Steve wrote:
> Partial Answer #1: "does not support" does not mean "can't be installed
> into the box."
> [snip]
> Partial Answer #2: "does not support" does not mean "the hardware can't
> see the HPIB adapter."
> [snip]
> Partial Answer #3: "does not support" does not mean "won't see HPIB
> devices on the bus."
> [snip]
> Partial Answer #4: "does not support" does not mean "can't be used by
> MPE/ix."
> [snip]
> And I'd *still* like to know that "does not support" really means.
> [snip]
> This also raises the question: should the user community insist that HP
> produce the requisite "low-level drivers" to complete the picture, and
> make HPIB a supported interface on the 9x9KS boxes?
 
The word 'support' is one of the more flexible words used by computer
vendors.  It has two common usages which mean completely different things,
but these two usages are generally held (by vendors) to be interchangeable.
 
First is the phrase "X does not support Y" which usually means that if
you try to use Y with X, it is not going to work, no matter how hard you
try.
 
The other is "We do not support Y" which often means "We want to sell
you Z as a replacement for Y, so Y is not officially supported." or (in
HP's case very often) it means "We did not expend the money and time
to test that Y will work in all cases, so we don't support it.".  In *many*
cases, things that are 'unsupported' work just fine.  What is and what is not
'supported' is as often a marketing decision as a technical one.
 
Then there is the all purpose "Y is not supported" which can mean either of
the above things. In many instances, you can assume that the person who
tells you "Y is not supported" does not actually know if it will work or
not.
 
The ASNL (Asynchronous Network Link) for MPE/V I believe supported baud
rates of 1200, 2400, and 9600.  At one point we wanted to use 4800 baud
modems.  We asked why you could not enter '4800' in the baud rate field,
and the answer was that the engineers who developed the product did not
have access to a modem that would run at 4800 baud, so they removed the
option because they could not test it and thus could not guarantee that
it would work.
 
Even if it works fine, the fact the fact that your vendor will not 'support'
that configuration may be important enough to you that you may not want to
do it.
 
Support means more than simply that it will work, or even that it will work
reliably.  In the case of something like an HP3000 where you are paying HP
for hardware and software maintenance, it means that if something goes
wrong with it, they will figure it out no matter what.  This means that
they have tested it in advance, that engineering has certified that the
configuration does not have any problems (power requirements, heat dissipation,
RFI, FCC Certification, physical compatibility with options you may not
have or which haven't been announced yet), that the CEs are trained, that
they have experience configuring and troubleshooting the configuration, that
they have systems available to try to reproduce your problems, that a spare
parts kit for your system will include everything needed, etc.
 
In the case of the CIO/HPIB NIO card for 9x9 systems, there is *probably* no
technical reason why it can't be supported, and there is probably nothing
in MPE/iX that needs to be changed to do so.  On the other hand, by not
supporting HPIB peripherals on the 9x9, they simplify their configuration
guides, their support price database, and so forth.  They also shorten the
amount of time that they will have to maintain the CIO/HPIB card hardware
and software (theoretically at some point all the systems that support this
card will be unsupported themselves).  Of course they annoy all the customers
who want to upgrade to 9x9 systems by making them upgrade their peripherals
(but this makes HP more money).  I'm sure that all these things are taken
into account when the decisions are made as to what will and won't be
'supported'.
 
G.