ravi@mcnc.UUCP (Ravi Subrahmanyan) (04/27/85)
I have a 64K ATR8000 CP/M 80 machine, and someone has just come
out with a hard disk drive for it. The drive can store 8 Mb, and
costs $895.00 . That is almost as much as the cost of the computer
and two 5.25" floppy drives, and I'm wondering if it is worth putting
in all that money for the hard disk. Never having used one before, I
have no basis for judgement. I'm pretty happy with the system itself,
I run a fair bit of stuff on it (Wordstar, Turbo and C, terminal emulation
and so on), and I'm trying to get ZCPR3 cranked up on it. But I have
been asked if I can justify spending another $1000 on a system that appears
to be obsolete, and I'm finding it hard to say very much. I would
appreciate comments from any of you 'out there in netland'.
Is it convinient enough to be worth the cost? Is it worth investing
in this system? Everything will be appreciated. Thanks,
.........ravi ( ..decvax!mcnc!ravi)
ps: please reply by mail.edelheit@MITRE.ARPA (Jeff Edelheit) (04/29/85)
With respect to the cost of the hard drive, if the $895 includes the controller and the 8mb is formatted, then the price does not seem to be too out-of-line, just a little high. Regarding the question about obsolescence, I think that if you like a system (i.e., it does almost everything you want) and don't think that you will be replacing it anytime in the near to mid future (1 to 3 years) then it doesn't really matter if the system is not "state-of-the-art". If it's functional, use it; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Jeff Edelheit (edelheit@mitre)
Pencin.dlos@XEROX.ARPA (04/29/85)
A computer system is only obsolete when you have progressed past it's inherent capabilities, (i.e. Not enough memory space, not enough disk space, processor to slow, screen to small and not expandable). In your case it appears that you are still developing on your system and that it is still a useful tool. Like any tool, your system becomes more useful when it's easier or faster after an enhancement is added. In this case (adding a rigid) you will find 2x to 10x improvement in disk bound processing, plus the added convienence of all your files directly accessable without swapping disks...The added enhancement of ZCPR will make your system feel like an extension of your own thought cataloging method. I have added a rigid to my XEROX 820-II and now am hardly able to stand the use of a floppy system, in fact I got so hooked that I hacked around the system and added another TW0 8 meg rigids to the system giving me 24 megs of online storage..A bit of over kill, but It allows me do do anything I want in terms of segmenting my work. $1000 dollars will be well spent to keep a friendly, familiar piece of equipment from becomming 'obsolete', after all a computer only processes bits, it's the human perception that makes one computer better than another... Russ