Re: 5.25" disk question

[Willard Seehorn <wseehorn@intrstar.net>]

Perry Dueck wrote:
> 
> SS/SD disks....I've never used them in my life. Someone mentioned that
> they worked with the Apple II....I can't confirm this, but apparently they  work. 
They didn't even have reinforcing rings on the hole for the drive hub!

> DS/DD are the most prevalent type of 5 1/4" disks in the Apple II world, I  do believe.
> 
> DS/HD.....I've never used them in my life. Apparantly, they don't work
> with the Apple II.
> 
> Back in the '80s, I was a Tandy CoCo 3 owner. I used DS/DD disks but I
> also used DS/DD/DN  (Double Notched) 5 1/4" disks all the time. These were
> called "flippies". You used them just as DS/DD disks, but if you wanted,
> you could flip the disk upside down and format this "second side" as well,

I used them in the Apple// world too, but ours were more primitive: we
did our own notching. There were even special tools sold to notch the
disk so it could be used.

The big argument was that the disks were certified good on one side
only. The thing was that some machines read the top side of the floppy,
others read the bottom side. The MFGR didn't know which drive you had,
so both sides had to be good!