Apple Computer Inc is working on a proprietary chip that will enable Macintosh SEs and IIs to read and write MS-DOS-format 3.5 disks, reports Microbytes Daily. The disk protocol chip, which has yet to see first silicon, will replace the so-called IWM Integrated Woz Machine in the new Macs and enable direct reading of IBM 3.5 disks from the Personal System/2s and the Convertible. The new controller, being called the Integrated Sander Machine, was developed for Apple by Wendell Sander, a former Apple engineer who now heads his own firm, The Engineering Department in Campbell, California. The design for the part has been breadboarded and validated at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, and is said to be so complex that it took about the same board space as four Macs to do the emulator in SSI wirewrap. The SE and II were designed for the chip. Data Networks Plc has won a facilities management contract with the food distribution division of Booker Plc to manage its ICL 39/30 and install a new ICL 39/50 machine at its West Midlands data centre: Data Networks, which specialises in facilities management, turnkey systems, disaster recovery and standby, networking, online processing and consultancy, is the firm formed in 1986 from a merger of London Regional Transport’s computer interests with Duport Computing Ltd.
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