Re: Copy ][+ 8.4 / UDC

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Edhel Iaur <drsmooth@relex.com> wrote:

> My copy of Copy ][+ 8.4 apparently came from a Laser 128 package deal
> (I BOUGHT the disk this way).  The sector editor and sector copying
> functions don't work.  Is this because it was made for a Laser 128?

I don't know if there was a version specific to the UDC or Laser 128.
The 3.5" bit copy functions of Copy II+ 8.3 and later work fine with a
IIgs and an Apple 3.5 Drive, and I thought they also supported the UDC.

> If I had a UDC (Impossible, anyway; I'm using a //c) would it work
> then?

Ah - if you have a IIc, then you must be using a UniDisk 3.5.  It is not
possible to do bit copy or sector copy operations with this drive,
because the computer does not have direct access to the drive hardware.
It would be possible to do some limited operations by downloading code
into the drive's RAM, but there isn't enough RAM to dump a whole track,
which rules out most bit copy functions.

Sector copy would be possible: the downloaded code could do one pass
over the track to identify the sector order, then read each sector
individually and transfer them to the computer.  This would probably be
slower than a simple block copy on the computer.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail Mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand