Re: hard drive for Laser

[obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2)]

	Why not consider the best of both worlds, and more memory to boot!  

	Mount the Focus Drive and card on the bottom of the computer.  Yes, the
bottom.  You can run your cable inside or outside of the computer from the
expansion slot.  The card is not very thick, so the computer would only sit up
a little higher if you lay it flat.  If you use the handle to prop up the
computer for better ventilation, then you should be able to position it so that
it's addition does not change the height of the computer at all.  

	Building and attaching a protective case that will last under stress and
impacts would be easier from the large, flat bottom than from the narrow side. 
The Lasers are already wider (and heavier) than the IIcs, so this should keep
any sort of traveling case from becoming too small for your hard drive enhanced
Laser.

	Since you're going this far (and you're convincing me to do the same), you
could make the protective undercase a little larger.  In the pages of Nibble, a
couple of IIc users in India wrote how they created a 
T W O   M E G A B Y T E  IIC by connecting another Megabyte card to the full
meg card on the inside.  Where did they find room?  By putting it on the
underside of the computer!  They rigged up some little extension legs instead
of a protective case so that they could double the memory capacity of the IIc
that they already loved.  

	No one that I know of has yet transplanted a hard drive into a IIc, but I
don't know of any reason why you couldn't double the memory of the Laser.

	I bought my Laser for lots of reasons, but I've found that I usually prefer
the IIc+.  I'm usually willing to give up the 10 Key, for example, for a
lighter bag to carry where I need to go.

	If you're interested, I'll track down that Nibble article for you.

             ________________________
            |                        |  <== Laser EX/2
Cable ==> r=|________________________|
          !--\--======######        /   <== Focus Card 
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      in Protective 		
										Case

                ][ Infinitum!
						  Jay





<<I am trying to make an extension cable to extend the
slot back inside the Laser's case.  If successful, I plan
to remove my internal disk drive and put the hard drive
there.  I would gladly trade the internal floppy drive for a
hard drive.  Floppy drives can be plugged into the floppy
port as needed.

I'm also investigating the possibility of fabricating a
case and support for the hard drive hanging off the
side slot.  I'm thinking of something that wraps around
and supports the Focus card and screws tightly onto
the Laser's existing case making a sealed enclosure
and sturdy protective support.  This second method
would make the Laser bigger, though.





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