Re: IIe, IIgs, Mac LC-II hardware compatibility questions.

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Dennis Jenkins wrote:

> Hello All,
>         I have a beige Apple IIe, unenhanced.  It has a beige 5.25" floppy
> drive.  I recently acquired a "Woz limited edition" Apple IIgs (whatever
> that means).  It has a platinum 5.25" floppy drive.
>
> 1) Can I place both floppy drives on the same system, daisy chained
> together?  I want to copy files from one disk to another and want to
> avoid switching floppies like mad.

Sounds like you have a Disk II and the 5.25" UniDisk. The IIGS will require
you to have a Disk II controller card to use that drive, unless you can alter
the plug so it will have the proper pinouts to plug into the UniDisk.

>
>
> 2) How much does a 3.5" floppy drive for the IIgs usually go for?  Can
> the 3.5" be hooked up to the IIe.  I seem to remember that only Platinum
> IIes, running prodos (which I know is required for 3.5" disks) can use
> the 3.5" disk drive.

The cheapest I've seen a 3.5" drive was $5. If you have the proper controller
card, yes you can use a 3.5" disk on a //e, however those cards are hard to
find, and not cheap when you do find them.

>
>
> 3) Can a Mac LC-II use the same mouse/keyboard as the IIgs?
>
> 4) What does 'Woz limited edition' mean?

The first 50,000 or so of the IIGS had Woz's signature on the case. These were
ROM 00 machines, but many had the upgraded chips that made them ROM 01
machines.

>
>
> 5) How do I determine the ROM version of my IIgs?

When you turn it on if it doesn't give a ROM version, it's ROM 00, otherwise
it will tell you.

>
>
> I would have tried both #1 and #3 already, except I'm afraid to fry my
> components.
>
> Heck, while I'm at it:
>
> My IIe spontaneously "shuts off" after random up times, ranging from 5
> seconds to 2 hours.  I have to turn it off, wait 5 seconds, then turn it
> back on the recover.  Nothing seems warm.  After many such episodes, I
> have linked this fault to when the computer chassis gets slightly
> bumped, like when inserting/removing disks from the 5.25" drive, which
> sits on top of the IIe chassis.  All the wires inside seem snug.  Ideas
> on how to fix this?

It is possible that you power supply is flaky, or that you have too many cards
in it drawing power.

Roy

>
>
> --
> dennis@usb.com                           Universal Savings Bank.
>
> The three most dangerous things are a programmer with a soldering iron,
> a
> manager who codes, and a user who gets ideas.