More of Focus drive

[casa@unm.edu (Jim Pittman)]

There's more to the Focus drive story. Not interested? Hit "n" now.

These drives (actually we bought two of them) are 20-meg and have
ProDOS 2.0.3, BASIC.SYSTEM and one folder containing Copy II Plus.
There is no startup program. As I explained yesterday, we changed
one drive by removing all files, then adding back ProDOS 1.9 (so
the drive could work on a non-enhanced Apple IIe), BASIC.SYSTEM, a
simple Applesoft STARTUP program, and a few application folders.

The drive wouldn't boot from Slot 7 of a plain vanilla non-enhanced
Apple IIe. And, I thought I verified that it wouldn't boot from Slot
7 of an enhanced Apple IIe. (We were in a hurry and I may have
skipped a step or two.)

I just did some more careful tests with the second drive -- the one
we _DID NOT_ make any changes on.

TEST 1: Enhanced Apple IIe, Transwarp, 1-meg, Duodrive unit:

Put Focus drive in Slot 7. Card for 5.25" Duodrive is in Slot 6.
Turn on             : Transwarp logo shows up for 3 seconds, then Focus
                      drive boots to "]" prompt in 3 more seconds!
                      Duodrive does not do anything. (As expected.)
pr#7                : Focus drive boots to "]" prompt in 3 seconds!
control-apple-reset : Freeze for 16 seconds, then Focus boots, 3 seconds.
pr#6                : Duodrive boots a 5.25" disk as normal.

So, with an enhanced Apple IIe, the Focus drive as it comes from Alltech
works as advertised. (I don't think the Transwarp or 1-meg memory make
any difference one way or the other.)

TEST 2: Non-enhanced Apple II, Transwarp II, 128-K, two Disk ][s:

Put Focus drive in Slot 7. Disk ][ controller is in Slot 6.
Turn on             : Transwarp logo shows up, then 5.25" Drive 1 boots.
                      No activity from Focus drive.
PR#7                : Focus drive boots in 3 seconds. (No red light.)

Remove the Disk ][ controller card from Slot 6; Focus drive in Slot 7.
Turn on             : Transwarp logo, then beep, then "]" prompt.
                      No activity from Focus drive. Wait a while.
                      Still no activity.
PR#7                : Focus drive boots in 3 seconds. (No red light.)

Move the Focus drive to Slot 6 (Disk ][ controller still unattached):
Turn on             : Exactly the same -- no Focus activity.
PR#6                : Focus boots in 3 seconds.

END TEST

(I don't have access to the 20-meg Focus drive we changed from
ProDOS 2.0.3 to ProDOS 1.9 at the moment.)

Lessons:

1. The Focus drive as delivered did boot up as advertised from Slot 7
   of an ENHANCED Apple IIe.

2. The Focus drive as delivered _DID NOT_ boot up as advertised from
   either Slot 7 or Slot 6 on a non-enhanced Apple IIe.

3. The Focus drive behaved exactly as I expected in a IIgs.

Is it possible that by removing the original files from the Focus
drive, then installing ProDOS 1.9, BASIC.SYSTEM and an Applesoft
STARTUP file, we did something to prevent the drive booting up from
Slot 7 in the enhanced Apple IIe? Or, in our hurry, did we fail to
fully test this condition? I thought we tested it.

The drive will work fine in Slot 7 of the non-enhanced Apple IIe if
we put a bootable 5.25" disk in Slot 6 Drive 1 that has a one-line
Applesoft startup program:

   10 PRINT CHR$(4);"PR#7"

This goes pretty fast. However, it requires that this "startup" disk
be in the Slot 6 5.25" drive, which sort of violates the idea of having
a fast-booting hard drive... but I can live with that.

Thanks to all who have replied so far.

- Jim Pittman - AppleQuerque Computer Club - casa at unm dot edu