Re: Apple III peripherals

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

In article <sbeattie.794073502@jubilee.cs.iastate.edu>,
Shawn T Beattie <sbeattie@cs.iastate.edu> wrote:
> I have an Apple III external disk drive; can that be adapted to use
> with the Apple II family?

It has a larger connector, and the analog board in the drive has more
components, so I expect that it is not possible to plug the drive
directly into an Apple II disk controller.  It may be possible to make
an adaptor cable for it, as long as it doesn't require any of the
extra signals.

> Also, I have an Apple III ProFile controller card.  Is that proprietary
> or can some other types of drives be used with it?  

No, it is only useful for the ProFile.  As far as I know, it is a
simple bidirectional parallel interface card with some handshaking
signals and control lines.  It is also only useful in an Apple III.

> Finally, what type of color monitor can be used with an Apple III?

The Apple ///'s video connector produces a digital RGB signal,
supporting 16 colours (the same colour set as the IBM PC's CGA mode,
more or less).  You should be able to use a CGA digital RGB monitor
with an adaptor cable, as long as the scan frequency of the monitor is
low enough (I think CGA uses roughly the same frequencies as the Apple
// and ///, so this shouldn't be a problem).

Some people have connected analog RGB monitors to their Apple ///,
with varying levels of success.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand