Re: Apple ][c and 3,5" disks

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

In article sebastio@joynet.it writes...

>I want to know if I can use an Apple ][gs 3,5" floppy drive on my Apple
>][c.
>I've tried to connect just the plug and work, but all of the programs
>that I use (Appleworks and Copy II+) said that there are a lot of block
>errors.

    The Apple IIc cannot use the (platinum) Apple 3.5 drive under
any circumstances. What you need is the (white) UniDisk 3.5 drive,
the mechanism inside is the same but it contains extra logic on an
analog board to decode data before it is sent on to the IIc. Look
on comp.sys.apple2.marketplace for one.

    The exception is the Apple IIc Plus which _can_ use an Apple 
3.5 drive, but then that is an entirely different machine.

>P.S. How can I connect via a serial cable my Mac to the Apple ][c?
>Please send me your advice!

    You need a mini-DIN8 to DIN5 cable, an ImageWriter II cable
made for the Apple IIc should do the trick (again, you might try
comp.sys.apple2.marketplace since it is an unusual cable; or you
could build your own too).

    You'll only be able to do a null-modem connection since, as
you probably know, AppleTalk is not supported by any model of the
IIc family (there is some "hook" code in the second ROM revision
to support an external AppleTalk box, but it never materialized
and the code was removed from later revisions).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca