DEC Design

From: Bill Pechter <pechter_at_bg-tc-ppp1630.monmouth.com>
Date: Sat Sep 1 15:05:02 2001

> Jerome Fine replies:

> Actually, I think the best use for an RX50 drive is what my grandson
> did one day - took a VERY LARGE SLEDGE HAMMER and ...

Yup.
They really bit and everyone at DEC new it.
>
> Other than a CPU, DEC never seemed to manage to make decent
> hardware the first time around. Even the software had bugs that
> were really dumb. Of course, compared with M$, DEC software
> was Platinum compared to Tin (is there anything less than tin?).
> [But since DEC was bought in 1996?, that is OT]
>

Actually, DEC's tape drives were abysmal in design (not counting the
DECtapes which were really reel-to-reel disk drives.

Their disks had no more bugs than anyone elses and they were just on the
pricey side.

The RL0x's were pretty slick and the RK05/6/7's were ok. RM80's needed
the RA81's 400+meg hda to be competitive... The RA81's would've been
nice if the breather glue problem didn't occur.

The DEC stuff was always pretty good maintenance wise with good diags
and offline capabilities and testers.

Lots of other manufacturers didn't do as well in this area -- but DEC
milked the prices a bit too much and spawned a plug-compatible push
which their Massbus patents killed.

Bill
-- 
  Bill Gates is a Persian cat and a monocle away from being a 
  villain in a James Bond movie              -- Dennis Miller 
  bpechter_at_shell.monmouth.com|pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org
Received on Sat Sep 01 2001 - 15:05:02 BST

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