Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!decwrl!lll-winken!ames!ncar!asuvax!mcdphx!citek.mcdphx.mot.com!hbg6
From: hbg6@citek.mcdphx.mot.com
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re:Re:Analog Signal on Floppy Drives?
Message-ID: <13269@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com>
Date: 24 Jul 90 19:25:12 GMT
Sender: listen@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com
Reply-To: hbg6@citek.mcdphx.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Microcomputer Division, Tempe, Az.
Lines: 44
References:<13807@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Distribution:

In article <13807@shlump.nac.dec.com> sreekanth@rgb.dec.com (Jon Sreekanth) writes:
>
>In article <13183@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com>, hbg6@citek.phx.mcd.mot.com writes...
>>It's difficult to get any hard technical details from a salesman but as I 
>>understand it, one frame takes up one track on the media. One field is on 
>>side one and one field is on side two. As the disk rotates, it switches from
>>one side to the other to construct the full frame.
>
>John, 
>
>I tried sending you email, but it bounced. 
>About the inspection system you mentioned : I assume it  was storing digitized
>(compressed) images on the hard disk, in which case it's just conventional
>technology ? Or was it actually a hardware-modified drive  ?
>
>Thanks, 
>/ Jon Sreekanth
>

As overwelming as the temptation to dismantle equipment at trade shows is,
I seem to be able to restrain myself, most of the time :-)

Not being able to peek inside I have to go by what the sales guy said. He
lead me to believe that they retained the drive sub-controller to run the
heads and spin the platters but the analog lines from the heads were
DIRECTLY connected to an external analog video board. I am inclined to
believe it given their demonstration. The badge system works by swiping
a card through a reader. The number of the card determines which picture
is displayed. The time lapse from swipe to display on the CRT was about
.1 seconds (judged by eye). It would seem to me that that's about enough
time to swing the heads out to the track but not long enough to read a big
block of data and cram it through a flash converter. 

They did not seem to be real willing to get into the nitty-gritty tech.
details.

Now if I could just figure out why Email can get to me!


Thanks,
John Schuch
.....................................................................
.  All opinions expressed are mine and not Motorolas, their loss.   .
.....................................................................