7 Nov
2001
7 Nov
'01
3:41 a.m.
More than a 70 Disk ][ drives have passed through my hands in the last few
years, and I have at leasted tested their fuctionality with a boot disk
before passing them on to other folks, and easily 99% of those drives were
still working just fine -even to the point reading from a tired old boot
disk. A few of the drives were simply dead, and one had been dropped off a
boat into Puget Sound, causing corrosion on the aluminum parts but over all,
I would say the Disk ][ drives were and still are very reliable. I have yet
to find a non-working Disk ][ controller card. Even the off-brand and
unlabeled clone controllers have seemed to be just as reliable.
Generally, the only drives/controllers that I've ever truly loathed were the
ones on the Tandy Model 12/16 computers. They seem to feed on 8" floppys,
and of the ones that worked at all, there was a one in four chance that the
bootup would fail from the start.
E.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Richard Erlacher
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 8:29 AM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: 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)
double-density
upgrade
> Ugh! ... you'd be hard pressed to pick a
worse example of a "standard"
inteface
> to a floppy disk than the one used in the
TRS-80, though lots
of allegations
> were made about it. The TRS-80 is a poor
example, apparenly
right up to the
> model IV, and I know very little about its
reputation. Tony
Duell recently
> pointed out that his early experience with
that indicated
that it worked
fairly
> well when the drives were well maintained.
I only became
familiar with the
TRS-80 as
a problem to be solved.
Actually, the Model I with a daughterboard data separator or worked pretty well. I never had problems with
the Model III or 4 disk
systems.
My Ampro LittleBoard never had any problems, either, along with
my home-brew
8085
CP/M system.
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/