CompuServe Archive

This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.

Search Results (31 messages)

From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Drives/Hardware July 13, 1993 2:18 PM
A dealer friend of mine told me that the American-made caddies use a plastic that's just a little more brittle, and that he's gotten complaints from people who switch CD's a lot, but that people who just put a CD in the caddy and leave it there "permanently" don't seem…
#52173 #sony laser library Message #52210
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General July 7, 1993 1:35 AM
Well, frankly, the only reason I haven't sold or traded most of the CDs is that I'm honoring the bundling agreement. Bookshelf is good, and I use that a fair amount. The consensus on the Compton's Encyclopedia is that it's better for kids than Grolier's, but not as good for…
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General July 7, 1993 1:35 AM
Richard, I'm not especially fond of the cost, but I really like the convenience of caddies. All other things being equal, I'd certainly buy a caddy-type drive again, especially since competition has cut the caddy price a lot. Ran
#52124 #sony laser library Message #52130
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General July 5, 1993 5:45 PM
Gary, The LL used to be a great deal, but the increased competition (at least in the US) has made its bundle something of a yawn. The price you're being offered is a good deal if you plan to stick mostly to text and "still picture" applications, but the LL…
#51000 MKTNG PARTNER SOUGHT Message #51012
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Marketplace June 21, 1993 10:22 AM
Stephen, Seems to me that, rather than someone in the CD-ROM business, your best choice of partners is someone selling equipment to your potential customers. Especially someone selling equipment that's usually PC-interfaced. In your situation, I'd probably try for two non-exclusive distributorships (not partnerships): one with a lab equipment maker,…
#50611 Swap CDs? Message #50955
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Marketplace June 20, 1993 8:49 AM
Steve, Which version of the Encyclopedia is that? I might be interested in that, or in the Timeline, if the deal were right (either cash or trade). I have the 8th Edition of PC-SIG and version 1.1a of the Microsoft Programmer's Lib that I'd be willing to swap. Ran
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · When in ROM… June 20, 1993 8:49 AM
If that's from McGraw-Hill, yes, it's on CD-ROM. Costs about $500, I think. I'm pretty sure I saw it listed in one of the catalogs I downloaded from the "Marketplace" library, but I haven't a clue which one. Ran
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General June 16, 1993 10:52 PM
Several of our members on ISSUES and POLITICS have expressed an interest in having copies of documents like the Constitution, Articles of Confederation, etc. in our libraries. So, I bought a copy of Chestnut's "The Complete Bookshop" to get some that could be uploaded without copyright infringement or the hassle…
#43226 #MSCDEX OS/2 DOS Box Message #43254
Single- or double-sided? And would like an order of drives with them? Ran
#41791 Public domain text? Message #41858
Craig, There's an ad that's been running on the CompuServe Classifieds for a while for "books on floppy". I got the list, and it appears to be a mixed bag of original works and PD stuff. I seem to have inadvertently dumped it into my archives, but I'll want to…
#38436 #Magazine Rack Error Message #38535
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 January 30, 1993 1:26 AM
Craig, I've heard lots of complaints from people over the last couple of years about various programs choking when loaded into the lowest 64K of RAM. I'd suggest trying to load something that'll waste 30K or so of RAM, so that the MagRack program loads above 64K. Almost any TSR…
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 15, 1993 11:57 PM
Mark, Since you knew about the census data on CD, I thought you might know whether the "Statistical Abstract of the United States" is out: I saw a note on the order info page of the paper copy at the library that said it was going to be released sometime…
#36384- New and Used CDs CHEEP! Message #36467
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Marketplace January 10, 1993 4:34 AM
Pete, The "Winning Elections" disk sounds like something I might want, but I'm not sure. Would you see what those "7 different political references" are, and post the names, please? If they include things like "The United States Government Manual", or the "Almanac of American Politics", the year is important,…
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Marketplace October 10, 1992 11:28 PM
Has anyone had any dealings with either "Trade Shows" in Marion, IN or "ERM Electronic Liquidators" in Melrose, MA? I came across their ads in Nuts & Volts, and their prices look pretty good. But I'm reluctant to hand over my credit card number to people I've never heard of…
#18947 SONY CADDIES Message #18977
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General March 7, 1992 12:25 PM
Owen, I have one American and two Japanese caddies, and can't see any big difference between them. Neither have I had any problems with any of them, so far. Why do you recommend against Opticord? Ran
#Encyclopedias Message #18520
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General February 22, 1992 12:46 AM
Frank, One of my clients has a "science and engineering encyclopedia" of some sort from McGraw-Hill. I've seen it in a price list for about $400 or $500, and I think it's a 2-volume set. I wasn't very impressed with it, but I only played with it for a couple…
#17098 #laser library info? Message #17164
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 18, 1992 2:52 PM
Ross, I think the 7205 may be a 535 in an external case. Or maybe not: I dumped SONY_CDU.SYS, and discovered the drive name is stored in the driver, so it might also be a new unit that's software-compatible with the 535. Ran
#17064 #Sony Laser Library Message #17162
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 18, 1992 2:52 PM
I was just talking about general principles, Keith: how it could theoretically be done. There've been rumors circulating around here about possible upgrades, but no definite information about how they might do it. It's not hard to do: even changing the existing driver software _might_ be enough, since it appears…
#17007 #laser library info? Message #17044
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 15, 1992 8:04 PM
They only have voice numbers in the manuals, Dave, but I just noticed that the address on the warranty card is right here in San Jose. I'll see if I can get a local number and ask about faxing them. Ran
#16993 #Who Bundles What? Message #17043
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 15, 1992 8:04 PM
I think we need to ask Lupes about this, Nelson: talking in general terms about nationally-available products is one thing, but getting into specifics of dealer and price may run afoul of CompuServe's advertising restrictions. Other than not wanting to do a lot of editing (which I assume we could…
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · Other Platforms January 15, 1992 8:03 PM
Henry, Neil is a CompuServe member, and has shown up here from time to time. His ID is 71161,3114. I'd suggest sending email: I haven't seen him here lately. (Now I don't feel so bad about having put off cleaning out my CDROM.MSG file…) Ran
#Who Bundles What? Message #16982
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 14, 1992 12:34 PM
A lot of people have been asking lately about the various bundles available. I know I was asking, too, when I was shopping. Since it's so important to those who are shopping, but so tedious to those of us who've already bought, I think it makes sense to put a…
#16956- CD ROM sugg ? Message #16981
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 January 14, 1992 12:33 PM
Fernando, If you want to spend $400-600, you should look at the Sony Laser Library, the SunMoonStar bundle, and DAK. Those seem like the best deals based on the reading I did. I bought the Laser Lib because of the particular mix of disks it had, but a lot of…
#16915- #laser library info? Message #16980
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General January 14, 1992 12:33 PM
David, The LL is a Sony 535 drive (about average performance: 340ms access time) in an external case with its own power supply. The specs section in the manual says "120V, 50/60Hz, .2A", so, even if you get one that doesn't have a 240V supply, it should be happy with…
#15420 #remote control? Message #15443
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 December 8, 1991 5:22 AM
Tony, If you're willing to pay for expertise, I'd suggest asking on CONSULT: I know there are some good consultants from the Bay Area who hang out there (like me, from time to time, but this is a little outside my specialty). Leave a message in Section 14 ("Looking For…").…
#15424 #NEC cd-rom gallery Message #15442
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General December 8, 1991 5:22 AM
David, The "Maya Computers" catalog I just got has the same bundle (more or less: it's the Mac version) with a NEC CDR-73 for about the same price Tom mentioned. They also have a CDR-36 bundle for a little less than what you paid (Of course, the Mac "interface" consists…
#15406 #CD-ROM Disc Source Message #15441
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · General December 8, 1991 5:22 AM
Loyd, Computer Shopper has ads from a number of places, but most of the ones in the issue I picked up a couple of months ago seemed more intent on selling drives than disks. Someone mentioned Computer Direct here the other day, and, wonder of wonders, an unsolicited catalog showed…
#15336 AppleCD on IBM AT? Message #15405
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 December 7, 1991 2:32 AM
Ackshewally, one could all sorts of interesting things with stuff from the resource forks, if one had the time and/or money. Aside from the CODE resources, most could be used on a properly-designed PC platform that emulated some key parts of the Mac software. The fact that the GUI resources…
#15293 #AppleCD on IBM AT? Message #15308
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 December 4, 1991 7:49 AM
Matt, You mean after all this time no one has gotten around to doing that? Or just that it's not built into MSCDEX? Perhaps the market's not big enough to make it profitable, but it doesn't strike me as a difficult enough task to have precluded it. Ran There is…
#15256 #AppleCD on IBM AT? Message #15268
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] CDROM Forum · DOS, Windows, OS/2 December 3, 1991 6:41 AM
Actually, it's not neccessarily so weird a notion as you might think, John. It really depends more on the sort of data in the Mac files than anything else. A GIF is a GIF, regardless of system, for example: I have a few that I shipped via serial cable to…
#196929- Election Next Year Message #196982
From: Ran Talbott [ISSUES] The Issues Forum · Rush H. Limbaugh November 19, 1991 7:31 PM
How _much_ of "a better chance at winding up dead", Mark? What's the difference in survival rates? If things are so much worse there, why is it that 99% of the people waiting for heart surgery in Vancouver a year or so ago turned down the chance to have it…