tmab+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Mok) (03/02/91)
I saw the ad. by NeXTConnection on the NeXTWorld magazine. They sell Toshiba 2.88 Mb floppy for $19 each. I thought that was a typo, and called them up today. Well, it wasn't a typo. It is $19 each! Why would anyone want to buy the floppy from them, if they can get them at cheaper prices from NeXT? Nevertheless, I praise the honesty of the company - the salesman even told me to get the disks from NeXT. Tom
cnh5730@maraba.tamu.edu (03/03/91)
In article <4bnoZl600io1A9JkZh@andrew.cmu.edu> tmab+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Mok) writes:
They sell Toshiba 2.88 Mb floppy for $19 each.
I was over at the Math Dept of my University and a professor showed me
an ad for 1.44MB 3 1/2 floppies in lots of 25 or more for $0.75 each.
That amounts to
$0.52 per MB. At $19.00 for 2.88 MB, you're paying
$6.60 per MBanderson@dogie.macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) (03/03/91)
In article <CNH5730.91Mar2123954@maraba.tamu.edu> cnh5730@maraba.tamu.edu writes: >In article <4bnoZl600io1A9JkZh@andrew.cmu.edu> >tmab+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Mok) writes: >> They sell Toshiba 2.88 Mb floppy for $19 each. >I was over at the Math Dept of my University and a professor showed me >an ad for 1.44MB 3 1/2 floppies in lots of 25 or more for $0.75 each. >That amounts to >$0.52 per MB. At $19.00 for 2.88 MB, you're paying >$6.60 per MB However, as I understand the differences in the technology of the disks you're comparing, it's apples vs. oranges. The higher density disk is quite a different technology, more closely related to emerging floppies with *much* higher densities than to the older 1.44 MB disks. The higher cost per megabyte does not of itself address this. <> I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give <> you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please <> everybody. -- Herbert Swope -- Jess Anderson <> Madison Academic Computing Center <> University of Wisconsin Internet: anderson@macc.wisc.edu <-best, UUCP:{}!uwvax!macc.wisc.edu!anderson NeXTmail w/attachments: anderson@yak.macc.wisc.edu Bitnet: anderson@wiscmacc Room 3130 <> 1210 West Dayton Street / Madison WI 53706 <> Phone 608/262-5888
yonezawa@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Noritake Yonezawa) (03/03/91)
tmab+@andrew.cmu.edu (Thomas Mok) writes: >I saw the ad. by NeXTConnection on the NeXTWorld magazine. >They sell Toshiba 2.88 Mb floppy for $19 each. I thought that was >a typo, and called them up today. Well, it wasn't a typo. It is $19 >each! Why would anyone want to buy the floppy from them, if they >can get them at cheaper prices from NeXT? >Nevertheless, I praise the honesty of the company - the salesman >even told me to get the disks from NeXT. According to the NeXT price list, 5-pack 2.88mb floppy disks cost $39 (academic price $27) and 50-pack disks cost $195. BUT I heard they were not available! Where can I buy cheap disks? -- Noritake Yonezawa [yonezawa@cs.uiuc.edu] Department of Computer Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
streib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Allan Streib) (03/03/91)
In article <1991Mar2.191552.7363@macc.wisc.edu> anderson@dogie.macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes: >In article <CNH5730.91Mar2123954@maraba.tamu.edu> >cnh5730@maraba.tamu.edu writes: > >>I was over at the Math Dept of my University and a professor showed me >>an ad for 1.44MB 3 1/2 floppies in lots of 25 or more for $0.75 each. > >However, as I understand the differences in the technology >of the disks you're comparing, it's apples vs. oranges. True, but in this case is double the capacity worth paying 25 TIMES more for the diskette? I'd be willing to pay double the price for double the storage, plus a little more for convenience, but this is extreme. Question: Does the NeXT _have_ to use the 2.88MB ED floppies, or will it format and mount 1.44MB HD and 720K DD floppies as well. (I didn't see this in the FAQ that was recently posted.) How long will it be before the PC/DOS world embraces this technology and the price of the media falls? >-- >Jess Anderson <> Madison Academic Computing Center <> University of Wisconsin >Internet: anderson@macc.wisc.edu <-best, UUCP:{}!uwvax!macc.wisc.edu!anderson >NeXTmail w/attachments: anderson@yak.macc.wisc.edu Bitnet: anderson@wiscmacc >Room 3130 <> 1210 West Dayton Street / Madison WI 53706 <> Phone 608/262-5888 -Allan (streib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu)
smb@data.com (Steven M. Boker) (03/03/91)
In article <1991Mar2.205421.13550@m.cs.uiuc.edu> yonezawa@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Noritake Yonezawa) writes: >BUT I heard they were not available! Where can I buy cheap disks? > I'd just use the 1.44's for now. They work, and they're cheap and you can get them anywhere. Don't expect significant price shift on the 2.88s for a year or more. Big Blue has announced that they will be using them but no product has shipped yet with the 2.88s in it. Steve. -- #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====# # Steve Boker # En Vino Kaos # # smb@data.com # En Kaos Veritas # #====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#====#
osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn) (03/03/91)
In article <1991Mar2.205421.13550@m.cs.uiuc.edu> yonezawa@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Noritake Yonezawa) writes: >According to the NeXT price list, 5-pack 2.88mb floppy disks cost $39 >(academic price $27) and 50-pack disks cost $195. >BUT I heard they were not available! Where can I buy cheap disks? There is an important lesson here: Just because it is on the offical NeXT price list doesn't mean that you can actually buy it. (Blank floppies, blank optical disks, cd-rom drive, color NeXTstation, NeXTdimension board, color monitor(s), OS2.0 on floppies, documentation) I understand the delays for the color machines, but I would *love* to hear an explanation from NeXT why so much other stuff isn't available. (Blank optical disks most importantly. Postings on the net tend to imply that canon won't sell the media directly and my understanding is that NeXT won't do warrenty work on your optical drive if you use the only available media, canon-endorsed double-sided disks. If *anybody* has word from NeXT as to when optical disks will become available, please post. Reports claim that pallets of blank disks exist at the factory, but they are probably all being used for 2.0 updates.) As an aside, my Businessland demo cube (ordered Feb 4, 1991) arrived on Mar 1, 1991. I appear to have gotten all the standard documentation (including stickers!) but no hex-tool. I plan on contacting Businessland Monday morning about the missing part, and if past conversations are an indication, they'll FedEx it to me. The machine itself appears to be in very good condition with no visible scratches or blemishes. The only item that shows wear is a slight looseness in one of the mouse buttons. (The right button, interestingly.) As long as I'm rambling... Various indications seem to suggest an upcoming release of OS2.1 (containing significant bug fixes). Considering the price of upgrades ($180 at my school) the temptation to wait for a 2.1 announcement before ordering a 2.0 upgrade is tempting. (Upgrades may be the only way to get official NeXT optical media. At my school, a blank OD costs $170, an upgrade $180. For a mere $10, your disk may arrive some time in the next few months. Simply reinitialize the media and enjoy a second set of documentation.) Despite all the problems, I'm very happy (excited, even) to have taken delivery of a machine after wanting, but not being able to afford, one since the Sept. '89 introduction. - -John H. Osborn -osborn@cs.utexas.edu
hardy@golem.ps.uci.edu (Meinhard E. Mayer (Hardy)) (03/03/91)
I have had no trouble formatting 1.44 MB floppies (I have the machine only for 3 days and have yet to find something wrong with it -- EXCEPT THE LOCATION OF `~ | \ KEYS!). Hardy -------****------- Meinhard E. Mayer (Prof.) Department of Physics, University of California Irvine CA 92717;(714) 856 5543; hardy@golem.ps.uci.edu or MMAYER@UCI.BITNET
scott@erick.gac.edu (Scott Hess) (03/04/91)
In article <1991Mar2.215431.25492@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> streib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Allan Streib) writes: >In article <CNH5730.91Mar2123954@maraba.tamu.edu> >cnh5730@maraba.tamu.edu writes: > >>I was over at the Math Dept of my University and a professor showed me >>an ad for 1.44MB 3 1/2 floppies in lots of 25 or more for $0.75 each. > >However, as I understand the differences in the technology >of the disks you're comparing, it's apples vs. oranges. True, but in this case is double the capacity worth paying 25 TIMES more for the diskette? I'd be willing to pay double the price for double the storage, plus a little more for convenience, but this is extreme. In some cases, yes, it is. Well, not 25x the price, but I'll gladly pay $5/disk for 5-10 disks from NeXT. This would not be for backup, or whatnot, but for special purposes. For instance, you cannot create a bootable floppy on a 1.44M disk. You can, with some room to spare (not much) on a 2.88M. That is one of those cases where all the cheap 1.44M disks in the world simply are not going to help you out. But, overall, 2.88M is simply not worth it at this time. For most of my use, 1.44M is acceptable (720k is simply silly, as there's no real price gain there). Question: Does the NeXT _have_ to use the 2.88MB ED floppies, or will it format and mount 1.44MB HD and 720K DD floppies as well. (I didn't see this in the FAQ that was recently posted.) How long will it be before the PC/DOS world embraces this technology and the price of the media falls? They can use 720k or 1.44M disks just fine. The IBM PC world will more than likely be on this bandwagon in about 2 years, I think. For the most part, there's not so much loss in putting 2.88M as compared to 1.44M drives on your computer - you can still use all the earlier stuff, right? Of course, the majority of the companies (I'm talking about all of them, not just the upper crust) are still shipping with 720k drives, for no apparent reason, so this doesn't mean much. I doubt that the 2.88M disks will have much effect on the PC world for many years - but who cares? I'm more concerned with what effect they have on the NeXT world, and that can be great without affecting the PC world hardly at all. Later, -- scott hess scott@gac.edu Independent NeXT Developer GAC Undergrad <I still speak for nobody> "Tried anarchy, once. Found it had too many constraints . . ." "I smoke the nose Lucifer . . . Bannana, banna."
cgb@oink.UUCP (Charles G. Bennett) (03/08/91)
Kids...Don't try this at home and if you lose any data don't blame it on me, BUT I took my trusty square hole punch (used for converting 720 to 1.44 meg disks) and punched the hole a little lower, where the 2.88 meg hole goes and by golly it formatted at 2.88. I know the 2.88meg disks use a different coating and are much higher quality etc. but I just "calls them likes i sees them" and it did work. BTW I wrote a trivial shell script to move files to and from the disk ALL NIGHT and did not have any failures. As to long term data retention....
ppham@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (ppham) (03/09/91)
There is a company called NStuff that is selling the 2.88MB disks for $9.78. Their number is (703)764-1991. I beleive they have them in stock.
MJLEPPER@MTUS5.BITNET (03/11/91)
In article <73@oink.UUCP>, cgb@oink.UUCP (Charles G. Bennett) says: > >Kids...Don't try this at home and if you lose any data don't blame it on >me, BUT I took my trusty square hole punch (used for converting 720 >to 1.44 meg disks) and punched the hole a little lower, where the 2.88 >meg hole goes and by golly it formatted at 2.88. A friend of mine recently used the same technique to go 720K --> 1.44M on a PC-compatible (using no-name disks). Everything was great for about a month, but recently he has had problems with data loss. So...I wouldn't use this method unless you don't really care about your data :( Especially going 720K --> 2.88M. >As to long term data retention.... > mjlepper@mtu.edu >
graboske@hailstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Ben C. Graboske) (03/20/91)
In article <3732@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> ppham@gmuvax2.UUCP ( ) writes: >There is a company called NStuff that is selling the 2.88MB disks for $9.78. >Their number is (703)764-1991. I beleive they have them in stock. The Company MEI/Micro Center carries 2MB 3.5" DS/HD floppies for..... $0.79 in lots of 25 so for NeXT Connection's price for one 2.88mb disk, you can buy *twenty-five* 2 meggers! lifetime warranty, etc. their catalog, however, does not list NeXT compatibility. But it sure is worth a call. 1-800-634-3478 note: I am not afiliated with MEI, etc. Ben Graboske graboske@ocf.Berkeley.EDU