i installed NetBSD on my Alpha (DEC 3000/300LX) yesterday, and things went
belly up on the RZ26L that was in the alpha.  so i grabbed the RZ28 out of
the DEC 3000/700 since i haven't gotten an OS on it yet.

so i'm installing NetBSD on that right now.  well, i have a Quantum Atlas and
a Seagate Somethingorother in the sparc20 sitting right in front of me.  when
i read or write real hard to the drives in the sparc20 they make the normal
grinding noise of a hard-drive at work, otherwise they are almost completely
silent as i definitely can't hear them over the fan in the PS.

the RZ28 makes this constant buzzing sound, that i can hear from across the
room, but the noise it makes when it's idle and the noise it makes it makes
when it's reading/writing real hard are exactly the same.  from an audio
standpoint i can't believe the output of tar is flying up my screen so fast.

the RZ26L is the best of both worlds.  it makes that constant buzzing noise,
but when it's being used real hard it makes that grinding access noise.

log this under the noise thread i started a while ago.  it's interesting to
take note of the noises that different hardware makes.

cheers,

-brian

ps: port-vax rules.  where else could someone post random thoughts they have
about hardware and actually start threads about it.  every time i say stuff
like this on any of the other port mailing lists either people ignore me or
yell at me for being OT.  you are the coolest guys i know.

pps: i've had a lot of trouble with the NetBSD install on this Alpha, and
while i was very upset at the time, after installing NetBSD this time i 
realized that i am now 100% familiar with the non-sysinst install process,
and that is kinda cool, since i think it promotes a deeper understanding of
the OS.  down with sysinst.