Sounds like something I found in a garage sale of all places: a Digital Controls 6001 Intelligent Network Processor. I have no idea what it is really; I had always assumed it might have been a terminal server. It is not a rack unit (no mounting brackers, only 15" wide, rubber feet). Any experts here are encouraged identify my hardware too. -- Jeffrey S. Sharp jss(a)ou.edu -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version 3.12 GCS/MU d-@ s-:+ a-- C+++(++++) UB+++$> P+ L+(++) E> W++ N+(++) o? K? w++$ !O M(-) !V PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5 X(+) R++ tv+ b+ DI++(+++) D+ G++ e> h--- r+++ y+++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

If I recall correctly, one of the problems with the MO drives was that there was little to no standardization of the formats or disks for the drives. I've got an old Pinnacle MO drive stashed away somewhere but no longer recall it's capacity. 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

Jerome Fine replies: Pinnacle sold an OEM drive (the one made by Sony) packaged in their own box. The original Sony SMO S501 consisted on two components - a C501 controller (which was the interface between the host adapter and the actual drive) and the actual D501 drive (which in its original form was a modified ESDI configuration - I don't know if an actual ESDI hard drive could be substituted for the D501 drive) in addition to the external box with a power supply for one drive and controller. Pinnacle called their drive the REO-650 and in a dual configuration it was called an REO-1300. Since I also have an REO-650 and have looked inside, I can verify that on the early models, this was the actual hardware. Obviously, both the S501 and the REO-650 use the identical media. AGAIN, ONCE MORE, does anyone want some disks? The drive interface is standard SCSI with a 50 pin centronics interface, although the internal C501 board uses just a standard 50 pin header. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine

Jerome Fine replies: As far as I know (or at least this is what I have always been told), the MO drives which can use the larger capacity (NOT larger in physical dimensions) media are also backward compatible with the lower capacity media for both read and write at least downward one step. There are now 5 GByte media and these drives can still read the 650 MByte original media for 5 1/4" drives, but are not able to write to the original media. So, it is almost a sure bet that your 1300 MByte drive can read and write the 650 MByte media. NOTE: The marketing hype produced by the drive manufactures always stated (from what I can remember) that an MO drive had a capacity equal the the capacity of the media rather than what the drive could read on just one side of the media before it was flipped. This would be like saying that the old 5 1/4" single-sided 180K floppy drives were actually 360K if they could use a 5 1/4" flippy (a diskette that had dual notches and index holes so that a single-sided drive could read the other side of the floppy - I often used to do this with an 8" floppy before I was told that turning the media in the other direction inside the sleeve could dislodge sufficient dirt to make the media inoperative - so I started to limit the practice to ONLY those diskettes that I used for archive purposes). Thus, a so-called 650 MByte MO drive like the Sony S501 or the Pinnacle REO-650 can actually read/write ONLY 325 MBytes per side (when 1024 byte per sector media are used - and only 295 MBytes per side when 512 bye per sector media are used), although if the media is taken out and turned over and inserted again, the other side of the media can also be used independently to provide a total of 650 MBytes for the media, but still ONLY 325 MBytes maximum at a time for the actual MO drive. In any case, if you have reached this far and want to attempt to purchase the 590 MByte media, please reply ASAP. Anyone else?? I suppose not since there have been NO other replies. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine