Re: AEHD drive

[Michael Crane <cranem@athenet.net>]

Apple didn't have a cheap and easy way, but Applied Engineering might
have - had they bothered to write the appropriate software.  They did
come out with a product called the "AEHD+", which allowed non-FDHD
Macs to use 1440K 3.5" disks.  This "AEHD+" plugged into the standard
floppy port, and used a software driver to control access to the
drive.  I got a chance to play with one for a bit and it read/wrote
PC-formatted disks just fine with the appropriate software installed
on the Mac.  The only real problem is that the driver software was
never written for any flavor of the Apple II, and without it, the
"AEHD+" is just another 800K drive as far as the computer is
concerned.

Of course, I will be the first to make the disclaimer that there may
well be issues here that I am not aware of.


On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 23:31:01 GMT, shack@southwind.net (Randy
Shackelford) wrote:

>They, like everyone nowadays, had no easy/cheap way of getting MFM capability
>into Apple IIs. Ever notice how DD MFM disks are 720K and MFM HD disks are
>1440K? Same applies to GCR disks, DDs hold 800K and HDs hold 1600K. As you
>can see, Apple gave up their better format for the sake of compatibility
>with the PC crowd. Doing that meant converting disk hardware to MFM, and
>that in turn takes a card for your Apple II.