A version was available for the Apple Lisa 2 running Microsoft/SCO Xenix 3. It fit on one 400K microfloppy diskette.
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It included a pioneering touchpad-like pointing device, installed on a panel above the keyboard. It used static CMOS memory, and came with 64 kilobytes standard. Memory was expandable through plug-in modules, for which there were four slots available (each 32 kb module cost $350 and included a backup battery); these could also be used for software ROM cartridges. With standards for microfloppy drives still emerging, Gavilan was designed to accommodate both a 3.0-inch 320 KB microfloppy drive as well as a 3.5-inch floppy drive.
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Things changed dramatically in 1982 when the Microfloppy Industry Committee (MIC), a consortium ultimately of 23 media companies, agreed upon a -inch media specification based upon but differing from the original Sony design."The Microfloppy—One Key to Portability," Thomas R. Jarrett, Computer Technology Review, Winter 1983 (Jan 1984), pp 245-247 The first single-sided drives compatible with this new media specification shipped in early 1983,1983 DISK/TREND REPORT, , FLEXIBLE DISK DRIVES followed immediately in 1984 by double-sided compatible versions. In 1984, Apple Computer selected the format for their new Macintosh computers. Then, in 1985, Atari adopted it for their new ST line, and Commodore for their new Amiga.
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In the United States, the 64C was often bundled with the third-party GEOS graphical user interface (GUI)-based operating system, as well as the software needed to access Quantum Link. The 1541 drive received a matching face-lift, resulting in the 1541C. Later, a smaller, sleeker 1541-II model was introduced, along with the 3.5-inch microfloppy 1581.
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The Sony drive, being only single-sided, could not store nearly as much data as a single Twiggy, but did so with greater reliability. The IBM PC shipped with a minifloppy (5.25-inch) drive that stored even less data, 360K. It stored less data, was slower, and also did not have the protective shell of the Sony microfloppy drive diskettes, which improves reliability. An optional external 5 MB or, later, a 10 MB Apple ProFile hard drive (originally designed and produced for the Apple III by a third party), was available.
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Lisa 2 The first hardware revision, the Lisa 2, was released in January 1984 and was priced between $3,495 and $5,495 US. It was much less expensive than the original model and dropped the Twiggy floppy drives in favor of a single 400k Sony microfloppy. The Lisa 2 has as little as 512 kB of RAM. The Lisa 2/5 consists of a Lisa 2 bundled with an external 5- or 10-megabyte hard drive. In 1984, at the same time the Macintosh was officially announced, Apple offered free upgrades to the Lisa 2/5 to all Lisa 1 owners, by swapping the pair of Twiggy drives for a single 3.5-inch drive, and updating the boot ROM and I/O ROM.
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The Sony disk also did not contain a spring- loaded auto shutter. The user was required to slide the protective metal sleeve on the disk to the side prior to inserting the disk into the drive. When removing the disk from the drive the metal shutter was slid to the right to protect the disk. The SSDD disks had an unformatted capacity of 437.5 Kbytes (280 Kbytes formatted) with 135 tracks per inch (70 tracks on the disk). The Sony disk drives had a transfer rate of 500 Kbps when used with DD media (250 Kbps with SD media). When the SMC-70 was released in 1982 the disk drives were capable of reading both the Sony standard disks (OM-D3310) and the future Microfloppy Industry Committee standard (though only the first 70 tracks); the disk drives had the capability of opening a spring-loaded disk shutter.
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