Re: Disk ][ drives look good! :)

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article edhel@LOSETHECAPITALWORDSbigfoot.com (Edhel Iaur, Esq.) writes...

>Those B & H drives are even cooler!  Is it just me, or do they
>actually sound quieter?  I'll hafta see if they have the same
>innards...

    Speaking of quiet drives, I had the most whisper-silent Apple 
compatible 5.25 drives (half-height) on my Apple II clone back in 
the early 80's. You could hardly tell if they were loading, and
they never made those grinding or clattering sounds when the head
reset or there were errors on the diskette. Even their size was
cool, two of them stacked together were no higher than a 3.5"
floppy disk standing up! (I think they were more slim-line drives
than actual half-heights since they're only about half as tall as
my platinum Apple 5.25 drives). I just remember how noisy Disk II
drives that my friends owned made a terrible noise. :-)

    I still have those drives today, they were Asuka drives made
by a Japanese company called Newtech (model NF-555). Unfortunately
one is completely dead and the other can read but not write. They
only way to fix them is with some custom chip that frequently 
would fail. A couple of years back I got a replacement chip from
someone in Japan through the Apple Echo on Fidonet. :) Wouldn't
mind fixing them again if I could find that chip.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca