From: arne@vajhoej.dk   
      
   On 12/1/2025 1:02 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:   
   >> On 2025-11-29, Dave Froble  wrote:   
   >>> Why would anyone want one of these drives?  It sure isn't for storage   
   capacity.   
   >>> There are many things from the past, but show me anyone who has any real   
   use for   
   >>> them.  I mean, I do not collect wheels, covered wagons, model T Fords, and   
   >>> certainly not an RA82 drive.   
   >>   
   >> Because some people care about how we got to where we are today.   
   >>   
   >> Around Europe, there are carefully preserved and some maintained   
   >> historical train locomotives that are many decades old. Some are   
   >> over a century old.   
   >   
   > The RA81 and RA82 are not Model T Fords.  They are Maxwells, prone to   
   > breaking down and leaving people stranded in the middle of the road.   
   >   
   > When we were running many of them, we had a DEC FE who was on site a   
   > couple days a week replacing heads, and without that support I would   
   > not want to be running them.   
      
   > There are many devices that should be preserved in working condition so that   
   > new generations should see how they worked when they were new and experience   
   > them working.  The RA81 should be left in the rack broken, so that new   
   > generations can see how they were when they were new.   
      
   RA81's and RA82's on a 8650.   
      
   The RA82's were okay, but the RA81's crashed frequently. DEC field   
   service knew that site very well.   
      
   I have been told here that there were a manufacturing problem with   
   RA81's and when the problem got fixed they stopped crashing all the   
   time.   
      
   Arne   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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