Chris,
Here's an access to 'concrete numbers'. You can even find hp
and 3000 here!
http://www.lekoprecast.com/contact.html
Have a great week,
Ray Shahan
-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Robert Mills
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 4:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] SIB '04 update #2
I find myself echoing Chris's sentiments. We currently have two
979/400's, the second purchased within the last few months. Both systems
are running 6.5 with no upgrade to 7.0 or 7.5 planned in the future.
Therefore, we will be unable to take advantage (or assist in the
testing) of these new features until a 6.5 version is released.
regards,
Robert W.Mills
Systems Development Manager
Windsong Services
(020) 8309 3604
-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Bartram, Chris (Contractor)
Sent: 29 April 2005 21:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] SIB '04 update #2
HP-3000 Systems Discussion <mailto:[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> In Jan 2004 I gave an update on our SIB '04 progress. See
> http://raven.utc.edu/cgi-bin/WA.EXE?A2=ind0501B&L=hp3000-l&P=R 12868
> for the full report.
I know this is probably beating a dead horse... But here comes my stick
anyway :-)
All these nifty enhancements excite and frustrate me.
If my failing memory serves at all, something like 60%+ of all the
HP3000s ever sold were 9x7 models? (I could be way off here, but go with
me anyway
;-) )
In the "heyday", I've heard numbers as high as ~70,000 HP3000s in
operation worldwide... If we're lucky today, it's probably in the
~20,000-30,000 range?
The last MPE/iX release you can run on any 9x7 box is MPE/iX 6.5. And
that's more due to built-in features to disable the upgrade path for
earlier systems than it is for limitations in the earlier systems
(though there is obviously an increased testing cost to support older
platforms). I'm even willing to write off earlier (HPIB based) boxes,
since their peripherals are so failure-prone and hard to replace
nowadays that IMHO they're not suitable for more than hobby use...
As a "W.A.G." (tm) I'm guessing that probably 10-15% of the installed
base still running HP3000s (of all models) can run MPE/iX 7.5 ? And of
those, even fewer are likely to be interested in new-functionality
patches for the boxes.
I know HP won't release numbers on systems sold or supported, and in
reality they have very little idea of how many systems are still running
out there in any case.
At this point very few people have the option of buying new A or N-class
boxes; and those that do won't be generating any new income for HP.
It sure would be nice to see some concrete numbers from an impartial
body on just what the spread of in-use hardware is... (OpenMPE???) Cause
it's looking alot like there's some really cool development happening,
but that it'll never help probably 90% of the sites still running
HP3000s.
I'm sure even the programmers working on these nice mods would feel more
satisfaction if they knew their work was going to benefit perhaps 10
times the number of sites it currently is...
None of the systems we've got here, and only 1 of 3 I run at 3k.com
could benefit from any of these (7.5) patches, and I'm not likely to
try the enhancements out on the one box I CAN run them on, since it
would then be incompatible with my other boxes... There wouldn't be any
point in writing any software to take advantage of these features that
will only be available on my 1 box. :-(
So I guess this long rant is basically another plea to either reconsider
making 7.5 "runnable" on 9x7 era boxes (which would seem to be less new
testing in the long run than re-testing every mod on multiple OSes); or
making all these nifty mods available to earlier releases. (I know some
of that is planned, though likely not all patches will make it to all
releases; but I would also guess that you'd likely find alot more
beta-testers on
pre-7.5 releases than you do now on 7.5... so perhaps targeting patches
to THOSE releases FIRST would speed up QA?)
Some concrete numbers from the (still-running) base sure would help
either way :-)
Or am I waaayyyyy off base?
<stepping off the soapbox now ;-) >
FWIW,
Chris Bartram
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