Apple Floppy Drives (was: More Apple Pimpers)

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Thu Nov 8 14:09:35 2001

On Thu, 8 Nov 2001, Eric Chomko wrote:

> Don Maslin wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 7 Nov 2001, Eric Chomko wrote:
> >
> > > Allison wrote:
> > >
> > > > General comment,
> > > >
> > > > Most 8" systems were expected be and behaved reliably and have
> > > > at least 250k of space.
> > > >
> > > > Most 5.25" systems could be reliable but, often weren't. I'll restrict
> > > > comments to 5.25" for the later reason.
> > > >
> > > > Most of the complaints I've had with disk systems be they Apple or not
> > > > were often in this order.
> > > >
> > > > 1- Drives (SA400 was pure garbage!!!)
> > >
> > > Whoa! I bought my Smoke Signal Broadcasting disk system back in 1978
> > > with two SA400 drives. I added a third drive in the late 80s. To this day
> > > all three drives work great. I did switch drives 0 and 2 to allow the most
> > > used drive to get less use and the newest drive to become the main drive.
> > > But, I'd hardly call a disk drive "pure garbage" that has lasted for 12 and
> > > 23 years! And that is in lieu of the fact that they had a 5 year life
> > > expectency.
> > >
> > > my 2 cents...
> >
> > And worth every penny of it :) But the fact is, that despite your
> > fortunate experience, the spiral cam head positioner was probably the
> > worst idea since the stone wheel!
> > - don
> >
>
> Good point! But doesn't that make it interesting now in 2001? I mean the slide
> rule
> compared to the electronic caluclator makes the slide rule seem like a lousy design.
>
> Aren't slide rules interesting today.
>
> Did an alternative exist, in 1974, to the spiral cam head positioner?
>
> Eric
>

Certainly! Both the lead screw and the capstan/split-band positioners
were available.
                                                 - don
Received on Thu Nov 08 2001 - 14:09:35 GMT