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From: rb@cci632.UUCP (Rex Ballard)
Newsgroups: net.micro.6809
Subject: Re: Radio Shack 6809 Hard Drive $139 "CONTROLLER"
Message-ID: <167@cci632.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Jul-86 11:29:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: cci632.167
Posted: Wed Jul  2 11:29:40 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jul-86 07:45:35 EDT
References: <393@galbp.UUCP>
Reply-To: rb@ccird1.UUCP (Rex Ballard)
Organization: CCI, Rochester Development, Rochester, NY
Lines: 67
Keywords: "CONTROLLER" (Ha! Ha!) / Interface / Review / DON'T
Summary: Which interface supported.

In article <393@galbp.UUCP> bryan@lanierrnd.UUCP (Bryan Ivey) writes:
>
>No NEED!  RS has a $139 CONTROLLER for OS9.  PLUGS RIGHT INTO YOUR
>MULTI-PACK!  Great!  Even has RS "TESTED" software!
>
>The Title above the Device Descriptor said WD1010 (Western Digital),
>though.  Would have to reformat my drive.  Didn't matter too much,
>though, because the drive was already corrupted.
>
>But wait just one minute!  If I am not sadly mistaken (and I would lose
>my job if I were), are there not supposed to be TWO CABLES coming out
>of the CONTROLLER going to the DRIVE?  All drives that I have seen
>require two cables.  If you noticed above, I said "SMALL CARTRIDGE with
>A cable coming out one end".  FIFTY PINS WORTH!!!!

Have you taken a look at the SCSI and SASI specs?  Guess what,  50
pins.  Looks like Tandy wanted to reduce the interfacing costs.
Getting the timing right on an ST-506 interface to a computer with
no DMA is a PAIN.

>I CLAIM FALSE ADVERTISING AGAINST RADIO SHACK / TANDY CORPORATION,
>WHOEVER!  WHAT I ORDERED FROM A PRINTED CATALOG DISTRIBUTED BY RADIO
>SHACK AND DELIVERED TO ALL OF THEIR STORES SPECIFIED A "HARD DRIVE
>CONTROLLER" FOR THE RADIO SHACK COLOR COMPUTER!
>
>WHAT I RECEIVED WAS WHAT ANY ONE WITH A LITTLE COMPUTER SENSE WOULD
>KNOW WAS AN INTERFACE BETWEEN THE COLOR COMPUTER AND RADIO SHACK'S
>PRIMARY HARD DRIVE.  THE PRIMARY HARD DRIVE (PROBABLY GREATLY OVER
>PRICED) CONTAINS THE CONTROLLER!

You will have to check whether it's SCSI or SASI, but if it's one
of these, you can get an S*SI to ST-506 adapter for a reasonable price.
You can also get disk drives with SCSI/SASI interface.

>THERE IS NO WAY THIS SIDE OF THE PROVERBIAL PLACE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
>THAT YOU CAN EVEN REMOTELY CALL AN INTERFACE A CONTROLLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, I have seen articles that refer to SCSI/SASI "controllers".
It is bad semantics I suppose, but not dishonest.

>Would it be too hard to call a spade a spade and not a hoe?  I will give
>you credit for one thing, though.

RS is not real bright about specifying which interface they are using,
I'll give you that.  They DID however, give you exactly what was advertized.

>So, reader, if you want to be TAKEN IN by RS's sales catalog that calls
>a spade a rake, hurry on down to your local RS Computer Center and order
>your very own RS Color Computer $139 Hard Drive CONTROLLER (which won't
>do you one &^%$ bit of good unless you get a $140 third party Western
>Digital Controller to go along with your INTERFACE) and then you, too,
>can figure out how to split up that 50 pin connector so that it fits
>on the back of your hard drive!

Well, it seems you realize that you can get the SCSI->ST-506.  Just
out of curiousity, is the controller/interface SASI or SCSI?

If it's SCSI, you may wish to look at some of the other converters.  Some
are as cheap as $50.

>Bryan Ivey
>
>Even though dissatisfied, NONE of the above opinions reflect the
>opinions of my company nor my employers and are in no way connected
>with my professional opinion.
Nor mine.
	Rex B.