 2-Sep-92 01:00:26-MDT,2828;000000000000
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Date: 1 Sep 92 18:05:36 GMT
From: pacbell.com!well!rab@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Bickford)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Subject: Re: N* Horizon for sale
Message-Id: <BtwvLC.LKA@well.sf.ca.us>
References: <loomis.714941263@milton>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <loomis.714941263@milton>,
 loomis@milton.u.washington.edu (Elaine Loomis) writes:
>
>            and over a hundred of the peculiar, hard-sectored diskettes
>that <<ONLY>> N* computers could read/write.

I *hate* it when people make this mistake.  Those disks may be
"peculiar" nowadays thanks to (mostly) IBM, but at the time the system
was designed and sold they were **THE** standard format in the personal 
computer industry.  Yes, I'm well aware that a few companies had
competing standards -- which later evolved into the soft-sectored
standard that IBM adopted -- but at the time the NorthStar 5" disk
format was absolutely the most common, most reliable, and most used
(outside of the 8 inchers, which of course faded away).

So it simply isn't true that "only" N* computers could read/write
these disks --- any S-100 system with a N* disk card in it (and that
was quite a lot of them) could read them, and many other companies'
systems could also read them.

BTW, when the 5" disks were introduced (by Shugart?) the *recommended*
standard format was hard-sectored, 10 sectors per track: exactly the
NorthStar format.  Soft-sectored schemes only became practical when
Western Digital came out with a chip that took care of all the hard
parts so that drive designers didn't have to cope with the difficult
design problems involved.

BTW, what price range are you asking for the Horizon etc.?

--
 Robert Bickford      "A Hacker is any person who derives joy from
 rab@well.sf.ca.us    discovering ways to circumvent limitations." rab'86
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I recognize that a class of criminals and juvenile delinquents has
taken to calling themselves 'hackers', but I consider them irrelevant
to the true meaning of the word; just as the Mafia calls themselves
'businessmen' but nobody pays that fact any attention."            rab'90
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 2-Sep-92 01:00:26-MDT,2828;000000000000
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Date: 1 Sep 92 18:05:36 GMT
From: pacbell.com!well!rab@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Bickford)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Subject: Re: N* Horizon for sale
Message-Id: <BtwvLC.LKA@well.sf.ca.us>
References: <loomis.714941263@milton>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <loomis.714941263@milton>,
 loomis@milton.u.washington.edu (Elaine Loomis) writes:
>
>            and over a hundred of the peculiar, hard-sectored diskettes
>that <<ONLY>> N* computers could read/write.

I *hate* it when people make this mistake.  Those disks may be
"peculiar" nowadays thanks to (mostly) IBM, but at the time the system
was designed and sold they were **THE** standard format in the personal 
computer industry.  Yes, I'm well aware that a few companies had
competing standards -- which later evolved into the soft-sectored
standard that IBM adopted -- but at the time the NorthStar 5" disk
format was absolutely the most common, most reliable, and most used
(outside of the 8 inchers, which of course faded away).

So it simply isn't true that "only" N* computers could read/write
these disks --- any S-100 system with a N* disk card in it (and that
was quite a lot of them) could read them, and many other companies'
systems could also read them.

BTW, when the 5" disks were introduced (by Shugart?) the *recommended*
standard format was hard-sectored, 10 sectors per track: exactly the
NorthStar format.  Soft-sectored schemes only became practical when
Western Digital came out with a chip that took care of all the hard
parts so that drive designers didn't have to cope with the difficult
design problems involved.

BTW, what price range are you asking for the Horizon etc.?

--
 Robert Bickford      "A Hacker is any person who derives joy from
 rab@well.sf.ca.us    discovering ways to circumvent limitations." rab'86
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I recognize that a class of criminals and juvenile delinquents has
taken to calling themselves 'hackers', but I consider them irrelevant
to the true meaning of the word; just as the Mafia calls themselves
'businessmen' but nobody pays that fact any attention."            rab'90
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
