Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!philip
From: philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough)
Subject: Re: optical r/w  and flopticals (they're different!)  (was:Best hd combo)
Message-ID: <1991Jun25.051645.21935@utstat.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Statistics
References: <17353@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <1991Jun24.032653.5683@utstat.uucp> <17359@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1991 05:16:45 GMT

In article <17359@darkstar.ucsc.edu> unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) writes:

>In article <1991Jun24.032653.5683@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes:
>>Average seek time=66ms, Average latency=16.7ms, Disk transfer rate=4.35Mbs,

>	UGGH! 66 ms? And I thought my 35 ms (I think that's right) Seagate
>drive was bad! (and it IS! but it was $150 for a 40 meg drive.. I hope to 
>upgrade since I have a job this summer)

Seek time is not as important as throughput for many purposes. I think you'll
find the throughput quite acceptable. I often use my NeXT from an optical 
(which is far slower re access time) and it's perfectly fine. Having more
memory helps of course( there). 

>>As for the flopticals, they are still unavailable. This one can be ordered.
>>Education prices vary but are below $1000US. The unit also plays 3.5"
>>CD-ROM's.

>	That's wrong. One of the two main companies, Brier or Insite, has
>started selling their drives. I do not remember where my info comes from, but
>I know I heard/read it somewhere.  Both may be selling their drives by now.

Brier and Insite have sent their drives to OEM's. I have yet to see a
floptical for sale by any company. At the very least you'd find them
advertising in MacWeek or PCWeek and it has certainly not caught my attention.


Philip McDunnough
University of Toronto
