hcj@lzsc.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (04/10/90)
There has been some discussion on Cartridge Tapes for the Atari. I just talked with Adaptec on how the standards work out: heres the data: 1. The Adaptec board, ACB3530A "bridges" (their term) between SCSI and drives with a QIC 36 interface. Adaptec considers this obsolete (see below). Many of the QIC 36 drives handle the 60 Meg DC600A cartridges which look somewhat like VHS video cassettes. This is a natural for the Atari, as the later boards to interface the Atari to a Hard drive produces SCSI, which can be chained to both drives (or the ACB 4000A SCSI-MFM) and the ACB3530A running a QIC36 drive. The problem is that QIC36 drives are expensive ( $400-$700). 2. The new thing for the PC clones, is cheap drives conforming to QIC40. These drives connect to the FLOPPY CONTROLLER in the PC. There is no intervening boards and it is NOT SCSI compatible. These probably will not apply to the ST, as its floppy controller doen not handle High Density (aka 1.44 MB). SO, If you want to use DC600 cartridges and SCSI, make sure the drive says it is QIC36 compatible. Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs att!lzsc!hcj hcj@lzsc.att.com
buggs@cup.portal.com (William Edward JuneJr) (04/12/90)
> The problem is that QIC36 drives are expensive ( $400-$700).
I payed $195.00 + tax for a guaranteed/reconditioned one somewhere.
Call BMS for more details................