Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 21:08:51 -0500 (CDT) From: Jim Bryant <jbryant@airmail.net> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: magneto-optical drives Message-ID: <199508230208.VAA01722@gateway.airmail.net>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Is anyone working on drivers for magneto-optical drives?
Is there an existing driver that will work with magneto-optical drives?
If neither, then I will probably end up writing one. I've had bad luck
with tapes lately, nothing to do with FreeBSD, just simple aging, tape
degradation, etc...
I recently bought an IBM MTA-3230 3.5" 230M magneto optical drive at
Computer City for like $499... Given that the cartridges store more, are
random access, and signifigantly faster than worms, cd-roms, or
floppy-tape, as well as data-retention time in excess of 50 years [i'll
believe that when i see it!], I think that paying around twice as much as
for tapes can be justified by some [ME!]....
Jordan, if nobody is doing a driver or has a driver, mind if I do it?
Supposedly the 171 page manual for this drive is on the way from IBM...
BTW: this drive is also packaged in a decent SCSI case, is easily removed
for internal mounting, comes with one formatted cartridge with the apple
[ARGH!] drivers on it.
The OEM for the drive is NuDesign and is in the apple section of the
stores... I am not plugging NuDesign here, as a matter of fact, they have
the most unhelpful and unfriendly technical department I have ever had the
displeasure to work with. When I finally asked for the IBM support number
for the drive, they didn't just give the wrong number, but they were off
by several states... They do have the reference manual for the drive, but
refuse to even photocopy it for someone writing a driver.
After spending over an hour on the phone, I finally tracked down the
proper IBM phone number and department, which happens to be just down the
road from NuDesign. IBM was much more helpful.
The IBM drive is decent though, and even has a faster sequential transfer
rate than my 4x cd-rom. My recommendation is to call IBM for the names of
other OEMs for this drive other than NuDesign...
The IBM name for the drive is the ImageStar 230 [model #: MTA-3230].
Jim
--
All opinions expressed are mine, if you | "I will not be pushed, stamped,
think otherwise, then go jump into turbid | briefed, debriefed, indexed, or
radioactive waters and yell WAHOO !!! | numbered!" - #1, "The Prisoner"
jbryant@gateway.airmail.net, System administrator, Internet America
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199508230208.VAA01722>