OT memory too cheap to pass up - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 Jan 2001

From: Tony Duell &lt;ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk&gt;

...
 > That would be interesting. You could use duct tape
to attach a soldering
...
 > iron to the board so it would generate the same
heat that 512MB does :-)
...

Many a true word is spoken in jest. 

;)

...
 I've seen PCBs in some systems that are nothing
more than an array of
high-power resistors connected between (one of?) the supply lines and
ground. Said PCBs are generally fitted if a particular option (consisting
...
 of a PCB containing logic chips, etc) is not installed.
And the only
purpose of the board of resistors is to load the PSU so that it stays in
regulation -- the load of the rest of the machines (without the optional
logic board) is not enough for the PSU to remain happy. 

The best known and classic is Microvax2000 diskless systems.  The
disks of the day were 30W loads and if they were not used there was
a board (array of resistors).  The matching tape (TK50..) used the same
box, PS and the resistor array to load it.

Allison