Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 12:46:38 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: davidg@Root.COM Cc: dennis@etinc.com, jkh@time.cdrom.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The view from here (was Re: ISDN Compression Load on CPU) Message-ID: <199605241946.MAA01597@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <199605241852.LAA20913@Root.COM> from "David Greenman" at May 24, 96 11:52:45 am
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> Jordan's talking about other quality issues, like a poorly designed bus and > rail design that allows for cards to become unseated fairly easily and the > general lack of quality with 99.9% of the motherboards on the market. In this > case, I'm refering to poor Q/A at the factory (bad cache ram, etc), poor > BIOSes, etc. ...and then there's interoperability problems between various > cards with various motherboards. This is one advantage that Sun machines have > that PCs will never have - all the hardware is pretty much made by one vendor > and this cuts down the interoperability/reliability problems dramatically. > For those of us that come from minicomputer backgrounds (DEC PDP and VAX), > it's all too obvious to us where the shortcomings are in PC hardware. On the other hand, I've had to reseat SBUS-connected TIGA boards on AT&T/NCR X terminals on a 3-4 month rotation because thermal expansion walks the right out. I personally prefer the MCA connector technology, but of course, we "all" hate MCA. The Apple NuBUS cards and slot edge connections are also pretty cool as far as good connector technology, but again, there's enough play in the engineering that you can get impossible-to-install cards; definitely a QC issue. All in all, the PC cards don't suck too badly if you use full length cards and loking end-rails internally. With the screw on the other end, the card isn't going anywhere. Micron has also recently advanced case technology, with click-lock drive rails that insert into screw holes instead of needing to be screwed down in 3 places (2 in the rail, one on the rail head), with internal spring mounts. Good mounting technology that Sun *doesn't* have. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
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