4 Dec
2007
4 Dec
'07
1:33 p.m.
On Dec 3, 2007, at 12:22 PM, Richard wrote:
I would also argue that MTBF is unimportant in a machine used for a
hobby.
I'd much rather have a machine that required minor maintenance/repair
every year or so (requiring, perhaps, that the fans be taken apart and
cleaned, or ta few TTL chips replaced) than one that ran for 3 yeasrs and
then failed in a catastrophic way (requriing the replacement of, say, a PC
motherboard or a modern hard disk).
Incidnetally, I feel this way about things other than computers. 'Sealed
for life' bearings are a pain. I'd rather go round every month with a
grease gun :-)
-tony
Then there's the power needs. An RL01
requires a helluva lot more
power to run on a regular basis than an RL01 emulator connected to a
PC and the MTBF is much, much higher with the emulator.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree on both counts. The fact that many
of us have RL01 drives that are still working (without having been
repaired) counters the MTBF argument, and an RL drive pulls something