Consoles old and new

["Clark M. Baker" <cmb@VALLECITO.SCRC.SYMBOLICS.COM>]

    Date: Sun, 17 Sep 89 19:20:58 EDT
    From: barmar@Think.COM

       Date: Sun, 17 Sep 89 16:43 EDT
       From: pan@athena.pangaro.dialnet.symbolics.com (Paul Pangaro)

       1- Are the new, slimmer and sleaker consoles different inside, from the
       older more clunky ones?

    No, they're exactly the same as the Symbolics consoles with the solid
    grey cases (as opposed to the ones with the removable panel on the
    top).

I asked Rich Leitermann who was responsible for the mechanical design of
the "new" console.  The new console has 19 inch monitor as opposed to a
17 inch monitor in the older consoles.  While he wasn't sure about the
electronics, he knows that the PC boards were redone for the console.
In addition the new console has massive heat sinks on the back.  Rich
believes that the heat sinks and the new board layouts should cause the
new console to run cooler which would contribute to its reliability.

       2- Are they better or worse? More or less reliable? 

I asked a CS engineer and he indicated that he thought that the new
consoles were more reliable than the old ones.
							   
          Hardware or easier to adjust? 

[Do you walk to work or carry your lunch? :-)]  The old consoles with
the grills and removable panel on the top are the easiest to adjust.
Remove one screw (which is usually always removed) and you can lift off
the top panel and get to everything.  The old consoles with the
wrap-around-3-sides top and all the vents in the back are the hardest to
adjust.  For them, you have to loosen two set screws (don't remove them)
whose access is from the bottom and then slide the whole top and sides
toward the back until it comes off.  I have found it to be be big and
heavy and hard to put back on.  The new console requires you to remove 4
screws (I believe accessable from the rear) and slide the case toward
the back untill the adjustments are accessable.  The case does not have
to be removed.
		  
		  More or less reliable?

    Since they're the same inside, the reliability should be about the
    same, except that they probably have newer components.  I don't think
    some of the adjustment pots are as easy to access, though.

						    barmar

My conclusion is that, if I had a choice today, I would get a new
console.