DEC RK07 drive interface specs wanted

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Tue May 18 18:02:19 2004

>
> > I assume the faild servoid was the thing that was smoking.
>
> Yes - or, more precisely, a cigarette in his mouth/hand.

I think it's the fact that he was burning something near a dismantled
disk drive that was the problem, not whether he was deliberately inhaling
the fumes :-)

>
> > If this had happened to me, I would have escorted that idiot off the
> > site, and told DEC to send somebody who actually had a clue if they
> > expected me to pay the service contract! No, I am not joking.
>
> In Montreal of the late '80s, that would have been approximately
> impossible to make stick. I got a little heat even for getting upset

Well, I suspect you could argue that the person clearly didn't have a
clue about the operation of hard disk drives (I assume _you've_ seen that
picture in the DEC manuals showing the head flying height in comparison
to a smoke particle, human hair, etc), and that therefore DEC were not
providing the service they were being paid for.

>
> >> [%] I don't usually like to use phrases like "field circus" (or
> >> "salesdroid" or similar denigratory mutations),
> > I don't know why you avoid such terms. They are sadly all too
> > appropriate.
>
> Sometimes. ("How do you tell a field service tech who has a flat tire?
> He's changing tires to see which one is flat.")

How do you spot the faild servoid who had run out of petrol (gas)? He's
the oen swapping out the tyres to find out which one is flat.

What does he do if he can't find the flat tyre? He replaces the alternator.

>
> And there are stupid Poles, and miserly Jews, and airheaded blondes,
> and many other such stereotyped groups. But there are also plenty of
> smart Poles, and generous Jews, and brainy blondes - and competent
> field service techs. (In each of those four cases, I have personally

Hmm.. I have no arguments with the first 3 groups. But the whole attitude
of field service, at least the ones I've come into contact with, seems to
prevent logical thought. And that results in random parts being swapped,
and the problem still not being cured.

I will say it again. You will _NOT_ fix a computer by swapping parts
until the problem goes away. It is _ESSENTIAL_ to make measurements
first. Actually, that applies to fixing just about anything.

-tony
Received on Tue May 18 2004 - 18:02:19 BST