Msg: 3526 *Conference*
12-07-92 00:33:52
From: RICHARD HANSON
To : MICHAEL VOLOW
Subj: REPLY TO MSG #3523 (DVI CABLE AWKWARDNESS?)
Right you are... be careful pluging and unpluging your DVI cable in your Model 100. Those pins will break! (bad news!!) A new cable cost $70 from Rat Shack due to low demand and high production cost, i.e., not many are sold and making a DVI cable is a nightmare. What you are looking for is called a "Zero Insertion Force Socket." Most electronic shops either carry them or can order you one. Or, you can buy one mail order from companies like Digi-Key. Their catalog is free for the asking. Call: 1-800-344-4539. This is an easy number to remember since it is also 1-800-DIGI-KEY. Tricky, huh?! Like some marketing brain was sitting around thinking, "How could I make our number easy to remember?" Are the TPDD1, TPDD2, or Chipmunk drives any better? Who knows. It all depends on what you want to do, what you own, where you want to use it, or how, and lots of other interesting questions that can drive you nuts just thinking about them. The TPDD1 and TPDD2: These drives are portable, run on AA batteries, use 3.5" media, and format that media to: TPDD1 = 100K, 40 entries in one directory. TPDD2 = 200K, 80 entries in two, 40 entry directories. These drives connect to the serial port (IEEE RS232C). The drives come with a DOS. From Tandy it is called: TPDD1 = FLOPPY.CO. TPDD2 = FLOPPY. The only useful thing about FLOPPY.CO and FLOPPY is that they both contain a disk-image coping command, enabling the user to make a image copy of any disk, including bootable disks--the exception being the Sardine Dictionary Disk. Much more useful DOS's exist. We carry TS-DOS on both disk version and ROM version. Amoung other tricks, TS-DOS allows drive access from within TEXT and BASIC. There are other DOSes, as well. The Chipmunk drive: This storage device was always "better" technology. It left the market for one big reason: It only ran on a Model 100. When the Model 102 replaced the 100, Chipmunk owners found that they could not run it on a stock 102 but could run it on an "altered" 102--altering, of course, eliminated the warrenty. The "Munk" drive uses 3.5" media formatted to 360K per disk. Munk drives require a special Munk-adaptor fitted to the system bus under the keyboard of the Model 100. The munk's DOS (CDOS = Chipmunk Disk Operating System) resides in ROM on the drive and is loaded via a RESET or CALL0 in BASIC. Both the DVI and the Munk drive have the apility of being accessed while online, i.e., upload and download directly to the drive. This is possible because these drives connected to the system bus. Both the TPDD1 and TPDD2 connect to the serial port (IEEE RS232C) and may not be used while online; with one exception. There's always an exception to the rule. A super programmer named James Yi invented a program for Model T users that, indeed, allow drive access while online. This program is available on CIS's M100SIG. Several members of our club have tried James's program and like its action. That's a brief overview of the various drives still "sort of" available today. Hope this helps... -Rick-