254 lines
4.7 KiB
HTML
254 lines
4.7 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="How to Buy"
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HREF="howtobuy.html"><LINK
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TITLE="Things to Check when Buying"
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><TR
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="questions"
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></A
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>9. Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor</H1
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="warranty"
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></A
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>9.1. Minimum Warranty Provisions</H2
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><P
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>The weakest guarantee you should settle for in the mail-order
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market should include:</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>72-hour burn-in to avoid that sudden infant death
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syndrome. (Also, try to find out if they do a power-cycling test and
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how many repeats they do; this stresses the hardware much more than
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steady burn-in.)</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>30 day money-back guarantee. Watch out for fine print
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that weakens this with a restocking fee or limits it with
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exclusions.</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>1 year parts and labor guarantee (some vendors give 2
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years).</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>1 year of 800 number tech support (many vendors give
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lifetime support).</P
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></LI
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></UL
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><P
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>Additionally, many vendors offer a year of on-site service free. You
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should find out who they contract the service to. Also be sure the free
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service coverage area includes your site; some unscrupulous vendors weasel
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their way out with <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"some locations pay extra"</SPAN
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>, which
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translates roughly to <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"through the nose if you're further away than
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our parking lot"</SPAN
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>.</P
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><P
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>If you're buying store-front, find out what they'll guarantee beyond
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the above. If the answer is <SPAN
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CLASS="QUOTE"
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>"nothing"</SPAN
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>, go somewhere
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else.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="documention"
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></A
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>9.2. Documentation</H2
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><P
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>Ask your potential suppliers what kind and volume of documentation
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they supply with your hardware. You should get, at minimum,
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operations manuals for the motherboard and each card or peripheral;
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also an IRQ list. Skimpiness in this area is a valuable clue that
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they may be using no-name parts from Upper Baluchistan, which is not
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necessarily a red flag in itself but should prompt you to ask more
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questions.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="quality"
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></A
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>9.3. A System Quality Checklist</H2
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><P
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>There are various cost-cutting tactics a vendor can use which
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bring down the system's overall quality. Here are some good questions
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to ask:</P
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><P
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></P
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><UL
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><LI
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><P
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>If you're buying a factory-configured system, does it
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have FCC certification? While it's not necessarily the case that a
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non-certified system is going to spew a lot of radio-frequency
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interference, certification is legally required — and becoming
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more important as clock frequencies climb. Lack of that sticker may
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indicate a fly-by-night vendor, or at least one in danger of being
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raided and shut down! (For further discussion, see the section on <A
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HREF="basics.html#rfi"
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>Radio Frequency Interference</A
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>
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above.)</P
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></LI
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><LI
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><P
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>Are the internal cable connectors keyed, so they can't
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be put in upside down? This doesn't matter if you'll never, ever
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<EM
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>ever</EM
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> need to upgrade or service your system.
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Otherwise, it's pretty important; and, vendors who fluff this detail
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may be quietly cutting other corners.</P
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></LI
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></UL
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="howtobuy.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mailtips.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>How to Buy</TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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> </TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>Things to Check when Buying</TD
|
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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> |