> That sounds right. I never had a VAX SRM but I had an Alpha
> SRM for a while, and it was a "limited distribution numbered
> copies" type of
> document. The sort of thing that you have to send back to the
> originator for disposal and logging when you no longer need it.
The Alpha SRM I was lent for a while was numbered somewhere between
900 and 1100 (I forget the exact number). This was probably past the
initial highly secretive stage (I guess this was about 1996 or so)
which probably accounted for the high number, but I was still
surprised that they were bothering to keep tabs on such stuff by then.
The only other restricted distribution document I received was
something pretty obscure (obscure enough that I don't remember exactly
what it was). It was in electronic format, but as it would only
print on an LN03 (or compatible later printer) because it was
(IIRC) entiurely in sixel format, I guess that was considered
secure enough!
> From what I remember, the difference between the Alpha SRM and the
> stuff that was published externally was quite large, much
> larger than what you describe for VAX. But after 12 years I
> no longer remember what it was (and in any case I'd still
> have to obey confidentiality about it anyway).
In terms of volume, I don't think there's much in it. The published
AARM is a hefty tome; it's physically smaller than the restricted
SRM but the AARM is in a smaller font and on thinner paper. I also
think that the SRM I saw was printer single sided, but I'm no longer
really sure of that.
The main difference I recall was that the Alpha SRM was full of
"EV6 *may* do this" bits which were absent in the contemporaneous
AARM. AFAICR those bits which actually happened (and were relevant)
appeared in later versions of the AARM. Overall I found the
level of "openness" in the Alpha docs much higher than in VAX.
Mostly I guess this was due to the fact that publishing electronic
docs was so much easier than had been the case when VAX and PDP
machines had their heyday.
Antonio
--
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Antonio Carlini arcarlini_at_iee.org
Received on Mon Mar 22 2004 - 17:21:10 GMT