Re: UPDATE #2: Apple IIgs / Iomega Zip Drive Problems

["Douglas E. Morris" <dmorris@doors.dnsalias.com>]

Where would one get that piece that is mentioned for the mod?  Can I get it
at Radio Shack?  If so, what do I ask for?

Doug

"Rubywand" <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote in message
3B2893E8.EF70FC8F@swbell.net">news:3B2893E8.EF70FC8F@swbell.net...
> "Douglas E. Morris" writes ...
> >
> > Well,
> >
> > I decided that mabey if I deleted all the partitions on the disk that
would
> > help.  So I hooked it up to a linux box, wiped the partition table, and
put
> > it back on the IIgs system.  Exect same problems I was getting before
with
> > the exception that the GS is no longer identifying the zip disk as
MS-DOS.
> >
>  ....
>
>      A new Zip disk formatted for PC is formatted okay. As you suggested
> earlier, it needs to be partitioned (but not formatted).  Partitioning is
> fairly speedy; formatting takes around 10 minutes. (I discovered that
after
> wasting time formatting a few disks just after getting a Zip drive.)
>
>      Since you are using an Apple SCSI card, something you probably should
> check for is a modification to supply termination power. There is some
> information about the mod (for the high-speed and earlier card) in the
FAQs at
> http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/Csa2HDNSCSI.html#018 . Some Apple SCSI
cards
> you buy will already have this mod and some will not.
>
>      The "Termination" setting on the Zip drive relates to having a
termination
> load at the end of the SCSI chain. Some device on the chain is supposed to
> supply termination Power. Usually, this job falls to the SCSI interface
card.
> (The Zip drive and most other SCSI devices can not supply termination
power.)
>
>      A Zip drive may seem to work okay without termination voltage being
> present; but, operation may not be as reliable as it should be.
>
>
>      Probably, the Zip disk you experimented with will need to be
reformatted.
> If you have access to a PC with a suitable Zip drive, you can reformat it
> there. (I guess Apple Disk Utilities should be able to do it on a IIgs. By
the
> way, ADU is not a very user-friendly utility. Making it do what you want
takes
> some fiddling and luck.)
>
>      With System 6.0.1 going, another option is to let GS System format
the
> experimental Zip disk as a single large partition HFS volume. This should
take
> care of formatting. Since it would not be a ProDOS disk, you would not be
able
> to run most programs from the disk or boot from it; but, you would have a
big
> chuck of space to store files.
>
>      Something that may help improve SCSI operation is to power ON the Zip
> drive and insert a disk before powering ON the computer. Also, it may help
to
> hold down the Control and Reset keys, turn ON the computer, and wait a
couple
> seconds before releasing the keys. (The idea is to give the SCSI interface
a
> brief time to stabilize before handing things over to the IIgs startup
> sequence.
>
>
> Rubywand