parris@mit-caf.UUCP (10/02/87)
Greetings All,
I would like to solicit information, dire predictions or words
of encouragement from you on the subject of placing 3.5" drives in PC/XT's and
AT&T 6300's. Things like supplier(s), cost, DOS needed, extra HW required.
Thanks.
--
It's better to burn out than fade away -- The Kurgan "Highlander"
Patrice Parris parris@caf.mit.edu
I don't represent MIT in any waydave@westmark.UUCP (Dave Levenson) (10/04/87)
In article <454@mit-caf.UUCP>, parris@mit-caf.UUCP (Patrice Parris) writes: > Greetings All, > I would like to solicit information, dire predictions or words > of encouragement from you on the subject of placing 3.5" drives in PC/XT's and > AT&T 6300's. Things like supplier(s), cost, DOS needed, extra HW required. Toshiba sells a 3.5-inch diskette in a kit that includes mounting hardware and cabling adaptors to allow you to mount it in a standard XT or XT-compatible cabinet. It supports the 720-kbyte 3.5" diskettes (but not the new 1.4 Mbyte ones) using the standard floppy controllers used with such systems. I bought one at a computer fair for about $120 last Spring. You'll need MS-DOS 3.2 or later to use it. (Earlier MS-DOS will use it, but will format it for 360-kbytes.) With 3.2, you insert a driveparm line in your config.sys file, to describe the new drive, and nothing else changes. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. A node for news. Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave
jeffm@mmintl.UUCP (Jeffrey Miller) (10/14/87)
I've been investigating 3.5" drives for the 6300. I really don't want to bother with 720k drives when 1.44M drives are getting so cheap. But the problem is, the 6300 is an XT compatible, not an AT compatible. And without DOS 3.3, I need special drivers to read/write 1.44M drives. There are currently 3 companies I am looking at: Manzana Microsystems Astro Systems Sysgen PO Box 2117 807 Aldo Ave. #106 556 Gibraltar Goleta, CA 93118 Santa Clara, CA 95054 Milpitas, CA 95035 (805) 968-1387 (408) 727-5599 (800) 821-2151 All 3 manufacturers make both 720k and 1.44M drives. Manzana does not have a 1.44M drive for the 6300 yet due to BIOS problems. But they provide lots of drivers so you can read lots of other formats including HP, Atari, DG, etc. I hope they will have a controller for the 6300 soon for 1.44M. They've got 720k systems for the 6300 already, and were the 1st 3.5 drive system on the market. Sysgen claims their 3-1/2 Bridge System will run in a 6300 if you use DOS 3.3. I am still trying to get 3.3 working in my 6300 (it runs fine in my Televideo TeleCAT-286). Their 720k system should work fine now. They actually have the best price here. But you need an adapter card for the 6300 to run their drive (only $75). And you need DOS 3.2 for 720K. Astro systems claims not to need any special DOS since their special drivers handle everything. But they say that due to some limitation in the AT&T, their 1.44M drive will now work in 1.44M mode on the 6300. So if I can get PC-DOS 3.3 running properly on my 6300, I'll go with the Sysgen. I would actually prefer one of the others due to their drivers which allow you to read lots of other formats, but since the others won't read/write in 1.44M mode on the 6300 yet, I'm stuck. Jeff P.S. Another company, Tigertronics, has a 3.5" drive available. I don't know much about it since I haven't seen them advertise 1.44M, only 720k. Look in the back of Infoworld for them, and also for Astro. P.S.P.S. Any idea how to make PC-DOS 3.3 run on the 6300? Does AT&T have an MS-DOS 3.3 available yet for the 6300? My ROMs are V1.21. Do I need to go to 1.43? Will that mess up my 30Meg Seagate ST-238 with Adaptec's 2070A RLL controller (no problems so far)? -- * Jeff Miller * * Multimate International, an Ashton-Tate Co. * * 52 Oakland Avenue, East Hartford, CT 06108-9911 * * (203) 522-2116 x257 UUCP: ...!seismo!utah-cs!utah-gr!pwa-b!mmintl!jeffm *