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From: paul_gauthier@brains.UUCP (Paul Gauthier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: ARLL HD controllers; are they any good?
Message-ID: <4656@brains.UUCP>
Date: 5 Aug 89 11:30:13 GMT
Reply-To: paul_gauthier%brains@iisat.UUCP
Organization: Cerebral Cortex BBS
Lines: 24

ARLL HD controllers; are they any good?:
   I recently heard of a beast called an ARLL (Advanced RLL) controller which
purports to, through some twist or enhancement of the RLL storage scheme,
increase your HD capacity by between 2 and 3 times. (So a 40M might come out
at 2.5 x 40M = 100M). The company (who's name I forget) changed the name from
ARLL due to the bad connotations that have come to be associated with RLL. I
don't know the new name.
   Are these beasts all they claim to be? How do they achieve this storage
increase? Algorithmic data compression (I hope not, since 90% of my files are
compressed with ARC/ZIP/and_friends so additional compression won't really
help)? What are the price ranges for these controllers and what types of HD
will they work with? Must I get an RLL-rated HD or is it safe to try my luck?
Who should I contact to find one?
   I'm running an XT-clone which currently has a 20meg Seagate drive and an
MFM controller. I'm considering purchasing an additional 80Meg drive and if
an ARLL controller would double or triple that I'd be very interested in
getting one. 
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