🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <47bilq$1mim@news.doit.wisc.edu>,
	crayadm <crayadm@engr.wisc.edu> wrote:
>We are interested in purchasing a Pinnacle Micro APEX 4.6GB Optical drive.
>Can anyone who is using this drive provide me with feedback such as 
>performance, compatibility w/ UNIX.  We will have it mounted on an SGI.
>
>Thanks,
>Jesse

It just came out, it's barely available through the channel yet, so I
don't think you're going to find a large installed base.  Given Pinnacle
Micro's reputation in the optical storage arena, however, and the fact
that the drive is built according to ISO standards and has a SCSI
interface, I personally would feel quite comfortable buying one.  I've
talked to them recently about it, and they do have SGI drivers for the
virtual filesystem mechanism. 

In fact, we're in the process of putting together a quote for an imaging
system, and have included a Pinnacle Micro Incline 350 jukebox in the
quote.  It just didn't make economic sense to do anything else, and if 
their performance numbers are even half as good as they say they are, 
it'll be icing on the cake. 

One important thing to note, however -- the 4.6GB cartrige is in fact two 
2.3GB sides, so if you're mounting it just as a plain SCSI disk drive 
you'll only be able to access 2.3GB at a time.  But hey, that sure beats 
650 MB at a time on the obsolete optical drives, particularly when the 
4.6GB media costs $40 per gigabyte or so.

Say "hi" to Wendi for me when you call them.  I think you should be in 
the Midwest region, in Wisconsin...

	-Mike Pelletier.

In article <47npis$a2g@conch.aa.msen.com>,
   Mike Pelletier <mpelletier@ntt.com> wrote:
>In article <47bilq$1mim@news.doit.wisc.edu>,
>	crayadm <crayadm@engr.wisc.edu> wrote:
>>We are interested in purchasing a Pinnacle Micro APEX 4.6GB Optical drive.
>>Can anyone who is using this drive provide me with feedback such as 
>>performance, compatibility w/ UNIX.  We will have it mounted on an SGI.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Jesse
>
>It just came out, it's barely available through the channel yet, so I
>don't think you're going to find a large installed base.  Given Pinnacle
>Micro's reputation in the optical storage arena, however, and the fact
>that the drive is built according to ISO standards and has a SCSI
>interface, I personally would feel quite comfortable buying one.  I've
>talked to them recently about it, and they do have SGI drivers for the
>virtual filesystem mechanism. 
>
>In fact, we're in the process of putting together a quote for an imaging
>system, and have included a Pinnacle Micro Incline 350 jukebox in the
>quote.  It just didn't make economic sense to do anything else, and if 
>their performance numbers are even half as good as they say they are, 
>it'll be icing on the cake. 
>
>One important thing to note, however -- the 4.6GB cartrige is in fact two 
>2.3GB sides, so if you're mounting it just as a plain SCSI disk drive 
>you'll only be able to access 2.3GB at a time.  But hey, that sure beats 
>650 MB at a time on the obsolete optical drives, particularly when the 
>4.6GB media costs $40 per gigabyte or so.

So what are you saying??  Do you have to flip the cartridge to read the
rest of the disc??

- Mike Iimura
  miimura@best.com

In article <47s9ou$m53@shellx.best.com>, Mike Iimura <miimura@best.com> wrote:
>
>So what are you saying??  Do you have to flip the cartridge to read the
>rest of the disc??
>
>- Mike Iimura
>  miimura@best.com

That's correct -- that's how all MO drives operate as far as I know.  A 
1.3GB MO is two 650MB sides.

The problem lies in the way MO is written, or so I've been told -- a
higher-intensity laser beam actually heats up a small section of the disk
making its crystal structure somewhat malleable.  Then a second, lower
intensity laser, in the presence of a changing magnetic field, changes the
optical polarization of the medium before it cools.  When it cools, the
polarization can be read by a low-intensity laser beam.  Apparently 
writing and reading both sides of the disk either isn't possible or is 
too technically challenging to be practical yet, due to this method of data 
transfer.

	-Mike Pelletier.

No flame intended.

When you write, the large laser heats a spot on the disk and the
magnet sets the orientation of light-rotation of the material.
The small laser is not used in the write process.  Because it 
needs both a laser and a magnet, the mechanism is called MO
(Magneto-Optical).  Of course, the polarity of the magnet is
controlled by the computer.

When you read, the small laser shines polorized light on the spot
and the reflected light is rotated one way to represent a "1" and
the other way to represent a "0".

Because the lasers and the magnet never touch the disk surface,
the media can last very long time.  For some other reasons, the
shelf life of the media is also  very long (30 years as opposed
to about 10 years for magnetic media).

Cheers!

Jie

In article <48a7qm$s20@conch.aa.msen.com>, Mike Pelletier
<mpelletier@ofgw.ntt.com> writes:
> In article <47s9ou$m53@shellx.best.com>, Mike Iimura <miimura@best.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >So what are you saying??  Do you have to flip the cartridge to read the
> >rest of the disc??
> >
> >- Mike Iimura
> >  miimura@best.com
> 
> That's correct -- that's how all MO drives operate as far as I know.  A 
> 1.3GB MO is two 650MB sides.
> 
> The problem lies in the way MO is written, or so I've been told -- a
> higher-intensity laser beam actually heats up a small section of the disk
> making its crystal structure somewhat malleable.  Then a second, lower
> intensity laser, in the presence of a changing magnetic field, changes the
> optical polarization of the medium before it cools.  When it cools, the
> polarization can be read by a low-intensity laser beam.  Apparently 
> writing and reading both sides of the disk either isn't possible or is 
> too technically challenging to be practical yet, due to this method of data 
> transfer.
> 
> 	-Mike Pelletier.
> 

So what are the 4.6GB drives like?!?!?!?  I understand how they work,
but is the Pinicle 4.6GB any good??  I know the Pinicle CD-R is a
lemon.  Is there an internal version?  Are there any other companies
that make a compatable drive, or one of similar size?

		Jim