Conference msgaxp::optical

    Detlef,
    
    Answer 1:  Yes, the RWZ53 can read 1X media (~600MB), 2X media (~1.3 GB)
    	       and the new 4X media (2.3/2.6 GB).  Additional info: The RWZ53
    	       can only write the 2X and 4X media, not the 1X media.
    
    Answer 2:  To use the RWZ53 with Digital Unix you will need OSDS V1.5.
    	       The minimally supported version of Digital Unix for OSDS V1.5
    	       is V3.2C.
    
    Answer 3:  Yes, see answer 2.
    
    Also, why did you say that the customer is forced to move to the RWZ53?
    
    Rob

Thanks for your answers.

The sales rep told me that the RWZ53 is what he gets for a RWZ52 order.

Is the OSDS V1.5 on the March Digital UNIX SPL ?

thanx
	Detlef.

[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

    I have sent mail to the product manager asking if OSDS V1.5 is
    available on the March SPL.
    
    There have been some problems in the area of RWZ52 and RWZ53 orders
    and replacement parts.  I don't know if you can still order new RWZ52
    drives.
    
    Does anybody else in this conference know if the RWZ52's are still
    available as a new purchase?
    
    Rob

    Nope... Last I looked, the RWZ52's were unavailable. Our vendor is no
    longer producing them.
    
    There -may- be a small stock of bare drives remaining, though.
    
    Chris

    OSDS V1.5 for Digital Unix is going to be on the SPL (con-dist)
    for April according to the product manager.
    
    Rob

Ok, and what is if somebody gets it next week ? April is more than a month
ago ...

Detlef.

[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

    Then you need to contact the product manager, or file an IPMT.
    
    CHris
    
    
    

    re: .4
    
    <<<....Last I looked, the RWZ52's were unavailable. Our vendor is no
        longer producing them. >>>
    
    and....
    
    re: .1
    <<<    Answer 2:  To use the RWZ53 with Digital Unix you will need OSDS
    V1.5. The minimally supported version of Digital Unix for OSDS V1.5 is
    V3.2C. 
    
    and....
    
    re: .5
    <<< OSDS V1.5 for Digital Unix is going to be on the SPL (con-dist)
        for April according to the product manager.>>>
    
    	As for '.6' I detect a large disconnect here...
    
    	What happened to planning and co-ordination? Or is that another
    "undesirable attribute" of the 'old' DIGITAL culture?
    
    	Are there spares available for the existing installed base of
    RWZ52's?
    
    	Although I have not seen a formal statement from DIGITAL's internal
    optical support community, I have formed the impression over a number
    of years of involvement with optical devices (RV20, RWZ01...etc.) that
    the laser ultimately degrades to the point where write power is only
    marginally sufficient to deposit data on the media, and leads to a
    transition state where customers loose data because of intermittent
    write problems (..and because they did not run a verify pass!!!). I
    would estimate that this occurs after between two to three years of
    average usage.
    
    	Is this syndrome recognised elsewhere?
    
    	If so, what steps have been/are being taken to continue to maintain
    the installed base of optical devices (particularly the RWZ52 in the light
    of the revalation above.)?
    
    				Dave Clark
    				(Dinosaur)

    RE: .8
    Dear Dinosaur,
    
    >>	What happened to planning and co-ordination? Or is that another
    >>  "undesirable attribute" of the 'old' DIGITAL culture?
    
    I don't know if its from the 'old' culture but I does exist now in the
    optical space.  I have been e-mailing to alot of different people in
    an effort to improve the interaction of all the pieces that make up an
    'optical solution'.  I am having great difficulty in getting anyone to
    become interested in the problem and much less in getting anyone to
    take ownership of the problem.
    
    The wonder of Digital's matrix management makes it very difficult to
    have anyone held accountable for their actions.

    >> Are there spares available for the existing installed base of RWZ52's?

    I still don't have a good answer.

    >> Regarding your laser power degrades statement...

    I know the phenomenon well with WORM media, not so well with rewritable
    media.  Generally speaking you are correct.  The problem is very serious
    and it is not always detectable until another problem occurs.  The only
    preventive treatment I have seen that works very well is two actions:
	o Have the drive evaluated any time is error rate goes up.
	o Replace the drive after XXXX hours of use, before the error rate
	  even starts to go up.

    >> Is this syndrome recognised elsewhere?
    
    Some optical hardware has the ability to adjust the laser power and
    if data was written with a "out-of-tolerance" laser then after a drive
    died another drive could be temporarily adjusted to the same "out-of-
    tolerance" to allow the media written by the bad drive to be read.
    (This assumes that it was actually written as there is no recovery for
    data writes that were attempted, failed, but not validated.)

    After this was done, the "bad" media could be copied to another storage
    device and then the 'new' drive was re-tuned to normal operational
    parameters.
    
    >> If so, what steps have been/are being taken to continue to maintain
    >> the installed base of optical devices (particularly the RWZ52 in the
    >> light of the revalation above.)?

    Nothing specific yet.  A lot of mail messages to logistics and the
    hardware product manager, Mike (SUBSYS::) Bahlo.
    
    Rob Seneker (Dinosaur from Perceptics now in Digital)

    Spares are available. HP repairs drives as needed, so there will be
    spares for a long time. 
    
    The laser power degradation issue is a non-issue. Lasers have improved
    a lot in the last 5 years. The drive does auto-power calibration before
    writing, and won't write if the laser is out of tolerance.
    
    When we had the drives and the SW controlled by the same group,
    coordination was possible. SW and HW are controlled by different
    managers now. The HW may be available on some platforms before others.
    We release the new HW based on the anticipated SW support. If said
    support is late, for whatever reason, the HW is out before the SW.
    If the vendor phases out manufacturing of a drive before the successor
    is fully qualified on all O/S's, then again there is a disconnect.
    
    Further questions of this nature need to be discussed with the product
    managers, as they make the release and phase-out decisions, not
    engineering. 
    
    Rob can't fix this. I can't fix this. Only field pressure and product
    management can fix this. 
    
    If a customer has a problem, IPMT it. Now. 
    That's the only way to show the pain from the field.
    
    Chris
    

    Re: .10
    Well said Chris.
    Rob

    Rob/Chris...
    
    	Many thanks for the detailed feedback.
    
    	I do appreciate the problems of compartmentalised product
    management (and the associated mentallity!), and I do genuinely
    appreciate that you guy's are not in a position to fix the problems.
    
    	I guess I "sound off" occasionally on the assumption the that the whole
    community (including product management) reads these notes.
    
    	But then again, as management seem to be "Exchange" orientated now,
    maybe we're not all even in the same ball-park.
    
    	I will attempt to re-direct my note to the managers concerned, by
    MAIL....
    
    				Dave