1/26    Suggestions on a DLT/70 drive?
        \_ Aren't they all made by one manufacturer then OEM'ed?  -ax
        \_ yes, they're made by quantum.  Buy one, is my suggestion.  -tom
        \_ Make sure you get one with a GOOD FAN, DLT7000's have a tendency
           to run hot.  If you like DLT, right now, DLT2000XT is best for
           price/performance.  DLT7000s have great capacity, and a great
           technology in general, but are a bit more expensive.  DLT7000s
           also contain backwards compatibility to the very first DLT model
           only included in DEC workstations of old, thus it can take a while
           for a DLT to load a tape.  Those MIT-wits made pretty good
           hardware---DLT (sold to Quantum), DECetherworks (sold to Intel),
           DEC Raid (Used to be the best you could get), Alpha (off to Compaq),
           and PCs with quality fans---but, they sucked at marketing.
           BTW, DEC had a deal with Samsung to let Samsung manufacture
           Alphas just before DEC got bought out... I guess that deal's off now.
           Too bad.  -mtbb   (sorry for the long rant)
           \_ Samsung was and AFAIK is still making Alphas which are coming
              out of an Intel fab.
              \_  Samsung manufactures Alphas.  Intel also fabs Alphas for
                  Compaq.  --PeterM
                  \_ there are actually some pretty interesting rumors
                     about why intel and samsung are fabbing alphas.  the
                     truth is definitely out there.
                     \_ Rumors?  DEC wanted to get rid of Fab7.  It wasn't
                        making money.  So they used their patent lawsuit
                        to force Intel to take the fab off their hands, AND
                        forced a requirement that Intel fab alphas for them
                        as part of the settlement.  The FTC made DEC
                        find a second-source for alpha, since Intel wields
                        near-monopoly power, hence Samsung's architecture
                        license.  Samsung is hoping to make money, but I
                        think it's been a big loss for them so far.
                        Compaq seems to have carried on the DEC tradition
                        of having really stupid marketing, so perhaps
                        Alpha will be dead by 2001, unless COMPAQ does
                        something quick.
                        --PeterM
                        \_ Not quite.  The hot rumor was Compaq had been
                           interested in DEC from a couple years back, but
                           did not want to pick up the Fabs also.  DEC got
                           rid of the fab specifically to facilitate a sale
                           marketting, you'll still see alphas out there.
                           to Compaq.  Microsoft engineered the whole thing,
                           to create a Compaq/Samsung/Alpha competitor for
                           Intel/Pentium.
                        \_ Dead?  Hardly.  By 2001, they'll be pushing systems
                           with 1+ ghz.  If you've got the money, you can't
                           beat a DEC system in the unix world.  (And no, it
                           doesn't run Linux).  Even with their lame
                           marketing, you'll still see alphas out there.  Its
                           always been a high end niche.  It'll stay that way.
                   \_ DEC has a tradition of making fine, quality hardware.
                      Their PCs had fans which never wore down/broke, stuff I
                      am sure Compaq will yank out right away and replace with
                      the standard cheap crap you see on most PCs today.  The
                      problem has always been DEC never knew how to market their
                      products.  Take DLT drives for example, when they intro-
                      duced the DLT2000/4000 models a couple years ago, the
                      product was so good, they grabbed up HUGE portions of
                      Exabyte's market.  Problem was, they under-estimated
                      demand for their product, and without a means to increase
                      production soon enough, they sold the technology to
                      Quantum.  Quantum has made a killing off the DLT line.
                      If Samsung & Compaq would get their acts together, they
                      could really take chunks of UNIX market from other UNIX
                      and even NT vendors.  But, Compaq's put themselves in a
                      situation similar to IBM's, where they have too much stuff
                      to focus on doing well in one market.  Compaq could really
                      exploit the Alpha chip if they didn't have to worry about
                      what Bill Gates might think, etc.  In our workplace, we
                      have 4 Alpha 8400 servers (4 GB memory, 4+ CPUs, 100+ GB
                      of RAID, 4 SCSI busses / per server).  Each server can
                      run up to 9 different SAP Instances.  For the SAME AMOUNT
                      of money, you can get an HP server with maybe 2 crap CPUs,
                      a SCSI bus which only recognizes other HP hardware, up to
                      1 GB of main memory, and enuff other resources to handle
                      up to 3 SAP Instances if we're lucky.  HP doesn't even
                      give you a decent monitor - they expect you to buy X terms
                      from them for even more $$$.  What do you expect from
                      $tanfurdders?  Unfortunately, it's all in the hands of
                      Compaq's shareholders now.   -mtbb