[comp.sys.next] Floptical from third party

phil@info.polymtl.ca (test remote acces) (12/01/90)

 all ,


I was wondering if the chip that handle the Floptical that NeXT is shipping
will be able to handle third party flopticals as well ?
any idea ?

Also i would like to hear from people who bought WREN VII drives.
I am particularly intesred in the price they paid for it and the address
of their dealer.

Thanx a lot.

BTW does someone tried to make good programs using the DSP  (in PD ?) ?
It s too bad to have such a device and to not use it efficiently !




        Phil

rgc@wam.umd.edu (Ross Garrett Cutler) (12/04/90)

In article <1990Dec1.152805.27271@vlsi.polymtl.ca> phil@info.polymtl.ca (test remote acces) writes:
>
> all ,
>
>
>I was wondering if the chip that handle the Floptical that NeXT is shipping
>will be able to handle third party flopticals as well ?
>any idea ?

The VLSI chip that controls the OD in the NeXT is proprietary; it only
works with the Canon OD NeXT chose to use.  Unfortunately, they did
not move toward a SCSI interface, like the rest of the world uses for
OD's.  But this doesn't stop you from putting on a 3rd party OD
(say a Sony ISO drive); you just won't be using their chip (and you won't
be compatible with their cartriages).

BTW, "Floptical" does not refer to an Optical drive; it's a floppy drive
with optical tracking.  Two different technologies...

Hope this helps...Ross.
--
Please email -- I'll summarize.
Ross Cutler
University of Maryland, College Park
Internet: rgc@wam.umd.edu