Re: Where's the EXPO news ??

[David A Lyons <dlyons@apple.com>]

Stefan Voss asks about the Focus Drive:
 >Is this thing a hard disk with a built-in controller which can be
connected
 >to the SmartPort on a //c/IIGS or a disk controller in other slotted
Apple IIs?
 >(Like CirTech's CT20c)
 
I bought a Focus Drive 40 for $299.  It's a self-contained card:  the
drive is mounted right on there.  Looks like you can even put cards on
both sides of it (but I haven't tried).  BTW, the receipt says Parsons
Engineering.

In article <jmk3.735839341@crux1.cit.cornell.edu> Jay Krell,
jmk3@crux3.cit.cornell.edu writes:
> The SmartPort is a firmware protocol for ProDOS 8 and sort of for GS/OS
that
> cards follow to be automatically usable. It is like a standard for
> putting a driver on a card. GS/OS uses it to some extent, but seems
> to not use it sometimes. Like if I boot floppy w/o SCSI drivers, it
won't
> use my HD, but the HD will boot and work fine (though slow) w/o any
> drivers.

The simplest "driver on the card" protocol is the ProDOS block device
protocol (limited to 2 devices per slot, 65536 blocks per device).

The SmartPort firmware protocol is more flexible:  up to 127 devices per
slot, more blocks per device, can get at any bank of GS memory directly,
has useful stuff like an Eject call, and provides more information about
devices (manufacturer, version, device-specific calls).  (See the Apple
IIgs Firmware Reference, plus technotes, for details.  I'm glossing over
the difference between SmartPort and Extended SmartPort.)

GS/OS -knows- during boot that special drivers exist for the Apple SCSI
cards, and for AppleDisk 3.5 and UniDisk 3.5 drives on the built-in
SmartPort in slot 5, so it doesn't automatically let you use those if you
are missing the appropriate drivers (*except* it does let you use the
boot device to finish booting and install the right driver).

If you have a generic SmartPort device, GS/OS automatically generates
drivers for all the units connected to it.  (And for any SmartPort
devices, ProDOS 8 2.x automatically remaps all the units it can into
vacant spots in its 2-devices-per-slot table.)

David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
Internet:dlyons@apple.com                 |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875

My opinions are my own, not Apple's.