Have: Apple IIe, box of good 5.25 floppies with software. Need: good way to preserve the data

[thepenciler09@gmail.com]

Ok, so here's my situation.

I recently added my old Apple IIe from storage to my wall-o-vintage
computer collection. I've hooked up the necessary Apple 5.25" Drives
(x2 daisy chained). I have software that I got from a friend that I'd
like to back up. I have a box of blank 5.25" floppies. Preferably I'd
like to back up not to other floppies, but to something like thumb
drives or at least a directory on a hard drive. I've read about (and
subsequently lost the URL) a way to turn a Linux box into a floppy
image server for an Apple IIe by using special software and a homemade
cable. My first instinct would be to figure out how to cobble together
a USB solution for a PC drive bay form factor 5.25" floppy drive, but
that seems to be more trouble than it's worth (even when you do find a
traditional 3.5" floppy drive in a USB adapter enclosure). A cool idea
would probably be to hack together a USB or parallel to A2 floppy
controller cable somehow, but then again I'm no programmer so I'm just
throwing that idea out there.

So, what are my options? I got my Apple IIe a long time ago and
haven't really used it (this was around the time I got a Mac IIsi and
an NES so the A2e went in the closet almost immediately) so I'm no
expert in hacking an Apple IIe and I'm a little behind in the Apple
IIe scene.

Here's some more hardware that I have (if it helps): A fully
functional Mac SE, a home built Linux box (Ubuntu 8.10), 8GB microSDHC
x2, 4GB microSDHC, (and something else I'm sure I'm forgetting).