Re: Focus 170

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

Re:

> Subject: Focus 170         Thu, 30 Nov 95 16:06:56 CST
> From: charlesc@pro-haven.cts.com (Charles Claypoole)
> Organization: ProLine [pro-haven] - Pariahs' Haven BBS 409/822-5534 28800 bps
> 
>         I was wanting to know the specifications on the Focus 170 IDE card.
>  What is the speed?  Etc...  Thanks
>
> Charles Claypoole                    Sysop of The Rainbow's End GS
> charlesc@pro-haven.cts.com           409-778-3119 24hrs  IIne-net

I recently bought a Focus 170 from Alltech Electronics. When I tried it
out it worked fine at startup but as soon as it warmed up a few minutes
it became extremely unreliable. I returned it to Alltech. They sent it
back in a week or so with a new card attached to the same drive. It has
worked flawlessly ever since. I'm very happy with it. I plan to buy
another, probably the $99 20-meg version formatted for ProDOS for a IIe.

My subjective impression of the Focus drive is, once the operating system
is loaded it is fast and quiet. With no external boxes and cables you have
a smaller, cleaner working area and a much more portable computer. These
factors alone make the Focus drive a great bargain in my opinion. At the
price, you could get one just to use for backing up your existing hard
drive! I think EVERY Apple IIGS and Apple IIe should have one!

I can't give technical specifications, but since I also have a Quantum
drive and a RamFAST I can report a few simple timings I just made.

First, the systems:

A) ROM 01 IIGS, 4 meg memory card, 9-MHz Zip-GS accelerator, Focus 170,
   two 3.5" drives, one 5.25" drive, Apple RGB monitor, GS/OS 6.0.1.

B) ROM 3  IIGS, 7 meg memory card, 9-MHz Zip-GS accelerator, RamFAST,
   Quantum 170, two 3.5" drives, one 5.25" drive, Second Sight card
   with SVGA monitor, GS/OS 6.0.1.

           SYSTEM (A)  SYSTEM (B)
           =========== ===========
           TIME  Delta TIME  Delta
EVENT      (sec) (sec) (sec) (sec)  Comments
========   ===== ===== ===== =====  =========================================
Turn On       0           0         Note: the Quantum is already up to speed.
Start Boot   17    17     4     4   At power up, the Focus just seems to sit
End Boot     56    40    29    25     there and think about it for awhile.

RESTART       0           0         Using control-apple-reset.
Start Boot    1     1     2     2     For some reason, the Focus does not
End Boot     41    40    22    20     need to think about it this time!

Turn On       0           0         Holding down shift key so no Inits/DAs
Shift Boot    1     1     1     1     are loaded. Again, the Focus does not
End Boot     18    17    11    10     need to think it over to start to work.

RESET         0           0         Using control-apple-reset, as well as
Shift Boot   18    18     1     1     holding down shift key so no Inits/DAs
End Boot     34    16    11    11     are loaded.

Copy File     0           0        One 246-K file, Partition 1 to Partition 6.
Done          3           3           Too fast to measure accurately.

Copy Files    0           0        Three files, total 335-K, P.1 to P.6.
Done          4           4           Too fast to measure accurately.

I do have one question for the Net gurus: Could a Focus 20-meg drive
(with ProDOS) possibly work in a 64-K Apple II Plus?

Hope this helps.

- Jim Pittman - University of New Mexico - casa@unm.edu