Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!sri-unix!hplabs!felix!trwrb!sdcrdcf!ism780c!darryl
From: darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Jasmine Direct Drive 20
Message-ID: <4737@ism780c.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 29-Nov-86 11:46:13 EST
Article-I.D.: ism780c.4737
Posted: Sat Nov 29 11:46:13 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Dec-86 20:10:59 EST
Reply-To: darryl@ism780c.UUCP (Darryl Richman)
Distribution: net
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica, CA
Lines: 44


Well, I couldn't ignore the low price of the Jasmine, and after talking with
them for a bit I ordered one.  They told me that it would be shipped two weeks
later, but after three weeks I called to see what was up.  They said that
their shipment of drives had arrived two weeks late and so the delivery date
would be held up a week.  But I got the drive the next day, by Purolator.
Since it survived my vibration test (I took it home on my motorcycle--20
miles!), I consider it to be reasonably robust.

Since I haven't actually heard any of the other drives that people have
complained about, I can't give any comparitive information, but the Jasmine is
certainly quieter than the PC/AT's we have at work.  It has a fan, but I can't
tell if the noise is mostly fan or drive.  In any event, I don't consider it
to be noisy (even in my study at home), and it certainly doesn't squeal (well,
not after one week).

The drive is a Seagate 225 and is mounted in a box 2" high and just slightly
larger than the Mac's footprint.  The box certainly seems well built, but the
louvres in front have some air-filtration material behind them and the disk's
seek light is behind that--it looks a bit cheesy.  It has a decimal switch on
the back for selecting the SCSI device number, and a small compartment on the
underside can be opened to change the resistance if there are a lot of devices
daisy chained together.  It also has two switched, three pronged outlets on
the back which include surge suppression.

It plugged right in and worked.  It is also loaded with about 12.5 Mb of
various PD stuff, most of it old and crufty, but some surprisingly good.  They
also provide two desk accessories to park the heads and mount the drive when
booting from floppy (why not make one DA and save the precious slot for the
user?), and they also give you a format program.  There is NO backup software
provided;  I have ordered Flashback.  Until I feel secure, I'm not going to
try the format program.  The drive comes with 3:1 interleaving.

So far, I'm very pleased with it.  Eventually I'll probably run Disk Timer on
it, but for now I hardly care--the performance improvement over floppies is
dramatic enough.  It comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and a 1 year
parts and labor warranty.

Of course, the standard disclaimers apply--I'm just relating my experiences as
a satisfied customer.

	    --Darryl Richman, INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.
	    ...!cca!ima!ism780!darryl
	    The views expressed above are my opinions only.