Brian D Chase <bdc@world.std.com> wrote:
> That's why I clarified my question to
> the deadly precision of a CIA hit man's aim with this second sentence:
>
> > > In particular, do the
> > > MV3100/M10/M10e/M20e use the same disk controller boards as the
> > > VS3100/M30/M38/M40/M48 or do they have their own integrated
> > > controllers sort of like the VS3100/M76 has?
   If you were to bother looking at previous postings, you would find that
this question had been addressed in the exchange between me and Antonio
BEFORE your pissing-off and disrespectful posting. Moreover, it had already
been stated by Antonio that he had looked at the KA41 system board and had
found two NCR 5380 chips there.
> But usually I find that I've a certain amount of difficulty in
> differentiating between the what-if scenerios, the contemplations, the
> speculations, the double guessing of machine similarities based on
> external features, and any facts you present in your posts.
   I do indicate what is a fact, what is a guess (and what is it based on),
and what has been inferred from outside sources like Jim Agnew's FAQ. If
you have difficulties with understanding what people clearly state, I
suggest that you take some courses at your local community college in
English and communication sciences to improve your reading comprehension
skills.
> And it seems
> like often you later come back and correct assumptions you made in
> previous posts.
   Well, no defective has ever been able to make absolutely correct first
guesses 100% of the time. Even Sherlock Holmes and Fox Mulder have
sometimes corrected their earlier assumptions. This is just like the
criminal justice system: you'll never get the criminal to confess, so you
have to infer his guilt based on indirect evidence and its analysis using
logical reasoning. VAXen are no better than criminals: the information
available is scarce, and in thorny issues like marketing and licensing,
you'll never get DEC to tell the truth, just like you'll never get the
criminal to confess.
> So I have a rough time taking your information as if it
> comes from an authoritative source.
   There are cases when you are never going to get absolutely authoritative
information. In these cases you have to build a plausible theory based on
indirect evidence and then base your final judgment based on this theory.
Unfortunately, this happens pretty often. Count the number of people sent
to jail or even to the chair based on only partial evidence.
> In reading through your message with Antonio I can see that you state the
> MicroVAX systems have integrated SCSI controllers.
   As I have said before, this knowledge was obtained by Antonio by looking
at the board, so it's authoritative.
> But then later in the same post I see you incorrectly surmise that the
> VAXstation 3100/M76 has a SCSI daughter card because the location of the
> external connector on its case is the same as an M38's ?!?
   In that posting I have clearly stated that this was an assumption based
on such and such indirect evidence, rather than a direct verification.
> Okay, so now I go back and wonder if
> you've actually seen the insides of a MicroVAX 3100 or are you just
> extrapolating from what you may have seen in a MicroVAX 2000?
   If you knew anything about MV2000 you would know that this information
couldn't have possibly been obtained from it. It's just too different.
MV3100 has two SCSI buses and MV2000 has only one. MV3100 has the external
SCSI connector on the system unit "proper" while on MV2000 it's on an add-
on expansion adapter (although unlike VS2000 MV2000 always ships with this
adapter). Finally, on MV2000 SCSI has a backwater status as I have
explained in my most recent posting. Among other things, this means that
MV2000 is not designed for internal SCSI devices.
   
   Sincerely,
   Michael Sokolov
   Phone: 440-449-0299
   ARPA Internet SMTP mail: sokolov@alpha.ces.cwru.edu