Re: SmartPort adapter for Disk II - how to use?

[nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <5n1ptb$kln@bmerhc5e.bnr.ca>,
Jeffrey Robertson <jeffr@nortel.ca> wrote:
>Thing is, I'm not sure how it is supposed to work!  In ProDOS 8, I
>can't seem to access the 5.25" drive.  If I daisychain it, then s5d1
>is the 3.5" and s5d2 is /ram5.  If I put it straight off the GS,
>then I get some error when I try to access s5d1.

   First, let me correct a general misunderstanding of yours that
appears to be most of the problem: Apple 5.25" drives in any form are
not official "Smartport" drives. [Command protocol vs lines turning
motors on/off, etc] 5.25" drives can be connected to the 19 pin
connector in back of the GS, but the GS recognizes them as not
smartport drives, and all disk access to them goes thru the "Disk
port" in slot 6.

   Using the GS's builtin smartport/diskport, 5.25" drives are
available from slot 6, assuming that slot 6 is set to "Disk Port" from
the control panel, not "Your card". It should not matter how they're
connected, whether official 19-pin connectors or cables to 20 pin
drives.

>Can I ever boot my Disk II without the Disk II controller?
>(ie, boot a DOS 3.3 disk)  Can I access ProDOS or
>DOS 3.3 disks through GS/OS using this adapter?  (How?)
 
   As noted above, slot 6 must be a disk port, and the drives are
accessible from there. With the DOS 3.3 FST installed to System 6.x,
you can read (but not write) to DOS 3.3 disks under GS/OS (and fairly
slowly too, unfortunately). ProDOS 8 should recognize 5.25" disks in
slot 6 just fine, but has no builtin DOS 3.3 support-- you'd have to
use one of many programs capable of doing so.

>Ideally, I'd be able to copy files from old DOS 3.3
>5.25" disks onto ProDOS or HFS harddrives.

   Quite doable. Under GS/OS with the appropriate FSTs involved, use
your favorite copy program (Finder, Prosel, shell) to copy directly.
Under ProDOS 8, if you must touch Copy ][+, I'd recommend copying
first from DOS 3.3 5.25" to a (ProDOS) 3.5" disk or other scratch
disk, and using some other program that follows the ProDOS rules to
access your HD. [Much easier to clean up after a fragged filesystem on
a 3.5" scratch disk than a HD]

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.visi.com/~nathan/      <*>
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