On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, Don Maslin wrote:
> > Fred, what does the 3.25" diskette look like, and what machine used it?
>
> When "shirt pocket" diskettes came about, there was a lot of argument
> about which one would win out. The computer press argued about which one
> fit the pocket best, and the completely irrelevant issue of which ones
> were actually best. George Morrow said that the solution was obvious:
> cut a deal between the computer industry and the clothing industry to make
> shirt pockets 5.25".
George was always practical, if not always realistic :)
> A number of companies went with 3", such as Amstradt, Amdek drives for
> Apple and Coco, and even the early Gavilans.
>
> Dysan, who almost controlled the diskette business did NOT want to retool
> to make hard-shell cases, etc. So they came out with a miniature version
> of a 5.25" diskette. It had a metal center hub, but was otherwise
> constructed like a "normal" floppy.
>
> But the big problem was how to get it accepted.
>
> Dysan bet the company on a giant software publishing venture. They cut
> deals with most of the big software companies to be able to distribute
> most of the "major" software packages on 3.25" diskettes.
>
> The theory was that whichever format had the software would become the
> standard.
> It didn't work.
> The 3.5" won out.
> Dysan survived, but no longer dominates the field.
Gee, I guess Dysan didn't have the clout that BG has.
> The Seequa Chameleon 325 was the only machine that I'm aware of that went
> with the 3.25". I would be very interested to know of any others.
Yes, I remember the Chameleon, but never saw the 325 model.
> I got my 3.25" drives at local swaps. A lot of my diskettes were
> discarded by Micropro (Wordstar).
Still trying to figure out who used the Canon CMD-500 drives of which I
have two. They are one of those kind where the whole top of the drive
flips up to permit insertion/removal of a (apparently) flexible jacket
that housed a disk of about 3.75" diameter. It was clamped for rotation
by a conventional fingered plastic wheel. Jacket width was about 3.8",
judging by the width of the guides, but length needed to be less or
non-square on the 'business' end because of mechanical interference.
Someday!
- don
> --
> Fred Cisin cisin_at_xenosoft.com
> XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
> PO Box 1236 (510) 644-9366
> Berkeley, CA 94701-1236
>
>
Received on Tue Sep 26 2000 - 19:09:59 BST