Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Microbotics Stardrive questions
Message-ID: <76600@sun.uucp>
Date: 8 Nov 88 23:09:44 GMT
References: <6080008@hpcupt1.HP.COM>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 40

In article <6080008@hpcupt1.HP.COM> pdg@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Paul Gootherts) writes:
>I have a Starboard II connected to my A1000 and I'm thinking of adding
>the Stardrive module so I can hook up a hard disk.  I assume it isn't
>the faster thing available and that's okay.  I like the idea of not
>adding another external box to my machine.  Here are my questions:
>(1) Does the Stardrive autoboot when you use 1.3 Kickstart/Workbench?

No, you can "psuedo boot" using RAD: but there are no ROMs on the 
StarDrive that it could boot from.

>(2) Microbotics has only tested a couple of drives.  Is there a more
>    complete list of drives that other people have already tried?  (I'm
>    interested in those that *don't* work as well as those that do.)

I've been pretty successful with most kinds of drives. Sometimes it is
tricky though. I am looking at the way the bus is terminated to see if
that can cause problems. I've used Seagates (157N, 225N), Miniscribes
(8052S), and Quantum drives (80S) with it and haven't had any problems
_once it worked once_. That first time can be tricky since various
disks do various things when the bus resets. 

>(3) How fast does it go with the FFS?  (Any numbers you've got will be
>    appreciated.)

No numbers but it seems very fast. Compared to floppies there is of course
no comparison.

>(4) Where's a good place to go for the drive?  (I'm in the Bay Area, and
>    I don't mind if the price isn't rock-bottom as long as the service
>    is top notch.)

Well you have a couple of choices. HT Electronics will sell you one of the
seagate drives or a miniscribe. They also have a "box" that has a powersupply
and mounting plates for a full height drive, SCSI Adapter (if required), for
$95. 


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.