Tandon Computer Corp has now announced its fixed+exchangeable cartridge disk drive that so excited Xerox Corp, as part of a new model in its Tandon Target AT-compatible line it launched late last year. The 1Mb RAM, 8MHz 80286-based Personal Advanced Computer 286 features two Data Racs – Data Racs are similar in design and technology to the motorised mechanism that houses tapes in a video cassette recorder – each of which can hold one fixed-exchangeable Personal Data Pac, a 2.2 lbs 3.5 20Mb run-length-limited disk drive with 128Kb RAM and ROM cache for reducing disk access time below 40mS. Tandon will also be offering an external subsystem, Ad-PAC 2, enabling other AT-alikes to access Personal Data Pacs. Tandon UK is as yet unable to give any indication of likely price of either the PAC 286 or the Ad-PAC 2, although the Pac cartridges will be around UKP200. Volume deliveries start in May.
