I'm pulling together a timeline of optical computer data storage and having fun with the early ones. A copy of Rothchild's Optical Memory Report, From the early 80's would be appreciated - hardcopies are at the CHM so maybe I'll have to drive over there
I'm told by a reliable source and am trying to confirm that Philips and Toshiba were first circa 1980 so can anyone identify and provide any details about any 12-inch WORM disk drives and media that were shipped by either around 1980. FWIW the earliest WORM I can identify is the OSI Laserdrive 1200 which shipped in 1983. OSI was a joint venture of Philips and CDC and in turn a successor to their earlier joint ventures, Optical Media Laboratory in Holland and Optical Peripherals Laboratory in Colorado. So the Laserdrive might be a rebadged or enhanced version of the earlier Philips product. I have no clue as to any early Toshiba WORM FWIW, in 1981 Matsushita demonstrated of a 200 mm diameter WORM disk with a capacity of 15,000 still pictures but this wasn't a data disk. Not clear when and if it shipped as a product. [source: http://www.wtec.org/loyola/opto/ad_matsu.htm ] There is also an indication that Thompson CF also had an optical data storage system circa 1981 but I can find nothing about it. Any recollections and all literature would be appreciated. Tom
