3.25" diskettes (was: Restore CDs, diagnostics etc.

On Tue, 26 Sep 2000, Don Maslin wrote: 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". 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. 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. I got my 3.25" drives at local swaps. A lot of my diskettes were discarded by Micropro (Wordstar). -- Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com PO Box 1236 (510) 644-9366 Berkeley, CA 94701-1236