Re: Apple II SCSI Card

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

Macnlos <macnlosNOSPAM@mindspring.com> wrote:

> Here is what I gathered from the picture of the auction:
> 
> Brand: APPLE
> Box Title: Apple II SCSI Card
> Box: Standard White Apple Box
> Picture:  Looks like a longer board with a ribbon cable to a DB25 connector
> for the back.
> Notes:  On the box it says that it supports Apple II Plus, IIc and IIgs
> 
> Macnlos

That last note is almost certainly "Apple II Plus, IIe and IIgs".  The
IIc doesn't have any slots, so it can't use this (or any other) card.

Since the card works on the II+, it must be the original Apple SCSI
card.  (The high-speed card requires a IIgs or enhanced IIe.)

When you get the card, make sure that it has the revision C firmware
installed, which has "341-0437-A" written on the ROM.  (Revision A is
341-0112A, revision B is 341-0112B.)

Revision C added support for CD-ROM drives, fixed a potentially serious
problem with the command set, and is required if you want to use the
card under GS/OS on an Apple IIgs.

I'd expect any of the drives you mentioned to work fine under GS/OS.

There are two significant restrictions under ProDOS-8 (and presumably
ProDOS-16 as well):

1. You can't access more than 7 partitions on all drives connected to
the card.  Each partition is limited to 32 MB, so you won't be able to
access more than 224 MB in total.

(You have to be running ProDOS-8 2.0.1 or later if you want to access
more than four partitions; with ProDOS-8 1.2 through 1.9 you will only
be able to access four partitions if the SCSI card is in slot 5; in all
other cases you will be limited to two partitions.)

2. The firmware on the original Apple card doesn't know about removable
hard drives.  It will be able to use the SyQuest drives as if they were
fixed drives, but if you want to switch cartridges, you would have to
reboot as a safety precaution.


Whichever OS you are using, you might run into termination issues.  The
original Apple SCSI card does not supply termination power (unless
modified).  The most reliable option is to use a SCSI hard drive which
supplies termination power.  From past experience, SyQuests don't do
this as standard.  (I have an SQ44, but I always had it connected at the
same time as a Rodime or Quantum which did supply termination power.)

In addition, the card is not terminated.  If you have a single drive
connected, then it should be terminated (either internally or with a
piggy-back terminator).  If you have two or more drives connected, you
must terminate both the first and last drives on the chain.