David Plews wrote
> Subject: Re: computer memory
>
> So MCS are selling me a server for a terminal?
I would think it a total overkill to put error correcting memory on a
terminal or out-board workstation. And even for a server it seems to
me rather a luxury. As an aside, when I ran a large Amdhal server
with error correcting memory, the Amdahl engineers used the error
recovery system to identify those error cards which failed, and would
swap them out; after about two years of this we reached the stage
where we had about four single bit errors, at random locations, in
each three months period. These were of course corrected
automatically by the error correction system. But it makes the point
that modern memory is very relaible, and a simple parity trap is
probably adequate.
> I've rejected their new quote - total 1500UKP + vat, and asked if we can buy
> our own -
> 1200UKP all in internet ready, and no ####### vat.
> Perhaps the moral is that Compaq are just to ####### expensive. Or is the
> mark-up for the supplier the problem?
I would have thought that VAT was always recoverable for systems
bought for use within the NHS sector; but I am no expert on that.
The mark-up depends on exactly where you calculate it, and whose
figures you are looking at (and believe!!). Certainly a lot of folk
start up making computers, and the go bust at a rather early stage,
suggsting that margins are indeed quite tight. But keep my sympathy
for other examples of the deserving poor, like Chairmen of Water
Boards.
Mike Wells
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Professor Mike Wells
Department of Physics, The University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Phone: 0113-233-3879 E-Mail [log in to unmask]
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