Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:36510 comp.sys.atari.st.tech:1768 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu!kiki From: kiki@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jack W. Wine) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.atari.st.tech Subject: Re: ST Book specs Summary: Replace hard drive with Insite Peripheral 20MB floptical Message-ID: <12128@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> Date: 25 Mar 91 09:37:22 GMT References: <27E4E580.1093@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> Sender: news@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Followup-To: comp.sys.atari.st Organization: University of Hawaii Lines: 40 In article <27E4E580.1093@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> johns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Conan the Barbarian) writes: > >ST BOOK >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >CPU: 68000 at 8MHz >RAM: 1MB and 4MB versions >ROM: 512KB Insite Peripherals (San Jose, CA (408) 946-8080) is supposed to have their floptical drive available in volume in April. The drive formats 3.5" barium floppies, with embedded servo info, to 20.8 MB and is also capable of reading and writing 720 KB/1.44 MB floppies. Some of the specs for the drive are: 65 ms average seek, 1.6 Mbps transfer, 1 ms track-to- track seek, 15 ms head settle, and 41 ms latency. It uses a SCSI interface. The OEM price is ~$300. It's speculated that this will become the standard "A" drive for PCs and hopefully, Atari will offer it as a standard configuration for the notebook. It will add several hundred dollars to the list price, though. Regarding other aspects of the notebook: 512 KB ROM (Gigantic Tos?), two ram card sockets (hope this becomes standard on future desktop machines too), 1-4 MB ram capability (should have MMU with 16 MB addressability), ACSI port (what differentiates this from SCSI, besides connector pinout?), 128 pin connector WREN compatible (what is WREN? 128 pins give out all the processor signals and the kitchen sink. Does this imply a 68030 model?) Overall, it sounds pretty good. If Atari has integrated the ST chipset, then future models in the 1040ST form factor would have room for more memory and a VGA-type chipset. Since benchmarks posted here show the blitter chip to give only marginal speed improvements to graphics operations, it should be...obliterated and make room for an upgraded MMU with 24 bit addressability. Did anyone check their 1040 STe to see if the SIMM sockets have an extra r/c address line connected for 4 MB SIMMs? Jack