From fixing IBM mainframes in the late 80s, they were far more unreliable than modem machines. Or at least, a mainframe consisting of many interconnected frames joined with thousands of tiny cables could throw up wicked problems that required hours or days hunched over an oscilloscope or logic probe to isolate.
They probably seemed more reliable because of relentless redundancy in the hardware and a highly focused maintenance staff who proactively followed up on logged intermittent errors before they became serious.
That raises the question, what are the most unreliable components of a computer nowadays, beside the HDD?
Re:ENIAC Operating Manual (1946) [pdf]
by Stratoscope on Friday May 17, 2019 @12:09AM
(#19936193)
What HDD?
I think the most unreliable part of most computers today is the screen that cracks when you drop it.
I sort of agree with that, though I'd say there was a peak that passed by somewhere in the 90's. There was a time when the most important compute was on high end mainframes. They were more reliable than what we have now.