Re: FDHD TO GS Questions

[nathan@winternet.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <4qn9m7$bph@bertrand.ccs.carleton.ca>,
Simon Hall <shall@ccs.carleton.ca> wrote:
>Can anyone point me to a FAQ or tell me about getting the full use of
>a mac HDFD drive on a GS.

   First off, you initially asked this in the usenet group
comp.sys.apple2.programmer. As your question is not related to
programming, the most appropriate place to ask is the more general
Apple II newsgroup, comp.sys.apple2. This post has been sent to both
of those groups, with followups sent to only comp.sys.apple2.

   As to a FAQ, there really isn't much to ask about. You need a
FDHD controller card to be able to use 1.44MB disks on it-- simply
plugging it into the back of a GS won't take full advantage of it.
Those cards are rather rare; ask on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace
or give Alltech Electronics a call at (619) 721-7733 to try and buy
one.

>I would like to use the drive as my main boot drive.

   To use it as a 1.44MB boot disk, you will need to get and install
a FDHD card,  and plug that card into your GS. Connect the FDHD drive
to that card, and set the slot the card in in to 'your card'. Then,
insert a bootable disk and boot it.

>What do I need to be able to boot system 6;
>Read/Write Mac disks;
>Read/Write Msdos disks;

   First off, get it set up as a 1.44MB boot disk, as I detailed in
the paragraph above. Next, install system 6.0.1 from the install disks
to your 1.44MB boot disk. If you do a custom install, install the HFS
(Macintosh) FST, as well as the MSDOS FST. That will allow you to read
and write Mac disks from system 6.0.1, and read only MSDOS
disks. Writing to MSDOS disks is not supported by the OS directly;
certain shareware programs (requiring a command shell to use, such as
Orca or GNO) do add that functionality.

>I don't have a hard-drive yet! 

   So what? You said you were trying to get 1.44MB drives running as
such.

>I read in the apple II FAQ about needing a HD-card to use HD drives ?

   And that is correct. To use a FDHD drive to access 1.44MB disks
requires one of those FDHD controller cards. Not a SCSI HD controller
card, a FDHD (Floppy Disk High Density) card.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
# And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the
# Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in
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