Re: How to lobotomize unidisk 3.5 so it won't go boink and will work w/copy II+ bit copy?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

T. Sean <snertking@my-deja.com> wrote:

>OK, I have seen references here to a how to article on Ground's ftp
>site...
>
>look high and low thru ground, couldn't find it.
>
>I have 2 unidisk 3.5's, and they make that boinking noise (sounds more
>like a boink than a click to me...) under gs/os. And copy II+ don't work
>with them (not fully).
>
>I hear it's just a matter of bypassing that smart controller card in
>the drive (the one with the 6502 it's own memory on it?) I tried that
>about, oh, maybe 10 years ago - just plugged the cable directly into the
>drive, but it didn't work... are there pinout differences between the
>connector on the card and on the drive?

That would not work because even a regular non-UniDisk 3.5
drive for the IIGS or Mac has a controller card there.  It does
not have a CPU, but it does have other stuff to get the drive
to format GCR, variable speeds (for 800k), etc.  See the
lobotomy procedure URL below.  You have to reconnect the
sequence of wiring inside the drive by plugging and
unplugging various connectors, but all the hardware still
must be present inside the drive.  The article explains it.

Basically, yes you can reversably turn a UniDisk 3.5 into
an Apple 3.5.  Just make sure to change it back into a
UniDisk should you later want to sell it or use it on a IIc.

>Could someone post info?

Here's the instructions on how to do this:

http://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/MiscInfo/Drives/unidisk35.labotomy