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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!kalagher@MITRE.ARPA
From: kalagher@MITRE.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: net.digital: Is parity *really* worth it?
Message-ID: <640@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-Aug-84 07:58:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.640
Posted: Thu Aug  2 07:58:43 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Aug-84 00:31:06 EDT
Lines: 12

From:  Dick Kalagher 

A parity check certainly cannot, by itself, ensure that the ambulance will
go to the right street. In fact, the difference in reliability of
the entire system will probably be negligible with or without
parity. Also, let's not fool ourselves into thinking that a parity
check will make the computer system 100% reliable.  There are other
sources of potential error and even the parity will be in error
sometimes. No system is error free and there is always a cost-performance-
reliability tradeoff that must be made.  If I take your error to the
(make that argument, not error) to theextreme than I need a complete
redundent system, probbly with an independent main power source.