Re: Does it exist? Mac USB Floppy drive r/w 800k & ProDOS disks?

[CUTjblakeney@sympatico.ca (Jeff Blakeney)]

On Sat, 19 Jan 2002 13:57:26 +1300, dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David
Empson) wrote:

>Any such product would have a small market to start with, and is only
>getting smaller over time.

Unfortunately true.

>There isn't ever likely to be a mainstream product, but I imagine that
>it may be feasible as a hobbyist project, using existing mechanisms.
>There would be quite a lot of work involved - an enclosure with power
>supply issues, having to write firmware for an embedded micro which
>controlled the drive, and writing whatever driver software is required
>on the host computer.

Personally, if I were going to do this, I would probably create a USB
to SmartPort interface.  A small box that would probably need its own
power supply that plugs into your modern machine's USB port via a
cable and has a D-19 connector on it for plugging in up to 2 3.5"
drives and 2 5.25" drives.

You could possibly even make it so it supports SuperDrives so you
would have support for 140K, 720K, 800K, 1440K and maybe even 1600K
disks.

You're right, though, that this would take a fair bit of work but it
might be a fun project.

--
 Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II Unversity on A2Central.com
               - CUT the obvious from my address to e-mail me