MicroRAM 386          MCA RAM board with up to 32 megabytes
Tecmar's MicroRAM Feeds Hungry Micro Channel Systems
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
With memory-hungry systems becoming the norm rather than the
exception, Tecmar introduced the MicroRAM 386 for IBM
MicroChannel and Olivetti P800 computers.
 
This expansion card lets you add up to 32 megabytes using 4
megabyte SIMMS, or it allows you to mix and match SIMMs of 4, 1,
or 256K bytes on the same board. Tecmar says typical
configurations include 2 megabytes of memory using 256K byte
SIMMS, 5 megabytes using 256K bytes and 1 megabyte SIMMS, 8
megabytes using 1 megabyte SIMMS, and 20 megabytes using 1
megabyte and 4 megabyte SIMMS.
 
The MicroRAM 386 doesn't need a boot disk because your OS/2,
Novell, and Xenix operating systems automatically recognize it,
Tecmar says. Other performance enhancements include user-
configurable RAM speed, wait states, matched memory cycle and
SIMM size, even on a per-bank basis. Each MicroRAM 386 supports
matched memory cycles with 85- or 100 nanosecond SIMMs, zero wait
states with 100 ns SIMMs and one wait state with 120ns SIMMs. And
finally, the MicroRAM can be configured to start on any 128K
address boundry in the 0- to 256 megabyte address range, so you
can configure a single PS/2 or Olivetti with up to 8 MicroRAM
boards.
 
Price: unpopulated, $549; with 2 megabytes, $1220; with 4
megabytes, $1865.
Contact: Tecmar, 6225 Cochran Rd., Solon, OH 44139-3377, (800)
624-8560.
 
                                      -- rka
 
Imprimis Elite        Hard Disk Drives w/ Gigabyte capacities
PC Hard Drive Storage Leaps Above a Gigabyte
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
The Imprimis Elite line consists of two 5.25-inch drives with
capacities of 1.2 and 1.5 gigabyte. Both have a claimed average
access time of 12 milliseconds.
 
To pack so much data in such little packages, Imprimis spins the
disk platters at 5400 rpm, versus the standard hard disk rate of
3600 rpm.
 
Both Imprimis and Maxtor (see next item) use Zoned-Bit-Recording
(ZBR) technology, borrowed from the mainframe and microcomputer
industries. This means that unlike conventional recording
technology, which writes data in the same density throughout the
platter surface, ZBR packs data more tightly in the larger, outer
sections. The Imprimis drives use 10 platters and 17 heads;
Maxtor uses 8 platters and 15 heads.)
 
The Imprimis Elite series is available in three interfaces:
standard SMD and IPI-2 (both with a maximum capacity of 1.2
gigabytes and a maximum data transfer rate of 24 megabits per
second), and SCSI-2 (with a maximum capacity of 1.5 gigabytes).
 
Price: Between $4000 and $5000.
 
Contact: Imprimis Technology, Inc., 12501 Whitewater Dr.,
Minnetonka, MN 55343, (61) 936-6271.
 
                              --- Roger K. Adams
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
