Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!convex!egsner!pfloyd!greg From: greg@pfloyd.lonestar.org (Greg Harp) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Why are Amigaoids hell bent on proving the Amiga is better ? Message-ID: Date: 28 Jun 91 08:20:41 GMT References: <3104@kirk.nmg.bu.oz.au> <1991Jun27.170049.21231@grebyn.com> Organization: Not much... Lines: 33 In article <1991Jun27.170049.21231@grebyn.com> ckp@grebyn.com (Checkpoint Technologies) writes: > Here's the thing: Game machines require only medium >reliability. If a game machine crashes, you lose what? Your best high >score? If your business computer crashes, you may lose untold $$ worth >of data. So you guard it with things like, oh, parity RAM, so that ^^^^^^ ^^^ >you are assured that incorrect answers are not propogated. And you >choose a vendor that has a reputation for reliability. I have always had a bit of a beef with this one. What the *hell* kind of good does 1 parity bit do you? Ok, so you know the memory is screwed. Just what are you going to do about it? Hmmm? Fix it? Sorry... If you're actually serious about parity you need at least 3 bits. PC clones are _not_ known for reliability in any way, shape, or form, BTW. At work we have had two of our four machines completely die. One of them was a Dell and the other was a true-blue IBM -- no cheapies. The motherboard was considered less costly to replace than repair in both cases. When these machines went down they didn't stop and say, "Excuse me, but I'm going to crash in about a minute or so. Please save your work." One of them severely damaged a hard disk in the process... Between GOMF (for 1.3) and 2.0's built in process suspension I find that I reboot my Amiga (which runs UUCP 24hrs a day) much less than I reboot the PCs at work. Also, when a process on the Amiga crashes it typically gets frozen and allows you to safely shut the machine down first. PC's nearly always just lock up. -- -------greg@pfloyd.lonestar.org---greg@pfloyd.UUCP---egsner!pfloyd!greg------- "How I wish. How I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl year after year. Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. Wish you were here." -- Pink Floyd