Several weeks ago I posted a request for information about SCSI
Floppy disk drives available for Sun Sparcstations, specifically for
the new SLC. I received the following information from various
people:
Artecon
2440 Impala Drive
Box 9000
Dept. 5500
Carlsbad, California 92008-0993
1-800-USA-ARTE
Central Data
1602 Newton Drive
Champaign IL 61821
1-800-482-0315
Aurora Technologies
1-617-577-1288
Micronet Technology
20 Mason
Irvine, CA
1-714-837-6033
Workstations Plus
1615 Alvarado St.
San Leandro, CA 94577
1-800-735-5777
Acropolis Systems
1638 Centre Point Dr.
Milpitas, CA 95035
1-408-946-6947
Dataram
P.O. Box 7528
Princeton, NJ 08543
1-800-822-0071
Clearpont Research Corp.
35 Parkwood Dr.
Hopkinton, MA 01748-1659
1-800-clearpt
All of these companies apparently sell Floppy Disk Drives that will
operate on the SCSI bus of Sun Workstations and are selling it for
about $995. Why so much? After talking with several of the
salepeople at these companies, I have found that they are selling
the physical device AND a set of programs to access the disk and use
it with MS-DOS files. This bothers me. What it comes down to is
that they do not sell the device and a driver but instead expect you
to shell out $$$ for software that DUPLICATES standard unix software
like tar, bar, etc. Furthermore, the MS-DOS stuff that they provide
duplicates DOS-Windows as distributed by Sun but does not do the
IBM-PC emulation to run programs.
So I would end up buying a unix license for standard software, the
disk drive and the accompanying software which I will never use and
DOS-Windows. This is ridiculous when all I want is the physical
device and a kernel - total price should be about $300-$400 or less.
A couple of people suggested that I consult an attorney based on the
fact that the Sun sales literature claims that the device would be
supported like other devices are supported. I did consult with an
attorney about this but am left with the opinion that if I sued, I
would likely lose since the case would essentially be my word
against Sun's and the documentation that states otherwise is not
sufficient because it is worded ambiguously. You or I might know
what it meant but, a judge or jury would likely not.
So the end result is that I am left with a Sun workstation that I
can use for some things but not everything I wanted it for, I will
likely not be able to purchase any new software because most vendors
are now distributing software on either CD-Roms (far too expensive
for me to consider) or floppies, neither of which I can use, and I
will not be able to share software or files with other people unless
they can read a 1/4" data cartridge tape (not likely for my
purposes).
I am also left with a very bad taste in my mouth. If it sounds as
if I'm bitter, I am. I just spent about $8,000 on a Sun Workstation
and hard disk drive only to find out that I may have to spend
another $2,000 - $4,000. At this point, I'm seriously considering
selling the Sun and buying something else (like an IBM-PC).
-- --- Saul Jaffe Rutgers University ARPA: Jaffe@elbereth.rutgers.edu UUCP: ...!rutgers!elbereth.rutgers.edu!jaffe
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