tqhoang@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Toan Q. Hoang) (10/06/90)
I've just read a few magazine a few days ago. I have found out that Xetec had made a CDROM for the Amiga for about $599 (internal?) $699 (external?) I forgot the price, but I guess it's around there. I look through another magazine and found out that there's a picture of the CDTV that was made by commodore. That was base on the A500 with CDROM in it too. It look more like a VRC than a computer though. And it said, the retail would be about $895. Ooops VCR not VRC. So, I have one question. Why is the CDTV that include the CPU 1 Meg of memory 1.3 ROM and CDROM costs only $895. While the CDROM made by Xetec cost about $700? If that is the case, maybe you can just buy the whole CDTV and connect the CDROM to your amiga, then you might get an extra 1 Meg of ram too. So, I want to know if they are going to make any CDROM that will cost less than $300? -Toan-
arxt@quads.uchicago.edu (patrick palmer) (10/06/90)
In article <62461@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> tqhoang@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Toan Q. Hoang) writes: > > I've just read a few magazine a few days ago. I have found out that > Xetec had made a CDROM for the Amiga for about $599 (internal?) $699 >(external?).... I look through another >magazine and found out that >there's a picture of the CDTV that was made by commodore. .... And >it said, the retail would be about $895. So, I have one question. >Why is the CDTV that include the CPU 1 Meg of memory 1.3 ROM and >CDROM costs only $895. While the CDROM made by Xetec cost about >$700? If that is the case, maybe you can just buy the whole CDTV and >connect the CDROM to your amiga, then you might get an extra 1 Meg of >ram too. .... I also have been looking into CDROM, and am puzzled by the pricing. It struck me that the CD-ROM drive for a Sparc station will cost me $950. So, could I by the Xetec for < $600 and use it instead? Here begins speculation based on almost no data except that we get CD-ROM disks of data in both ISO 9660 and High Sierra format, and just pop them in readers on Mac II's, IBM PC's, or Sun's and they work. I think that all of the drives have to be essentially the same because they rely on the CD music design for recording and encoding. Perhaps, some simply spin the disk faster, but I would guess that there is less latitude for differences that there with magnetic media. I think this is why the difference between ISO 9660 and High Sierra is so inconsequental in practice. As long as you have a (software) driver available that knows how the data is organized, it can take either one apart. That brings me to the essential point perhaps. You need to have the right set of drivers to communicate from the drive to the computer. So, Xetec, probably doesn't make a Sparc station driver (at least without marking it up appropriately -- there being some international law that software costs must scale with hardware costs). Clarifications would be greatly appreciated. Final non - speculative commet: I talked to Go Amiga today about the Xetec CD-ROM drive. It is not available, and the think it quite possible that it will be 3 months until it becomes available. Pat Palmer (email: reply or ppalmer@oddjob.uchicago.edu) Cc: Bcc: