On Oct 11,  5:00am, "Johan A. van Zanten" wrote:
} I, johan, originally wrote:
} > > Suns have ECC memory, which is much more "robust" than PeeCees.  Most
} > > memory errors are detected and corrected, rather than silenty causing
} > > problems with running processes.
} 
} der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> replied:
} > Saying this is true of "Suns" is a bit misleading.  There probably are
} > Suns that won't work without ECC memory.  Some support it but will work
} > with basic parity memory.  Some will even take non-parity memory.  I
} > don't know all the combinations, but I am quite sure that there are
} > Suns that don't do ECC, and some that do ECC if you put ECC memory in
} > them but will work with other memory.
} 
}  The main idea i was failing to communicate is that Suns (generally) have
} some sort of error checking on RAM, which is different than x86-type
} hardware, which at the time, often has none, because it was cheaper.  So
} the OS running on a Sun at least has the opportunity to be told that a
} stick of RAM is behaving badly, and can handle or log the error rather
} than passing the bad data into userland or crashing.
} 
}  Although, upon further reflection, my comments are somewhat useless,
} because i'm really comparing sun4m (1993-2000ish) with same-period models
} of x86-based hardware.  Most people reading this would probably be
} thinking of more modern x86-ish hardware that now uses ECC memory.

     Actually, most x86 hardware is still using non-parity RAM.  It is
only higher end systems that use ECC memory.

}-- End of excerpt from "Johan A. van Zanten"