Re: UniDisk 3.5" on a //e

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford) writes...

>Mitchell Spector (spec@vax2.concordia.ca) wrote:
> 
>:     You should be able to order both cards through Shreves Systems,
>: though if you end up with the SuperDrive controller, I would suggest
>: selling the UniDisk 3.5 to a IIc owner and using that to purchase a
>: SuperDrive or Apple 3.5 (the UniDisk 3.5 is the only drive of its
>: type that will work on a IIc, and the rarest of all three drives).
> 
>I wouldn't expect an external superdrive to be easier to find than a unidisk.
>When you consider how few were sold to Apple II users and how few Mac users
>could justify the cost back in those days ($350ish) when they had a floppy
>built into their boxes. Factor in how the external floppy port disappeared
>from Macs in '91 as well. I have two unidisks on hand but had to build my
>own external superdrive out of parts.

    Yep, I guess if your talking about official external SuperDrives--
the ones with yellow LED, ID sticker on bottom and probably for older
ones, "FDHD" silk screened on front. Those would probably be more rare
than UniDisk 3.5's for the reasons you list above.

    Mind you, I was just thinking about SuperDrives in general. It is
pretty simple to swap the Sony mechanism inside an Apple 3.5 with one
found internally inside a Macintosh SE/30, IIx or up. Unscrew the old
one, pop in the new, reconnect wires and voila, you have a SuperDrive.
There are probably tens of millions of Sony SuperDrive mechanism out
there, and a LOT less analog boards to convert an Apple 3.5 into a
UniDisk 3.5 drive (the analog board won't fit in there unless you
leave the top cover off, but you get the idea). What makes a UniDisk
3.5 so special is that analog board with the extra logic, otherwise
it is just a plain old 800K "dumb" drive.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca