NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/cdrom/6074

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 7.8 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Dennis Mitsch)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: Texel 5024 Mini Review
Date: 27 Jan 1993 04:08:24 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Lines: 189
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Hi there, my name is Dennis Mitsch, I work for Texel in the
tech support department.  Rick asked me to forward the
following to alt.cd-rom in response to Bill Williams various
concerns.

================================================================

To: All prospective customers of Texel on USENET

My name is Rick Horwitz, I'm the Engineering Division Manager of
Texel.  As my part of job, I am responsible for the Engineering
of new products, support of existing products and in my spare
time I devote to insure that everyone who owns a Texel product is
satisfied with their purchase.

We seldom receive complaints about our CD-ROM Drive.  When we do
get complaints we act aggressively to resolve them.  We do
understand that our product is not perfect.  However,  we strive
for perfection wherever possible. We are sympathetic to those
who have compatibility problems.

Very shortly, we will be deploying the long awaited Multi-
Session Upgrade.  This upgrade was originally scheduled for
early Dec. of 92.  However, the software drivers were not
finished.  This gave me some extra time to add several
enhancements and fixes to the existing firmware.  These will all
be part of the $19.95 upgrade.

Mr. Bill Williams has displayed an obvious dislike for our
DM-xx24 series CD-ROM drive.  Mr. Williams is entitled to his
beliefs.  However, making unwarranted claims that are simply
false or impartial will not be tolerated.

In response to Mr. Williams wanton display of un-professional
behavior, I have taken the effort to post this rebuttal.
My name is synonymous with Texel and it's fine products.
Therefore, I refuse to allow unprofessionals such as Bill
Willaims to undermine the integrity of our product or myself.

    Bill Williams writes:
    >>Robert Brooks says:
    >>"If the product doesn't fit your needs, fine, don't buy
      one, but such a
    >>generalized slam on the manufacturer is simply
      unreasonable."

    >UNREASONABLE?
    >Here's some reasons....

    >Reason #1, the Texel is NOT CURRENTLY multisession
     compatible and no firm
    >date was given to me by their sales dept. when it would be.
     (As of yesterday)

Our drive will ship out with multi-session firmware in early Feb
of this year.  Delays caused by multi-session driver
availability have hampered earier attempts to release this
firmware.


    >reason #2, The Texel does not have a separate set of LEDs
     as the Toshiba
    >3401 does for activity and "on", it shares one indicator,
     I recall.

Our drive uses a single Tri-State LED.  Green signifies power on
and red signifies the drive is busy.  I don't recall, I know this
as a fact.

    >Reason #3, The Texel has NO SUPPORT OF DYNAMIC VOLUME
     CONTROL via
    >mode
    >page 14, (AUDIO PAGE) as does every SCSI-2 CD-ROM in the
     world I have ever
    >heard of. Ugh! No volume control.

This is absulutely true!  All multimedia sound adapters have
their own digitally controlled volume control.  Why add another
one?  Adding this feature to our drive increases the THD to over
.05% and decreases the S/N ratio to 84 db.  Our specs for the
DM-xx24 are: THD .002%, S/N 98 db.  QUITE a difference!

    >Reason #4, My initial tests seem to show that this Texel
     DM-XX24 series
    >device manufactured in Dec 1992, and containing the latest
     firmware, only
    >supported TWO OUT OF THE SIXTEEN POSSIBLE PLAY MODES. Play
     mode
    >support is
    >a very important thing and is critical for user enjoyment
     of several
    >products I know of. In fact Apple's CD SC Developer's
     Handbook, 2nd
    >Edition, clearly indicates that Apples multimedia standards
     dictate the
    >existance of all 16 modes, but I would be happy just to be
     able to turn
    >off the right or left speaker, or specify mono or stereo.

We noticed that some inexperienced developers have difficulty
passing parameters to MODE SELECT, PAGE CODE "E".  PAGE CODE "E"
allows the developer to select and control audio channels by use
of a Matrix switch.  This Matrix allows the left channel out to
both right and left outputs channels or right channel out to
both right and left outputs.

    >Reason #5, The Texel does not support the PREVENT/ALLOW
     MEDIUM REMOVAL
    >command. It yields an error according to the manual, I
     believe. In
    >addition when tried, it still did not disable the eject
     button!! A simple
    >little solenoid flip flop doohickey could have been added
     for an extra 80
    >cents. ARRRGH!!! I know of no other removable SCSI devices
     that lack this
    >very very common SCSI command.

We use a manual eject mechanism.  Therefore, the Prevent/Allow
Media Removal (part of CCS) does not apply.  Multi-Session
firmware ver. 1.07 honors this command.  When issued, the drive
responds that the command was completed.  As an option we offer
a special eject button that allows the use of a small padlock.
This is far more secure than a software command that can be
simply overridden by recycling power to the drive or play simply
activating the emergency eject release.

    >Reason #6, The Texel does not support the "PLAY (12)"
     command. All other
    >SCSI-2 compatible CD-ROMs I know of support this very very
     useful command.
    >In fact, its lack makes it very very difficult for a novice
     to try and
    >play more than a few minutes of contiguous sound from the
     center of a large
    >classical music symphony movement (< 15 minutes or so?)
     using block
    >addresses. It mercifully does have the other limited version
     called "PLAY
    >(10)" but the SCSI-2 specification clearly states underneath
     the table
    >enumerated as "13-3" for CD-ROM.....
    >.... If any of the commands indicated by an * in the TYPE
     column are
    >implemented, THE PLAY AUDIO commands shall be
     implemented. ......

It appears that Bill has never used the PLAY AUDIO MSF (47h) or
(C7h).  If Bill needs to slam Texel he's got to try a little
bit harder.  If his statement was true in any way, I certainly
would have found out months ago.  Additionally, our command
set was designed verbatim to that of SONY.  This would indicate
that SONY has this problem too, which it doesn't.

    >Reason #7 : The SCSI EJECT command is not implemented in
     the device. This
    >is present on all other devices I know off that claim full
     SCSI-2 compliance.

The drive is a manual eject!  Like it or not, the SCSI-2
specification outlined in the X3t9.2/86-109 document does not
support your claim.  If you don't like our product you have the
right to voice your own opinion.  However, to obsure fact from
fallacy using assumptions that are far from the truth, will not
be tolerated by me.

    >reason #8 : The Texel does not have a motor to help pull the
     cartridge in
    >and the user must try and stick it in by inserting his
     finger most
    >definitely more than 1/4 inch through the slot. Assuming
     they are even
    >able bodied and possess fingers to begin with.

Again, we use a Manual Eject.

    >I'm sure there may be other reasons to "slam on the
     manufacturer" but I
    >lack the motivation to find any others at this moment.
    >
    >Bill Williams

I convey my deepest apology all the Texel owners who may have
read Mr. Williams unfounded report.   Please don't be confused
by Mr. Willaims report.  He simply has his facts confused with
his limited experiance with our product.

Rick Horwitz