Re: [PARPORT] Zip Plus status


Jay Jacobson (nin@goodnet.com)
Mon, 19 Jan 1998 23:44:02 -0700 (MST)


Heh -- no bore. :) Well, from the astounding knowledge gained via my last
post -- let me try something else. :) Not directly related; but for a
mailing list for driver-coders, this can't be too far off...

I have been doing a lot of coding recently in assembly language. (I say
not too far off because it (assembly) is excellent for hardware
interfacing) Anyway, everything we have been learning at school (DeVry
Institute of Technology) is dealing with assembly in a DOS/Win
environment. However, it is still on x86 architecture (some Motorola for
special-built systems). Where can I find resources for doing assembly
coding in a Linux/UNIX environment? I figure...since it is the same
architecture (hardware), the commands and syntax should be the same. The
only differences SHOULD (naive statement here :) be minor between
assemblers. Any recommentations/comments?

~Jay

- J a y J a c o b s o n
- -----------------------
- Network Engineer, ISP -- 602.303.9500 -- 888.Good.Net
- jay@good.net -- www.kinetic.org

On Tue, 20 Jan 1998, David Campbell wrote:

 |> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 22:44:38 -0700 (MST)
 |> From: Jay Jacobson <nin@goodnet.com>
 |> To: David Campbell <campbell@gear.torque.net>
 |> Cc: linux-parport@torque.net
 |> Subject: Re: [PARPORT] Zip Plus status
 |
 |>
 |> Ahh...the one aspect I forgot...compatibility. :) Then I see your point.
 |> For my case, I still believe my SparQ investment was a good decision -- I
 |> use the drive to transport files between home and work (work = OC3
 |> connection : home = 56K -- you see the point :)
 |
 |The SparQ wasn't around when I was lugging my Masters thesis back and
 |forth 18 months ago (about 60km round trip). If it was I might of looked
 |at it. But at that stage 100 Mb seemed like more than I could use. That
 |outlook lasted approx 20 minutes after I got home (literally that
 |long!! How true the comment "the steady state of disks is full" :=).
 |
 |> You mention the 'ruggedness' of the Zip disks.
 |> What is inside the casing? Is it 'floppy' material?
 |
 |Yup. Approx 0.2mm (0.01 inch) flexible plastic material, almost identical
 |to the material in a 1.44 Mb floppy in terms of mechanics. Obviously
 |vastly different when it comes to magnetic density. I remember Iomega once
 |indicated it will survive 1000 g (10 foot drop onto concrete).
 |
 |> One of the first things I noted about the SparQ is that inside
 |> the disk is not floppy -- it is actually remniscent of a hard-drive
 |> platter. Is the Zip a hard-metal platter also (I don't know about Zip, but
 |> I think Jaz uses platter(s)).
 |
 |The JAZ drive uses platters, hence the little padded boxes for the media.
 |I have yet to hear any horror stories about mailing "aluminium plater"
 |catridges unprotected. (This covers basically the entire SyQuest range,
 |Iomega Jaz). I wonder if anyone has found out how sensitive these disks
 |are by the hard way (ouch!).
 |
 |Aluminium is a wonderful material to fabricate with but it suffers one
 |main problem is that it does not have an elastic range (that is it will
 |not spring back perfectly to its original shape). This causes problems
 |with some sports cars (noteably MGs) since even a slight bump is
 |permenant. Sorry if I am boring you here... I did several units in
 |mechanical engineering as part of my Chemical engineering degree (needed
 |for designing chemical equipment).
 |
 |David Campbell
 |=======================================================
 |campbell@torque.net (Parallel port device related mail)
 |dcampbel@p01.as17.honeywell.com.au (For all other mail)
 |
 |Just when you thought you have seen every possible
 |parallel port chipset there is, some manufacturer comes
 |out with a new quirk. Just to make things worse, every
 |mainboard manufacturer on the planet decides to use it.
 |

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