rzh@lll-lcc.UUCP (Roger Hanscom) (03/11/89)
Does anyone out there remember the ST-506 (5M from
Seagate)?? Are they reliable...junk...??? The reason
I ask is I've been seeing them in surplus stores around
here for $49.95. I've been thinking about trying to
use one on an older machine (I'd rather not spend big
$$$ on it!). What about an ST-605(or4??). I saw a
**BUNCH** of them in a surplus store labelled 6M. I
never heard of that number before. Is there such a
beast??
While I'm asking crazy questions --- will PC Jr software
run on a PClone?? What's the ticker inside a PC Jr -- the
8088???
==================================================================
roger rzh%freedom.llnl.gov@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
Seen on a PYT's car near Walnut Creek, CA.: "sit on a happy face."
==================================================================bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright) (03/12/89)
In article <2358@lll-lcc.UUCP>, rzh@lll-lcc.UUCP (Roger Hanscom) writes: > Does anyone out there remember the ST-506 (5M from > Seagate)?? Are they reliable...junk...??? The reason > I ask is I've been seeing them in surplus stores around > here for $49.95. I've been thinking about trying to > use one on an older machine (I'd rather not spend big > $$$ on it!). What about an ST-605(or4??). I saw a > **BUNCH** of them in a surplus store labelled 6M. I > never heard of that number before. Is there such a > beast?? An ST506 is a slow, small, but -very- reliable drive. Besides being only 5MB it has an average access time of about 100ms or maybe a tad more (I don't remember off the top of my head). It uses the same controller interface as the more recent drives (hence the name of the standard XT hard drive interface -- ST506). (This same interface is used by many AT class machines as well ... though machines that are trying for better performance typically use SCSI or ESDI or some other scheme). Now for the bad news. The ST506 is -so- slow that many BIOSs are unable to cope with it and time out thinking that the drive is dead (this won't happen except in the worst case ... seek from the first track to the last track or something close to that). Even worse, it doesn't support all of the functions of the more recent drives. (In particular the buffered seek function). It is likely to run on at least some compatibles (especially older ones running older copies of DOS that don't use all the functions of the BIOS) but it is certainly not guaranteed. If you are willing to put up with a fair amount of hassle for a slow, small drive in order to save a few bucks, you should definitely get some way to try it out on your system and see if it runs. It will be pretty obvious if the BIOS isn't happy with the drive, and shouldn't damage the machine or the drive if it's done by someone who knows what he's doing (!). Unless you have an AT or an AT-like disk interface you will need a hard disk controller which will set you back another $50+/- ... you may be able to pick one up cheap at the same place, I haven't priced low-end disk controllers lately (especially used ones). I have never heard of an ST605 or ST604. It's possible that they are drives that never saw much use or that it's a typo for an ST506. > While I'm asking crazy questions --- will PC Jr software > run on a PClone?? What's the ticker inside a PC Jr -- the > 8088??? > Maybe. It depends on whether the software takes advantage of some of the quirks in the PC-jr. The basic processor and operating system are the same (8088 and MS-DOS), but there were some video modes that were unique to the PC-jr and also some differences in the sound generator. The little plug-in modules are of course unlikely to run on anything else ... I don't know of any other machine that supports them (although it isn't a big problem in principle, there is still a section of the PC address space dedicated to such plug-in modules and other similar uses. The problem is that unless you are willing to make modifications to the hardware and maybe the BIOS of your clone, "in principle" and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee). Of course, if you have the interactive BASIC sources for the program, you can just get GW-Basic or QuickBasic (the former is more compatible with the BASIC on the IBM-PC and the PC-jr, the latter is -much- faster and a bit more expensive. All 3 BASIC's are Microsoft products) and your problem is solved (possibly with a slight editing of the sources). Why not just try it out? It's -highly- unlikely to damage anything ... and if it runs at all it will probably run -much- better on the clone than it ever did on the jr! Bruce C. Wright
burton@mitisft.Convergent.COM (Philip Burton) (03/16/89)
In article <2816@rti.UUCP>, bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright) writes: > In article <2358@lll-lcc.UUCP>, rzh@lll-lcc.UUCP (Roger Hanscom) writes: > > Does anyone out there remember the ST-506 (5M from > > Seagate)?? Are they reliable...junk...??? The reason > > I ask is I've been seeing them in surplus stores around > > here for $49.95. I've been thinking about trying to > > use one on an older machine (I'd rather not spend big > > $$$ on it!). What about an ST-605(or4??). I saw a > > **BUNCH** of them in a surplus store labelled 6M. I > > never heard of that number before. Is there such a > > beast?? > > > I have never heard of an ST605 or ST604. It's possible that they are > drives that never saw much use or that it's a typo for an ST506. > > > Bruce C. Wright No, ST605 wasn't really a type. It should have been SA 604 or SA 606. These were drives from Shugart Associates (not Seagate Technologies) that had 6.6 and 10 MB capacities, respectively. They were brought to market at least a year after Seagate's drives, and didn't do well at all because Seagate had already sewn up th market, AND because they didn't work very well. Old drives are so cheap it is not worth bothering with old Shugarts. Now the 8" floppies from Shugart, they were good drives ..... [wasted space for the d*** line-waster mailer] Phil Burton Convergent Technologies [was Shugart Associates, 1979-1972]