Re: Franklin Ace 80 CP/M

[nparker@cie-2.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker)]

In article <8BB6452.0221001A31.uuout@digitec.co.za> stephen.shaw@digitec.co.za
(STEPHEN SHAW) writes:
>On 02/20/96, Leader Deslock wrote to All:
>
>
> LD> Hi, all
>
> LD>     Does anyone out there have the cp/m for the Franklin ACE 80 Z-80
>   > card?
>
> LD> Thanks,
>
> LD> wade
>
>I speak under correction here but surely any Apple II CP/M format disk
>would work?

Unfortunately, no.  All Apple II CP/M cards are NOT created equal--there
are several different and mutually incompatible "families" of CP/M cards
floating around out there.  Each CP/M card manufacturer produced its own
version of CP/M designed to run on its own card and no other, so a Microsoft
CP/M disk (for example) won't recognize a PCPI card.


I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that the Franklin Z80
card is compatible with the Microsoft Softcard.  If that's true, then you
need a Microsoft CP/M disk.

But even in this case, you still need to be careful to get the right version
of Microsoft CP/M.  There are, in fact, two different and mutually
incompatible Microsoft Softcards out there.  There's the original Softcard,
a "standard slot" card that works in any Apple II (except the IIc, of
course), and the Microsoft Premium Softcard IIe, an auxiliary-slot card
that doubles as an 80-column 64K card, and which only fits in a IIe.
Each, of course, requires its own unique version of Microsoft CP/M (the
original Softcard needs version 2.20B or 2.23, and if memory serves,
the Premium needs version 2.26).

              - Neil Parker
-- 
Neil Parker, nparker@{cie-2,cie}.uoregon.edu, http://cie-2.uoregon.edu/~nparker

     "I was going to be a neo-deconstructivist but Mom wouldn't let me."
                                     -- Calvin and Hobbes, 7/13/1995