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From: elg@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.arch
Subject: Re: NeXT press release (very long but interesting)
Message-ID: <5816@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Date: 15 Oct 88 01:50:44 GMT
References: <73003@sun.uucp>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 34

in article <73003@sun.uucp>, swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson) says:
$ In article <635@ardent.UUCP> kmw@ardent.UUCP (Ken Wallich) writes:
$>In article <72886@sun.uucp> swilson@sun.UUCP (Scott Wilson) writes:
$ Well, I never thought of it that way.  Maybe your right.  I guess it all
$ depends on how you look at it.  For example, leaving out a few words you
$ could have either:
$ 
$ 	"The Optical Disk combines ... laser technology with ... Winchester
$ 	(magnetic) technology."
$ 
$ or:
$ 
$ 	"The Optical Disk combines removability and reliability and ...
$ 	read/write/erase capabilities ...."
$ 
$ So either it's a hybrid of the two technologies or its just optical
$ technology that has the same features as magnetic technology.  Isn't
$ English fun?

Actually, the new read/write/erase optical drives DO use magnetic
technology -- EE Times had a writeup on them a while back, and
apparently they use weird interactions between laser light and certain
magnetic materials (interference effects?). Alas, a quick glance at my
bookshelf doesn't turn up that copy, so I can't give any real details
-- but surely someone around Sun could dig it up for you, if you're
truly mystified?



--
Eric Lee Green    ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg
          Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509              
Software does not happen in a vacuum. Software designers need to know
something about hardware, too, despite what the academics tell you.