Re: Card Info

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

dougkalley@aol.combunk (...) wrote:

>This is may be redundant but I have had little luck searching in deja.com (Boy
>I wish they kept the old interface there!)

Me too.  All the features are still there, though.  The Power Search option
is just a little more hidden.

>Anyways. I finally have a Universal Disk Controller board here I hope. EPROM
>labeled "UDC_CARD AMIK". "V-TECH" screened on pcb and two 19pin connectors on
>back. Pulled from a IIE. I assume the EPROM has all the required code (i.e.
>drivers)  to run a 3.5 if this is what it does...

That's the Laser UDC card alright.  Video Technology of Hong Kong
manufactured the Laser series.  You can indeed run 3.5 drives on the
IIe with this card.  Mac and IIGS style ones.  UniDisk 3.5 support
might have been taken out of this version, though.  If you have a
UniDisk 3.5 (rather than the real Apple 3.5 drive of the IIGS and Mac)
you may need to lobotomize it (bypass the built in CPU of the drive).

I have the URL to the document.  Unfortunately, the site appears to
be down.  Maybe someone else can provide the lobotomy document.

The lobotomy is VERY easy to perform and completely reversable.
It involves opening the case of the drive and swapping some cables.
If you can plug a cable into the computer, you can do this.

>This other is the one AE card I am unfamiliar with. Transwarp II, rom rev says
>" TWII v1.1", "copywrite 1989" silked on the pcb. Looks like an accelerater
>with the 65C02 on it. Unused U18 40pin surface mount on the board which is
>interesting.

Yes, it runs at 7Mhz, I believe.  Upgradable too.  They have a 14Mhz
65C02 now, so you may even be able to speed up the TWII.

>Any links to check these out or first hand info would be great. I wasn't
paying
>attention to the slots when I pulled these does it matter much? Also for the

Yes.  Laser card should go into slot 5 to access the most drives.
TWII should go into slot 3 (it is one of the few cards that works there).

>lack of a better term is the Transwarp "plug and play"?

Indeed it is.  Do nothing and it'll drive the IIe at seven times normal
speed.  Press Esc during startup and it'll disengage, letting the IIe
run at the usual slowpoke 1Mhz.