Re: What is UniDisk ?

[Wayne Stewart <waynes@intergate.bc.ca>]

There were two unidisks.
One was the 5.25 unidisk which is identical except in
color to the platinum Apple 5.25 drive normally found
on the IIgs.

The second is the 3.5 unidisk which is probably the one
you're asking about. This drive uses the same mechanism
as the standard 3.5 disk drive, however inside the case is
a 6502 microprocessor which controls the drive. The
same processor as used in the IIe. Apparently the 1 mhz
Apple IIs weren't fast enough to control a drive on their
own. Later, drives were controlled directly by the
computer as in the IIc+ & IIgs & Macs. The II+ and
IIe could use this drive with a special controller card and
other than the early ROM model the IIc could use it directly.
Of course the IIc+ & IIgs could use them via the smart port
but they were a lot slower than the 3.5 appledisk and not
the preferred drive.
The 3.5 Unidisk can be distinguished by its bone white
color or that the eject button is narrow with the manual
eject hole under the button instead of in the middle of
the button. And also on the bottom of the case it'll say
"UniDisk 3.5".
They're also a lot scarcer than the 3.5 Appledisk. I've
seen probably a couple thousand Apple 3.5 disk drives
for sale over the last 5 years and only 3 of them were
UniDisks. That's how many I own now.

         Wayne

Jack Meoff wrote:

> Will somebody tell me what's UniDisk ???