[Oberon] Re. ATAPI Zip drive;

[easlab at absamail.co.za]

> cg> Are you saying that NO [not Aos] can read/write Zip ?

Peter wrote:
> Yes NO(Native Oberon).  
> 
> The drive connnects to the ribbon cable and works 
> just as a fixed disk except for some longer delays.  
> 
> The driver is ATADisks.Mod.  With a recent enough 
> release you will see ATAPI mentioned in the history 
> comments.  Compliments to the authors for good work!
> 
OK, since it's "ATAPI" it follows the appropriate protocol,
even if it's made out of banana skins.

> cg> IMO only the 'parallel port' version is relevant for
> moving data between boxes.
> 
> AFAIK NO does not support parallel port Zip.
> 
As stated, I see no advantage in Zip if it has to plug into the
"IDE" cable.  I already move my IDE hard-disks and the 
CDrom that way between boxes.  I was hoping to get a bit
more civilised; like if I go to the library or to 'normal'
people [who have a wintel box from Walmart] how can I
get data to bring to my mess ?

> cg> ... poor hardware reliability.
> 
> Unlikely considering that the SCSI Zip was error 
> free in the Mac.

No, that's the illusion that software can create.
You wouldn't know if it had to read 3 times to get the 
correct data.   Like the internet, because it eventually
pops-out error free, that doesn't mean there were 
no errors encountered on the way.

You get systems that are designed only for 'fair weather',
like the dialer/ppp is fine provided my ISP logs-me-in 
before NO times out.  So also there's no reason that if
fd0 sees errors you shouldn't be able to try again and
if necessary replace the diskette and carry on.

== Chris Glur.