Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!uni-koeln!IKP.Uni-Koeln.DE!se
From: se@IKP.Uni-Koeln.DE (Stefan Esser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: 8 mm EXABYTE on HP 835?
Message-ID: <1991Jun5.145748.110969@rrz.uni-koeln.de>
Date: 5 Jun 91 14:57:48 GMT
References: <1991May29.144907.16134@astol.astro.lu.se> <67870030@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>
Sender: news@rrz.uni-koeln.de (Usenet News System)
Organization: Institute of Nuclear Physics, University of Cologne, Germany
Lines: 35

In article <67870030@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com>, cochran@hpcupt1.cup.hp.com (Bob Cochran) writes:
|> The 8.0 SCSI tape driver (tape14.c) does not support EXABYTE drives, although
|> the first tape drive it worked on was an EXABYTE.  The code that permitted
|> simple I/Os to EXABYTE still exists in the source product and is disabled
|> via "#ifdef EXABYTE" statements.

That's ridicolous! 

We collect all data from our experiments on EXABYTEs, as do lots of other 
nuclear physics institutes (we collect typically 50GByte/week). 

I remember SCSI for our HP 9000/835 'becoming available' within few month, 
several times over the last 2 years. It took HP more than 1 year to completely 
deliver the ordered hardware. We urgently needed SCSI, and when it became 
obvious it wouldn't be available soon, HP suggested buying a 9000/3xx with 
SCSI and accessing the peripherals via ethernet!

After learning that even HP-UX 8.0 doesn't support variable sized partitions 
and now, that the EXABYTE won't work, it has become obvious, that HP is 
unable (or unwilling) to deliver what we NEED. It seems to be a specialty 
of HP, to know their customers' needs better than the customers themselves.
Even if HP considers DAT the better choice, I want the freedom to buy and 
use the drives that *read my data*.

Not being able to use EXABYTEs means
- further upgrades of our 9000/835 are useless
- we can't use the else very impressive 9000/700s.

I don't doubt, that the 9000/700 will sell well. But I very much doubt, that HP 
will stop loosing market share, the way they ignore customers' needs.

Stefan
-- 
 Stefan Esser,  Institute of Nuclear Physics,  University of Cologne,  Germany
 se@IKP.Uni-Koeln.DE                                           [134.95.192.50]