Old CD-ROMs & free C compiler?

From: Clint Wolff <clintw_at_colorado.cirrus.com>
Date: Thu Apr 29 15:18:20 1999

>
> > > >were a lot of bizarre proprietary CD-ROM interfaces.
> > I have some old Hitachi CD-ROM drives. They are single speed, from memory part
> > number CDR-1503S. About the area of a desktop PC, but not as high. Connect to
> > the host computer via a 37-way D connector.
> > Does anyone know what type of controller card is needed in the PC to use these
> > drives?
>
> HITACHI. Sometimes "proprietary" is quite literal. I think that some
> models of them were also sold by Amdek, and therefore possibly
> interchangeable. I probably still have some (and drivers!). But I'm not
> sure how long it will take me to find 'em.
>

Oooppsss.. Sorry about the blank message....

A friend of mine worked at Reference Technology developing a CD-ROM drive
based on the hitachi mechanism, way before CD-ROMs were a thing. In fact,
they created a custom file format (pre-pre-ISO 9660) for a shareware disk
that they used as a demo. Unfortunately, the market didn't develop fast
enough, and Ref. Tech. went belly up.

Long story short, I MAY have an interface card in my junk at home, but I
think I threw all the documentation away with the drive (a VCR sized box)
several years ago. If I can find it, I'll send it to you.

clint
Received on Thu Apr 29 1999 - 15:18:20 BST