 | |
| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer |
| Predecessor | Diablo Systems Inc. |
| Founded | 1969; 56 years ago (1969) inCupertino, California |
| Defunct | 1972; 53 years ago (1972) |
| Fate | Acquired byXerox |
| Parent | Xerox |
Diablo Data Systems was a division ofXerox created by the acquisition of Diablo Systems Inc. for US$29 million in 1972,[1][2] a company that had been founded in 1969 by George E. Comstock, Charles L. Waggoner and others.[3][4] The company was the first to release adaisy wheel printer, in 1970.
The company was best known for the HyType I and HyType IItypewriter-basedcomputer terminals, theDiablo 630 daisy wheel printers,[5] as well as removable hard disk drives that were used in theXerox Alto computer and resold byDEC as theRK02 andRK03.[6]
TheRK02 andRK03 drives thatDiablo made forDigital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was described by DEC as "stores digital data in serial format onIBM 2315-type disk cartridges." They differed from what DEC later manufactured for itself, as the "RK04 and RK05 usevoice coil head positioning, and the RK02 and RK03 use rack and pinion head positioning."[7]: p.1-4
The RK02/RK04 werelow density and stored 600K16-bitwords, 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 "203cylinders of 2tracks per cylinder" the capacity was 1.22 megabytes or 2.45 megabytes respectively.[8]
Diablo also made full computer systems as well as printers.[9] 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.[10]
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TheXerox Diablo 3100 was among the complete computing systems sold byDiablo.[11]
In 1970 a team at Diablo Systems led by engineer Dr Andrew Gabor developed the first commercially successfuldaisy wheel printer, a device that was faster and more flexible than IBM'sSelectric 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 inventionU.S. Patents 3,954,163 and3,663,880.
Among the models for whichDiablo was known were the9R87201,[9] theHyType I (1973)[12] and theHyType II. Some of the printwheels were plastic, others were "metalized."[13] Also included were theDiablo 630 and 635.[14]
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