Re: Why Apple II?

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

Dave Althoff wrote:
> Randy Shackelford (shack@onyx.southwind.net) wrote:
> : stephen e buggie (buggie@indus.unm.edu) wrote:
> : : I have nine IIc's.   How I _wish_ that someone could write software or a
> : : ROM so that the  external Mac serial-port SC20 hard drive could be used
> : : with the IIC!   These SC20 units are dirt cheap now that no one in the Mac
> : : world would ever use them again.   But just fantasize what a 20 meg hard
> : : drive would do for the IIc we have!
> 
> : Hmm the only one of these I've seen for sale for quite a while has a $200
> : asking price. These aren't plentiful enough to be worth while to adapt for
> : Apple II use even if it were feasible. Mine will remain attached to my Mac
> : 512E.
> 
> : : I know there is a technical complication against the IIc using this drive.
> : : But if the drive did all its communication throught a serial port, can't
> : : it be modified to run with a IIc????
> 
> : I'm still trying to figure out why people call these serial port drives
> : when they connect to the floppy port.
> 
> So in other words, what we need to do is figure out some way to make the
> drive look like a UniDisk 3.5 so that the SmartPort firmware in the //c
> could talk to it...

Yes.  It is unfortunate, because the Universal Disk Cotroller (UDC)
made by Laser (Central Point Software) _will_ drive this hard disk
in a slotted Apple II.  I've seen this done on an Apple IIe with
the full-size version of the UDC.  This would suggest that it should
function on a Laser 128EX or Laser 128EX/2 as well, but the firmware
is a bit different.

-Scott G.