Yep... HP stuff _used_ to be very well engineered, both
electronically
and mechanically. The 9100 is a total work of art, for example :-). I
love working on such machines.
Just a pity that modern HP stuff is nowhere near as good, and that their
support at the moment is a total joke.
Very true but there are still lots of fine old HPs out there that need
Joe
-tony
When I was a young Vax tech with DEC at Fort Monmouth, I worked in the
same computer room with a bunch of other Mini guys. The DG guy,
the Concurrent/Perkin Elmer guy, the Rohm guy. (Actually everyone
got along pretty well except for the IBM folks, who wouldn't talk to
anyone.)
Anyway, we all pretty much loaned each other tools and held stuff that
the other needed soldered when asked... The HP guy told me he was an
11/40 tech on DEC stuff earlier in his career and he hated the way the
DEC boxes were built and cabled.
I showed him the 11/780 design and layout and diags and he walked me
over to the HP mini. One slick piece of hardware. The boards were
cabled together neatly with one over the edge cable. All the traces
were gold plated and it was a pretty sight.
He said HP stood for one thing "High Priced." But he was right about
the quality for the price. First rate mechanicals.
I learned Basic on an HP2000 in college, so I felt VAX/VMS was
lightyears ahead on software... (I still feel that way after seeing MPE
when I worked for Concurrent in '88).
I've never seen a machine as slick as that (although the Alliant FX/8's
diags which put PWR LO/PWR HIGH, CLK SLO, CLOCK HI in the LED
alphanumerics when running diags was a slick trick.
Bill
---
bpechter@shell.monmouth.com|pechter@pechter.dyndns.org
Three things never anger: First, the one who runs your DEC,
The one who does Field Service and the one who signs your check.
