larryh@tekcbi.UUCP (12/09/85)
At a recent mac programmers group meeting, a local company (MacVentures)
brought by their external ramdisk (QuickDrive) for a demonstration. It
consists of a box the same size as the mac external floppy and plugs into
either the printer port or the modem port. Data is transfered at 900kbits/sec
allowing MacWrite to be launched in 7.4 sec and MacPaint in 5.1 sec. (One
poor bugger who owns a 128k mac just about fainted away when he saw the speed.)
Base price of the 0.5Mbyte unit is $500 going up to $950 for 2M. For more
info, write to:
MacVentures
P.O. Box 6123
Aloha, Or 97007
(503) 645-9696
The usual disclaimers apply.
Larry Hutchinson, Tektronix, Inc. PO Box 500, MS 02-305, Beaverton, OR 97077
{ decvax,allegra }!tektronix!tekcbi!larryhbriand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (04/02/86)
For all you folks looking for an alternative to the Apple rip-off train,
where upgrading your 512K Mac to a Mac+ costs a cool kill-a-buck and more,
a very interesting idea is now (apparently) available from MacVentures.
The product is an external RAM-disk, connected to any Mac via the printer
serial port. It then has a serial port out its back to which you can
connect your printer; you aren't out a port. It comes in .5, 1, 1.5, and 2
Meg versions. It also comes with a software driver/configurer that allows
you to define it as up to four different volumes. Anything you don't
assign to a volume may be used as a printer buffer.
Since it is powered by its own wall-mount transformer/supply, it retains
its memory even when the Mac is off, thus making it much more friendly than
the RAMdisk. Power consumption is low (10 Watts) so you can leave it on
at all times. Optional battery back-up is available, too.
The idea seems sound, especially as we are (presumably) all familiar with
the speed of the RAMdisk. The literature points out that many people who
purchase hard disks don't really need the vast storage; they're after
SPEED. This is a cheaper (?) alternative, and is also much faster and
quieter and more reliable (no moving parts). They admit to being slower
than a RAMdisk by 15%, but then they're hampered by the serial port.
They claim to be faster than Hyperdrive overall, with Hyperdrive's transfer
rate 2 times faster but QuickDrive having zero access time.
They claim to have a modular enough design that when larger 1 Meg RAM chips
are available, they can be installed through pluggable modules and yield
drives with 4x the above sizes.
Prices, you ask?
0.5 Meg $499
1.0 Meg $649
1.5 Meg $799
2.0 Meg $949
Battery Backup module $149
Expansion module (adds 0.5 Meg to existing QuickDrive) $169 each, or
$150 each if within 30 days of original purchase.
No, I don't have one yet. This item was first mentioned in this group
about a year ago; I just now got literature on it. I suspect that is
because they just now have gone into production.
I am seriously considering purchasing one of these instead of the Mac+
upgrade. I will still get the new ROMs and dual-sided floppy drive,
though.
The address and phone:
MacVentures
P.O. Box 6123
Aloha, Oregon 97007
(503) 645-9696
-Brian Diehm
Tektronix, Inc. (SDA - I have no connection with my employer, uh, no wait.
I have no connection with MacVentures. Tektronix has no
connection with MacVentures. Tektronix may or may not
agree with my opinions stated above, and I certainly
don't care what THEY think either. . .)stuart@ihlpf.UUCP (Ericson) (04/08/86)
> -Brian Diehm writes: > For all you folks looking for an alternative to the Apple rip-off train, > where upgrading your 512K Mac to a Mac+ costs a cool kill-a-buck and more, > a very interesting idea is now (apparently) available from MacVentures. > > The product is an external RAM-disk, connected to any Mac via the printer > serial port. It then has a serial port out its back to which you can > [ further description , prices, etc.. ] > > The idea seems sound, especially as we are (presumably) all familiar with > the speed of the RAMdisk. The literature points out that many people who > purchase hard disks don't really need the vast storage; they're after > SPEED. This is a cheaper (?) alternative, and is also much faster and > than a RAMdisk by 15%, but then they're hampered by the serial port. This is EXTERNAL - if MUST go through the ports, so it can't even be as fast as the hyperdrive. The data, and access to it will be solely limited by the serial port (real slow in terms of RAM). (Unless, of course, the external ram is really a little Mac with out a screen :-)) Sorry! That's what a REAL bus or SCSI ports are for! Stuart Ericson ..ihnp4!ihlpj!stuart "Sure it will be easy for you... You'll just age and die. Me, I'll have to live through all these regenerations" - the doctor