26 Apr
2002
26 Apr
'02
10:04 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Erlacher [mailto:edick@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
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