Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-spam!sri-unix!hplabs!tektronix!reed!jeanne From: jeanne@reed.UUCP (Jeanne A. E. DeVoto) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: Re: Tan versus blue floppies (DS vs SS) Message-ID: <4409@reed.UUCP> Date: Fri, 31-Oct-86 06:52:57 EST Article-I.D.: reed.4409 Posted: Fri Oct 31 06:52:57 1986 Date-Received: Mon, 3-Nov-86 22:38:32 EST References: <1029@navajo.STANFORD.EDU> <313@neoucom.UUCP> <278@puff.wisc.edu> Reply-To: jeanne@reed.UUCP (Jeanne A. E. DeVoto) Organization: Reed's Fine College Lines: 63 In article <313@neoucom.UUCP>, wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) wrote: >> The main thing is to worry about making sure that you buy 2S2D >> diskettes, as the 1S2D may eventually shed oxide (and your data) >> off the unpolished side. and then in article <278@puff.wisc.edu> beilke@puff.wisc.edu (Matt Beilke) wrote: > This is also VERY important. Don't you realize that those single >sided disks are single sided for a reason? One side did not pass the >quality test! So if you are willing to risk your data and/or programs >to a defective disk, well, all I can say is, tough luck if you lose it. Sorry, but you're both wrong. All manufacturers of 3.5" microfloppies that I know of polish both sides of the disk, first of all. Oxide ain't going to come off. On the point that Matt makes: most single-sided floppies either aren't tested at all on the second side, or test fine on both. It is rare to find a disk sold as single-sided that has medium problems on the second side. (I have also heard that some "single-sided" disks have tested OK on both sides, but are sold as SS because of market conditions...I don't know whether this is true.) What I do know is that I use a fairly large number of these disks, and I never buy disks labeled as DS if I can help it (because of the price difference). I have noted no higher a rate of failure than on identical disks I use as SS. (I don't know the mechanics of the Amiga drives, but the Mac's SS drive has a pressure pad where the second head is on the DS drive. This pressure pad can wipe gunk onto the second side of a disk, making it a bad idea to make a DS disk out of one that you've already used in a SS drive (consider the consequences of the second drive head plowing into said gunk). This topic was discussed on BIX's Mac forum a while ago, and I believe the salient parts of the discussion were reprinted in the Sept. '86 issue of Byte. The conclusion was that the "SS/DS" labels were mostly meaningless in judging disk quality/suitability for DS use.) ***Wistful Digression*** Although I am not an Amiga owner, I read this newsgroup because I do use a computer (the Mac) whose operating environment has many similarities to that of the Amiga. But I am disheartened by the attitude shown here whenever the Mac is mentioned. ("Hostility" is not too strong a word to use for it.) I have seen the Mac lumped in with the IBM PC, presumably simply on the grounds that both machines are used by more businesspeople than use the Amiga. I have seen Amiga/Mac wars in which the debate was seemingly limited to assertions such as: "All Mac owners are yuppies!" "Macs are useless because they don't do *true* multitasking!" and others which amount to "Yer machine's a wimp!" I've seen virtually no one willing to accept the idea that both machines have good qualities, and as a consequence I've seen no discussion at all of *the good things they have in common*: the concept of a highly intuitive, visually-oriented user interface, the experimentation with input devices other than typewriter keyboards, bit-mapped screens, and standardized information exchange between programs. Wouldn't talking about those things be more interesting than endless pointless putdowns? -- jeanne a. e. devoto | "The mind is an infinite resource...but ...!tektronix!reed!jeanne | only if you don't squander it." USsnail: 5353 SE 28th #38 | Portland, OR 97202 | James Hogan, "Voyage From Yesteryear"