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A&J Micro Drive

Owner(s): Jim Howell
1050 East Duane Ave., Suite I, Sunnyvale, CA 94086

A&J Micro Drive was a spin-off of Exatron, the company that manufactured and marketed the Exatron Stringy Floppy (ESF). The Exatron Stringy Floppy was a continuous loop tape cartridge (“wafer”) that had some advantages over traditional cassette tapes.

Exatron also manufactured the tape drive mechanism and sold it via mail order to home computer owners. The first ESF drives were made for the TRS-80 Model I. Wafers were available in several lengths, from 5 feet (which could store 4K of data) to 75 feet (up to 64K).

By 1983, Exatron needed additional capital to improve the overall performance and quality of the wafer drives and wafers. With new investors came the name change to Entrepo (a word close to the French word for warehouse). Exatron focused on large OEM accounts and Jim Howell, son of the Exatron founder, took over the mail-order stringy floppy business with his company, A&J Micro Drive.

One investor, BSR Ltd., the Hong Kong-based electronic components and consumer electronics company, acquired a third of the equity in Entrepo. BSR finalized the R&D on the wafer drive which it also manufactured. The BSR drive was used in the Rototronics Wafadrive.

Products

Name Description Computers
A&J Micro Drive Low cost, high-speed mass storage system that uses on “wafers” (endless loop tapes). Data transfer rate is many times faster than cassette and more reliable. Loads a 28k program in 24 seconds. Micro drive controller attaches to the expansion connector on the back and peripherals attach behind it. Most programs will run with little or Timex/Sinclair 1000
A&J Micro Drive Model 2000 The TS2068 version of the A&J Micro Drive has all the features of the original and includes a Centronics printer interface. Timex/Sinclair 2068
ESF Drive 2 Supplemental Exatron Stringy Floppy drive. Timex/Sinclair 1000, Timex/Sinclair 2068
ESF/81 Monitor Program The ESF/81 monitor program will allow you to program your Sinclair ZX81 at the most elementary level, in “machine language.” In. addition, the ESF/81 monitor will let you back up other machine-language programs stored on ESF wafers for extra security. Timex/Sinclair 1000
Microwafer Continuous loop tape (“stringy floppy“) for the A & J Microdrive. Timex/Sinclair 1000, Timex/Sinclair 2068

Books

Periodicals

Downloads

Name Description Computers
Micro-Wafer Test Program Tests and reports on capacity and errors in A & J Micro Drive wafers. Timex/Sinclair 2068

Articles

Title Description Computers
A TS1500 A&J Microdrive Problem and Solution Timex/Sinclair 1500
A&J Micro Drive System Subroutine to create a command line and execute it from within a running program. Timex/Sinclair 2068
A&J Microdrive 2000 Timex/Sinclair 2068
A&J Notes When using the A&J Microdrive “ESOS” (Exatron Stringy Operating System), there are times when you don’t want it to change your RAMTOP. Timex/Sinclair 1000
Across the Pond Updated version of MSCRIPT; now returns to BASIC for file save/load. Feature added by Zebra. Greeting Card Designer from Zebra. ZPRINT-80, also from Zebra, supports Aerco, both Tasman, and A&J interfaces with LPRINT, LLIST, COPY. Sinclair ZX81, Timex/Sinclair 1000, Timex/Sinclair 2068
Adapting Your Programs for the A&J Microdrive Timex/Sinclair 2068
Alpha Strings$ Correction to A&J article in n14; RAM chips from Jameco; adjustments to WORM program; Callisto Software’s ZX Hi-Res. Timex/Sinclair 1000, Timex/Sinclair 2068
Catalog Your A&J Wafers Timex/Sinclair 2068
Enhancing the A&J Microdrive Programs to make working with the A&J Microdrive easier. Timex/Sinclair 2068
Items Gleamed from Other Club Newsletters The Plotter reports that most repairs sent to Dan Elliot are completed and returned quickly. Only those requiring SCLDs take longer. CATS has article about connecting QL to RGB monitor. L.I.S.T. reports A&J Micro no longer supplying microdrives because they cannot obtain tapes.
Letters Micro-Prolog for Spectrum; A&J help request; 2068 music; MSCRIPT; Sinclair joysticks; 80 column VU-CALC printing; Spinning Wheel. Timex/Sinclair 2068
Making 2068 Back-Ups on the A&J Microdrive Technique for backing software from tape to A&J Microdrive. Timex/Sinclair 2068
Mass Storage for the TS-2068 List of mass storage options, including: ZX-Microdrive, A&J Microdrive, DAMCO/Rotronics Wafadrive, AERCO 2068 disk system and RAMEX Millenia K interface. Timex/Sinclair 2068
New Products and Services (Syntax v5 n2) New products from Pheonix Enterprises, D. Lipinski Software, Robert Fingerle, A&J Microdrive, Maples Enterprises, Cottage Technology, JK Audio, Interface Design, Apropos Technology.
News From the Dealers Curry Computing; Budget Robotics & Computing; American Design Components; WMJ Data Systems; Novelsoft; Chia-chi Chao; T & C Services; Lemke Software Development; Logic Sales Ltd.; A&J Assembly; Larken Electronics. Lambda 8300
Notes, etc. Quotes Jim Howell, owner of A&J Micro Drive, about the origin of the company.
Special Report: Mass Storage Devices For The TS 2068 Brief overview of A&J Microdrive, DAMCO/Rotronics Wafadrive, Millenia K Disk Interface, Aerco FD-68 Interface. Timex/Sinclair 2068
Stringy Floppy for the Timex 1500 Review and overview of the A&J Micro Drive stringy floppy system. Timex/Sinclair 1000, Timex/Sinclair 1500
Tasword Two on Microwafer How to migrate Tasword Two to A&J Stringy Floppy. Timex/Sinclair 2068
The A&J Microdrive Review and overview of the system. Timex/Sinclair 2068
TS1500 A&J Microdrive Problem and Solution Technique for bypassing a SAVE/VERIFY problem brought about by the combination of a TS 1500, TS 1016 RAM and the A & J Microdrive. Timex/Sinclair 1500
Vendor Report Timex-Sinclair “survivor buttons; update on A&J Microdrives and wafers.
Verifying MScript 5T on A&J Microdrive Timex/Sinclair 2068

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