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250k 514 -in floppy to sell for $50 to OEMs
Reduced-height 51/4- and 8-in floppies from Shugart New reduced-height 5¼- and 8-in floppy discs have been announced by Shugart, one of the best well-known names in mass storage and the originator of the 5¼-in floppy. The 5¼-in Minifloppy is aimed at the entry-level desktop market where its reduced height and low cost will stand it in good stead. The fully featured floppy is less than two thirds the height of standard models and will retail at $125 each in the US for volumes of 1000 units.
Single or double density It offers 125 or 250 kbyte of unformatted storage in single- or double-density versions. It has 48 tracks/in density and DC drive and stepper motors. The reduced
size of the SA200 allows it to fit under a keyboard, where it can be tilted at a t0 ° angle without affecting performance.
Twice the storage The SA810/860 is a family of half-height 8-in floppy disc drives. This, Shugart believes, will allow the user to double his storage within a given space, i.e. have two units instead of one. It will also allow current 8-in users to move to desktop systems without sacrificing performance or software investment. The double-sided 860 offers unformatted storage of 1.6 Mbyte, track-to-track access time of 3 ms, average seek time of 89 ms and custom LSI circuitry. It costs $450
in quantities of 500. The single-sided 810 costs $385. These discs have total compatibility with Shugart's 801 [851 faro ily. (Shugart Associates,
4 75 Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA. Tel: (408) 733 010(9)
Half-height 51/4-in floppies start at $205 for 128k What is claimed to be the first true half-height 5¼-in floppy disc drive has been released by Teac Corp. The drive, which measures just 1.625 in has band drive positioning using direct DC brushless spindle motor in the one enclosure. The real advantage of the drive, according to Teac, is that it offers twice the capability in the same configuration without the problem of heat dissipation.
250k 51/4-in floppy to sell for $50 to OEMs A 250k half-height 5¼-in floppy disc drive for $50 was the main subject of interest in the recent multiple release from Tandon Corp. Though the pricing is for a mechanics-only very large quantity OEM version, it will have come as something of a shock to Clive Sinclair whose £50 floppy, to be released this year on the Spectrum, was subject of much interest earlier in the year. Tandon released four other 5¼-in disc drives, both in floppy and hard (Winchester) versions. The top of the line is a 31 Mbyte closed-loop Winchester which will retail at less than $1000 in the US. Tandon President,
Sirjang Tandon, said that the releases represent 'manufacturing, technology and price breakthroughs'. The other three drives are a 1 Mbyte microprocessor-controlled floppy with 96 tracks/in, priced at $260 in OEM quantities; a 2 Mbyte microprocessor-controlled floppy with 95 ms average access time, priced at $325 in OEM quantities; and a 6.4 Mbyte Winchester which is expandible to 12.8 and to 19.1 Mbyte. It is priced at, in the three versions, $400, $550 and $700 in large OEM quantities.
(Tandon Corp., 20320 Prairie Street, Chatsworth, CA 91311, USA. Tel: (213) 993 6644)
The five new disc drives from Tandon. The $50 floppy drive is shown in the foreground. The 31 Mbyte Winchester is the second from the left
394
Teac's half:height floppy offers up to 1 Mbyte of mass storage The family of drives, to be known as the FD-55 Series, includes singlesided single- and double-density drives and double-sided single- and doubledensity drives. These are available in both 48 and 96 tracks/in configurations. Storage ranges from 128k to 1 Mbyte, unformatted. I/O signals and power connection are ANSI- and industry-compatible so that the same interface, power supply and controller for normal drives can be used. The family will be priced from $205 to $380 in 100-unit quantities in the US.
(Teac Corp. of America, 7733 Telegraph Road, Montebello, CA 90640, USA. Tel: (213) 726 0303)
microprocessors and microsystems
Single or double density It offers 125 or 250 kbyte of unformatted storage in single- or double-density versions. It has 48 tracks/in density and DC drive and stepper motors. The reduced
size of the SA200 allows it to fit under a keyboard, where it can be tilted at a t0 ° angle without affecting performance.
Twice the storage The SA810/860 is a family of half-height 8-in floppy disc drives. This, Shugart believes, will allow the user to double his storage within a given space, i.e. have two units instead of one. It will also allow current 8-in users to move to desktop systems without sacrificing performance or software investment. The double-sided 860 offers unformatted storage of 1.6 Mbyte, track-to-track access time of 3 ms, average seek time of 89 ms and custom LSI circuitry. It costs $450
in quantities of 500. The single-sided 810 costs $385. These discs have total compatibility with Shugart's 801 [851 faro ily. (Shugart Associates,
4 75 Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, USA. Tel: (408) 733 010(9)
Half-height 51/4-in floppies start at $205 for 128k What is claimed to be the first true half-height 5¼-in floppy disc drive has been released by Teac Corp. The drive, which measures just 1.625 in has band drive positioning using direct DC brushless spindle motor in the one enclosure. The real advantage of the drive, according to Teac, is that it offers twice the capability in the same configuration without the problem of heat dissipation.
250k 51/4-in floppy to sell for $50 to OEMs A 250k half-height 5¼-in floppy disc drive for $50 was the main subject of interest in the recent multiple release from Tandon Corp. Though the pricing is for a mechanics-only very large quantity OEM version, it will have come as something of a shock to Clive Sinclair whose £50 floppy, to be released this year on the Spectrum, was subject of much interest earlier in the year. Tandon released four other 5¼-in disc drives, both in floppy and hard (Winchester) versions. The top of the line is a 31 Mbyte closed-loop Winchester which will retail at less than $1000 in the US. Tandon President,
Sirjang Tandon, said that the releases represent 'manufacturing, technology and price breakthroughs'. The other three drives are a 1 Mbyte microprocessor-controlled floppy with 96 tracks/in, priced at $260 in OEM quantities; a 2 Mbyte microprocessor-controlled floppy with 95 ms average access time, priced at $325 in OEM quantities; and a 6.4 Mbyte Winchester which is expandible to 12.8 and to 19.1 Mbyte. It is priced at, in the three versions, $400, $550 and $700 in large OEM quantities.
(Tandon Corp., 20320 Prairie Street, Chatsworth, CA 91311, USA. Tel: (213) 993 6644)
The five new disc drives from Tandon. The $50 floppy drive is shown in the foreground. The 31 Mbyte Winchester is the second from the left
394
Teac's half:height floppy offers up to 1 Mbyte of mass storage The family of drives, to be known as the FD-55 Series, includes singlesided single- and double-density drives and double-sided single- and doubledensity drives. These are available in both 48 and 96 tracks/in configurations. Storage ranges from 128k to 1 Mbyte, unformatted. I/O signals and power connection are ANSI- and industry-compatible so that the same interface, power supply and controller for normal drives can be used. The family will be priced from $205 to $380 in 100-unit quantities in the US.
(Teac Corp. of America, 7733 Telegraph Road, Montebello, CA 90640, USA. Tel: (213) 726 0303)
microprocessors and microsystems