[net.micro.cbm] Tape vs. disk

goodenough@vogon.DEC (Jeff Goodenough, IPG Reading DEC-UK) (02/18/86)

> .... a tape is no good on it since it takes
> eternity and then some to load anything.

Agreed.  But it may interest you to know that the majority of C64's in
the U.K. (and there are a LOT - we have the highest saturation of home
computers in the world, I believe) are equipped with tape rather than
disk.  That's because prices are roughly double what they are in the U.S.,
where I believe virtually every C64 owner has a disk!

Because of the high usage of tape, there has been a lot of development of
turbo loaders (Novaload is the best known), and these loaders claim to be
at least as fast as a 1541.  I heard that a 1541 can take 3 minutes to
load an average program.  I've heard enough grumbles about the 1541 to
know that it's slow, but THAT SLOW??

Jeff.

bub@rlgvax.UUCP ( Mongo Mauler) (02/19/86)

> > .... a tape is no good on it since it takes
> > eternity and then some to load anything.
> 
> Agreed.  But it may interest you to know that the majority of C64's in
> the U.K. (and there are a LOT - we have the highest saturation of home
> computers in the world, I believe) are equipped with tape rather than
> disk.  That's because prices are roughly double what they are in the U.S.,
> where I believe virtually every C64 owner has a disk!
> 
> Because of the high usage of tape, there has been a lot of development of
> turbo loaders (Novaload is the best known), and these loaders claim to be
> at least as fast as a 1541.  I heard that a 1541 can take 3 minutes to
> load an average program.  I've heard enough grumbles about the 1541 to
> know that it's slow, but THAT SLOW??
> 
> Jeff.

	Yes, the 1541 is THAT SLOW!  I have my 'computer room' set up in a
guest bedroom of a two story home.  I can start a load of a good program,
get up, go downstairs, grab a beer, go back upstairs, take care of business
in the restroom, and make it back in time to WAIT for my program to finish
loading.  I consider that pretty damned slow.

	Not that I'm griping that much, mind you.  Patience has it's own
virtues, I guess...

Bubba

balczews@gumby.UUCP (Ron Balczewski) (02/22/86)

comparable to those of apple and IBM.  With one of these the wait
is very acceptable especially if you are used to the 3 minute 
R

ins_abg@jhunix.UUCP (Brandon Goldfedder) (02/24/86)

> > > .... a tape is no good on it since it takes
> > > eternity and then some to load anything.
> > 
> > Agreed.  But it may interest you to know that the majority of C64's in
> > the U.K. (and there are a LOT - we have the highest saturation of home
> > computers in the world, I believe) are equipped with tape rather than
> > disk.  That's because prices are roughly double what they are in the U.S.,
> > where I believe virtually every C64 owner has a disk!
> > 
> > Because of the high usage of tape, there has been a lot of development of
> > turbo loaders (Novaload is the best known), and these loaders claim to be
> > at least as fast as a 1541.  I heard that a 1541 can take 3 minutes to
> > load an average program.  I've heard enough grumbles about the 1541 to
> > know that it's slow, but THAT SLOW??
> > 
> > Jeff.
> 
> 	Yes, the 1541 is THAT SLOW!  I have my 'computer room' set up in a
> guest bedroom of a two story home.  I can start a load of a good program,
> get up, go downstairs, grab a beer, go back upstairs, take care of business
> in the restroom, and make it back in time to WAIT for my program to finish
> loading.  I consider that pretty damned slow.
> 
> 	Not that I'm griping that much, mind you.  Patience has it's own
> virtues, I guess...
> 
> Bubba

      The 1541's speed though can be drastically improved if you use a fast
 loader such as EPYX'S or MACH-5.  For an investment of under $30 you
 can as much as get 5 times the speed available.
  
Brandon Goldfedder @JHU

bub@rlgvax.UUCP ( Mongo Mauler) (02/24/86)

> > > > ... a tape is no good on it since it takes
> > > > eternity and then some to load anything.

> > > ... load an average program.  I've heard enough grumbles about the 1541 to
> > > know that it's slow, but THAT SLOW??

> > ... and make it back in time to WAIT for my program to finish
> > loading.  I consider that pretty damned slow.


>       The 1541's speed though can be drastically improved if you use a fast
>  loader such as EPYX'S or MACH-5.  For an investment of under $30 you
>  can as much as get 5 times the speed available.
>   
> Brandon Goldfedder @JHU

Yes that is true.  These and many other devices (some software based) can
increase disk performance quite dramatically.  There still is the price of
disk drive opposed to tape drive:

		Disk w/ MACH5 or FASTLOAD: ~$170.00 - $200.00
		Tape w/ RABBIT or equivalent ~$50.00 - $70.00

I myself use disk almost exclusively, but I would still advise Nicky Neophyte
Newuser (especially one with a modest income) to not discount the effective
and cost efficient Datasette (or equivalent third party) tape machine.  Even
though I lean towards use of my 1541, I still make tape backups of all my
disk based software that's not heavily copy protected.  By doing so, Even if
my 1541 zilches out, I'm still in business.  This is an especially good backup
scheme for users of magazine-entered software, such as SPEEDSCRIPT, DATAFILE,
TURBOTAPE, etc.  None of these programs are copy protected, making disk-to-
tape transfer a snap, and most of them have disk/tape options built right in.

I think I kind'a feel sorry for the lowly and much maligned Datasette, and I
sometimes pull for the underdog to win.  It's still a pretty tough customer!

Your friend and mine,

Bubba Mongo Mauler Pearson

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... Was it that gage that incited my rage?  Or
was it the booze that had me soooo confused?
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