Info-Atari16 Digest         Tue, 14 May 91       Volume 91 : Issue 270
 
Today's Topics:
                         Atari-st vs Atari-tt
           Bad Sector on Formatting (was Re: Tos 1.4 Bugs)
            Professional Gem series, the posting (1 of 3)
                         System 7 and Spectre
 
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 14 May 91 10:04:41 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.e
 du!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!simvax.labm
 ed.umn.edu!davidli@arizona.
Subject: Atari-st vs Atari-tt
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In article <1986@ahds.UUCP>, geert@ahds.UUCP (Geert W.T. Jonkheer CCS/TS)
 writes:
 
> Is it worth it to get rid of my mega-ST and buy an TT or
> must I wait for another machine to come up? Does all
> ST software run on an TT?
 
You might want to wait for an announcement / price quote for the SST68030 from
Gadgets (the folks who brought you the Spectre Macintosh emulator).  For about
half the cost of a TT you can get a very nice 68030 with lots of fastRAM and
compatibility with the ST -and- TT software.  I can see about getting a copy of
the on-line session David Small gave on GEnie last Wednesday dealing with the
new hardware.
 
--
 
David Paschall-Zimbel           davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 14 May 91 13:10:33 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news!
 toumon!wucc!ytsuji@arizona.edu (Y.Tsuji)
Subject: Bad Sector on Formatting (was Re: Tos 1.4 Bugs)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In article <RALPH.91May14111833@orion.laas.fr>, ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek)
 writes:
> It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be
> returned to the dealer.  (Do you all save all your receipts? :-)
Some disks have labels that says "lifetime guarantee", i.e. they can be
changed without a receipt. We return the defective products to the manufac-
turers here. And they know when the lot went to the market and determine
if the floppy hasn't been used long.
> Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted
> disk?  Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra
> sectors for free!
Very few formatters (such as those that come with a disk editor) have their
own routine for the actual formatting. Most of the formatters simply feed
arbitrary parameters to a TOS formattng routine, which does the verify.
>
> The only time I detected a defective floppy instantly was when Sector
> 0 was defective!  Otherwise, you slowly fill up the floppy disk until
> you come to the defective spot. ;-(  It would be nice to know that
> fact when the disk was formatted.
Fortunately maybe, I have never experienced using a defective disk in my
life (since 1980 when I bought my own single sided 8" disks). I heard people
like to spread dust (tiny rocks, they are) over their disks, use very poor
drive mechanism, or are unaware of the insufficient power supply to the
drive mechanism. I have experienced cases where read/write failed but neither
the floppy nor the drive mechanism was to blame: the write current of previous
head was too strong for the second write current to override. As long as we
use the same type of drive mechanism with adequate and stable power supply,
that can be avoided.
(the rest deleted)
 
Y Tsuji ("I 've got only one person who has positively responded to my
          appeal for a beta tester of an  HD drive project!")
