Chris.Smith@raytheon.co.uk drunkenly mumbled...
> 
> > You're exactly correct - it's the IDPROM. If the machine dies, you can
> put
> > it's IDPROM into a working machine, thus keeping your hostid, Ethernet
> > address, etc, for licensing purposes.
> 
> Does this mean that when the IDPROM reaches it's end of life, you can just
> poke another one in and reconfigure it?  That would be nicer than finding a
> replacement and doing some chip-levering on older systems as I'm sure
> people will be using these still in 10 years.  As you all know `old suns
> never die' (addendum: however hard you try to kill them ;-).

i'm guessing that either a) the IDPROM isn't going to end of life (battery
somewhere else) or that b) the "chip" may be something like PCMCIA flash or
whatever, and should be easily rebuildable/replaceable.  complete guesses,
but probably close.

one thing i really like about this machine is the use of PC133 memory instead
of the old super-slow 60ns stuff they still use in everything else.

two things i don't like about this machine are a) IDE!!!! (the closest ispell
can come to IDE is DIE, pretty appropriate IMHO) and b) 256K eCache.

so, it'll make an awsome web server or ftp server, or dhcp server, but don't
bother trying to run any "real" applications on it.

but i will be buying one for personal use at that price.  and using industry
standard (is there really such a thing) PC133 memory, i can cheapy get it
fully populated.

overall, a very nice machine.  not a powerhouse, but then the Netras never were.

-brian