Conference hydra::amiga_v1

3349.0. "Floptical Drives <$500" by TALLIS::MCAFEE (Steve McAfee) Tue Jan 16 1990 18:59

    
    This came over on Usenet today.  I'm sure most of you have heard about
    these at one time or another.  I had no idea they would be so cheap.
    $450-$500!!!
    
    What I'm wondering is what software is needed and would my hardframe
    support such a beastie...
    
    regards,
    
    steve
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: "Floptical" drive info & a deal to get one cheap
Date: 16 Jan 90 08:58:24 GMT
Sender: news@lindy.Stanford.EDU (News Service)
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz; CATS
 
 
	First note: I ONLY READ comp.sys.apple out of the newsgroups I
posted this to, so a posted reply of any kind will most likely be missed.
Even if you did reply to comp.sys.apple, most replies would probably not
be appropriate for discussion on that newsgroup. I felt that this kind of
general info IS appropriate to post once. So if you have replies 
PLEASE MAIL THEM TO ME OR THEY WILL GO UNREAD.
 
 
        Technical information for the "floptical" drives I have talked
about recently. Note that these are MAGNETIC media and not the read/write
CD technology, such as in the drive that the NeXT uses... These use a
laser to read a special calibration track. So these are
not SMALL drives as a few people have told me. For a 3.5" disk, 20
megabytes (formatted) seems like a lot to me. "Floptical" is a registered
trademark of Insite Peripherals. More info at the end of the list.
 
        I am going to show this as two separate lists as there are many
statistics given for one drive that aren't given for the other drive, etc.. You
can check for yourself and compare the few statistics that are given for both
drives.
 
                        INSITE  I325/I325VM
CAPACITY unformatted    25 megs
        formatted       20.8 megs
 
Recording density       23980 BPI (RLL)
 
Transfer from DISK      1.6 Mbit/Sec
 
Buffer transfer rate    2 Mbyte/Sec
 
Average Seek time       65 msec
 
Settle time             15 msec
 
Motor start time        750 msec
 
# of read/write heads   2
 
Track density           1250 TPI
 
Cylinders               755
Tracks                  1510
 
Rotational speed        720 rpm
 
Power dissipation       6 watt average
                                                           11
Data reliability        <1 error unrecoverable error per 10    bits
                                       6
Seek errors             <1 error per 10  seeks
 
Drive dimensions        H: 1.625"  W: 4.0"  D 5.91"
 
        This one is SCSI, supporting the Common Command Set (CSC), soft
formatting, error checking and correction (ECC), and defect mapping. 
In addition, the I325VM (variable mode) offers FULL READ AND WRITE DOWNWARD
COMPATIBILITY with current 3.5 inch 720 kB and 1.44 MB formatted 
diskettes.. {NOTE: I DON'T KNOW ABOUT 800K disks such as the Macintosh and
Apple IIGS, etc., use.. I'll try to find out more info}
 
                        Brier Technology Flextra BR 3020
CAPACITY unformatted    25.0 meg
        formatted       21.4 meg
 
CONFIGURATION
 Number of disks                        1       
 Data Surfaces                          2
 Data heads                             2 
 Servo System                           T^3
 Tracks per surface                     516
 Track density (TPI)                    777
 Track capacity (bytes typical)         20480
 Blocks per drive (512 byte)            42080
 Blocks per surface (512 byte)          21040
 Blocks per track (typical 512 byte)    40
 
MEDIA (flexible diskette)               3.5"
 
PERFORMANCE
 Actuator                               Linear voice coil motor
 Seek time (includes setting)           
        Track to track (ms)             15
        Average (ms)                    35
        Maximum (ms)                    70
 Average latency (ms)                   41.6
 Rotation speed (RPM)                   720
 Data transfer rate
  To/From the media (megabits/sec)      2.2
  To/from the buffer (megabytes/sec)    1.25
 Start time                             1 sec
 Stop time                              1 sec
 
READ/WRITE
 Interface                              SCSI
 Recording method                       BRLL
 Recording density (BPI)                26000
 
COMPATIBILITY
        the BR3225 (not BR3020) reads IBM formatted floppy disks
 
Dimensions
                L: 5.75", W: 4.0", H: 1.625"
        Weight: 1.6 pounds
 
Power requirements (*)
 DC Input       +12 volts DC
                +5 volts DC
 
 Power dissipation   <9 watts (operational-seeking)
  *  Power management algorithms reduce power to an average of 2.0 watts
    for typical applications.
 
  Both of the companies that sent me information said that they weren't
selling directly to the public. Both of them, however, included information
on the OEM pricing. Brier's pricing is $475 each for quantities of 100.
Insite's pricing is $440 for quantities of 100 and they also have slightly
stepped up prices for smaller volumes so if I can't get together 100
people this will still be a very good deal.
 
        Here are the companies' addresses:
 
        Brier Technology                Insite Peripherals
        2363 Bering Drive               4433 Fortran Drive
        San Jose, CA 95131              San Jose, CA 95134-2302
 
  If anyone wants to try to get in on this deal to get one of these drives
cheaply, simply write me. My address is at the end of this posting. I have
NO affiliation with either of these companies, I'm just very intrigued by
this technology and want to try to get one of these drives at a reasonable
price. Forgive me for any typos in this article.. I tried very hard to type
in the data correctly, although I may have made an error somewhere.
-- 
If you want info about a 20 meg "floptical" drive mail me. YOU CAN ALSO
GET ONE FOR --$440-- (NEW **LOWER** PRICE!) BY MAILING ME. [WE HAVE TO GET
ENOUGH PEOPLE THOUGH..Slightly higher for less people but not much]
unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu    APPLE II FOREVER    APL24VR   GS tips? Mail me.
unknown%darkside.com@ames.arpa   Please use the former address for regular use.