Re: swap

[Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net>]

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On 05/11/07 06:42, Greg Folkert wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-05-10 at 17:22 -0500, Ron Johnson wrote:
>> On 05/10/07 16:12, Greg Folkert wrote:
>> [snip]
>>>> I guess that's called a mainframe :)
>>> No, mainframes are not really that "capable" as a holy grail to set your
>>> sights on. Yes they operate on a different set of standards, but over
>>> all, they were designed to handle large amounts of input and output in a
>>> very reasonable way. They really don't do computing any better or worse
>>> (subjective, yes, I know) than any other systems. The only real thing
>>> mainframes do better than many other systems, that I know of, is COST a
>>> lot of money to maintain and upgrade. 
>> Did you just contradict yourself?  They're *great* at IO.  And
>> they're durable.
> 
> Durable, through HUGE maintenance contracts. Though...
> 
> I should have said:
> 
>         Besides IO, the only real thing mainframes do better than many
>         other systems, that I know of, is COST a lot of money to
>         maintain and upgrade. 
> 
> Some costs I have seen in the past, associated with "mainframes":
> 
>       * $50K just to get TCP/IP enabled on a single network interface.
>       * $120K to enable another, already there, processor.
>       * $60K to "update" the disk IO scheduler, that was mistakenly
>         ordered with the wrong configuration
> 
> I could mention others, I don't have all day. These were all done in
> about 30 minutes after a P.O. was cut and faxed.

You're absolutely correct.

But they must be of some corporate benefit, because otherwise they'd
have been replaced by big Alphas & SPARCs.

- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA  USA

Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.
Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good!

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