Re: Apple UniDisk 3.5 vs. Apple 3.5

[Chet Gerhardt <transit@wco.com>]

Randy Shackelford <shack@deimos.frii.com> wrote:
: >Can anybody tell me what colors the Apple UniDisk 3.5 and Apple 3.5 are? I
: >think it's safe for me to say that the Apple 3.5 is the color
: >platinum....is the UniDisk 3.5 beige?

: OK I think it's time for the Canonical List o' External Floppies (tm):

: 1. beige, Apple logo not in color, notch at right end of disk slot so you 
:    can jam the disk all the way in -> 400K external for Mac, incompatible 
:    with IIs

: 2. beige, colored Apple logo, no eject button, no daisychain port on the
:    back -> 800K Mac external, incompatible with IIs

: 3. white, eject button -> unidisk 3.5, compatible with 32K ROM //c and up,
:    //e with "Apple 3.5 floppy disk controller card" AKA the LIRON card,
:    //e with "Apple II 3.5 disk controller card" AKA superdrive card, IIgs
:    floppy port, IIgs with superdrive card, IIgs with LIRON card (1 MHz only)

: 4. grey, red in use light -> Apple 800K 3.5, compatible with Macs equipped
:    with an external floppy port from the 512 Enhanced up, //c plus, IIgs
:    floppy port, IIgs with superdrive card, //e with superdrive card

: 5. grey, amber in use light -> external FDHD, compatible with //c plus
:    (800K only), IIgs floppy port (800K only) //e and IIgs with superdrive
:    card (800K and 1.44 mb)

: 6. granite, HDI20 connector -> external floppy for Powerbook 100s and Duos,
:    incompatible with IIs

: I have every item listed up there aside from the Powerbook external floppy,
: so I can provide part numbers for each if there's still some confusion.

: >The UniDisk 3.5 model also has the IWM  where as the Apple 3.5 is a "dumb"
: >drive.......right?

: Unidisks have their own IWM, 6502, and memory inside the drive. Grey drives
: only have a circuit board to handle daisychianing. Beige Mac drives have
: nothing.

: Isn't all of this FAQ material?
: -- 
: Randy Shackelford                                 
: shack@frii.com                                    

Randy is correct in this listing.  

I saw another post suggesting the ability to swap a 800K platinum
mechanism with a 800K unidisk mechanism and that they will work.  

I have made them work, but auto eject and the lights don't work, so in
effect it ain't much use, much better to stick to the rules as outlined
above.

Chet