On Tue, 11 Nov 1997, Henry B. Hotz wrote:

> A *big* problem on Mac's is that we don't even use parity memory.  We have
> no way to even detect an error like that, much less recover from it.  It is
> worth noting that memory chip technology has evolved to a point where the
> soft errors detected by parity and ECC checks are uncommon now.

While it's true that Macs don't require parity memory, I'd challenge you
to find ONE PC model sold within the last 5 years that did either. That
practice has long gone away because as you stated, memory simply doesn't
have a high-enough failure rate to warrant it. The EDO memory that all
current PCs use is nonparity. Macs, as well as PeeCees can, and do check
their Memory to see if it has gone bad. When you boot a PC, (unless you
change it to fast boot) it'll count up your memory, signaling that it's
OK. When you boot a Mac, it does the same thing...it just doesn't show you
& it's much faster. If your Mac finds bad memory, it'll play a little tune
(the tune differs depending on your model & if you have an upgrade card
installed). 

HTH
Mike