2-Sep-92 01:00:26-MDT,2828;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 2 Sep 92 01:00:16 MDT Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA19857; Tue, 1 Sep 92 23:47:36 -0700 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) 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: References: Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article , loomis@milton.u.washington.edu (Elaine Loomis) writes: > > and over a hundred of the peculiar, hard-sectored diskettes >that <> 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 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 2 Sep 92 01:00:16 MDT Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA19857; Tue, 1 Sep 92 23:47:36 -0700 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) 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: References: Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article , loomis@milton.u.washington.edu (Elaine Loomis) writes: > > and over a hundred of the peculiar, hard-sectored diskettes >that <> 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 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-