Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!rutgers!rochester!ritcv!iav1917 From: iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec Subject: Re: VAX 8xxxs and their PRO-380 kick-starters Message-ID: <58@ritcv.UUCP> Date: 31 Dec 87 06:30:06 GMT References: <714@udiego.UUCP> Reply-To: iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik) Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Lines: 55 Keywords: Response to mini flame about Rainbows... Summary: No, I can't leave well-enough alone... [Etched along the walls of the CD's groove, the words: EAT HOT LASER BREATH] In article <714@udiego.UUCP> stokes@udiego.UUCP (David M. Stokes) writes: [Article severly trimmed. This item is specifically about the mini-flame on the Rainbow and my rebuttal.] >Now I'm paranoid of the hard disk in the 380 (if it;s as good as the >ones in the Rainbow, it's time to get worried) Gads, talk about taking an idle comment and blowing it up!... Ahem. OK, David, I hate to complain about this point but it's late and I am bored. Anyway, being a Rainbow software developer (yes, we still exist!), I can only let you flame the Rainbow's RX50 floppies (or RX50 floppies, no matter what machine they're in!). The harddisks, however, are another story. If there is one thing DEC did right was QAing the disks they sell. OK, so you pay 3x the cost of a drive, but you get one that is guaranteed to work. Now, of course, I don't buy MY harddisks from DEC. But, I want to say here that I haven't been aware of any real problems with harddisks in Rainbows except where users tried to install a harddisk that the controller couldn't handle. Oh, of course, DEC will replace one if it fails and your service contract is still active. That's another story. As for myself, I have a 5 and 10 meg drive sitting idle on my shelf since I just installed an RD52 (33 meg drive) in my machine. All have worked absolutely perfect. The machine's been vertical, horizontal, and on its side. No problems. I have two friends running Rainbows with RD53s (71 meg drives) for almost a year without problems. So, all in all, it's been my experience that the harddisks in the Rainbows have usually been very stable and reliable. Now, yes, I too can probably tell you horror stories but most are from people who misinstalled their disks or bought the wrong one. Life goes on. Like I said, it's late. There's probably something better on the net I can complain about (do I get a flame about this?) Alan Alan I. Vymetalik @ {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!iav1917 ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- J.A.M, Inc. | Prism Software Designs 300 Main Street | 44 Arborwood Crescent East Rochester, New York, 14445 | Rochester, New York, 14615-3807 | 1-716-458-4932 ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: The above statements and opinions belong to the author. Any resemblence to statements found in actual reality is purely coin- cidental. And, as always, the above opinions have absolutely nothing to do with the little, fat man putting $100 bills in my pocket. ---------------------------------------------------------------------