Message-ID: <278@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 18:47:45 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.278
Posted: Mon Dec 17 18:47:45 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Dec-84 02:28:07 EST
References: <679@ames.UUCP> <400@ucsfcgl.UUCP>
Distribution: net.micro.apple
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 32
About a week before Thanksgiving I ordered one of these 10 MB hard disks from
First Class Peripherals, Inc. They sent me a letter about a week later with
a copy of their warranty (one page description) that thanked me for ordering
their product and informed me that my unit was due for shipment on Dec 3rd.
It arrived at my home on Dec 13th, I unpacked it the next day and have had it
up and running for 2+ days now. They are very careful in their packing and
their documentation. The Sider, as it's called, comes with an interface
board that goes only in slot 7, all of the necessary connecting cables, a
reference manual, and two double-sided floppy diskettes. One of the four
sides of the diskettes contains their installation software to format and
verify the disk. The other three sides have utility software for use in
installing ProDos, CP/M (either PCPI or Microsoft), and Apple Pascal (either
1.1 or 1.2). DOS 3.3 is supported as a matter of course. Their partitioning
scheme is a bit strange at first glance, but becomes understandable the more
you think about the problem of supporting four different operating systems.
I use Pascal almost exclusively, with a little DOS BASIC here and there, so
I have four small volumes (5.25 inch 35 track capacity equivalent) and three
large volumes (about 8 inch diskette capacity) for DOS, and the rest, with
minor allocations for ProDos and CP/M, allocated to four Pascal units of
3728 blocks each. Haven't really had a chance to shake the system out yet,
but I was favorably impressed by what I have seen so far. You don't get
a whole 10 MB for any one operating system, but I have the equivalent of
53+ Pascal diskettes online at one time and that's a whole lot more than
I have had before. For $695 I can only cross my fingers and hope that
someone doesn't buy them up before my warranty expires. More later if
there is interest.
--
TJ (with Amazing Grace) The Piper
Boeing Computer Services
Artificial Intelligence Center
...uw-beaver!ssc-vax!tjj