Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!ccavax!merriman
From: merriman@ccavax.camb.com
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Yet Another Upgrade Anecdote
Message-ID: <23254.26434102@ccavax.camb.com>
Date: 6 May 90 01:09:22 GMT
References: <43777@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <1161.263f4987@gp.govt.nz>
Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc.
Lines: 22

In article <1161.263f4987@gp.govt.nz>, don@gp.govt.nz (Don Stokes) writes:
> On the subject of "upgrade by jumper"...
> 
> I seem to recall a rumour floating around a few years ago, that a VAX
> 11/750 could be sped up by a factor of four by changing a couple of
> resistors.
[. . .]
> DEC's pricing structures were always a mystery to me, particuarly in the 
> mid-80s ... they would not discount an aging machine; instead they would 
> introduce a new machine with a higher bang for buck.  
I heard this tale from a DEC tech, who works on KI-10s (there are still two
running in Manhattan that I know about). He claims that, after the KI-10 was
introduced, DEC marketing decided they needed an entry-level system. The
solution was to ship standard KI-10s to the customer and have the field
service people disable half the memory during installation -- a field
down-grade.

And then there was the infamous MicroVAX II RC (for restricted configuration).
It sold cheap and was the same as any other MVII, except the last four or five
slots on the backplane were filled with epoxy! I know of one instance where the
DEC field service tech happily ordered new, undamaged backplanes and installed
them in some RCs under warranty!