HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mmarriot@mjmnode.equinox.gen.nz (Manfred Marriott)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Info needed on CD-ROM reliability
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 92 22:58:25   M
Organization: Not an organisation

Hello everyone. 
I am interested in getting any information about the reliability of
CD-ROM's, in terms of data integrety <sp>, error rates (both recoverable 
and unrecoverable), and the effects of aging. 

Please email me and I will post a summary.

Manfred Marriott
From: jack@admin.mport.COM (Jack Craig)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: Pioneer DRM-600
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:24:28 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: Microport Inc., Scotts Valley, CA 95066 US of A

i'm not sure how pioneer handles support. i suspect its through
their distributors. one of those is peripheral solution, santa cruz, ca.
408-425-8280. they can probably answer your questions.

jack...
=============================================================================
 Jack Craig  Microport         SVR4 408-438-UNIX   uunet!mport.com!jack
             Software Horizons SVR3 408-684-1375   uunet!sco.com!blznrzn!jack
=============================================================================
From: james@library.nrl.navy.mil (James King)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Exporting Street Atlas
Date: 10 Sep 92 16:15:27 GMT
Organization: NRL

Regarding the recent posting about exporting Street Atlas to other formats, 
it is only possible to put Street Atlas maps out to the Clipboard.  But, 
DeLorme recently came out with a new CD that is a superset of Street Atlas 
called MAP Expert.  This one is a TRUE Windows application, including the 
menu bar, ability to export to BMP(Bitmapped) or WMF(Windows MetaFile) 
formats, as well as the ability to annotate the maps!  And it is the same 
price as Street Atlas, $495.

If you would like more detailed information, call DeLorme at 207-865-1234.
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: runyan@cup.hp.com (Mark Runyan)
Subject: Floptical drives of any interest?
Summary: Are floptical drives of any interest?
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:20:43 GMT
Organization: HP, Cupertino, CA, USA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Keywords: CD-ROM, disk, laptop

Having just encountered an advertisement of the "floptical" drive
(a read/write magneto-optical drive that stores up to 21MB on media
that resembles 3.5" disks [and the same drive can read/write normal
high density 3.5" disks]), I'm curious as to whether vendors have
considered providing distribution of software on this media.  The
drive was a bit pricey for me, but, then, so was the CD-ROM drive
which I'm still paying for.   Of course, the idea of having a drive
that can deal with normal 3.5", but, if the proper media is used,
could provide 21MB in the same form package is quite interesting.
And if this drive were available in a package that could be fitted
into a normal labtop (replacing an existing normal 3.5" high density
drive), it might be an extremely useful improvement for old style
laptops.

Mark Runyan
From: ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: PhotoCD & patents
Date: 8 Sep 92 16:39:43 GMT
Reply-To: ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Distribution: alt
Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK

In article <Bu8vu4.KG5@iat.holonet.net> bwilliam@iat.holonet.net (Bill Williams) writes:
>the matter, under Kodaks current fascist way of guiding things.

Kodak are not 'guiding' anything. They are putting something on the open
market. Now, if Photo-CD were mandated as a government document interchange
standard, that would be different.

>RESIST FILE FORMAT PATENTS! Use "liberal" JPEG compression levels and you'd
>get about the same quality for the same space.

JPEG is primarily designed for interchange of pictures which are already
in digital format; the compression merely makes better use of bandwidth.

Photo-CD is designed for archive digital storage of 'real' photographs.
From what I have heard, a lot more knowledge of, say, colour technology
and avoidance of artifacts has gone into its design.

Also (and this is not an expert opinion) the patents on fractal image
compression are far more wide-ranging and general than Kodak's patents
on their specific compression technique.
From: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Jukebox for 1000 CDs mini
Date: 9 Sep 92 20:24:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 

AJ>	Does anyone know if there exists a jukebox system or any other
AJ>	method to manage at least 1000 CDROMs and better yet can be
AJ>	expanded ?

There are some that handle 100 CD-ROMs, one made in England and another
one in California. How about 10 of them at something like $25,000 apiece?
If you are interested in something like that, email back and I'll provide 
more information. It is, in fact, cheaper than 100 physical units or 25 
4-drive units. They may also be able to make larger single units.

Another option: With a network, you can attach as many physical CD-ROM 
units as you wish, as long as you have enough servers and drives, using 
products like OptiNet on the servers. The largest one I've done thus far
is 200 drives, but any number is possible.

I'd also be interested in what you want to put on 1000 disks, if you 
feel like telling me.
 
---
 . KingQWK 1.05 # 141 . 
   
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: chinc@ecf.toronto.edu (CHIN CHIEN TING)
Subject: minor problem with Multimedia Kit
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 04:46:32 GMT



Hi, I just got the Creative Lab Multimedia Kit, which includes a 390ms, 
150kps Panasonic drive hooked on to a Sound Blaster Pro. The package 
also includes Win 3.1, software and a bunch of CDROMs. (Maybe I will do 
a review soon?) Almost surprisingly, the installation basically went
without a hicup. 

But I have a problem: Once in a while (and more often in Windows), the
drive is not ready, Retry always works, but it's annoying. I suspect
Windows is too impatient waiting for the drive to read, is it possible?
I am using my old copy of Win 3.1 (with file date around 3-10-92), the
version of Win 3.1 on CDROM has files date around May 92. Will the 
"newer" version fix the problem?

BTW, is anyone interested in buying my copy of SB MIDI kit? It comes 
with the mentioned package, but it's still in the original shrink wrap.


-- 
CHIN, Chien Ting 
Dept of Physics
University of Toronto                                  \ /
------------------------------------------------------- * <
From: uukwong@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Hui Fung Kwong)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: CD prices vary wildly
Keywords: CD-ROM, cost, price
Date: 14 Sep 92 21:37:38 GMT
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Your article provides a lot of information. Please include the company
address and phone number if possible.

Thank you.

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Please use the umkwong3 account in the future.

         umkwong3@ccu.umanitaba.ca                  Kwong, Hui Fung
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk ("Malcolm S. Muir")
Subject: Re: Loading MSCDEX and Mouse drivers high ? 
Distribution: world
Organization: Muir
Reply-To: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.18)
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 12:44:32 +0000


In article <1-xn13_@lynx.unm.edu> Lawson%ssdvax.decnet@lbgwy.mdc.com writes:

>Assuming I have enough upper memory, is it possible to load the MSCDEX cd-rom
>and the Microsoft Mouse drivers into upper memory ?
>
>If I do a lh mscdex it doesn't seem to load and if I do the same with the mouse>driver it doesn't go into upper memory.
>
>I'm on a 386 20 mhz pc clone.

I have both (and the device driver) loaded high with qemm386 no problems.

I believe however that they both need considerably more memory to initialise
that when they are running. Try loading them as early as possible in your
config.sys file.

Of course qemm386 and it's stealth option make a lot more high/upper memory
available than DOS 5 :-)

--
===================
Malcolm S. Muir                       EMAIL: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk
Sunderland, England                   CIX: mmuir BIX: mmuir CSERVE: 100012,31
===================
From: baker1326@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Walnut Creek...
Date: 8 Sep 92 15:05:35 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

i recently ordered the GIF's Galore and CICA archive from Walnut Creek CD-ROM
   and anticipating being able to call myself "another satisfied Walnut Creek
   Customer" soon.  
what i WOULD like to know, is what other CD-ROM's does Walnut Creek have to
   offer? the woman on the phone was very helpful, but not especially
   knowledgeable with respect to what the CD-ROM's actually contained.
could someone either e-mail me, or post a listing of the Walnut Creek CD-ROM's
   available?

thanks in advance!

DAle baker
Ivan "the Trouncable" Kuzmovich
baker1326@iscsvax.uni.edu

ps. where can i get the FAQ for this newsgroup?
From: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: Information on Sony H
Date: 8 Sep 92 08:23:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 

2I>In article <2740.1188.uupcb#spacebbs.com>, kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen)  writes:
2I>>SR>I have seen ads recently for a Sony drive model HS-1200 that with
2I>>SR>SCSI interface, 280ms access and 300KB transfer rate.  Is anyone
2I>>SR>familiar with the drive, or how I could get information on it?
2I>
2I>>HS-1200 is not a Sony model number. I've seen that model number in a
2I>>High Technology advertisement; I think it was an OEM version using
2I>>an NEC drive, which matches the specs you gave above
2I>>
2I>
2I>Sony's fastest drive at presnet runns 320ms..I think so I would have to agree.
2I>ONe question though...when you say 4x, are you saying we will get them
2I>down to 80ms?...that would be major league cool...640mb at 80ms!

No, no, no! Those 300kb transfer speeds do not effect the access time at all.
The NEC 84 still has a 280ms access time, not 140ms. 

These 2x and 4x drives will only transfer data at the higher rate, once it
has located it. That is important if you want to display 30 frames per 
second video, for example, or if you have very large files you want to copy.
For database applications, it is almost worthless.

---
 . KingQWK 1.05 .
From: shane@peeker.uucp (Shane R. McCarthy)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: CD-ROM Telephone Directories
Date: 11 Sep 1992 03:21:25 GMT
Organization: Not an Organization
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith


 Ken_J_Siegel@cup.portal.com writes...
>I have ordered and am waiting to receive from DAK
>the 3 disks from PhoneDisc USA (2 are residential phone numbers, one is
>commercial numbers) and their $200 BSR drive.  But I am interested in 
>hearing if there are better phone listings (residential) available.

   Is there and such CD available that has Canadian phone numbers.

-- 
Shane McCarthy                  Please forward mail to
Windsor, Ont.                   cs.uwindsor.ca!jabba!peeker!shane
From: carpenterj@gtephx.UUCP (Jim Carpenter)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: MediaVision PAS 16 SCCI Interface
Summary: What kind of cable is required for PAS 16 SCCI port?
Keywords: SCCI PAS16 CDROM
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:16:24 GMT
Reply-To: carpenterj@gtephx.att.com
Distribution: usa
Organization: AG Communication Systems, Phoenix, Arizona
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3



I am considering buying the MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 card, and I
like to use the built in SCCI port to drive my NEC CD ROM (74).  Can 
someone tell me what kind of cable connector is used on the card for
an external SCCI device.

I called up MediaVision.  They only sell (direct) the drivers w/cable for
each particular CD ROM.  And at $79 it seems a little steep. ($39 for an 
internal drive w/cable and drivers).  It sounds like they want to charge 
$40 for the privilege a buying a cable from them....And they only sell it
direct.....not thru resellers.....gee....

Rumor had it that the SCCI drivers were now included with the card.
Is this true?

Any info would be appreciated.

thx

--
Jim Carpenter, AG Communication Systems, Phoenix, AZ, USA
UUCP: ...!{ncar!noao!enuucp | att}!gtephx!carpenterj
Internet: carpenterj@gtephx.att.com | carpenterj%gtephx@enuucp.eas.asu.edu  
voice:(602) 582-7633  fax:(602) 582-7624       (* I speak only for myself...*)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: bwilliam@iat.holonet.net (Bill Williams)
Subject: Re: PhotoCD & patents
Organization: HoloNet (BBS: 510-704-1058)
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 05:42:03 GMT

>>But PhotoCD, if it's as successful as Kodak and others believe it
will be, is likely to be quite long-lived.

I can assure you that a repressive and arbitrary patent on a computer file
format for storing a compressed bit map will be neither successful nor
long lived if the rights to incorporate the file format in a competing
product (any program) costs 100,000.00 for the file specification.

It will die a long lingering death if programmers like me have any say in
the matter, under Kodaks current fascist way of guiding things.

RESIST FILE FORMAT PATENTS! Use "liberal" JPEG compression levels and you'd
get about the same quality for the same space.

BWilliams

From: calloway@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Frank Calloway)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 13:24:54 GMT
Subject: Re: Sony "Laser Library" and SONY_CDU.SYS
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Loveland, CO
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom

I also bought the Sony Laser Library.  Their documentation contains
zero technical details.

Frank Calloway
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: chuck@eng.umd.edu (Chuck Harris - WA3UQV)
Subject: Re: PhotoCD & patents
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 92 21:35:37 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, Department of Electrical Engineering
Distribution: alt

In article <920904155855_75300.1324_CHE117-2@CompuServe.COM> Nick Arnett <75300.1324@COMPUSERVE.COM> writes:
> ...
>But PhotoCD, if it's as successful as Kodak and others believe it
>will be, is likely to be quite long-lived.  It seems likely that 15
>years from now, or whenever the protection ends (assuming the

I would be willing to wager that in 15 years, CDROMS of the type currently
used for audio/data will be a distant memory!  Just take a look at what
disk drives looked like 15 years ago, or even 5 years ago.  I am certain
beyond all doubt that any video technique used on the current style of
CDROMS will be laughably obsolete in 15 years.

CDROMS are doomed to future obsolesence because they are slow, and only hold
about 670Mb of storage.  Future applications are going to need much bigger
and much faster storage devices (probably without moving parts).  They are ok
for now, but certainly not in 15 years.

Just my 2 cents worth,

Chuck Harris - WA3UQV
chuck@eng.umd.edu
From: u7911050@cc.nctu.edu.tw (Saturn Paul)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: MEGA-ROM
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:24:26 GMT
Organization: National Chiao Tung University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

Hello, all
  
   I ftp from cdrom ftp site the file 'micro.med'.
   It is a list of famous CD-ROM and I am interested
 in MEGA-ROM. 

   The file didn't describe the CD-ROM in detail, but
 simply say '600MB Of Sharewares - 1991 December'. 

   Do anybody know about this CD-ROM ?  Do it publish annually ?


--
                      .---------------------------.
---------------------+---------------------------+------------------------.
|   E-mail address:                   ----                         |\  | \ |                        |
|     u7911050@cc.nctu.edu.tw        '----   ---  --+--  .  .  |,~ | \ |   |
|   E.E. Department of                ----' `---`-  `--  `--`- |   |  \|   |
|   National Chiao Tung University   ==========================|======== / |
`--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: calloway@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Frank Calloway)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 14:11:46 GMT
Subject: Re: Corel Draw CD-ROM Edition (Reviewed by Tony Thomas)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Loveland, CO
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom

In alt.cd-rom, aa699@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tony Thomas) writes:

> ... (text deleted)
 
> With all that software, it should come as no surprise that Corel takes
> over 30+ MB of hard disk space to install, and that is for a minimal
> installation.  If you have the space available, you may want to opt to
> install it on your hard disk for speedier performance.  If 30+ MB is to
> high a price to pay, you can do what I did - run it directly from
> CD-ROM.  Sure, you will suffer a performance penalty--when loading from
> CD, Corel takes about a minute to boot--but it is bearable since disc
> reads after boot up are minimal.  Processor speed and cache will
> probably effect program  performance more than CD-ROM access speed.  You
> don't get off scott free, however, since Corel installs about 750K worth
> of essential files on your hard disk when you choose the CD-ROM
> installation option.

> ... (text deleted)

Not true.  There are "check boxes" in the installation program that let
you install as little or as much of Corel and its features as you want.
For example, you can choose to install all, none, or a selected number
of the 250 fonts provided.  The subset I installed on my hard disk takes 
about 11 MBytes.

Frank Calloway
 
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
From: jack@larc.nasa.gov (Jack Dunn)
Subject: Re: SoundBlaster Multimedia Upgrade: Kudos and
Reply-To: jack@larc.nasa.gov
Organization: ASEB/SySD LaRC NASA
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 11:07:41 GMT

In article 5164@news.duke.edu, aflan@acpub.duke.edu (Alan M. Gallatin) writes:
>I recently picked up the Creative Labs upgrade kit (SoundBlaster Pro,
>Matsushita CD-ROM, a few discs of goodies, etc.) and am VERY HAPPY
>with my purchase.  (Also with my price... $549 from Insight Software,
>$561.50 delivered to my door overnight!)  Anyway, I could go on and on
>about the good stuff (as have other people) but you've heard it already.
>
>HOWEVER, there is one ANNYOING problem which I haven't figured out yet.
>Occasionally, and seemingly at random times, the SoundBlaster starts
>spitting out very loud static or other random noise to the attached
>speakers.  This sometimes happens even when the machine is idle and
>seemingly doing nothing.  When it occurs, I can still use my computer
>(although disconnecting the speakers makes usage more pleasent) and
>even play CD's or synthesized sound through the same speakers (although
>the sound is somewhat faint behind the massive static burst).  The
>only way I've found to clear up the static is in some cases to exit
>and restart Windows but more reliably to hit the reset button on
>my machine.  I've discovered NO patterns as to when this ocurs,
>except that it has only happened while in Win 3.1.
>
>If it will aid anyone in helping me, the SoundBlaster is set up
>at 240h/IRQ10/DMA1 - I'm using IRQ10 since I have a printer on 7 and
>COM3 on 5.
>
>While this problem has completely stumped me, I'm still hanging on to
>my gut feeling that it is software related in Windows and this won't
>stop me from recommending the product to anyone who asks.
>
>Post replies or (preferred) e-mail to alan@acpub.duke.edu.
>
>Thanks!!
>
>-- 
>Alan M. Gallatin <alan@acpub.duke.edu>
>Duke University School of Law; Durham NC


The sam thing happens with my Sound Blaster Pro
card without the cd-rom. My card is set up
at port 0x220 and int 7, so this appears not to
be the problem. Running the TEST-SBC.EXE program 
stops the noise without having to reset the machine.

Jack Dunn
From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Parallel Port CD-ROM
Date: 12 Sep 92 22:50:08 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC

International Computer Products, the people who made the "BSE Drive"
and "FlashDrive" parallel port hard disks, are now Dayton Valley
Electronics. I just received a flyer from them, and in their
new product list:

======================================

PARALLEL CD/ROM:

This is a product that we are excited about, just like the Handheld Hard
Drive, the CD-ROM connects through the parallel port in less than 60 seconds.
No internal interface card to install. The CD-ROM is fully Multi-Media
compatible, meets Redbook Audio, meets MPC specifications, and doesn't need
a Sound Blaster card; speaker output and volume control are built in! In
addition we provide MSCDEX (Microsoft extensions) and bundle 368
programs on CD's as well as a library of 2800 programs. And you can
play all your favorite audio CD's as well. The only draw back to this
product is that you should have at least an EGA and preferably a VGA
monitor to take advantage of all the pictures!

=======================================================

The price listed is $399 and it can be ordered from them at 702-246-7474

Anyone have any experience/thoughts/perspective on this?
Sounds like a dynamite way to add multimedia to a laptop without
investing in a SCSI adaptor.

-- 
_______________________________Mike Schuster________________________________
NY Pub. Access UNIX/Internet: schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com   | MCI Mail,GEnie: MSCHUSTER
From: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Information on Sony HS-12
Date: 7 Sep 92 13:15:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com (Kirk Jensen) 

SR>I have seen ads recently for a Sony drive model HS-1200 that with
SR>SCSI interface, 280ms access and 300KB transfer rate.  Is anyone
SR>familiar with the drive, or how I could get information on it?
SR>Is this the new high speed drive I have heard that Sony is coming
SR>out with?  Is it any good?  Is it software compatible with the 541?

HS-1200 is not a Sony model number. I've seen that model number in a
High Technology advertisement; I think it was an OEM version using
an NEC drive, which matches the specs you gave above.

Sony (and everyone else) will come out with higher transfer speed versions 
within the next 12 months. Look for some 4X speed versions as well. 



---
 . KingQWK 1.05 . 
                                                              
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom