Re: A new project finished -- iDisk for Apple ][ is ready

[Polymorph <polymorph69@hotmail.com>]

On Oct 12, 10:32 am, mdj <mdj....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Oct 12, 8:19 am, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > D Finnigan wrote:
> > > Greg Buchner wrote:
>
> > >>>In article
>
> > >><994318da-88c5-4932-9ff4-9cdccd9c2...@x5g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> > >> idisk apple2 <idiskapp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > >>>iDisk is a dual USB Bluetooth/Disk Controller/Disk Image Archive Card
> > >>>for Apple II
>
> > >>>Please go to the website to see
>
> > >>>http://sites.google.com/site/idiskapple2/
>
> > >>Looks great, but I wonder what Apple's Legal Department would think of
> > >>you using the iDisk name...
>
> > >>http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/idisk.html
>
> > >>Greg B.
>
> > > I don't know about Apple legal, but IMO, naming it iDisk was a dumb idea.
> > > There are so many other better names. And plus, who associates "i-Thing"
> > > with an Apple? That's for the Macs!
>
> > > Naming aside, (a rose) if this thing can deliver, then this is it: we've
> > > reached nirvana.
>
> >  From a brief perusal of the web site, I think it's a pretty far
> > cry from nirvana.  It seems very restricted in its connectivity
> > and operations.
>
> > I think in the absence of experience, a lot of projection is
> > going on.  Put another way, the grass a mile away is _really_
> > green.  ;-)
>
> I feel the same way, particularly when I note the location of the two
> USB ports and the gigantic chassis bashing effort involved especially
> on a IIgs that has plastic rear casing.
>
> And then I see it has a satellite board intended for mounting outside
> the Apple II and wonder why the designer did not place the USB ports
> on that instead?
>
> An impressive achievement if it does all the things it claims to, but
> I think it's going to be a hard sell with the CB doing pretty much all
> of this as is, and easily extended to do the others.
>
> Mechanical interfacing is a pretty important component of design. I
> applaud the effort the CB designers went to to make VGA port mounting
> easy, and recommend others follow that example.
>
> Matt

Yes, the technology (if it works as advertised) appears to be very
good and I applaud the guy(s) involved to get this working. However,
the design that requires you to physically damage your favourite Apple
II leaves a lot to be desired in my mind. I think if they can alter
the design to place the USB ports externally *without* hacking your
favourite machines case, they will have a much stronger product. Also,
if they could somehow manage to reduce the cost somewhat so that it is
more competitive with other recent hardware designs it would do
better.

I think had the wider Apple II community been involved at an earlier
stage of development, some/most of these problems would have been
highlighted and (hopefully) addressed.

I wish the guy(s) well, but I do hope they can sort out the
fundamental problem with the design.

Cheers,
Mike