Newsgroups: bit.listserv.novell
Date:         Tue, 10 Nov 1992 09:48:14 EST
Reply-To:     Novell LAN Interest Group <NOVELL@SUVM.BITNET>
From:         NCUT000 <NCUT@SLUMUS.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: microchannel vs eisa

We're a big IBM shop.  Hundreds of IBM's, and some non-IBM as well
(AT+T, Compaq, Dell, Northgate, lots of Apple, etc.), but I don't want
folks to get the wrong impression.  There is a reason that the industry
has chosen to compare itselft to IBM:



> > I prefer microchannel to esia.  I have a model 95 as a server and 55,56,57,7
> > 80, and 90s as workstations.  Alot of the decision comes down to personal
> > preference.  Some benckmarks will place MCA as a higher performance others
> > EISA higher.  Based on a few more or less "eye ball" comparisons my 25Mhz
> > 486sx compares very favorably to a colleague's Dell 33Mhz EISA 486.  He
> > swears by EISA like I do MCA.  He has had more problems with his network.
>
> I think that personal preference is it for now, on servers at least.  Better
> 3rd party card support may give the nod to EISA for network nodes, IMHO.
>
> > As far as quality of an IBM, they are rock solid.  I have nearly 100 PS/2s
> > ranging better 30-286s up to 95s.  In 2 1/2 years I have had to replace 2
> > monitors and a floppy drive.  I had to replace 3 monitors and a hard drive
> > on my 10 Dell computers.  I won't even discuss they few zeniths I've worked
> > with.
>
> I think that the myth of IBM reliability is over-blown.  They have had
> their share of disasters, but people tend to forget them.  Take the
> following examples:
>
>    - IBM 8513 monitors.  Almost every one built in 1987-89 was defective.
>      We bought hundreds at the company I used to work for, and it was a
>      total disaster.  25% out of box failure rate, >50% failure in first
>      year, 100% failure within 4 years.  We were a big customer, so IBM
>      kept extending our warranty, but we finally decided they were not
>      worth the hassle and replaced all of them with Sony's.
>
>    - The original IBM 8570-A71 (Model 70 386/33 with 120 Mb hard drive).
>      100% failure rate in the first week, all attributable to a poorly
>      built, IBM-manufactured hard-drive.  IBM had to take this off the
>      market for a while as they fixed their hard-drive manufacturing
>      facility.
>
>    - The original IBM AT with the flaky 20 Mb CMI hard-drive.  CMI was
>      driven out of the computer business (into movie production) due
>      to that fiasco, but the damage was done - and made worse due to
>      IBM's failure to acknowledge the problem.  (anyone else remember
>      CORE's response - the trade-in deal with the old CMI's being
>      dumped off the coast next to IBM/Boca Raton to form an artifical reef).
>
> The PS/2 line also suffers from a large number of incompatibilities.  The
> ESDI drives in the 60's and early Model 80's are non-standard.  As far
> as memory upgrades go, an 80-041 != 80-071 != 80-111 != 80-311 != 70-061 !=
> 70-A21 etc. etc. - e.g., each and every 386 box had a different memory
> upgrade path.  IBM is finally getting better in this regard, but anyone
> with a fleet of PS/2's knows what a hassle it is to upgrade them.
>
> > I'm not sure if MCA is proprietary or not.  There are other people who
> > sell MCA computers.  I have a NCR MCA computer and it seems to be completely
> > compatible.  Microchannel components and adaptors are also widely available.
>
> It is IBM proprietary.  One of the reasons it did not catch on, is that in
> order to license MCA from IBM a vendor had to agree to pay post hoc license
> fees on all ISA machines sold in the past.  So Compaq, et. al., decided to
> create their own extended, bus-mastering bus architecture - EISA.
>
> > Christian McCathern
> > Systems Analyst
> > George Washington University Medical Center
> > Dept. Health Care Sciences
> >
> +-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
> |   Richard M. Warner   |   Internet:  rick@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu  |
> |                       | CompuServe:  71121,2257             |
> +-----------------------+-------------------------------------+
> |  ** DISCLAIMER:  All opinions are strictly my own.  I work  |
> |                  hard enough at forming them!               |
> +-------------------------------------------------------------+

Nick Cutry                         voice: (315)379-5971
Network Manager                    Bitnet: NCUT@SLUMUS or CUTRY@STLAWU
Computer Services                  Compu$erve: 76424,144 or 73257,2537
St. Lawrence University
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