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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

157.0. "Hard Drives" by AUTHOR::MACDONALD (CUP/ML) Tue Nov 04 1986 19:30

    Why isn't anyone selling a disk controller card for the Amiga?
    Or, perhaps someone is? I see hard disks for IBMs selling for
    $15 per MB. 
    
    If the Sidecar ever comes out in the $600-$700 range, it is
    supposed to support IBM hard cards which run in the $400-$500
    range. That combo is a lot cheaper than the hard drives currently
    available for the Amiga. 
    
    Anyone have fresh info on these peripherals?
    
    Paul

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
157.1		BAGELS::BRANNON	Dave Brannon	`Tue Nov 04 1986 22:05`	11
	best hope i've heard so far is that Supra Corp is planning to come out with hard disks for the Amiga. The hard disks they did for the ST have an Atari-to-SCSI board and SCSI hard disk. According to the current issue of BYTE, they just introduced a SCSI 20 Meg drive for the MAC PLUS for $799. Not sure on the 20 Meg price for the ST, think it was something around that price. Basically they appear to be trying to price low to get volume sales. The last rumor i heard on Sidecar is that it ships in December. -dave
157.2	Supra will use DMA	JOKE::ACCIARDI		`Tue Nov 04 1986 22:25`	15
	All the hard drives I've read about so far use a SCSI interface, which seems to be pretty slow (2-3 times faster than floppys). Microforge, Microbotics, and Tecmar all have avoided using the DMA lines. I don't know why. Supra and PAL Jr. are using DMA, which should be drastically faster. I've also read that the Hard disks for the ST are pretty slow, although this may be due to TOS, not SCSI. Any ST'ers have any remarks about their hard disk thruput?
157.3	CBM's DMA interface...	JOKE::ACCIARDI		`Wed Nov 05 1986 11:11`	7
	Re: .1 I just read in the latest Amiga Buyers Guide that CBM has in fact designed a DMA hard disk interface, which it plans to license to third-party developers. I wonder which product it will show up in? I would have more faith in an interface designed by CBM than by anyone else.
157.4	ST Disks v. PAL Disks	TLE::RMEYERS	Randy Meyers	`Wed Nov 05 1986 22:11`	15
	Re .2: About the speed of ST disks versus the speed of PAL disks: Yesterday, I was in Leachmere (I bet that isn't how they spell their name) in the Pheasant Lane Mall and I noticed that the new 20 meg ST disk from Atari boasts a speed of 5 megabits/second. Byte-by-byte in their adds for the PAL disks claim a speed of 10 megabits/second. Of course, Byte-by-byte has been teasing Amiga owners for months with ads of PAL disks. The ST disks are real and on display at a mega mall near you. This makes the speed comparison a little unfair. I hope Byte-by-byte actually ships something, and that their products will live up to expectations. (I have been drooling over their ads...)
157.5	Hard Cards	AUTHOR::MACDONALD	CUP/ML	`Wed Nov 05 1986 22:56`	3
	Well, I keep seeing ads for 20 MB hard cards for $400. The Sidecar will have at least 2 IBM slots for those cards. Anyone know how reliable those hard cards are?
157.6	PAL Jr. Exists..	JAKE::ACCIARDI		`Thu Nov 06 1986 02:15`	7
	Re: .4 I spoke with Peggy Herrington from AmigaWorld on PLINK the other nite, and asked her if she'd seen a real PAL Jr, and she replied that she had, and it was a real screamer and a sweatheart package, as well. It is definately real (at least one is) and is supposed to be shipping by the end of December.
157.7	But is it really real :-)	TLE::RMEYERS	Randy Meyers	`Thu Nov 06 1986 07:00`	6
	Re .6: Nothing is real until first customer ship. I saw real Jupiters. I saw pictures of what was claimed to be real Titians. To be honest though, I do find your message very encouraging.