Re: Apple II SCSI cards

[Stephen Shaw <xstephenx@apple2.org.za>]

On Sat, 16 Mar 2002 02:22:58 +1300, David Empson wrote:

> Azrael <Azrael@p0.f109.n2320.z1.fidonet.org> wrote:
>
>> Does anybody know of a source for a SCSI card that will
>> work in an Apple IIgs w/latest OS and older external SCSI
>> Macintosh drives (20-160 megs) for a reasonable price (<$100)?
>> I know many people recommend the profile drives as the way
>> to go for a hard drive in an Apple
>
> I doubt that anyone would seriously suggest using a ProFile on an Apple
> II, if there was _any_ alternative available.

Profiles are quirky but fun. I WOULD NOT rely on one though. As they were
cutting edge technology for their time they tended to lose data, crash (early
Seagates
were NOT reliable (too many components). I still have about 10. 

>
> The ProFile is pretty awful by comparison with later hard drives - it
> requires a proprietary controller card, is only 5 or 10 MB, is slow as
> molasses, and it cannot be reformatted unless you have an Apple /// with
> the Apple /// ProFile controller card, plus special firmware (and
> piggyback CPU) to installed in the ProFile drive, plus the software to
> control it.

Ooh yes a good ninety seconds watching the red 'BUSY' led flashing until on
contnuously. I have managed to 'soft' reformat Profiles that used ProDOS. I
also have the the Z80 and the ROMs to low level format Profiles. I have never
low level formatted a Profile. Be warned if you want to do it the person who
gave me 
the ROMs warned me that a low level format takes 48 hours (yes that is not a 
misprint) for a 5 meg. A 10 meg took about 100 hours apparently. When you
compare that to a SCSI format....
  
>
> About its only unique feature is Apple's "Pascal ProFile Manager", which
> allows the sharing of the drive between ProDOS and Pascal, with the
> ability to create multiple logical Pascal volumes.
>
> Apple released two SCSI cards for the Apple II.  The original card came
> out in 1986, and a significantly improved verison (the "High Speed" SCSI
> card) was released in 1989.  They are supported by GS/OS (you need the
> latest firmware revision in the original Apple SCSI card).  I've owned
> both of these cards, and used them with fixed drives ranging from a 60
> MB Rodime up to an 850 MB Quantum Trailblazer, and also a SyQuest 44 MB
> removable cartridge drive.
>
> There were also several third party SCSI cards, the most popular of
> which was the RamFast, which had a lot of on-board RAM to act a cache,
> producing significantly better performance under 8-bit software (it
> doesn't have much of an advantage over Apple's High-Speed SCSI card
> under GS/OS).
>
> As for where you can get them: try posting a "wanted" message on
> comp.sys.apple2.marketplace, or keep an eye on E-Bay.

-- 
Settinger's Law : It works if you plug it in.