CD-ROM

The library had three stand-alone computer stations with 2x CD-ROM drives.

System Requirements: 486DX/100Mhz, Microsoft Windows 95,98, 256-color SVGA, 16MB of RAM, 2X CD-ROM of better, 5 MB free hard drive space, 8 bit Audio Card or higher.

Windows 3.1 or later, 486/33 MHz CPU, 8 MB RAM, 2 MB available hard disk space, 640 x 480 256 color monitor, 2x CD-ROM, Sound Blaster or compatible sound card, speakers or headphones, printer.

* Be realistic about video speeds: "Effective data transfer rates from a standard 2x CD-ROM drive are only 220 kilobytes per second, not the advertised 300," Potts notes.

And, like the Thirty-five, this model can arrive pre-configured with IBM's MWave audio subsystem; a 2X CD-ROM drive; any mix of floppy, tape backup or other storage devices; be network-ready; and more.

Windows 95/98/Me/XP/NT, Internet Explorer 4.0 min.; 486/33 min.; 20MB free HD space; Macintosh, Power PC 601 min., OS 8.1 min., 24 MB free HD space; for both: 16MB, 2x CD-ROM drive.

Requirements: Macintosh System 7.1 or higher, 8 MB RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive.

Macintosh LCIII or better, System 7.0 or higher, 8MB RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive, 256 color display.

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: For the PC: Windows 3.1, Pentium 66 mhz, 16 MB RAM, 3 MB hard drive space, SVGA monitor set to 256 colors, 2x CD-ROM drive, sound card, speakers.

With a seek time of 130 ms and a transfer rate of 1.5 Mb/second, the performance of the 10x CD-ROM drive approaches that of hard disk drives only five years ago, at the price of 2x CD-ROM drives just 18 months ago.