Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 11:56:06 -0600 (CST) From: Joe Greco <jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com> To: dennis@etinc.com (dennis) Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Watchdog timers (was: Re: Multi-Port Async Cards) Message-ID: <199601311756.LAA07224@brasil.moneng.mei.com> In-Reply-To: <199601311737.MAA16999@etinc.com> from "dennis" at Jan 31, 96 12:37:20 pm
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> >Sorry, when you first announced it, it was $195 qty 1. > > > >This is still really a little more than I'd like to pay. I realize it costs > >you to build these things and I'm not faulting you for it, I'm just saying > >that it is not worth that much to me. > > Doesnt matter...dont make enough on it to really care, even at 195. But i > find it > interesting that someone would be willing to spend the time to build one if > they only needed a handful. You've already spent more on time thinking about > it then you'll save! At $169, to purchase a dozen would cost me $2028. Unlike you, I am not operating a revenue-generating organization, and $2028 is an appreciable chunk of one of my paychecks, which is ultimately where the money would come from. I feel warm and fuzzy when I buy an SMC network card for $90. I don't feel too bad investing $150 in an IDE hard disk. I get close to euphoric when I spend $70 on an NCR 810 SCSI controller, that has got to be one of the best steals around. These are all key components for things I do, and I consider the dollars very well spent. On the other hand, I get a real sick feeling when I put out good money for things that I think are not worth what I am paying. I can think about a problem all day long and all night long and it doesn't cost me anything. And if I can build it for less, it may just be worth doing. My time is valuable, sure, but the dollars are a much more valuable commodity. I can build a very cheap sync serial router using one of your ET cards and a FreeBSD box. THAT is VALUE! I can build very cheap ethernet routers out of no more than a bunch of NE-2000's and a FreeBSD box. Also value! I can get NE-2000 cards for ~$25, and if I dump 6 in a box that costs me $150. If the watchdog reset board costs me more than the sum of the other cards, I get a bad feeling. As I said, I know you're not getting rich off of these cards. It's just that I don't have the luxury of spending that much money on a solution that can be done more inexpensively. Even if it's writing some network watchdog code and hooking up a decoder to the parallel port on one "guardian" box (total cost ~=$25 and you can cover a LOT of boxes), there are cheaper solutions. Now, given a nifty keen solution, like the combination watchdog/POST reader suggested in my last mail, I might certainly be convinced to invest a little more in the solution... but it's still not worth $169/unit to me. ... Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Greco - Systems Administrator jgreco@ns.sol.net Solaria Public Access UNIX - Milwaukee, WI 414/546-7968
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