usually been very stable and reliable. Now, yes, I too can probably tell you horror stories but most are from people who misinstalled their disks or bought the wrong one. Life goes on. Like I said, it's late. There's probably something better on the net I can complain about (do I get a flame about this?) Alan Alan I. Vymetalik @ {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!iav1917 ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- J.A.M, Inc. | Prism Software Designs 300 Main Street | 44 Arborwood Crescent East Rochester, New York, 14445 | Rochester, New York, 14615-3807 | 1-716-458-4932 ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: The above statements and opinions belong to the author. Any resemblence to statements found in actual reality is purely coin- cidental. And, as always, the above opinions have absolutely nothing to do with the little, fat man putting $100 bills in my pocket. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik) (12/31/87)
Of course, by the way, the previous postings does not consider the
VAXmate PC part of the same discussion. Harddisks inserted into
the VAXmate's "Pizza" expansion box are guaranteed to act funny
and develop heat stroke!
Poor little VAXmate. I'd heard it's now on the Employee Purchase
Plan at DEC. This must mean that's being phased out. Oh well,
c'est la vie.
Alan
Alan I. Vymetalik @ {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!iav1917
----------------------------------+----------------------------------
J.A.M, Inc. | Prism Software Designs
300 Main Street | 44 Arborwood Crescent
East Rochester, New York, 14445 | Rochester, New York, 14615-3807
| 1-716-458-4932
----------------------------------+----------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: The above statements and opinions belong to the author.
Any resemblence to statements found in actual reality is purely coin-
cidental. And, as always, the above opinions have absolutely nothing
to do with the little, fat man putting $100 bills in my pocket.
---------------------------------------------------------------------klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler) (01/04/88)
In article <58@ritcv.UUCP> iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik) writes: >In article <714@udiego.UUCP> stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) writes: > [Article severly trimmed. This item is specifically about > the mini-flame on the Rainbow and my rebuttal.] >>Now I'm paranoid of the hard disk in the 380 (if it;s as good as the >>ones in the Rainbow, it's time to get worried) > Ahem. OK, David, I hate to complain about this point but it's late > and I am bored. Anyway, being a Rainbow software developer (yes, > we still exist!), I can only let you flame the Rainbow's RX50 > floppies (or RX50 floppies, no matter what machine they're in!). > The harddisks, however, are another story. If there is one thing > DEC did right was QAing the disks they sell. OK, so you pay 3x I have to AGREE with Alan. Whatever else DEC did to the Rainbow user/owner, they did NOT stiff them on the hard drives. I have a pair of Rainbow 100Bs that are both fulltime, dedicated FidoNet nodes. The one with the DEC 10Mb has been running 24/7 for 3 years without a problem. It gets powered off every 6 month to get vacumed out. The other has a DEC 20mb and has been running 24/7 for about 2 years. Never a problem with the hard drives. Both of these FidoNet BBS have a lot of DEC Rainbow software on them, so feel free to drop by for a visit. Maybe someday I can afford to put a larger DEC drive on the systems. Kurt Reisler (703) 359-6100 ============================================================================ UNISIG Chairman, DECUS US Chapter | Hadron, Inc. ..{uunet|sundc|rlgvax|netxcom|decuac}!hadron!klr | 9990 Lee Highway Sysop, Fido 109/74 The Bear's Den (703) 671-0598 | Suite 481 Sysop, Fido 109/483 The Pot of Gold (703) 359-6549 | Fairfax, VA 22030 ============================================================================