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Okay, I lied. I played with it today, rather than working on my project
due in 2.5 hours. <wry grin)
Here's the take:
Panasonic KXL-D720 PCMCIA CD ROM drive, comes with a PCMCIA SCSI card
that is ASPI compatible (!) and a SCSI 2 cable with that cruddy 50 pin
plug, NOT the Centronics one.
[note: this may be technologically superior and makes for a smaller
overall cable, but NONE of my other SCSI devices use it. Anyone who knows
of an adaptor plug, please mail me]
First: the card
This is nice. It comes with three sets of drivers for the SCSI support.
One for people with Card and Socket services (works great with the 2.x
PCMCIA C&S drivers I had from my last update 6 months ago), one for
DataBook (whatever the hell that is) and one for memory freaks like me
who prefer point enablers to save memory! _That_ was a welcome suprise.
The install routine apparently figures out what you need, as I had
re-enabled the C&S services because I thought there was no point enabler.
It put in the drivers just fine, though no routine could figure out the
freaky menu Config I have (It's one and a half printed pages, not
screens!)
Once I moved them after C&S, they worked fine.
The point enabler only works right with an Intel i82635 100% compatible
LSI, which the Thinkpad 750 has. I can't speak for the other models, but if
point enablers are important to you and you are interested in this unit,
here's how you tell:
FROM THE README:
C:\DOS>DEBUG <enter>
-o 3E0 0 <enter>
-i 3E1 <enter>
-83 <- TEST RESULT
-q <enter>
A result value of 82, 83 and 84 indicates that the PC is using i82365
(or compatible LSI), and the ASPI365.SYS should operate. In case the
ASPI365.SYS doesn't operate, follow the error messages on the screen.
When 'FF' appears as the result value, you cannot use the ASPI365.SYS.
In such a case, there is a possibility that the PC is using the
DATABOOK PCMCIA controller. If so, you must setup both CardTalk and the
ASPIDBK.SYS to use the CD-ROM drive.
------------ end quote ----------
The point enabler went in fine. I disabled the C&S and put it in,
worked on the first try. Supposedly the driver under C&S support hot
swapping, I didn't try it. The only caveat the readme mentions is you
must leave the CD ROM unit on and return the card to the same slot.
The second driver is the typical CD ROM-specific driver. It's just an
ASPI driver for this drive. You can use it on top of another ASPI card
and driver.
Last is the MSCDEX progam, a standard program that assigns a drive
letter to the CD ROM.
In theory, this card will support other devices. I don't have any
devices with a half pitch SCSI connector or an adaptor, so I can't test
this. If I ever manage to, I'll let you all know.
The buffer is 128k, data trans is 2.5M max.
next: the drive
Nice unit. 2x speed, uses (as mentioned) the half pitch 50 pin SCSI
connector. Only one connector, so if you want to use it with somethign
else, you must put it at the end of the chain. Has a termination switch
which is NOT NECESSARY to enable when using with the PCMCIA card, saving
on power.
Will run on 6 AA batteries (claims for 2 hrs as CD ROM) and will also
act as a standalone CD player. Has headphone jack and volume control.
Can be set to SCSI id 0 thru 7.
Less than a pound (.4kg) w/o batteries.
150KB/300KB transfer rate, 295ms 1/3 stroke, 380ms fullstroke access
times. (are 320/400 on battery power)
Will read CD-DA, CD-ROM (mode 1 and 2 Form 1), Photo CD multisession,
CD-ROM XA (mode 2 form 2).
Bottom Line: I'll probably keep it.
At $320, the price was right. Average 2x CDROM these days seems to be
$180, add the PCMCIA SCSI and this is a pretty good deal IMHO. I bought
it from Computer City, so there's probably better prices out there.
However, CS is running this 12 month same as cash deal on their credit
card, so I figure with the investment value of having that money instead
of paying in a lump sum, I come in about even.
I didn't have a CD speed tester, so I can't verify the speed. Worked
fine, though. Didn't have a Photo CD around, much less a multisession
one, so I can't verify that either. The unit is about as sturdy as any
portable CD player, meaning I wouldn't put it through too much abuse.
And, like any card, it interferes with the X-Jack. <sigh> The plug is
almost the full width of the PCMCIA card, so nothing is getting around
this thing.
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Donald Alan Whiteside School of Computer Science
Official Usenet Dork for the week of Jan 9-13, 1995
GCS d-- -p+(---) l u+(-) e+ m+ s !n h f g+ w+ t+(++) r- y++
"I timed it. It took 22 seconds for him to hate you." - Chicago Hope
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