On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 13:27:32 -0500 James Kerr <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Is it just me or does there seem to be a shortage with these drives? >the supplier I used to buy em from has been out of stock for like 2 months >now and even Ingram Micro ( a huge vendor) has only gotten them in in >spurts and only Hi-Val ones at that, which are pretty low end. So were have >all the drives gone, are they being fazed out? Did the large OEM's start >buying them up or what? Anyone know? > Zip drives pretty much "locked in" this size format fairly early in the game. Zip drives decided not to include backward compatibility with floppies to cut costs. LS-120s on the other hand have a double "head set" which increases their "lowest" cost. They require Win95B or better to run right (fully), and a BIOS that will properly support it (to boot from it). In older systems, they are VERY tricky to understand all the things you must not "do" with them. (Phantom drives, twenty minute system freezes, etc. Yes, I did say a "timed" system freeze. Just "stops" for twenty minutes, then returns like nothing happened.) Don't get me wrong, I have two of them. I think they will be running long after my zip drive is dead. Since there are a lot of new computers out in the field now that will work great with an LS-120 , their newest problem is that 250m~ floppies are out, or coming soon... Getting back to your question, if companies don't have them in stock it "should?" only be one of two things. 1) They are selling like hot cakes. 2) Nobody wants them. I hope it is the first one so the price of the media comes down. If it is the second one, and the media goes up, I will not replace mine when they die. See new question by me on this. Rick ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] PCBUILD mailing list is brought to you by: The NOSPIN Group http://nospin.com