burton@fortune.UUCP (01/23/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-1574700:fortune:25500003:000:3511
fortune!burton Jan 23 09:15:00 1984
***** fortune:net.micro.cpm / sri-arpa!towson@amsaa / 6:35 pm Jan 19, 1984
From: David Towson (CSD) <towson@amsaa>
I'll get to the disk drives in a moment, but first an anecdote: Several
years ago when there was no such thing as an under-500-dollars printer, I went
to a microcomputer show at the Philadelphia Civic Center. A small local
company named Selectronics had a booth there, and they were selling various
surplus items. In front of the booth they had a large placard that advertised
the availability of five Texas Instruments Silent 700 series printers (without
keyboards) for $100 each (yep, one-hundred -- ridiculous). Well, I walked past
that sign for many circuits of the Civic Center until I had just about seen all
I wanted to see there. Finally, I decided to go see their el-cheapo printers.
I asked the guy at the booth what was the deal. He said they were made by TI,
they worked, and they were cheap, and what else did I want to know. I asked to
see one print. He said okay and hooked up a keyboard. I typed and it printed,
only the line feed didn't quite work right, so I asked to try another. Well,
in time I had tried all five, and the guy said I'd had my fun and now it was
time to put up or buzz off (he didn't really say THAT). I picked one and began
writing my check. Now mind you, these things had been sitting there ALL DAY
with everyone apparently thinking they must be junk -- just as I was thinking.
By the time I had written my check, they were all gone. It seems that I had
attracted a BIG CROWD of interested folks just waiting for some reason to think
the $100 printers were okay. And as soon as that was taken care of, they
really moved fast. So that was my introduction to Selectronics. Now on to the
disk drives...
Back in August 1983 I saw an ad in "Microcomputing" in which Selectronics
offered new Shugart model 800 8-inch drives for $140 each (what, a $350 drive
for $140 -- ridiculous). After 15 milliseconds contemplation, I called the
company and asked for the details. Nothin to it -- new drives, no hookers,
$140. They also had "little used" (as in slightly, not small) ones for $100.
I didn't pursue that one. I bought one of the new ones, and when it arrived
shortly thereafter, it was just what they said: new, clean, functional. By
December, I was having a yen for a second 8-incher (I run a modified TRS-80
Model-I, originally with two 5-inch drives.) So I ordered a second 8-inch
drive. It arrived in jig time and didn't work worth a hoot. There appeared to
be massive sticky-friction in the worm-drive head positioner. I called
Selectronics: No problem, they'd send a new one, and I should return the one
I had. Well, they sent two. It seems that one was sent as soon as I called,
and then when the shipping person read the letter I enclosed with the returned
drive, he sent another. Both of these work fine, and I will now return one of
them, collect. So there you have it, an unsolicited testimonial. These people
have good stuff, and they're really pleasant to deal with. They are located at
1229 South Napa Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146, and their phone number is
(215) 468-4645. The person with whom I've spoken on several occasions is
Al Meely. If you're in the market for an 8-inch single-sided (Iforgot to
mention that) drive, you really ought to check this out.
No, he's not my uncle, a friend or anything else to me. I'm just a VERY
satisfied customer.
Dave
towson@amsaa
----------burton@fortune.UUCP (01/23/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-1574700:fortune:25500004:000:1365
fortune!burton Jan 23 09:29:00 1984
It's always nice to hear good things about the products of the company you
came from. I'm glad to hear that Dave's experiences were so good.
The reason that 8" floppies, particularly single-sided ones are available so
cheap is that most OEM's have gone to 8" double-sided drives (for capacity) or to
5 1/4" drives for compactness. That's the good news.
The bad news is that not all 8" floppies are created alike. Forget, I don't
what anyone says, about those el-cheapo Siemens. The company withdrew from
the business, and spare parts, etc., should be hard to come by.
If you buy Shugart single-sided drives, get only the LSI board versions.
Look for a "MLC" silver sticker on the chassis, and it should say 5 or 6.
For Shugart double-sided drives (SA 850), get MLC 12 or greater.
CDC and Qume 8" drives would also be good buys. The others, it depends upon
spare parts, availability of manuals, etc. Not all other manufacturers
are Shugart-compatible. Beware of Memorex, Pertec, and PerSci in this regard.
At swap meets, I've seen stacks of very, very used 8" drives. Very tired
looking. Not worth the effort, unless you know how to do head alignment or
change a spindle motor.
Philip Burton, Fortune Systems,
Redwood City, CA 94065
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