"Toy" computers (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

From: Christopher Smith <csmith_at_amdocs.com>
Date: Fri Apr 26 10:04:49 2002

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick_at_idcomm.com]

> > That pretty much describes commodore disk drives, yep. The

> An external IDE drive would be hazardous thing to use because
> of cable length.

Didn't think of that -- you're probably right.

> > handled all of the complexities of disk I/O, so that the CPU didn't
> > need to -- so there are good points to them.

> What you may have had, then, is a toy with a computer as a
> peripheral. That
> was probably quite a bit after the time reference of 1980.

Actually, I don't remember what CPU was in the 1541 drives, but I
seem to recall that it was actually more powerful than the computer.

I also remember somebody working on a way to get code into the drive
to be executed, but that's kind of fuzzy.

> What I am focused on is where the intelligence to run the I/O
> resides. Once

So does the computer have to come with it, or simply allow space for
it on the inside of the case?

> peripherals made great deal of sense. However, it resulted
> in ugly and
> awkward packaging, which was addressed even later with more
> elegant interface
> standards, say, by 1986, with the standardization of SCSI.

Well, I certainly won't argue with that.

> > Would you also have considered 9-track tape "mass storage" for the
> > time?

> I'd tread lightly around that subject, unless your Atari or
> whatever, had a
> 9-track drive in '80 or so.

Obviously not, I'm just curious as to whether it would need to
be some form of "fast" disk-like storage, or if a high-capacity
tape would be ok.

Chris


Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL

/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
 
Received on Fri Apr 26 2002 - 10:04:49 BST