
                         New Peripheral: CD ROM
                            by Thomas Kardos

A major development in computers in general is the advent of a new type
of read only peripheral, the CD ROM.  This is nothing more than a 3.5"
Compact Disk, which has 550M bytes of space.  The disk is digital, for
it has all intelligence stored in zeroes and ones, like computer data.
The disk is read by a laser which does not degrade the disk, since all
data is burned in well under the surface of the plastic.  Right now
digital readers for CD's with music are under $200 and they reproduce
music with total high fidelity and a dynamic range of over 90 decibels,
impossible previously with records and tapes.

If you wish to purchase an encyclopedia, say the Americana, one disk for
$199 will do it.  The "opus" actually takes up only 110M bytes while the
rest of the disk is loaded with all conceivable cross indexes for you to
find every mention of whatever you are looking for.  The CD disk reader
costs at the moment over $1000, but soon this price will come down.

                       Videodisks and Computers:
               Marriage of Convenience or Shotgun Wedding
                            by Thomas Kardos

A major application, for industry and education, is the marriage of
regular 12" video laser disks with computers, to control access and
sequence.  One laser disk can hold more than 70 Thousand slide or movie
images.  Where could you store this magnitude of visual media at home or
work, and how would you access it without a computer?  Interfaces have
been selling since the summer of 1984 for under $100.  See the summer
1984 issues of Popular Computing for details.

Soon you will be able to have all your slides placed on a video disk and
you will view them on a monitor.  The resolution on monitor is
outstanding.  It beats the degradation of slides from fading away and
being attacked by fungus.  You can also copy from videodisk to
videotape, with some image degradation, but still superior to using a
video camera with the source slide.  I have experimented with this new
medium and its promises are exciting.

          Enter Bac-Man!  Bacteria, Lasers Threaten Hard Disk
                            by Thomas Kardos

An interesting application, with many patents pending, is the erasable
laser disk (Compact Disks 3.5" with 550M bytes) to be used in place of
the hard disk.  The days of the hard disk appear numbered.  Probably
hard disks will be around for barely a few more years and then we all
will switch to either CD's read by lasers or BMB: Biological Memory
Bubbles (bacteria which act like memory in place of other media.)  Far
out, what won't they think of next...  Sources: Popular Computing,
Popular Science (1984-1985).

...from ONKUG, Newsdiskette to Kaypro Users Groups, Volume 2, Number 2.
