israel@qantel.UUCP ( Renegade@ex2564) (06/17/85)
In response to the query concerning 40 Meg disks on the 7300, there is a company called Bell Technologies in Fremont, Ca, which is marketing a 40 Meg 1/2 height five and a quarter inch drive (unformatted - I believe it's 31 Meg formatted) which they claim is 100% compatible. It has an average access time of 85msec, and they're asking $2995 for it (EEK!). They are also offering a $300 rebate on your original 10 Meg, and $600 for your original 20 Meg (assuming it's brand new), although I suspect this marketing scheme is for a limited time only. Personally, I think they're asking too much. There are also rumors that AT&T-IS is currently negociating to make other 40 Megs availavle themselves, to be announced next quarter. I tend to believe such rumors, as I noticed drivers for Atasi and Rodime 40 Meg drives in the installation menus when I brought the system up. They are also supposedly going to make even larger drives available that don't fit in the box, but sit in their own cabinet. I suspect they may be available cheaper through AT&T then trying to by one directly yourself, but I suggest you shop around in any case. As to the fellow that was having trouble accessing his modem, you must make sure that the phone line in question is configured to transfer data, as opposed to voice communication. The current configuation should appear on a status line at the top of the screen. If no status line appears, you have not yet informed the system as to the nature of the telephone hookup that you're using. Instructions for doing this should be found in the Telephone Manager Manual. Once the status line is present, the easiest way to switch between voice and data mode is to position the mouse on the phone status indicator, hit B1 on the mouse (which activates the Call Screen), and then the F3 button, |Line Select|. This should toggle you to the line configuration you need (assuming a single line system). Then just exit the the Call Screen and you should be ready to go. Currently, I haven't been able to discover a means of toggling the configuration of the voice/data mode from within a program. The ability to do this is not documented, and AT&T support personnel haven't been much help. This means you must use the method described above if you have a single line system to toggle the modes manually. (If you have a two line system, you could leave line two in data mode at all times.) For those of you who want to use the cu program on a single line system, you too must make sure you're in data mode. The command cu -s 1200 -l /dev/ph0 5555555 will dial 555-5555 and attempt a 1200 baud connection through line one. Hope this helps. -- Renegade of Berkeley MDS Qantel or Renegade Systems ucbvax!dual!qantel!israel ucbvax!dual!qantel!hamster!israel Disclaimer: "Who, me? I wasn't even there!"
jchapman@watcgl.UUCP (john chapman) (06/20/85)
> > In response to the query concerning 40 Meg disks on the 7300, there is . . > it's 31 Meg formatted) which they claim is 100% compatible. It has an > average access time of 85msec, and they're asking $2995 for it (EEK!). . . . > > There are also rumors that AT&T-IS is currently negociating to make other > 40 Megs availavle themselves, to be announced next quarter. I tend to > believe such rumors, as I noticed drivers for Atasi and Rodime 40 Meg drives > in the installation menus when I brought the system up. They are also > supposedly going to make even larger drives available that don't fit in the > box, but sit in their own cabinet. I suspect they may be available cheaper > through AT&T then trying to by one directly yourself, but I suggest you > shop around in any case. . . .> > -- > Renegade of Berkeley If there is a driver for a rodime drive then presumably the interface is ST506 compatible. I have a Rodime 40mb drive and have been very happy with it; it has been running for almost 2 years now without a hitch and has ~50ms average access. If I was to get another drive though I think I would go for one of the 30ms avg. acc. drives like a Maxtor - keeping it in a separate box if it wasn't half height (the Rodime drives aren't) wouldn't be as neat but it's a small price to pay for increased performance. This brings me to the questions I wanted to ask: 1. does the 7300 use an ST506 interface? if not, is it any known standard? 2. can one just get longer cabling and hang a second (external) drive on the system 3. if you did add a second (faster) drive how hard would it be to make the system page from the faster drive instead of the original. Thanks in advance, John Chapman ...!watmath!watcgl!jchapman
revc@gwsd.UUCP (Bob Van Cleef) (06/26/85)
[] In PC Week - June 25 - Alloy announced some addon hard drives for the 7300, and a 2M RAM card. RAM-73 $1,495 - 2M of RAM - Single slot! microSTOR-73 line - external, integrated hard-disk and tape backup unit. 5 1/4" winchester available in October. 20M - $3,295 40M - $4,295 115M - no price yet -- ----------- Bob Van Cleef ...sdcsvax!gwsd!revc Gateway Computer Systems (619) 457-2701 4980 Carroll Canyon Road San Diego, CA 92121