IP-TEC - Infopeople Technical Service Archive: Re: CD-ROM Changer advice

Re: CD-ROM Changer advice

Rancho Cucamonga Public Library (karatsur@CERF.NET)
Sat, 7 Sep 1996 08:07:50 -0700

For what it is worth, we have the Mitchells on CD-ROM. The changer we
use is the Pioneer 604X (it is a couple of years old. I believe the
model has since been superceded by something else.)

The interface card came with the changer. Since this particular CD-ROM
product is not networked, we are not using any special kind of software
other than what came with the Pioneer and Mitchell's. (Normally we use
CD-Net for our CD-ROM LAN.)

As far as the hardware for the Mitchells CD-ROMs, it is an old 386.
Since Mitchells is a DOS program, we really did not think it necessary to
have a 486 or Pentium (which has proven to be correct for the most
part.) You might want to have at least 8mbs of memory however because
there are some wiring diagrams that are too memory intensive for only 4 mbs.

What slows the Mitchells down more than anything is the changer. (All of
the the search software is loaded on the "c" drive.) Our Pioneer is only
4xs speed, so going from disc to disc is a little slow (although
relatively painless.) One thing you might want to look for is to see if
there is a stand-alone changer that has more than 6 drives since the
Mitchell's has seven discs!

The last word of caution I might offer is be careful when installing the
software; it is one of those programs that only lets you install one time
and that's it. Make a mistake or decide to change the computer it is
used on and you will have to beg and plead with Mitchells for another
installation disc (although I found Mitchells tech support to be good.)

Otherwise, we think this is a nice product. Hope this helps.

Robert Karatsu
Principal Librarian
Technological and Information Services
Rancho Cucamonga Public Library