Apple Floppy Drives (was: More Apple Pimpers)

There were several "fixes" provided by third-party vendors that got around the very weak clock extraction logic used by the Model 1. Several of them addressed other weaknesses in the TRS-80 architecture, but the FD interface seems to have been the most commonly addressed problem. These hardware patches came along enough later that they're not germane to the current discussion of the Apple][ disk system, however. In fact the TRS-80 only came up as a contemporaneous "system" that was available over about the same period that the Apple][ was being sold. I doubt that anyone will argue that the TRS-80 was better-integrated, or even that it was more reliable. It's well to consider that Tandy came out with three different models over the market life of the Apple][/][+. It's also worth remembering that microcomputers were a new concept back then, and their makers hadn't yet learned how to make them reliable enough to make them useful (yet). In that respect, Apple was probably out in front of its competitors. The only sorts of systems that were inexpensive and accessible enough to meet the needs of home users were the buy-it-by-the-board systems that required you do your own integration, which was technologically "beyond" the typical home user. The Apple][+ offered a system that was pretty complete as delivered, if not as reliable as the "standard" disk subsystem, that was only a part of the whole, and it was capable of twice the data capcity, it was, as a system, smaller, quieter, and more convenient, than the TRS-80, which was it's only "real" competitor in 1980. In the same stores where you could buy Apple systems in '82 or so (remember Computerland?) you often could choose between NorthStar, Vector Graphics, and Cromemco systems, all offered as ready-to-run integrated setups, but they were quite a bit (often >2x) more costly. The only player in Apple's arena, still, was the Tandy offering. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Dittman" <dittman(a)dittman.net> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 7:17 AM Subject: Re: Apple Floppy Drives (was: More Apple Pimpers) inteface fairly upgrade systems. 8085