19 Jun
2001
19 Jun
'01
9:36 p.m.
I've never actually seen one, but they were used on
several home
microcomputers
back in the late 70's/early 80's. Probably trs-80 and apple ][. If my
poor memory serves, they were supposed to be somewhat between using a
slow but cheap audio cassette, and a fast but expensive floppy drive.
I think they ended up being a faster but too expensive and too unreliable
option, and thus never really caught on.
They were definately used with the TRS-80's but I believe the
Commodore systems used them as well. Even the '81 catalog for the
Super Elf lists them, at $279, and shows a highly expanded Super Elf
on the cover with two of them sitting on top of it's case. I've got a
cartridge for the drive around here somewhere. I've always wanted to
get one of the wafer drives for the Spectrum myself.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757