Re: Laser U.D.C. card?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2) wrote:

>>I purchased a box of Apple II stuff from a thrift store.  This card was in a
>>box labeled Laser and had a VTECH logo.  The bar code tag called it a U.D.C.
>>card.  There was no manual with it.  There are are two db 19 connectors
>>attached to it and vTech is the only "name" on the card.
>
>I believe this is the 3.5 drive card that fits in the Apple II compatible
Laser
>computer's expansion slot. I believe that this runs a 3.5 and a 5.25, but
>somebody feel free to correct me.

The Laser 128EX/2 has a UDC built in.  The disk port on the
128EX/2 (and 128EX, for that matter) is a UDC port.

The UDC card was meant to confer upon the Apple IIe the
capabilities of a Laser.  Those capabilities are 1) daisychain
several 5.25" and 3.5" drives of the IIGS/Mac variety
(instead of UniDisk 3.5, which is rarer and less fast) to
the disk port.  2) Support of Macintosh 400k and 800k
disk drives without eject buttons.  3) Support of Laser
brand 3.5 drives (basically Mac compatible drives)
and 5.25 drives (basically same as A2 5.25" drives).

In fact, in the later version of the UDC, support for the
UniDisk 3.5 was taken out so you NEEDED a IIGS or
Mac style 3.5" drive!

Trivia: Laser brand 3.5 drives work on Macs and Lasers
but do NOT work on the IIGS.  As mentioned earlier,
they are equivalent to the "eject buttonless" Mac 800k
drive.  Except the Laser has a manual eject button too
(manual like a PC, not electronic like a IIGS).