Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!eastapps!deitrick!ckollars From: ckollars@deitrick.East.Sun.COM (Chuck Kollars - Sun Technical Marketing - Boston) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: Re: An informal survey Message-ID: <5634@eastapps.East.Sun.COM> Date: 19 Apr 91 17:33:03 GMT References: <9104182050.AA07838@desktalk.com> Sender: news@East.Sun.COM Reply-To: ckollars@east.sun.com (Chuck Kollars - Sun Technical Marketing - Boston) Organization: Sun Microsystems, Billerica MA Lines: 35 In article <9104182050.AA07838@desktalk.com> rlg@STYX.DESKTALK.COM (Richard L. Gralnik) writes: >Hi. A recent discussion of the comparative merits of slide latches versus >screw/thumbscrew as a means of attaching a cable to a system port has >prompted this unofficial opinion poll. > >Which do you prefer and why? > >or put another way - > >Do you like slide latches (the connector used for ethernet cables)? Why >or why not? The results of your survey are likely to be seriously skewed. Ethernet transceiver cables often don't work, and most folks blame it on the slide latch. So I'd guess you're going to get a lot of responses denigrating the slide latch. But the full story is that, although the Ethernet transceiver cable connector on many systems in fact doesn't work very well, it's _not_ the fault of the slide lock. The spec (see drawing on page 94, just above section 7.6.2) says that the connector should go on the _outside_ of the backpanel. But in order for printed circuit boards to be stuffed and soldered by automatic machinery then married to the system later, the connector is often mounted on the _inside_ of the backpanel. Result -- the connector wobbles and makes poor electrical connection even though the cable is inserted "all the way" and the slide lock is "closed". The Ethernet spec was apparently written by someone who either was not a mechanical engineer, or did not have any experience with automated manufaturing. The reputation of the slide lock will probably never recover from that oversight. --- chuck kollars Sun Technical Marketing, located in Sun's Boston Development Center