ix21@sdcc6.UUCP (David Whiteman) (09/24/85)
Well tonight I finally saw it, the 20 meg Apple hard disk, as well as the new imagewriter. First let me say the disk and the imagewriter were displayed for us; we were not allowed to play with them, nor make timing tests. The hard disk is about the size of three MacBottoms stacked one on top of the other. It plugs into the external drive port of the Macintosh and has another port for another drive, either another Apple hard disk or an external floppy drive. At most only two hard drives followed by a floppy can be connected. Also currently the hard drive cannot be booted without a floppy in the internal drive. In terms of performance it is certainly the most quiet of any of the disk drives I have heard. In terms of speed it is slower that the Hyperdrive, and slower than the MacBottom, but faster than any of the other hard drives. We were only shown how fast it takes for the drive to startup the switcher and some applications; we were not shown how long it takes to restart up the Finder after quitting a program a procedure which often slows down the other hard discs. Also new is the filing system in which folders are used to a greater extent as directories and subdirectories. The new drive is not partitionable into separate volumes, but the role of folders is expanded into a form more like directories. File names now need only be unique within a folder and not unique within a volume. Folders are no longer simply creations of the Finder which only exist within the Desktop. If you are in an application and activate open in the menu you are presented with a list of files to choose from which are in the active folder. Another window lists all the folders within the active folder if your file is not in the current folder, and there is an icon to click the to access the folder or disk which holds the active folder. The Apple representative stated that neither the number of files, nor the number of folders, nor degree of nesting changes the speed in accessing the drive; thus Apple claims that large number of files does not slow the system down which is a problem many of the other drives have. The new system is called the Turbo File System which is a RAM based operating system and is accompanied with Finder version 4.26. The demonstration of the new filing system was very impressive. I asked a question about backing up the hard disc, and was only told that the second port on the drive was configured so that a 3rd party company can market a tape drive for backup. Also future plans include a server program to allow the drive to be shared on Appletalk. Other incidental trivia which was mentioned: The drive does not have an automatic print spooler. It has a separate on/off switch. It automatically parks the disk heads when powered off, and can withstand 20 g's while operating and 60 g's when off. Also there is no problem stacking two of them underneath the Mac. The Imagewriter II was also demonstrated. First the bad news: its case is the same ghastly bright white as the Apple IIc, so it does not match the Macintosh's beige (that was my mom's only comment during the whole evening). It also has a new eight pin circular socket which is unlike either the RS232 or RS422 port, meaning you also need to obtain an interface cord which is only available from Apple. The good news is that it is much faster than the old imagewriter. I don't remember the stats, but apparently the new printer is faster in standard print mode than the old printer is in draft mode. Also the printer has far greater resolution than the old printer. Furthermore the printer has room for cards. One card is planned for the printer so that the printer can be addressed via Appletalk and thus be shared by several Macs. Another card provides a 32K buffer which would probably be more useful for Apple II users. Also more applicable to Apple II users is a speed control which affects the speed of the printer while in ascii mode; the control has no effect while printing in the Mac's graphic mode. The new optional sheet feeder is the best sheet feeder I have ever seen. It did not jam once during the evening and is easily removable to convert to traction feed and back also feeding sheets individually without the feeder is a lot easier than feeding sheets into the old printer. The printer supports a new 4 color ribbon; although software to use colors is only available now for the Apple II; the old monochromatic imagewriter ribbons also can be used. The new printer is also a bit larger than the old one. Current plans are to discontinue the old Imagewriter and market the new one at the same price as the old one. The Imagewriter 15 will not be discontinued, and the new printer driver supports all three printers. I forgot the announced prices, but these were posted in a preceding article in this newsgroup. Also demonstrated was the new modem which is the size of a pack of cigarettes. Not much else to say about it; it is designed to be out of the way by staying on the wall where it is plugged instead of taking up desk space. It also has the new eight prong socket and is the same color as the new printer. One more item Switcher 5.0 will be marketed at $19.95. The understanding the spokesman had was that Switcher is not public domain; people can either but it for $19.95 and get the manual, or join CompuServe and obtain copy. Non CompuServe subscribers are not entitled to a copy. Version 5.0 will also be placed on CompuServe. The standard disclaimers apply: some of the names mentioned are registered trademarks, I do not work for Apple Computers and neither does my mother. -- ---- David Whiteman, University of California, San Diego