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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!husc6!rutgers!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!gatech!akgua!rebel!george
From: george@rebel.UUCP (George M. Sipe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs
Subject: Re: Lot's of questions
Message-ID: <203@rebel.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Dec-86 14:21:32 EST
Article-I.D.: rebel.203
Posted: Tue Dec 23 14:21:32 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Dec-86 00:19:13 EST
References: <9073FIB@PSUVM> <2750@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Reply-To: george@rebel.UUCP (George M. Sipe)
Organization: Tolerant Systems, Atlanta GA
Lines: 29
Keywords: Bernoulli
Summary: plug for Bernoulli Box
Xref: mnetor comp.sys.ibm.pc:666 comp.periphs:76

In article <2750@osu-eddie.UUCP> mdf@osu-eddie.UUCP (Mark D. Freeman) writes:
>In article <9073FIB@PSUVM> you write:
>
>There are software packages to do this.  I say buy a Bernoulli Box though.
>
>>2)  Has anybody had any experience (good or bad) with the Bernoulli Box?
>
>BBs are as fast as an AT hard disk when used on an AT.  They do not get head
>crashes, and the cartridges are portable and very rugged.  Buy one!

I have used the Bernoulli Box for about 3 years now.  I find them fast,
reliable, and rugged.  My only complaint is that the cost of the media
has increased from the initial $30 to several times that.  Low media
cost was a big factor for me in buying them.

Beyond that, no problems...  never broken, never lost data, always
interchangable, fast access, fast duplication.  Highly recommended.

I should note that I wrote my own drivers, my own copy program, and my
own 'formatter' (don't ask, all in Z80 assembly).  Many people don't
realize that each cartridge has a (redundant) info area which the drive
reads to learn how to handle it.  The info includes bad track
information, dwell timer info (the drive will idle the motor after 5,
7.5, 10, etc. minutes on a per cartridge - not drive - basis), two
different ECC options, and sector interleave.  If you don't 'format'
(i.e. set these things specifically) you will be very lucky if the
settings are suitable for your specific hardware and application,
particularly for ECC and skew.  Of course, that will make a substantial
difference in reliability and performance.