REPORT CARD: Readers Rate The Chipmunk Reproduced by permission of LAPTOP USER magazine. All rights reserved. It doesn't take much arm-wrestling with temperamental cassette drives and cables to convince laptop users that there must be a better way to store programs and data. For the longest time there wasn't. Today, however, there are a number of competitive disk drives on the market that provide pain-free storage of limitless amounts of information. Personal Integrated Computers offers the PIC Disc, which converts the 100 into a CP/M-compatible micro with 64K of contiguous RAM. Tandy offers the 100K Portable Disk Drive, which has since been replaced by the 200K Portable Disk Drive 2 in Radio Shack stores and catalogs. Traveling Software and Purple Computing sell similar drives that, like Tandy's, are manufactured by Brother International Corp. Laptop User surveys show that the Tandy disk drive (TDD) is the best-selling portable drive on the market. But the unit has severe deficiencies that have been only partially addressed by third-party software vendors. Most of the problems are inherent in the drive's design: It attaches to the laptop's serial port, which limits speed and functionality. FLOPPY.CO, the operating system that Tandy distributes with the drive, doesn't offer many features. It basically makes the drive a high-speed cassette storage device, without the large-file and random-access capabilities that you expect from a disk drive. These functions and more are available with the venerable granddad of the portable disk drive market, the Chipmunk, which is manufactured by Holmes Microsystems (formerly Holmes Engineering) and distributed by Portable Computer Support Group in Dallas. One fact must be declared at the outset of any discussion of portable disk drive alternatives for the 100, 102 and 200: The Chipmunk is a superior drive. This point isn't subject to interpretation or hedging; it is a fact. "The Chipmunk is terrific," reports one user, who shares the unanimous opinion of all surveyed readers. "I've had problems with PCSG and with some of the software I've tried to use with it, but no problem at all with the Chipmunk itself. It is a superb product." To account for Tandy's apparent greater popularity (and to be honest, Laptop User does not have exact sales figures from either vendor), consider the widespread availability of the TDD at thousands of local Radio Shack stores versus PCSG's mail-order-only distribution strategy, the TDD's lower price ($199 versus $399 for the Chipmunk), and the security implicit in buying from Radio Shack with its money-back guarantees, local service outlets, and brand-name recognition. More importantly, because the TDD is available from Radio Shack, it has considerable bearing as a standard for third-party software developers. More third-party software works with the Tandy drive than with the Chipmunk. While most public-domain and user-written software can easily be converted to Chipmunk-compatible form, many commercial offerings -- particularly machine-language programs and plug-in ROMs -- simply can't take advantage of the Chipmunk's features. SPECIFICATIONS Like the TDD and the disk drives built into most high-end MS-DOS laptops, the Chipmunk uses 3.5-inch microfloppy disks. These cost more than the 5.25-inch disks used with desktop computers, but they're smaller, more rugged and more reliable. They're perfect for portable use. Each Chipmunk disk holds 360K of programs and data. PCSG claims that this alone justifies the Chipmunk's higher price compared to the TDD because users need to purchase fewer disks to store the same amount of information. However, this argument is probably specious. Most users store information on disks in logical volumes: utilities on one disk, text editors and word processing documents on another, and so on. They don't keep adding data to a disk sequentially until it fills up. Even if you do save a little on disks, that's the least of the many reasons you might choose the Chipmunk over the TDD. The Chipmunk plugs into the 100, 102 and 200 via the system bus. This means that you can't use a Chipmunk designed for the Model 100 with the Tandy 102. In fact, use of the Chipmunk with a 102 requires a small modification on the main printed circuit board. You can do it yourself, voiding the warranty on your computer, or ship it to PCSG. The company claims that it has become certified as a Radio Shack repair center, and that modifications performed by PCSG do not void Radio Shack's warranty on the computer. The drive's 7.5 by 5.5 by 2.5-inch case holds NiCad battery cells that are recharged whenever you use the unit with its supplied AC adapter. Also supplied are an operating system (CDOS), a cable for connecting to the computer, a short manual, and a number of BASIC utility programs provided on Chipmunk disks. The manuals for the programs are included as document files on the disk. Users who give the Chipmunk itself a high rating think somewhat less of the bundled applications. "P-Base (the bundled database manager) is extremely difficult to fathom," says one user, who has owned his Chipmunk for about a year. "And it's absurd that you have to print your own manual from the disk. Printing from disk was exactly the function I was having trouble with!" Another user believes the Chipmunk is insufficiently integrated with PCSG's other products. "I use Lucid Data for record-keeping," he reports. "But [the computer] stores just one year's records in RAM. The Chipmunk is supposed to work as fast as RAM, so I want to be able to temporarily store this year's data and load information from last year -- use the drive as virtual memory. No way. Lucid is an outstanding program, but this limitation keeps my 100 from being all it could be. And the Chipmunk doesn't communicate as conveniently as I'd like with my IBM PC. I'm selling my Chipmunk and replacing it with a Tandy drive and TS-RANDOM." Such dissatisfaction is the exception, not the norm. OPERATION & BASIC EXTENSIONS The Chipmunk is a programmer's dream. It adds commands to Microsoft's laptop BASIC that allow the 100, 102 or 200 to access the drive directly. Users access disk-stored files by adding 0: to the file name (much as they access cassette files by preceding them with CAS:). Plus, the Chipmunk accepts the keywords RANDOM, FIELD, GET, PUT, LOC, LOF, LFILES, DSKI$ and DSKO$. The two latter keywords are necessary only for compatibility with programs written for the Tandy Disk/Video Interface. The commands are explained in adequate depth in the manual that comes with the Chipmunk. If you're familiar with these keywords in IBM PC BASIC, you'll have no trouble using them with the Holmes/PCSG drive. Tips in the Chipmunk manual also show how to build code into your programs that detect whether the drive's internal batteries are low. This is a very handy feature. The Chipmunk stores programs and data in a hierarchical structure similar to MS-DOS's subdirectory tree structure. With the Chipmunk, each subdirectory is called a "folder." As with MS-DOS, disk commands generally take place within the currently active folder. Users can load an entire folder's contents in the computer's memory, transfer files from one folder to another, or save the computer's memory contents into any folder. USER RATINGS Installation: Users rate the Chipmunk good to very good in installation. Just plug a supplied ribbon cable into the system bus. If you're using a Model 100, you'll get a new cover for the computer's expansion compartment with a cutout for the Chipmunk cable. One caveat: Be sure to heed the manual's advice and wait 15 minutes or more for the Chipmunk to charge before it will work properly. Ease of use: Surveyed users find the Chipmunk exceptionally easy to use. "There's a learning curve, as with any new product," one says, "but after a few cold starts you get the hang of it. On the plus side, all operations are logical and intuitive." Functions: Some surveyed users rated the Chipmunk low because it did not perform specific functions that they needed for particular tasks. However, the unit receives a good to very good overall rating. One particularly desirable function is the ability to store downloaded information directly on the disk instead of in a RAM file while connected to an online service such as CompuServe via the 100's internal modem. The Model 100 version of the Chipmunk performs this task flawlessly; users of other versions report problems, which may or may not have been resolved by the time this issue is printed. If this is an important function to you, call PCSG at (214) 351-0564 to determine if it is available on the Chipmunk that's compatible with your computer. Or try it for yourself: PCSG offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with the unit. Support: This is the only area in which the Chipmunk receives an unsatisfactory rating. Several users reporting that they learned of software upgrades only from other users -- PCSG did not alert them to the existence of free, bug-eradicating upgrades, they say, nor mention the upgrades during calls to the technical staff. "I bought my Chipmunk a week before a software update was released," says one user. "I had lots of trouble, and PCSG's tech department couldn't help me out. They didn't know what was wrong. Finally I asked a friend who is a Chipmunk expert, and he asked me what software version I had. He gave me a copy of the current software release, and I had no further problems." The same user reports that technicians at both PCSG and Holmes Microsystems have spent hours answering questions and attempting to resolve problems over the telephone, however, at no charge to him. Other users believe upgrades are overdue, particularly in the area of integration. "The Chipmunk should integrate seamlessly with PCSG's ROM products," one says, "and it should be able to communicate conveniently with the IBM PC. There is little ongoing development going on." Portability: The Chipmunk is small and light, and it operates on batteries, so it is quite portable. However, more than half the surveyed users report that they rarely travel with the unit. "It's part of my desktop workstation," one reports. "I unplug it and carry the 100 alone when I have to travel." Weak points: Asked to assess the Chipmunk's weak points, users come up with an array of minor complaints. "It doesn't function as virtual memory for the 100," one says, while another complains that "it should store 720K like the microfloppy drives offered on other laptops." Most of the complaints have little to do with the drive itself. Several users, however, conclude that the Chipmunk's internal power supply is more trouble than it's worth. "I never travel with mine, so AC power would be less trouble," one says. "I'd prefer [AC power] if it made the Chipmunk cost less." "I'd rather have removable batteries," says another. "That way when they get low I can just replace them and keep working, instead of waiting for the internal batteries to recharge." Strong points: Users have no trouble identifying the Chipmunk's strong points. "High speed." "True random access to data." "No limit on file size." "Accessible from BASIC with extension keywords." "Easy to use." All surveyed users say the Chipmunk's strong points outweigh its weak points. THE BOTTOM LINE When you see a chipmunk at the zoo or in your back yard, the first think you notice is its speed: It races along the lawn or a branch so fast your eyes can barely keep up with it. Next you might notice that it's quite small -- just a pound or two. Finally, if you observe one for a while, you might see that their cheek pouches are capable of holding a surprising amount of food. These three factors -- speed, smallness and capacity -- are also what you notice about the Chipmunk disk drive. The name is remarkably apt, even without the supposed pun on "chip." On a technological level, the Chipmunk is immeasurably superior to Tandy's portable disk drive. For many users, its speed, flexibility and ease of use make it the clear choice when upgrading their systems. The money-back guarantee makes it an easier choice to make. Questions about support and compatibility with third-party software must be answered on a case-by-case basis. Other drives may be better for some applications. But most users say the Chipmunk is simply the better choice.