mattioli@took.dec.com (08/10/89)
I'm interested in CDROM access on my pc and have some questions I'd like
answerd (if somebody could please help):
1. I'm told that the specific drive I'm looking at must hook up to an
xt, at, or 386 machine, but not a regular pc. Why is this? I've added a hard
disk to my regular pc, does this make the cd drive useable on my machine?
2. Currently, Microsoft has published the Microsoft Programmers Library
which contains a great deal of their documentation all on one cd. If, for
example, a new version of the C compiler is released, what can one expect to pay
for a new CDROM?
3. Do any of the unix style operating systems have device drivers for
CDROM drives?
Thanks for any help that is available.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Mattioli
"The Guy with the Bumpy Watch"
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Littleton, Ma. 01460kgamble@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU (Kevin Gamble) (08/10/89)
In article <3977@shlump.nac.dec.com>, mattioli@took.dec.com writes: > > 2. Currently, Microsoft has published the Microsoft Programmers Library > which contains a great deal of their documentation all on one cd. If, for > example, a new version of the C compiler is released, what can one expect to > pay for a new CDROM? It costs approximately $2000 to have a CD-ROM disc mastered, which includes 100 copies of the disc. After that, it costs $2.00 per disc for additional discs in quantities of 100. Approximately 80% of the costs of producing a CD-ROM are in the massaging of the data. The costs of the medium that the data is distributed on is rather insignificant. Just like software that is distributed on diskettes that cost less than $.30. My guess is that the cost to "upgrade" to the latest version of a CD-ROM database will be very similiar to the costs for software upgrades. To get an idea of what it may cost just look at what Microsoft charges now for software upgrades: approx. 50% of the original purchase? -- ~~~~~~~~~ Kevin Gamble ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ Oregon State University ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~kgamble@cas.orst.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) (08/11/89)
In article <494@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU> kgamble@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU (Kevin Gamble) writes: >It costs approximately $2000 to have a CD-ROM disc mastered, which includes >100 copies of the disc. After that, it costs $2.00 per disc for additional >discs in quantities of 100. Huh? That means that the 2nd 100 disks cost the same as the first 100, since $2.00 times 100 equals $2000.00! So, where's the incentive not to force the mfgr. to re-master for every order? Or, did one of your numbers slip? - Mike -- - Mike Shawaluk (mikes@lakesys.lakesys.com OR ...!uunet!marque!lakesys!mikes) "Where were you on the night of August 12?"
smvorkoetter@watmum.waterloo.edu (Stefan M. Vorkoetter) (08/12/89)
In article <942@lakesys.UUCP> mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) writes: >In article <494@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU> kgamble@nyevax.CAS.ORST.EDU (Kevin Gamble) writes: >>It costs approximately $2000 to have a CD-ROM disc mastered, which includes >>100 copies of the disc. After that, it costs $2.00 per disc for additional >>discs in quantities of 100. > >Huh? That means that the 2nd 100 disks cost the same as the first 100, since >$2.00 times 100 equals $2000.00! So, where's the incentive not to force the >mfgr. to re-master for every order? Or, did one of your numbers slip? The company I work for markets a very powerful symbolic computation package, which can do integration, differentiation, matrices, arbitrary precision arithmetic, and so on. When given the problem "2.00 * 100", it returns "200", not "2000". This agrees with what I learned in public school, that 2 x 100 = 200. So, the first 100 discs cost $20 apiece. Just my $2 worth. Stefan Vorkoetter (smvorker@watmum.waterloo.edu) Technical Manager Waterloo Maple Software