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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
From: barrett@cs.umass.edu
Subject: SURVEY: CD-ROM on the Amiga
Message-ID: <1992Sep3.001544.12186@menudo.uh.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Keywords: CD-ROM, hardware
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Nntp-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Reply-To: barrett@cs.umass.edu
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 00:15:44 GMT
[Note: This survey was previously posted in comp.sys.amiga.hardware.
However, I have received over 40 requests for it by e-mail,
and AmigaWorld mentioned it in their September 1992 issue
(page 10), so here it is again.
It has been updated slightly since the original posting.
Search for the string "UPDATE" to find the new information.]
In June 1992, I did a survey of CDROM drives for the Amiga.
Here are the results, which include:
(1) Brief statistics on drive and filesystem popularity.
(2) Detailed information on each drive.
(3) CDROM discs owned.
(4) Favorite CDROM discs.
(5) Miscellaneous comments.
Thank you to the 11 people who responded!! I was going to list
everybody's names, but decided not to do so. This is because one particular
piece of information might be confidential. I'll let you find it. :-)
(1) OVERALL STATISTICS
=======================
Owners Make & Model
----------------------------------------------
3 Chinon CDX-431 (Xetec bundle)
3 NEC CDR-80 (DAK special)
1 Matsushita-Kotobuki CR-501-B
1 NEC CDR-73M or CDR-83
1 Toshiba XM-3301S
1 Toshiba XM-3301BC
1 Toshiba 3101
Owners Filesystem Author
------------------------------------------------------------
7 CDROM-FS Canadian Prototype Replicas
4 Xetec Xetec
(2) DRIVE INFORMATION
=====================
Here is how to read the information in this section. Many of the
headings are obvious (Make & model, may be installed vertically, transfer
speed, etc.).
However, take special note of the section called "Definitely works
with...". This is a list of REPORTED compatibility with OS versions,
filesystems, SCSI controllers, and particular CDROM's. Note that it is only
the REPORTED compatibility. It is NOT complete. The drive might be
compatible with lots more hardware and software. So, if you don't see
something listed here, IT MIGHT WORK ANYWAY. For example, if the drive
"definitely works with" OS 2.04, it MIGHT also work under 1.3, but nobody
reported the information.
The section called "Does NOT work with..." lists incompatibilities.
These combinations definitely do not work as of June 15, 1992.
==============
Make & Model: Chinon CDX-431 (Xetec)
Number of owners responding: 3
Internal/external: both
May be installed vertically: no (only 5-degree tilt permitted)
Average transfer speed (KB/sec): 350
Average access time (ms): 150 [see Complaints]
Definitely works with:
OS versions: 2.04
CD filesystems: Xetec, CDROM-FS
SCSI controllers: A3000, A2091,
Microbotics Hardframe
[see Complaints],
GVP 22 MHz combination
CDROM's: Selectware Demo Disc
Fred Fish Collection
Fred Fish Online
Walnut Creek CDROM's
Fish & More Volumes I, II
NASA 25th year
Space Wars
The Case of the Condor CDTV
Does NOT work with:
OS versions: -- none reported --
CD filesystems: -- none reported --
SCSI controllers: -- none reported --
CDROM's: Grollier's Encyclopedia
[see Complaints]
Women in Motion [see Complaints]
Complaints:
o PC MAGAZINE found the transfer speed to be around 70 KB/sec, not
the claimed 150 KB/sec.
o Hardframe controller "seems to have problems with audio discs.
This is really a minor problem, and it wouldn't stop me from
getting a drive if I had the Hardframe."
o "Grollier's Encyclopedia" locks up with Xetec CDTV emulation.
o "Women in Motion" works 90% of the time, but screens sometimes
get garbled.
Comments:
o Very satisfied.
Make & Model: Matsushita-Kotobuki CR-501-B
Number of owners responding: 1
Internal/external: external
May be installed vertically: ?
Average transfer speed (KB/sec): ?
Average access time (ms): ?
Definitely works with:
OS versions: 2.04
CD filesystems: Xetec
SCSI controllers: A3000
CDROM's: Fish & More Volumes I, II
Walnut Creek discs
Does NOT work with:
OS versions: -- none reported --
CD filesystems: -- none reported --
SCSI controllers: -- none reported --
CDROM's: All audio discs.
Complaints:
o Xetec software does not recognize this drive for playing audio discs.
o Get a lot of recoverable read errors on the A3000, approximately
1 read error per 150 Kilobytes. No read errors on the Supra 500XP.
o "Fish & More Volume 1" doesn't work very well with 2.04 -- icons
overlap and the program "less" keeps crashing.
[UPDATE: The problem is a bug in an early version of "less" which
does not work on accelerated Amigas. Early versions of the
Hypermedia Fish CDROM had the same problem, but replaced "less" with
a more stable text reader. Thanks to Blaine Gardner for this
information.]
Comments:
Make & Model: NEC CDR-80
Number of owners responding: 3
Internal/external: internal
May be installed vertically: yes
Average transfer speed (KB/sec): 150
Average access time (ms): 500
Definitely works with:
OS versions: 1.3, 2.04
CD filesystems: CDROM-FS
SCSI controllers: A2091, A3000
CDROM's: Fred Fish Collection
CATS Developer CD
Lemmings
Grollier's Encyclopedia
Microsoft Bookshelf 1991
Walnut Street CDROM's
Does NOT work with:
OS versions: -- none reported --
CD filesystems: -- none reported --
SCSI controllers: -- none reported --
CDROM's: American Heritage Dictionary, Xiphias
Grollier's Encyclopedia (under 2.04)
Complaints:
o Non-standard CD caddies are difficult to locate.
o CDROM-FS must be mounted before Workbench is loaded (LoadWB) if
you want the auto-diskchange feature to work.
Comments:
o Available CHEAP ($230) from DAK, 800-325-0800, part number 5986.
o Although outdated, this CDROM drive performs well.
o Satisfied owner.
o Works on 80386 clone and a Macintosh too.
Make & Model: NEC CDR 73M and CDR 83
Number of owners responding: 1
Internal/external: 73=external, 83=internal
May be installed vertically: yes
Average transfer speed (KB/sec): 300
Average access time (ms): 280
Definitely works with:
OS versions: 2.04
CD filesystems: CDROM-FS
SCSI controllers: A3000
CDROM's: The Font Co. CD Type Library
Does NOT work with:
OS versions: -- none reported --
CD filesystems: -- none reported --
SCSI controllers: -- none reported --
CDROM's: Toten Color Clip Art (a Mac disc)
Complaints:
Comments:
o CDROM is good. Amiga support is fair to middling.
Make & Model: Toshiba XM-3301S
Number of owners responding: 1
Internal/external: external
May be installed vertically: yes (and also 45-degree tilt OK)
Average transfer speed (KB/sec): 150
Average access time (ms): 300
Definitely works with:
OS versions: 2.04
CD filesystems: CDROM-FS
SCSI controllers: A3000
CDROM's: Fred Fish Collection
Does NOT work with:
OS versions: -- none reported --
CD filesystems: -- none reported --
SCSI controllers: -- none reported --
CDROM's: -- none reported --
Complaints:
o Some problems with automatic disc detection. The user is working
on the problem.
[UPDATE: perhaps the CDROM needs to be mounted before Workbench
is loaded. Thanks to Blaine Gardner for this tip.]
o There is a "memorial minute" when no CD is in the drive on bootup.
The user thinks this is a problem of the A3000 scsi.device.
[UPDATE: Blaine Gardner has the following addition:
"I don't quite know what that means. But I have discovered that a
CDTV-compatible disc (Hypermedia's Fish CD) in the NEC CDR-80 at
system power-on time will prevent my A3000 from booting. I still
have the "magic" ROMs and the disk-based Kickstart, and something in
the CDTV boot code confuses the A3000 and it doesn't load Kickstart.
What's odd is this ONLY happens when the entire system (one internal
SCSI drive, three external SCSI drives, A3070, NEC CDR-80) is
powered up together