Diablo Data Systems

{{short description|Computer hardware company, printers, disk drives}}

{{Infobox company

| logo = File:Diablo Logo 1.png

| logo_size = 200px

| type = Division

| parent = Xerox

| predecessor = Diablo Systems Inc.

| founded = {{start date and age|1969}} in Cupertino, California

| defunct = {{start date and age|1972}}

| fate = Acquired by Xerox

| industry = Computer

}}

Diablo Data Systems was a division of Xerox created by the acquisition of Diablo Systems Inc.

for US$29 million in 1972,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/14/archives/xerox-to-acquire-diskdrive-maker-for-28million-xerox-to-acquire.html

|title=Xerox to Acquire Disk-Drive Maker For $28-Million

|author=Alexander R. Hammer |date=March 14, 1972}}[http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/n/nr_FactBook_2003_2004.pdf Xerox Factbook 2003-2004] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116042230/http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/n/nr_FactBook_2003_2004.pdf |date=2006-11-16 }}, p.43 a company that had been founded in 1969 by George E. Comstock, Charles L. Waggoner and others.{{cite journal |title=CI News: Play it again, George? |journal=Computerworld |publisher=Computerworld, Inc. |volume=XI |number=47 |date=1977-11-21 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3wLD-4p12toC&pg=PA62 |access-date=2017-06-13 }}{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmEH10OiXZkC&pg=PA4

|title=Business Mini Weighs 65 Pound - What is Durango?

|author-first=Brad |author-last=Schultz |pages=1, 4 |newspaper=Computerworld

|publisher=CW Communications, Inc. |volume=XII |number=40 |date=1978-10-02 |access-date=2017-06-13 }} The company was the first to release a daisy wheel printer, in 1970.

Image:Xerox Roman PS Daisywheel - mono.jpg

The company was best known for the HyType I and HyType II typewriter-based computer terminals, the Diablo 630 daisy wheel printers,{{cite magazine |magazine=Atari Magazine (Creative Computing)

|url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n3/202_Creating_a_letterhead_wit.php

|title=Creating a letterhead with your daisywheel printer

|author=Thom Hogan |volume=10 |issue=3 |date=March 1984 |page=202}} as well as removable hard disk drives that were used in the Xerox Alto computer and resold by DEC as the RK02 and RK03.{{cite web |website=Nokia Bell Labs

|url=https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html

|title=Ken&Den picture}}

Overview

File:Disk Cartridge 2315 type.jb.jpg

The RK02 and RK03 drives that Diablo made for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was described by DEC as "stores digital data in serial format on IBM 2315-type disk cartridges." They differed from what DEC later manufactured for itself, as the "RK04 and RK05 use voice coil head positioning, and the RK02 and RK03 use rack and pinion head positioning."{{cite web |website=BitSavers

|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/unibus/RK11-C_manual1971.pdf

|title=RK11-C_manual1971.pdf - Bitsavers.org

|date=April 3, 2010}}{{rp|p.1-4}}

The RK02/RK04 were low density and stored 600K 16-bit words, whereas the RK03/RK05 store 1.2 megabytes of 16-bit words. By using "12 sectors of 128 words (low density) or 256 words (high density)" and "203 cylinders of 2 tracks per cylinder" the capacity was 1.22 megabytes or 2.45 megabytes respectively.{{cite web

|url=http://sydney.edu.au/science/psychology/pdp-11/early_peripherals.html

|title=Early PDP-11 Peripherals}}

Diablo also made full computer systems as well as printers.{{cite web

|url=https://www.walmart.com/ip/Diablo-9R87201-genuine-Xerox-Printwheel-Daisy-Wheel/187838030

|title=Diablo 9R87201 genuine Xerox Printwheel - Daisy Wheel}} Additionally, Diablo released terminal systems featuring their printing technology, including the Model 1560 Matrix Terminal. This model could connect directly to a remote machine using the Bell 103A, 113A, 202 and 212 standards, and supported a nominal 1200 baud transfer rate. It used a microprocessor in combination with mechanical linkages to allow more advanced editing and data entry.{{Cite news |date=June 8, 1977 |title=Diablo offers new machine |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/california/hayward/daily-review/1977/06-08/page-50 |url-access=registration |access-date=August 27, 2024 |work=The Daily Review |location=Hayward, California |pages=50}}

Diablo systems

File:Xerox Diablo 3200 (1).jpg

The Xerox Diablo 3100 was among the complete computing systems sold by Diablo.CPU, a 10 MB hard disk, and a floppy drive {{cite web

|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3652/Xerox-Diablo-3100

|title=Xerox Diablo 3100}}

Diablo printers

In 1970 a team at Diablo Systems led by engineer Dr Andrew Gabor developed the first commercially successful daisy wheel printer, a device that was faster and more flexible than IBM's Selectric devices, being capable of 30 cps (characters per second), whereas the Selectric operated at 13.4 cps. Dr Andrew Gabor was issued two patents for the invention [https://patents.google.com/patent/US3954163A/en U.S. Patents 3,954,163] and [https://patents.google.com/patent/US3663880A/en 3,663,880].

Among the models for which Diablo was known were the 9R87201, the HyType I (1973){{cite web

|url=http://s3data.computerhistory.org/brochures/xerox.diablo-ytypei.1973.102646256.pdf

|title=Diablo HyType I, 1973

}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and the HyType II. Some of the printwheels were plastic, others were "metalized."{{cite web

|url=https://www.amazon.com/Xerox-Diablo-Metalized-Print-Printers/dp/B00CGK9TVI

|title=Xerox/Diablo Metalized Print Wheel For Printers|website=Amazon }} Also included were the Diablo 630 and 635.{{Cite FTP |url=ftp://ps-2.kev009.com/incoming/jim/TSSPRT/acroread/tssfact/tfsprt/xerox/tfsxe001.pdf

|server=ps-2.kev009.com

|title=OSE Xerox Corporation Diablo 635}}

Diablo Data Systems

Overview

Diablo systems

Diablo printers

References

Further reading