Re: Questions about the Transporter IIgs Card

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

Marlin Bates, IV <mbates4@gte.net> wrote:

> Supertimer wrote:
> > 
> > "Marlin Bates, IV" <mbates4@gte.net> wrote:
> > 
> > >AM also looking for info on the Apple "Mustang II" card which allows 1.44
> > >floppy drives on the IIgs.
> > 
> > You sure have a strange way of identifying your cards!  ;-)
> 
> Well, hey, if Apple saw fit to put what the card WAS on the card, I would call
> it that! :-)

What is wrong with "Apple II 3.5 Disk Controller", which is the official
name of the card, and is printed on it?  The nickname is "SuperDrive
card".

I've never heard of "Mustang II" prior to your mention of it.

> > That's the Apple II 3.5 Disk Controller, also called the SuperDrive
> > card.  Not much to say about it except that you plug in one
> > of them Macintosh external SuperDrives and gain 1.44MB ability
> > as well as MS-DOS read/write ability from the IIGS.  Use it
> > with System 6.0.1 and an external SuperDrive (or equivalent from
> > AMR or Applied Engineering) and it works transparently.
> 
> Yap, I finally, got it to work last night.  I guess it does not want to work
> with just 800k drives.

Do you mean plain Macintosh 800K drives (e.g. the Mac Plus external
drive)?

No, they don't work with anything except the Universal Disk Controller.

The SuperDrive card supports the SuperDrive, Apple 3.5 Drive and UniDisk
3.5.

> It will only do two drives, though, eh?

Yes.  This is true for all "dumb" 3.5" drives - you can only have two
such drives in any one chain, because there are only two drive selection
signals.

There is no such limit for intelligent drives like the UniDisk 3.5,
since the drive address is passed over the bus in a SmartPort packet.
(There is still an electrical limit: four drives in total per card, and
about six for the entire computer unless you have a heavy duty power
supply.)

> Also, can I put the 5.25"

The what?  Oh - that old thing.  :-)

> on the standard disk port and still run it

Sure - works fine as long as you don't put the SuperDrive card in slot 6
(which is where I have mine, since I use the 5.25" drive about once a
year now).

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand