kiki@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jack W. Wine) (04/25/91)
Thanks very much for all the comments and suggestions. This summary is posted
now because there are questions about the ASCI/SCSI protocols and TOS and
Amiga OS that would be better handled by this newsgroup.
Some people may be happy with the following price schedule obtained from a
TEAC distributor in Anaheim, CA, J.D. Hannam [(714) 632-3458]:
--------------------------------------------------
| 2.88MB 3.5" SCSI | 1.44MB 3.5" SCSI
quantity | (FD-235JS-501) | (FD-235HS)
--------------------------------------------------
1 $192 $157
2-10 $185 $151
50 $180 $147
100 $176 $144
--------------------------------------------------
The single quantity prices are low enough so that a group purchase is not
necessary. The salesperson, Tim, at J.D. Hannam, also said that they have
only about 10 drives in stock and another shipment is expected in the third
week of May. They also have a pickup window, so you can fetch your drive
immediately.
Price quotes from Western Micro [(619) 453-8430] are about $30 higher in all
categories. There is an East Coast TEAC distributor, Krystal, with phone
number (212) 385-1900.
Most people might want to wait until some interfacing problems are resolved.
The following things are required to operate the SCSI floppies:
1) SCSI adaptor (ICD is popular and ~$100)
2) SCSI floppy driver and formatting software (NOT YET AVAILABLE)
A powered case and SCSI cable are also required, although many people want
to install the drive internally in a ST or PC tower case and use it as their
"A" (but actually "C") drive, if possible.
Hopefully, anyone knowledgeable about the ST TOS and ASCI-SCSI protocols will
offer us help. The basic question is whether anyone is willing to write the
driver and formatter programs. Another concerns the procedure TOS performs
at bootup. Will TOS interrogate the SCSI floppy and obtain its parameters?
If so, then will it be able to boot up as a "C" drive with a formatted disk?
Is a driver program needed at all, if the previous two questions are af-
firmative?
Regarding the practicality of a 2.88MB drive:
It seems that people have widely differing opinions on the SCSI floppies and
the reactions range from "great" to one in the followup post: "crazy." :D
Comparisons were often made between other drives with removeable media, such
as the Syquest and the expected Insite Floptical, both of which are faster
and have higher storage. The Syquest (~$375 bare), was said to have problems
with reliability as well as costlier disks (~$70). The Insite Floptical will
not be in full production until August (although Arrow Electronics is plan-
ning to sell the bare drive in June for $490, as well as an evaluation kit
which includes a drive, single disk, utility software, OEM and programmer's
manual, and mounting hardware for $685). The floptical disks, which hold
about 21MB of data, will supposedly sell in the range of $20-25.
The range of reactions seem to stem from the fact that the 2.88MB floppy is
an interim technology, so that people with fast, hard drives will see it one
way, while people using 720K or low capacity hard drives will appreciate it
more.
For people who prefer other manufacturers (Sony and Toshiba have indicated
that they do not make embedded-SCSI floppies):
Chinon (213) 533-0274
Citizen (213) 453-0614
Epson (213) 534-4500
Mitsubishi (213) 515-3993
Panasonic (408) 262-2200
Sony (408) 432-0190
Toshiba (714) 583-3000
YE Data (404) 446-8655
The following is a list of 4MB ED (Extra-high Density) disk distributors:
Azerty 800 888-8080
Digi. Stor. 800 232-DISK
Intec (317) 290-0500
Neamco 800 225-2478
Thanks again to everyone for the information, which is believed to be accu-
rate, but any correction and verification is welcomed.jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) (04/29/91)
In article <12649@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> kiki@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jack W. Wine) writes:
+driver and formatter programs. Another concerns the procedure TOS performs
+at bootup. Will TOS interrogate the SCSI floppy and obtain its parameters?
The TEAC SCSI Floppies I've worked on do not 'sense' the format of
the disk in the drive. They require a 'MODE SELECT' SCSI command to
configure them to the 'desired' density. If you wish to support
multiple densities or a density which is not the 'default'(I think
it's IBM 720K) then the TOS startup will have send the different
configuration to the drive. I don't think TOS naturally does this.
Also on the drive, at least of Rev G or lower, is a 300 ms powerup
wait time where the drive does not respond to "UNIT READY" commands
and so if your init routines buzzes the device before the 300 ms is up
you get the impression that the drive is not there. Many 'Hard'
disks at least repond to 'REQUEST SENSE' and 'UNIT READY' with a
'I'm busy' response. The TEAC appears dead.
--
John Clark
jclark@ucsd.edu