25 Apr
2002
25 Apr
'02
9:05 a.m.
Well, OK. I didn't explicitly mention that they
made floppies for the
floppy port. Bu "exactly one", I meant "hard disks" to show that it
wasn't commonly done.
Ah yes... beyond floppies, the Apple HD20 is the only other device by
ANYONE that I am aware of for the Mac floppy port (their might be other
stuff... I'm just not aware of them). But floppy drives were available
from a number of vendors.
I do not
recall if a FDHD drive will work, even at 800K, in a Mac that isn't
expecting it. I have one FDHD SE and several 800K SEs; I suppose if
I were ever curious enough, I could test the theory.
I don't think it could be done with Apple branded drives unless you had
the newer ROM that allowed the FDHD.
However, there were some 3rd party external drives that worked with 1.44
3.5 disks, and even with 5.25 and PC disks. And those worked with older
Macs (at least back to the Mac Plus, and I think as far back as the 512k
or kE). I think Dayna was an example of a company that made a high
density external drive for the Plus... and they had a model that had a
5.25 drive in the same case (only R/W pc format IIRC). But I assume such
drives had an init and didn't "just work".
I will be sure to test the AE drive I am getting from Dave tonight on my
Mac Plus to see if it could read a 1.44 disk.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
25 Apr
25 Apr
10:37 a.m.
However, there were some 3rd party external drives
that worked with 1.44
3.5 disks, and even with 5.25 and PC disks. And those worked with older
Macs (at least back to the Mac Plus, and I think as far back as the 512k
or kE). I think Dayna was an example of a company that made a high
density external drive for the Plus... and they had a model that had a
5.25 drive in the same case (only R/W pc format IIRC). But I assume such
drives had an init and didn't "just work".
Several of those "drive"s were single board CP/M computers, including a
few that were Ampro. The CP/M computer could read and write MFM
diskettes, and communicate with the Mac. Most used SCSI or serial for the
communication. But they were marketed as MFM "DRIVE"s.
11:34 a.m.
Gee ... I've never seen one of those ... and I've picked up countless Apple
"drives" over the years, hoping to find something useable inside. The best
I've ever gotten has been a box + PSU. If I'd ever run into an Ampro product,
I'd have remembered.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
To: "Classic Computer" <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 1:37 PM
Subject: RE: "Toy" computers (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)
However, there
were some 3rd party external drives that worked with 1.44
3.5 disks, and even with 5.25 and PC disks. And those worked with older
Macs (at least back to the Mac Plus, and I think as far back as the 512k
or kE). I think Dayna was an example of a company that made a high
density external drive for the Plus... and they had a model that had a
5.25 drive in the same case (only R/W pc format IIRC). But I assume such
drives had an init and didn't "just work".
Several of those "drive"s were single board CP/M computers, including a
few that were Ampro. The CP/M computer could read and write MFM
diskettes, and communicate with the Mac. Most used SCSI or serial for the
communication. But they were marketed as MFM "DRIVE"s.
5:59 p.m.
On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
Gee ... I've never seen one of those ... and
I've picked up countless Apple
"drives" over the years, hoping to find something useable inside. The best
I've ever gotten has been a box + PSU. If I'd ever run into an Ampro product,
I'd have remembered.
And you WON'T find 'em in regular drives.
This would be specifically the drives that were intended to add MFM
capabilities to non-MFM systems, and therefore needed to have at least an
FDC, and even a microprocessor. The easiest shortcut to do that was to
use a single board computer. I've seen Ampro, Quark, and 2 others. I
also did some trivial disk format consulting for one outfit that was doing
one with an Ampro, although at this point, I can't even remember the name.
26 Apr
26 Apr
10:21 p.m.
I did that sort of thing in a development system I worked up for my own use
back in the early '80's. The various processors in the system told the
resident Z80 which was, all the while, running CP/M what to do in the form of
command line entry, and it would load memory, which had been configured by the
requesting CPU, and the CPU then grabbed it.
That was MUCH easier than writing a file system for each of the CPU's. The
stuff all lived in the same box, though.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin(a)xenosoft.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: "Toy" computers (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)
On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> Gee ... I've never seen one of those ... and I've picked up countless
Apple
> "drives" over the years, hoping to find
something useable inside. The
best
> I've ever gotten has been a box + PSU. If
I'd ever run into an Ampro
product,
I'd have
remembered.
And you WON'T find 'em in regular drives.
This would be specifically the drives that were intended to add MFM
capabilities to non-MFM systems, and therefore needed to have at least an
FDC, and even a microprocessor. The easiest shortcut to do that was to
use a single board computer. I've seen Ampro, Quark, and 2 others. I
also did some trivial disk format consulting for one outfit that was doing
one with an Ampro, although at this point, I can't even remember the name.
25 Apr
25 Apr
1:06 p.m.
Several of those "drive"s were single board
CP/M computers, including a
few that were Ampro. The CP/M computer could read and write MFM
diskettes, and communicate with the Mac. Most used SCSI or serial for the
communication. But they were marketed as MFM "DRIVE"s.
I believe that the Indus GT drives for the Atari and
Commodore 8bits fall into this catagory.
Jeff
--
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.cchaven.com
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
2:35 p.m.
Several of
those "drive"s were single board CP/M computers, including a
few that were Ampro. The CP/M computer could read and write MFM
diskettes, and communicate with the Mac. Most used SCSI or serial for the
communication. But they were marketed as MFM "DRIVE"s.
I believe that the Indus GT drives for the Atari and
Commodore 8bits fall into this catagory.
3:16 p.m.
Several of those "drive"s were single board
CP/M computers, including a
few that were Ampro. The CP/M computer could read and write MFM
diskettes, and communicate with the Mac. Most used SCSI or serial for the
communication. But they were marketed as MFM "DRIVE"s.
I believe that the Indus GT drives for the Atari and
Commodore 8bits fall into this catagory.
4:36 p.m.
>The Atari Indus GT was undoubtedly MFM, but the
Commodore Indus is definitely
>GCR (I own one).
Sorry, I should've been more clear. I was
referring to the
Indus having it's own onboard Z80 and being a computer in it's own
right. It makes sense that the Commodore Indus would be GCR. Nice
drives though..I've got two of the Atari version.
Ah, okie. Yes, the Indus is excellent. Does the Atari version have the ROM
disk that the Commodore version does? (For those not in the know, the
Commodore Indus GT drive has a drive 1 [LOAD"$1",8] with DOS Wedge, a
fast loader and some other utilities permanently in drive ROM that can
just be loaded out of the drive instantaneously.)
The Commodore Indus GT also came with some (moderately pathetic) office
software, but it was an interesting bonus.
I also like the fact that the Indus GT works 100% with my Epyx FastLoad
cartridge, which I will *not* part with. There are other and bigger
fastload and freezer cartridges, but the FastLoad is reliable, cheap to
replace, and enormously compatible (I think I can count on one hand the
programs in my library that won't cooperate with it).
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- Mickey Mouse wears a Spiro Agnew watch. ------------------------------------
5:44 p.m.
Ah, okie. Yes, the Indus is excellent. Does the Atari
version have the ROM
disk that the Commodore version does? (For those not in the know, the
Commodore Indus GT drive has a drive 1 [LOAD"$1",8] with DOS Wedge, a
fast loader and some other utilities permanently in drive ROM that can
just be loaded out of the drive instantaneously.)
No, I've not seen mention of it in the manual for the drive.
Is the operation the same as using the 1541? With the Atari version,
everything is disk based. To take full advantage of the drive's
capabilities you boot a version of Atari DOS for it, though other
versions of the OS not specifically written to use it also work fine.
I've run a few non-Atari DOSes with it was well.
The Commodore Indus GT also came with some (moderately
pathetic) office
software, but it was an interesting bonus.
Yes, the Atari version did also. They're ok if they're the
only applications you have though! Did the Commodore version come in
the black plastic carry case?
Jeff
--
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.cchaven.com
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
26 Apr
26 Apr
3:27 a.m.
> Ah, okie. Yes, the Indus is excellent. Does the
Atari version have the ROM
> disk that the Commodore version does? (For those not in the know, the
> Commodore Indus GT drive has a drive 1 [LOAD"$1",8] with DOS Wedge, a
> fast loader and some other utilities permanently in drive ROM that can
> just be loaded out of the drive instantaneously.)
No, I've not seen mention of it in the manual for
the drive.
Is the operation the same as using the 1541?
Yep, you just LOAD files from it as if the Indus were a dual drive (device 8
drive 0 being the "real" drive, device 8 drive 1 being the ROM disk). Very
clever idea.
With the Atari version,
everything is disk based. To take full advantage of the drive's
capabilities you boot a version of Atari DOS for it, though other
versions of the OS not specifically written to use it also work fine.
Ah, that makes sense.
The Commodore
Indus GT also came with some (moderately pathetic) office
software, but it was an interesting bonus.
Yes, the Atari version did also. They're ok if they're the
only applications you have though! Did the Commodore version come in
the black plastic carry case?
4 a.m.
No, I've
not seen mention of it in the manual for the drive.
Is the operation the same as using the 1541?
Yep, you just LOAD files from it as if the Indus were a dual drive (device 8
drive 0 being the "real" drive, device 8 drive 1 being the ROM disk). Very
clever idea. Yes, the Atari
version did also. They're ok if they're the
only applications you have though! Did the Commodore version come in
the black plastic carry case?
Do you mean the main case itself? Speaking of the main case, the smoked plastic
"door" and the track display
(which doubled as the error display on the Commodore version) is also
very slick, as well as being able to soft-write-protect a disk from the
front control panel.
Yes, the Atari version is the same way. I always liked
sitting there listening to it seek and read while watching the
display count down the tracks.
Jeff
--
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.cchaven.com
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
8099
days inactive
8101
days old
11 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
edick＠idcomm.com -
jhellige＠earthlink.net -
mythtech＠mac.com -
spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu