Third Party CD-R Suppliers for SGI's

Here is a list of third party writeable CD-ROM drive suppliers I have compiled from comp.sys.sgi.*/info-iris-* messages.

If any one has any updated information, changes, or corrections, please let me know. I try to only keep a list of company names that end users have actually purchased equipment from and are satisfied with that company's products and service. If you have problems with a company, let me know and I'll see about dropping them from the list.

ALWAYS remember to contact the company for the lastest prices.

  Anacapa
   Phone: (800) 800-7056
   Contact: Glen Anderson

  Global
   Phone: (800) 845-6225
      650MB (74min) writeable media (OKC90705UA)	   $4.99 (June '97)

  INLINE CORPORATION
   12110 Sunset Hills Road #450
   Reston, Virginia 22090 USA
   Phone: (800) INLINE-7 (800-465-4637), 703-478-0800; FAX: (703) 478-0966
   Email Contact: John Tibbitts: john@inlinecorp.com
   Email Contact: Jim Fernandez: jim@inlinecorp.com
   http://www.inlinecorp.com/
      Yamaha CDE-102 2x/4x external with Gear software	$1495 (Sept. '96)
      Yamaha CDE-100 4x/4x external with Gear software	$1895 (Sept. '96)
      Gear Multi-platform/MultiMedia software Upgrade	 $350 (Nov. '96)
      650MB (74min) writeable media			$7.50 (Oct. '96)
      4x5.25" HH Enclosure:				 $249 (Aug. '96)
      18" SCSI-2 Cable					  $35 (Aug. '96)
      AMPHENOL SCSI-2 ACTIVE TERM.			  $15 (Aug. '96)

  Western Scientific
   4631 Viewridge Ave.
   San Diego, CA 92123
   Phone: (800) 443-6699, 619-565-6699, Fax: 619-565-6938
   Email: info@wsm.com
   http://www.wsm.com
   Contact: Albert (A.J.) Jackson, Email: will@zzyzx.com
   South East territory: Mark McKinzie
   North Central territory: Scott Hoyt
   South Central territory: Mike Abshire
   West Coast territory: Will J. Grupenhoff Email:will@zzyzx.com
   Government Contracts: Diane McDonnell
   http://www.zzyzx.com/
      Yamaha CDE-100 4x/4x external with Gear software	$2550 (Sept. '96)
      Indigo2 5.25" Sled				 $295 (July '96)
      Onyx Sled						 $500 (July '96)

Companies in the Europe

  DMJ
  Marques de Riscal, 2. 28010
  Madrid. Spain.
  Phone: +34-1-3198562, FAX: +34-1-3198002
  Email: info@dmj.es
  http://www.dmj.es/
      Yamaha CDR-400c                (110.000 pesetas)   $758 (April '97)

Personal Experiences

We have been using a CD-R on an Indigo2 R10000 running IRIX 6.2 for a little while now and have burned over a dozen good CD's so far. The first one was a bust, but aren't they always. We had to figure everything out on the first one before getting the good ones.

For all the CD-R's, make sure one gets the lastest firmware. Earlier models of the Yamaha 100's and most other CD-R's have problems with both SCSI sync negotiations and SCSI disconnects. A properly functioning drive will handle both correctly. The Yamaha 100's and I think a Sony model are the only drives I've heard of that do both of these properly and thus will work reliably with SGI's. We purchased a Yamaha CDE 100 II and Elektroson's OEM version of GEAR software from Inline Corp.. The OEM version of the software we received acted a little flaky under IRIX 6.2, but once configured properly, it worked ok.

There are TWO version of GEAR, the stripped down OEM version and the full blown MM version. We first recieved the OEM version due to some confusion. When talking to Elektroson, they assume there is only one version, the full blown MM version. The 3rd party distributors only knew of the OEM version and assumed THAT was the only version. Elektroson told me about all these nice features GEAR has and when the software actually arrived, it didn't have most of them. It took about a month to get everything straightend out and another $350 for the `upgrade' to the MM version. The MM version still had some problems, but it worked better than the OEM version.

With the OEM version and a `virtual' image set up, we were only able to use our 4x CD-R at 2x speed. Both `test' modes of the software said 4x would just barely work, but when we actually tried to burn a CD at 4x, the transfer rate was too slow. With the MM version and after talking to an Elektroson support person, we were able to get the drive to burn at the 4x rate. We made two major changes:

  1. Turned on 1 memory buffer and set it to 2MB
  2. Used a `physical' image set up.

I'm not sure which one helped the most or if it was the combination of the two, but both these changes were MORE than adequate to get the drive to run at the 4x rate. This version was very flaky in that it often would NOT let us make a `physical' image, even though we had MORE than enough disk space for the image.

After several complaints to Elektroson, we finally received an upgrade to the 3.32 version of Multi Media GEAR. We are now able to create `physical' images with out any problems. We were even able to burn a CD with the all the source files residing on a MO disc. It still has some minor problems, but once one has everything set up correctly, they aren't that noticeable.

My other SGI 3rd party hardware lists:

CD-ROM's, DAT's, Hard Disks,
Floppies/Flopticals, Joysticks, Magneto Opticals,

Memory, DLT's (Digital Linear Tape), Mice

If you have any additions, corrects, or updates to the above information, please email me at: blbates@vigyan.com, thanks.

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Last update: May 14, 2002