RE: Flop! Drive ...Excellent post on The Motely Fool!
This post is a MUST READ! It describes the tiny computer I mentioned yesterday complete with pictures!!! This post kindly copied from The Motely Fool's "IomegaNut."
---------------------
Subject: New Tinycomputer w/IBM Microdrive
Date: 4/11/99 4:46 PM
Author: IomegaNut Number: of 20389
At CEBIT, the European trade show, an amazingly very tiny Pentium computer was debuted that features an IBM Microdrive as storage.
boole.stanford.edu
"We have now built the Matchbox PC. This is a fully functional PC, including VGA, LCD, printer port, floppy connector, two serial ports, 10 Mb/s ethernet, and a 340 MB disk drive. This is sufficient for a full installation of either Windows 95 or Linux including web browser while leaving plenty of room for third party software and databases.
The Matchbox Pc is the same size as the server in two of its dimensions, namely 2.8" x 1.8". However at 0.8" it is thicker than the server's 0.2", bringing the volume to 4 cubic inches, and instead of 3/4 oz it weighs 2.5 oz. ...Most of the pictures in which the compactflash socket (at the top of the unit) is occupied shows the 340 MB IBM Microdrive (rotational media), on which we've installed Windows 95...."
Note that Iomega's Clik drive is WAY too big to fit with this computer. The OEM PCMCIA-sized Clik drive (the smallest one) is 3.3" x 2.13", while this new computer measures only 2.8" x 1.8." IBM's Microdrive, which conforms to the CompactFlash standard in form factor, is a perfect match for this revolution in microelectronics. On the other hand, the smallest rumored OEM Clik drive is much larger than this entire computer and IBM Microdrive combined. Just Look how tiny this computer and IBM Microdrive are compared to the computer mouse in the above linked pictures. IBM's Microdrive is being added to more and more OEM's (now counted in the dozens) even before it is available for sale.
IBM Microdrive/CompactFlash = Small
Iomega Clik = Too Big.
Iomega is simply caught behind the technology curve yet again with its oft-delayed and OEM-rejected Clik.
-------------
This IBM TinyDrive thing may be BIG after all. All sorts of OEM's seem to be crawling all over it. Iomega's Flop! keeps on being left out in the cold. |
