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From: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Twenty megabyte 'floptical' drive information
Message-ID: <6260@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 6 Dec 89 04:38:27 GMT
Sender: news@lindy.Stanford.EDU (News Service)
Reply-To: unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User)
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz; CATS
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	A lot of people have requested information about the twenty
megabyte 'floptical' drive I've mentioned a few times in the last
few weeks, and I've answered those requests.  It seems that enough
people are interested that there are probably other people who can't
mail me or something and would also like the information. So I have
decided to post it here..  I got the information a few weeks ago from
someone else. This is all of the information I currently have on
the subject but I will probably be mailing them soon so if you want
to check if I ever get more info just mail me..  Here goes. 

  ________________________
Yup.  The name of the company is Insite Peripherals. The drive is
20MB.  It's a modified 3.5" drive that uses modified 3.5" disks.
Cost is ~$800 and ~$10 respectivly.  It uses an LED tracked optical
servo to get the density.  Availability 1-2Q '90.  That's all I
remember.  If you ordered the developer's kit (if available) you'd
still have to write your own drivers, maybe even do some hardware.

from InfoWorld November 13, 1989
FLOPTICAL DRIVE USES LASER TECHNOLOGY TO READ AND WRITE DISKS

	Insite Peripherals has developed a new
	"floptical" drive that reads and writes 25-
	megabyte 3 1/2-inch floppy disks, as well as
	standard 720K and 1.44-megabyte disks.
	The Insite Model I325 VM Floptical
	disk is based on the company's Model
	I325 drive. The drive uses laser technol-
	ogy to write optical tracks on special 3 1/2-
	inch media. A laser diode and optical
	sensor mounted on the read/write head
	uses these servo tracks to accurately
	position the head on the disk. Floptical
	diskettes have a formatted capacity of
	20.8 megabytes, the company said.
	The drive includes an additional head
	for reading and writing standard 720K
	and 1.44-megabyte floppy disks.
	The drive uses a SCSI interface, and
	can be used as a replacement for standard
	3 1/2-inch floppy drives. In addition to use
	as replacements for ISA and PS/2 com-
	puters, the drives can also be used on
	Macintosh and other computers with a
	SCSI interface.
	Evaluation units of the I325 VM are
	expected to be available for testing in the
	first quarter of 1990, with full production
	planned for the second quarter of 1990.
	lnsite Peripherals, 4433 Fortran Drive. [what about Pascal & BASIC?]
	San Jose, CA 95134; (408) 946-8080.    [ok, lame joke]
				- Mark Brownstein
--
unknown@ucscb.ucsc.edu