Re: Is this list alive?

["J. Alexander Jacocks" <jjacocks%mac.com@localhost>]

On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 12:48 AM, Bill Roman 
<netbsd%songdog.eskimo.com@localhost> wrote:
> On Sun, 2012-12-16 at 16:11 -0800, Aaron J. Grier wrote:
>> the multias are pathetic, not stable....
>
> Perhaps... but they're *cute* :-)
>
> I have one (well, more than one, but the others are for parts).  I've
> played around with NetBSD 4 and 5 on it, and I'm getting ready to try
> again with 6.0.
>
> I had noticed some apparent stability problems -- random compile errors
> and segfaults while building a kernel, never reproducible.  I was going
> to try swapping some parts around, figuring it was some marginal
> hardware somewhere.
>
> But if it's a general Multia issue, I don't want to waste time on it.
>
> So -- is anyone else with a Multia finding it's "not stable"?
>
> Pathetic is another matter... that kernel build runs overnight.  But I
> just want a small box that doesn't take much power to use as a firewall,
> and that doesn't take a monster machine.

Bill,

I have a Multia, and they definitely are stable, if you manage them
properly.  The main issue with them, as is well documented in the
NetBSD Multia FAQ, is heat.  First, the fans suck, or rather don't
suck enough.  See
http://www.netbsd.org/ports/alpha/multiafaq.html#overheat.  Second,
there is an IC on the back of the board that runs rather hot, and can
cook itself.  See
http://www.netbsd.org/ports/alpha/multiafaq.html#heat-death.

I'm rather fond of these machines, and they are far from the slowest
machines supported by -current.  If you want to see slow, try a
DECstation 5000/20 (which I also have!).

- Alex