Re: Focus 170

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <ku58028@pro-haven.cts.com>, charlesc@pro-haven.cts.com
(Charles Claypoole) writes:

> I was wanting to know the specifications on the Focus 170 IDE card.
> What is the speed?  Etc... 

    When doing a review of the Focus 80, I did timings for several
applications and found that the drive comes close to RAMdisk speed. The
new Focus 170 may be a bit faster. Anyway, the Focus 80 ended up as our
IIgs hard disk; it has performed flawlessly for more than two years.

    Since the Focus 'Hard Card'  drives plug into a Slot inside the IIgs,
there are no cables, power supplies, or separate boxes to worry about.
Also, it is very quite. The Focus has its own IDE interface on-card.

    Powering the Focus does not seem to be a problem. Our ROM 01 IIgs has
the usual stereo card, 4MB memory expansion, Zip-GS accelerator board, ...
.

    The Focus seems to have no problem living with a RAMfast CD-ROM
system. I used one while reviewing DisQuest.

    One obvious deficit is size. Someone who plans to run a full-scale BBS
will probably want several hundred MB on line.

    Focus drives are shipped pre-formatted and set up as 3 or more
partitions. On the desktop, these appear as separate volumes.  Some
suppliers offer to ship the drive with System 6.0.1. installed. With
startup set to Slot 7 or "Scan", when it arrives you can, literally, pop
the Focus into Slot 7 and boot right into GSOS from hard disk.