Re: Apple II SCSI cards

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

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.

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.

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.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz