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At DirtCheapDrives, CompGeeks and several other vendors, I've found that SCA drives are actually five to ten bucks cheaper than the equivalent drive with a 68-pin 'standard' connector.

Coincidentally, for about eight bucks you can get an adapter that will allow using a drive with a SCA connector with a PC controller having a 50 or 68 pin SCSi cable.

You might try compgeeks.com. They have a lot of older parts for cheep. Around my neck of the woods (San Diego) we have a swap-meet where people buy and sell real old crap.

10Ft. IEEE 1394 6-pin (m) to 6-pin (m) Firewire Cable $9.95 (american) at computergeeks.com http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=F3N100 -10

SHOP DUDE!

Just a satisified customer

Just a satisified customer

Just a satisified customer

I'm sorry, but with the a removable drive bay costing just $7.50 and a 20 gig drive near a $100 or less, I'm not seeing the Iomega offering as a solution that I want to buy into.

Besides I'm very reluctant to give more money to Iomega. Iomega got off the hook on the class action suit against them for making defective Zip drives (ie the click of death). The terms being "in order to collect your damages you must buy more stuff from us" which I question as punishment to the company and a settlement for my time, data lost and cost to replace the defective hardware.

And it wasn't just Zip disk/drive that were an issue. We were told that Jazz drives were the solution for1 gig removable storage. But that drive and media also had problems.

I predict that whatever Iomega is planning/making will continue to be very costly compared to the cost of DVD-R media, portable drives, or other media types not yet invented.

I guess "50 Second Anti-Shock Protection for MP3 Playback" as found in the Tavarua Portable MP3-ROM Audio Player/CD-ROM Player available at http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=205-33 33E doesn't cut it?

LetterJ
Head Geek

I had less luck with this manufactured round cable, and wound up removing it because it caused the SCSI bus to constantly reset.

WARNING: the above comment does not link to goatse.cx

The Neo 25 has a whole 1.5 hours of life:

From http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=205-25 27:
Runs off of included Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (up to 1.5 hours of use*)
*Battery Life will vary depending on hard drive used

The battery life is disproportionate to the amount of music you can fit on it (assuming a 32 GB drive). But it looks kind of neat, and would be cool if they could make a version specifically for the car. I'd think the laptop drives would hold up better too, since they're designed for mobility.

Check www.compgeeks.com. I bought the keyboard a few weeks ago for $22. They had the mouse for about that price also, but I already had a nice Logitech corded mouse.

Okay dude, I know this sounds weird but SCSI would not only be faster, but probably cheaper. Most SCSI drives (of even two generations back) can do easily 10MBps+ (80Mbps+), whereas even USB's fastest speed, we're talking only 1.5MBps (12Mbps). And don't even think of those IDE to parallel kits, 2MBps (16Mbps) max (most don't get get 1MBps/8Mbps). Plus SCSI support under Linux is easy (and even loadable on the fly!).

Cards, case and cabling should run you under $100 for two systems. The a good sized, but older model, SCSI drive should only be another $30-100 for a decent size (2-23GB) and speed (5400-7200rpm, 512-2048KB buffer). The breakdown:

• Cards ($20/each) -- (2) SCSI cards at about $20 a piece thanx to the TekRam-315U (UltraSCSI, no-BIOS). You can find them at your favorite PriceWatch advertising reseller. You'll need more if you have more than a few systems to swap between. Of course this becomes cost prohibitive if its more than 5 systems, so consider that. But for just 2-4 systems, it's great (and, again, fast)!
• Case ($20) -- You can usually find them at various on-line resellers for $20 or so. Here's a great 2-bay w/40W PS for $19, and that's new. If you want smaller, there are various resellers with single bay SCSI enclosures too. Cyberguys has a 3.5" for $50, although you might find cheaper if you look a bit. The case should come with internal cabling (I've never seen one without).
• External Cabling ($10) -- Cabling is also an addition, but fairly cheap anymore. Assuming you set the drive jumper for termination, you only need the cable. You can get the SCSI-2 HD50M to Centronics 50M for $9 for cases with Centronics connectors, or SCSI-2 HD50M to HD50M for $10 for cases with SCSI-2 HD connectors -- both at Cyberguys. If you really want to not terminate the drive itself, but on the case, HD50M active terminators are $11 and Centronics passive terminators are $5
• Hard Disk ($30+) -- Depending on what model you get, older SCSI hard drives can be had for $30-100. If you want massive or fast, $200-300 will get you give a bit of each. Some resellers that carry new, unused, used and refurbished hard drives:
  • Computer Geeks Outlet -- good personal experiences
  • Hi-Tech Cafe -- don't deal with their web site (sux, lose orders), call them instead
  • Com puter Surplus Outlet -- good dealings with them several times

Drives that are 50-pin narrow (Fast, Ultra, Ultra2, etc...) and will work in the case without modification. Some with be 68-pin wide or 80-pin SCA (FastWide, UltraWide, Ultra2Wide/Ultra80, Ultra160). In the case of the two later, Cyberguys sells converters to 50-pin narrow for nearly all of these connectors. The only caveat you'll have is termination, either terminate on the drive itself (i.e. don't use an external terminator) or tell the drive to use 8-bit SCSI (instead of 16-bit in 68/80-pin) as any external terminator for 50-pin will only terminate the lower 8-bits (some drives will autosense the connection as narrow and will autoterminate anyway -- see the drive docs).

Again, the only reason not to go with this config is if you are going to be sharing with more than just a few systems. You're going to be lugging around a drive anyway, why not forget worrying about carrying the media as well and have 50x the storage (compared to Zip -- much more manageable).

If you absolutely need removable and have the money to burn look at SCSI Jaz instead (2GB capacity, ~5MBps/40Mbps performance). But don't go optical, e.g. 5.2/9.4GB DVD-RAM, it's slow (9x CD, 1x DVD = 1.35MBps/10.5Mbps).

-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith

Okay dude, I know this sounds weird but SCSI would not only be faster, but probably cheaper. Most SCSI drives (of even two generations back) can do easily 10MBps+ (80Mbps+), whereas even USB's fastest speed, we're talking only 1.5MBps (12Mbps). And don't even think of those IDE to parallel kits, 2MBps (16Mbps) max (most don't get get 1MBps/8Mbps). Plus SCSI support under Linux is easy (and even loadable on the fly!).

Cards, case and cabling should run you under $100 for two systems. The a good sized, but older model, SCSI drive should only be another $30-100 for a decent size (2-23GB) and speed (5400-7200rpm, 512-2048KB buffer). The breakdown:

• Cards ($20/each) -- (2) SCSI cards at about $20 a piece thanx to the TekRam-315U (UltraSCSI, no-BIOS). You can find them at your favorite PriceWatch advertising reseller. You'll need more if you have more than a few systems to swap between. Of course this becomes cost prohibitive if its more than 5 systems, so consider that. But for just 2-4 systems, it's great (and, again, fast)!
• Case ($20) -- You can usually find them at various on-line resellers for $20 or so. Here's a great 2-bay w/40W PS for $19, and that's new. If you want smaller, there are various resellers with single bay SCSI enclosures too. Cyberguys has a 3.5" for $50, although you might find cheaper if you look a bit. The case should come with internal cabling (I've never seen one without).
• External Cabling ($10) -- Cabling is also an addition, but fairly cheap anymore. Assuming you set the drive jumper for termination, you only need the cable. You can get the SCSI-2 HD50M to Centronics 50M for $9 for cases with Centronics connectors, or SCSI-2 HD50M to HD50M for $10 for cases with SCSI-2 HD connectors -- both at Cyberguys. If you really want to not terminate the drive itself, but on the case, HD50M active terminators are $11 and Centronics passive terminators are $5
• Hard Disk ($30+) -- Depending on what model you get, older SCSI hard drives can be had for $30-100. If you want massive or fast, $200-300 will get you give a bit of each. Some resellers that carry new, unused, used and refurbished hard drives:
  • Computer Geeks Outlet -- good personal experiences
  • Hi-Tech Cafe -- don't deal with their web site (sux, lose orders), call them instead
  • Com puter Surplus Outlet -- good dealings with them several times

Drives that are 50-pin narrow (Fast, Ultra, Ultra2, etc...) and will work in the case without modification. Some with be 68-pin wide or 80-pin SCA (FastWide, UltraWide, Ultra2Wide/Ultra80, Ultra160). In the case of the two later, Cyberguys sells converters to 50-pin narrow for nearly all of these connectors. The only caveat you'll have is termination, either terminate on the drive itself (i.e. don't use an external terminator) or tell the drive to use 8-bit SCSI (instead of 16-bit in 68/80-pin) as any external terminator for 50-pin will only terminate the lower 8-bits (some drives will autosense the connection as narrow and will autoterminate anyway -- see the drive docs).

Again, the only reason not to go with this config is if you are going to be sharing with more than just a few systems. You're going to be lugging around a drive anyway, why not forget worrying about carrying the media as well and have 50x the storage (compared to Zip -- much more manageable).

If you absolutely need removable and have the money to burn look at SCSI Jaz instead (2GB capacity, ~5MBps/40Mbps performance). But don't go optical, e.g. 5.2/9.4GB DVD-RAM, it's slow (9x CD, 1x DVD = 1.35MBps/10.5Mbps).

-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith

Everyone needs a Por table MP3 CD-R player... and, at less than $100 a pop, you can afford to get one for all of your geek friends. :)

Just bought one. It's a drive-and-circuit scheme, just like this one, but it comes with a nice case. I can plug the case into my computer and it's a hard drive. Remove it, plug it into simple harness and it's talking to my stereo. Plug it into yet another harness and it's in my car. Cool!

The Neo 35 is described at http://www.ssiamerica.com/ ; and buyable now from Computer Geeks Discount Outlet for $300 (no HD).

The case, frames, and IR remote are really nice. Alas, the instructions are terrible chinglish, the drive must be a bus master, and I havent gotten it to work on my system. I'm hoping I'm just a moron. Your milage will vary.

Nice 2D cards, capable of 1600x1200 @ 85Hz, and compatible with everything from XFree86 to OS/2 to BeOS to Solaris.

Places like The Computer Geeks are currently selling different variants for US$18 and US$22 apiece (click here). Granted, some are system pulls, but they're so cheap who cares?

--
-Rich (OS/2, Linux, BeOS, Mac, NT, Win95, Solaris, FreeBSD, and OS2200 user in Bloomington MN)

Nice 2D cards, capable of 1600x1200 @ 85Hz, and compatible with everything from XFree86 to OS/2 to BeOS to Solaris.

Places like The Computer Geeks are currently selling different variants for US$18 and US$22 apiece (click here). Granted, some are system pulls, but they're so cheap who cares?

--
-Rich (OS/2, Linux, BeOS, Mac, NT, Win95, Solaris, FreeBSD, and OS2200 user in Bloomington MN)

(I've never used this but it sounds cool). Check out the Genica Portable MP3/Audio CD Player (http://www .compgeeks.com/cgi-bin/details.asp?cat=MultiMedia& sku=205-3333). Plays both audio cds and data cds with mp3s on them, and is slated to come out in may/2000.

the Genica Portable MP3/Audio CD Player. It costs $99. Buy it here. It doesn't go on sale for a few days, however.

Here you can find Voquette's Netlink for MD players... It may only work with these sharp model, but I'm unsure. The original review I read makes it sound that way but the Voquette site makes it sound like any MD can use the netlink. Amusingly enough they also make a MP3 player that will work with any cassette walkman, and even record MP3s to a walkman, if it has a record function.

There is the $179 MAMBOx. I don't think it's out yet, however, it looks cool.

Of course, there is Pine's Player.

There are more of these out there... These are just some of the ones that spring to mind, and all portable. I love my Apex, though... $160 and it plays any disc I own... MP3, DVD, CD, VCD... I use portable music so little that my Rio is fine for my purposes...

Josh Sisk

Check out compgeeks.

I just picked up a refurbished Connectix QuickCam from Computer Geeks for $39. It plugs into the parallel port and I found drivers for linux which work quite nicely. (I recommend cqcam).