[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Microscience monitors - any recommendations ?

ff76@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (Jhinuk Chowdhury) (12/13/90)

I am considering (very, very seriously) purchasing a 386-25 from
CFC (Computers First Choice) in Dallas (Surveyor Blvd., Addison).

The hard disk they install on the machine is _MicroScience_.  Any
one out there with general information on these hard drives?  

I would appreciate any information you may have on the Viewsonic
monitor (supposedly made by Matsushita), and any experience you
may have with CFC?

Thanks for your attention.       - Jhinuk. 

mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski) (12/14/90)

In article <1990Dec13.125918.43547@vaxb.acs.unt.edu>, ff76@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (Jhinuk Chowdhury) writes:
%% I am considering (very, very seriously) purchasing a 386-25 from
%% CFC (Computers First Choice) in Dallas (Surveyor Blvd., Addison).
%% 
%% The hard disk they install on the machine is _MicroScience_.  Any
%% one out there with general information on these hard drives?  

Well, my new machine came with a Microscience hard disk. Made in Taiwan.
3.5", 115Mb, not as compact as a similar drive I have seen on a Compaq.
960 cyl, 7 heads, 35 sect/track, IDE.  What I definitely don't like
are the vibrations. I would expect the drive to not vibrate at all.
Vseek and Coretest show an Access time of 18-20 ms. Data transfert about
960 Kb/s. I suspect a cache built into the controller as the DOS copy
is much slower. It makes strange noises on power-up, apart the "shtong"
on head deparking. The technology is probably voice-coil, and the eight
track reserved for head positionning. There were no docs provided by
the vendor, except for the external "controller".

-- 
Adam Mirowski,  mir@chorus.fr (FRANCE),  tel. +33 (1) 30-64-82-00 or 74
Chorus systemes, 6, av.Gustave Eiffel, 78182 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines CEDEX