ryan (Ryan Jorgenson) (12/04/89)
In article <848@appleoz.oz.au>, ksand@appleoz.oz.au (Kent Sandvik) writes: > ryan (Ryan Jorgenson) writes in article <853@amc-vlsi.UUCP>: > Has anybody out there used one of the new FLOPTICAL 3-1/2" drives on a > Mac? Specifically, I'm looking at the Insite Peripherals Floptical SCSI drive [lines deleted] > I'd like to hear from anybody that's got one of those up and running, whether its > under Mac OS or A/UX. > > I have a COSMOS 600mb from RACET optical read/write unit for testing.... [more lines deleted] > > Kent > > -- > Kent Sandvik -- ksand@appleoz.oz.AU | Apple Australia DTS Ph: +61 2 452 82 93 > {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!appleoz.oz!ksand | AppleLink: AUSTAUX, Discl: All comments mine > -- CyberSpace, the Final Frontier -- I should have been more specific in my original posting: A "FLOPTICAL" disk is Insite Peripherals term for a standard 3.5" magnetic floppy which has had optical track-alignment marks added to the media. These alignment markings allow them to pack a *HUGE* number of tracks on a 3.5" floppy, and hence cram a *HUGE* (20 MB) amount of data onto a floppy. The prices I've seen for the drives (in recent BYTE Magazine issues) are ~$500 U.S, with the cost of the Floptical disks being ~$7 - $12 U.S. Better still, the access times are quoted as being (working from memory) around 65 ms. These things would not only make great BACKUP devices, but are practical as low-cost removable hard-drives. So, to reiterate my original question: has anybody got one of these up and running on a MAC under either MacOS or A/UX? --Ryan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ryan@amc-vlsi.uucp | Ryan Jorgenson ryan@amc-vlsi.ucalgary.ca | The Alberta Microelectronic Centre | Calgary, Alberta Canada
logic@wet.UUCP (Henry Kwan) (12/07/89)
In article <855@amc-vlsi.UUCP> ryan (Ryan Jorgenson) writes: > > Better still, the access times are quoted as being (working from memory) >around 65 ms. These things would not only make great BACKUP devices, but >are practical as low-cost removable hard-drives. > > So, to reiterate my original question: has anybody got one of these >up and running on a MAC under either MacOS or A/UX? > > --Ryan > I played with an Insite for a little bit and came away pretty underwhelmed. First off, it was slow. Slow seek time as well as huge rotational latency made this puppy pretty sluggish. Transfer time was about equivalent to a floppy as well. It did store 20MB per floppy so I guess it would be a great replacement for the standard 1.4MB floppy that everyone is using now. I don't remember exactly but I believe that the Insite doesn't support all the SCSI commands either. In any event, it acted pretty flaky. I wouldn't buy one until Insite has ironed all the kinks out first. Toshiba recently announced a 4MB floppy which is downwards compatible with 1M and 2MB (unformatted) floppies. IBM expressed interest in using these in the new PS/2's. Downward compatibility is one big advantage that these Toshiba's enjoy and that Insite does not. -- Henry Kwan | AppleLink: D0690 FWB, Inc. | CompuServe: 71320,1034 2040 Polk St. Ste 215 | Internet: claris!wet!logic@ames.arc.nasa.gov San Francisco, CA 94109 | UUCP: {claris,hoptoad,lamc,ucsfcca}!wet!logic