On Mon, 8 Jan 1996 19:03:26 GMT Jon Cohen said:
>Steve Dirickson b894 WestWin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>><<As a lab engineer in HP's Commercial Systems Division, I guess I'll
>>take a nervous stab at answering your fundamental question:>>
>>
>>Frankly, I have to admire the courage of anyone willing to step into
>>this thread with "HP" in his/her tag line. Hope you have your asbestos
>>underwear on ;-)
>
>Thanks for the encouragement -- I really was kinda nervous.
 
Likewise.  My turn :-)
 
>Supporting HPIB peripherals on the new platforms could possibly imply
>the following:
>
>   o  Increased support costs.
       + Why?  We're talking about the SAME peripheral, SAME I/O cards
         as currently "supported" configurations.
>   o  Delays in the delivery of releases.
       + Ditto
>   o  Less new functionality.
       + We're aware of that
>   o  Less support for new peripherals.
       + Ditto
>   o  Customer satisfaction issues since HPIB is slow and the 9x9KS
>      processors are fast.
       + Yet you turn around and reply to Steve:
 
>>On a slightly-related topic, what does HP recommend as the
>>"official" system-printer solution for 9x9KS boxes?
>
>I'll look into this for you, but off the top of my head, I thought you
>could connect RS-232 printers off your DTC.  I'll get back to you.
 
Oh boy!  There's one blazingly fast solution for us.
 
>Remember, we also have customers informing us that the old peripherals
>do not meet their needs.  This provides us with constant challenges:
>how best to use our limited engineering bandwidth.
>
>Could you perhaps offer us some guidelines in how long we should support
>old peripherals on new boxes?
 
YES YES YES.  Don't "artificially" nudge a product out of support like this.
When the 9x9 was announced it appeared that it was perhaps a new architecture
bus or other technical limitation that prevented HP-IB support.  This would
have at least made sense not to create a "new" driver card and LLIO software.
Don't drop support "just because".  I would rather hear the announcement of
the 5-year clock on HP-IB in general than have it disappear overnight like
this, especially when there are such marginal (if any) technical issues.
 
>          This is part of what makes me nervous about responding on the
>newsgroup.  But I think we should point out that HPIB is still supported
>on the older systems.  I'm not a lawyer, but I think that is a key and
>relevant fact -- HP is not forcing you to upgrade.
 
But what has changed with the new box?  As Steve so eloquently outlined,
apparently nothing.
 
>Well, we haven't scoped the effort/capital needed to create the changes
>needed for HPIB support, so there is no guarantee that the effort is
>small.  In fact, certifying peripherals tends to be a fairly intensive
>exercise -- remember, there are HPIB tapes and disks to consider also.
>And we would also have to consider the impact on system performance when
>you have a very fast processor with very slow peripherals.  Finally,
>because your configuration isn't supported, the RC is within it's rights
>if it decides not to assist you on your calls.
 
But you'll recommend a DTC-attached lineprinter?  Or let me guess, you can
get a 9000 to use as a print server with a third-party spooler?  (Well, that
is a cheap shot, I know network printing is around the corner).
 
Jeff Kell <[log in to unmask]>