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From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: 1.6 meg drives and the Amiga
Message-ID: <2755@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Nov-87 12:09:53 EST
Article-I.D.: cbmvax.2755
Posted: Fri Nov 13 12:09:53 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Nov-87 10:33:48 EST
References: <1362@squeaker.munsell.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 66

in article <1362@squeaker.munsell.UUCP>, klm@munsell.UUCP (Kevin [Being Weird Isn't Enough] McBride) says:
> 
> In article <2706@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
>>
>>If you've got a telescope (or just came back from Comdex), you'll see even
>>neater stuff from Kodak.  Like a prototype Read/Write optical disk, in
>>3.5" format (a bit thicker than the magnetic ones) which stores over 50 megs.
>>I could see replacing DF1: with that puppy.
> 
> Nope.  Sorry.  Brain-damaged idea.  Need DF1: to read Fish disks and run
> Marauder.
> 
> Don't hold your breath.  As they say, it's a prototype.  I get my paycheck
> from Kodak, but they don't necessarily tell me what their plans are WRT new
> technology.  (I certainly would like to get my hands on it, though!!!)

And it actually came out of the Verbatim division.  I understand that Kodak
proper also was at one time working on R/W optical disks, but scrapped their
plans once they discovered what the at-the-time newly acquired Verbatim folks
had up their collective sleeve.

> For one thing, it's sloooowww.  And the media is still
> prohibitively expensive.  About 2.5 to 3 years ago I wrote a device driver
> and co-designed an adapter board for a prototype Panasonic read/write
> (actually WORM) drive.

Lots of the initial drives were very slow.  For example, CD ROMs.  They have
very slow seek time.  They have to, they're not true random access devices,
with track/sector addressing like magnetic disks, they're one long spiral,
like LPs.  All of the modern WORM and other similar optical disks are track/
sector oriented.  Now, I don't know about the writing process; that may be
a speed limitation when writing, but the read-back should be as fast if not
faster than magnetic read-back.

> WORM optical disks, on the other hand, use some
> kind of exotic metal substrate (tellurium sub-oxide?) that is unstable
> enough that a low-power solid-state invisible laser can blast holes in it.

The normal 5.25" WORMs are made of some translucent blue substrate over what's
probably glass.  The Kodak 3.5"s were more metallic in appearance, but I don't
know for a fact that they ones they showed were real prototypes.

> At the time that I was working on that project, we were paying about
> $400 a pop for 12 inch disks.  The drive cost about $20,000.

5.25" SCSI Worms are real close to magnetic media in price.  Of course, 300-600
megabyte hard disk drives aren't all that cheap these days either.  And
of course, they are only write-once.  CD ROM driver are very reasonable.

> So, save your nickels and dream about the day 5 to 10 years from now when
> you'll have a gigabyte or more of storage in your desk top work station.
> And chances are the media will still be magnetic.

Now THERE you go!  Though there are lots of folks out there who'd like you
to think that by then, the storage will be optical.  If its a gig or so, and
cheap enough to go in my A4000 or A5000 or whatever, I really don't care
how it's done, personally.

> Kevin McBride, the guy in the brace //       | Your mind is totally controlled
> Eikonix - A Kodak Co.              //        | It has been stuffed into my mold
> Billerica, MA                  \\ //  Amiga  | And you will do as you are told
> {encore,adelie}!munsell!klm     \X/   Rules! | until the rights to you are sold
-- 
Dave Haynie     Commodore-Amiga    Usenet: {ihnp4|caip|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh
   "The B2000 Guy"              PLINK : D-DAVE H             BIX   : hazy
    "Computers are what happen when you give up sleeping" - Iggy the Cat