Re: UDC short mystery - 2 different cards that both hate my Apple 5 1/4" - Different revs?

["atfphotography@gmail.com" <atfphotography@gmail.com>]

On Jun 11, 7:49 pm, ]3ob <bob [ @ ] onemanband.com> wrote:
> On 2009-06-11 19:32:59 -0400, "atfphotogra...@gmail.com"
> <atfphotogra...@gmail.com> said:
>
>
>
> > On Jun 11, 7:15 pm, David Wilson <mcs6...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Jun 12, 5:55 am, "atfphotogra...@gmail.com"
>
> >> <atfphotogra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> I was curious that my original "gold" card is missing parts from the
> >>> "green" card. Might it be a later version that didn't need those
> >>> parts? I also noticed the green had wire-wraps on the back.
>
> >> Very interesting. My card is green but matches your gold card (no XTAL
> >> and no wires on the back).
>
> >>> So I couldn't get anything but Apple 3.5" floppy drives to work on my
> >>> original UDC short "gold" card. When you put on a Apple 5 1/4" (NON
> >>> Unidisk) drive, it would first give out a very large "GRRRRR" and then
> >>> just spin the drive with the active light on. One them actually booted
> >>> after the roar but only worked once or twice.
>
> >> I have never tried a "real" Apple 5.25 on my card (although now I do
> >> have one and could try it if needed). I have a 40 track "Super 5"
> >> brand half height 5.25" drive connected to mine via a homemade D19 to
> >> IDC20 cable. I also ran a Macintosh 800k drive (the rectangular cased
> >> no eject button unit) but the performance was poor and I eventually
> >> got a couple of Apple 3.5 drives which work much better.
>
> >>> Maybe picking up the updated BIOS from reactive?
>
> >> That firmware just changes the 5.25" ProDOS block device support from
> >> 35 tracks (280 blocks) to 40 tracks (320 blocks).
>
> >> It would be interesting to know if your two cards have different
> >> firmware versions - can you dump the ROMs and compare the contents?
>
> > Hello,
>
> > I would be delighted to be able to dump the ROMS, but I don't know
> > how! I really must learn how to make ROMs. It would be easier for
> > testing all sorts of odd things here.
>
> > Any suggestions for reading up and what sort of low cost equipment for
> > it?
>
> > I was looking at the ROM images on reactive for download but I have no
> > idea which chips I need to program them onto and which USB based
> > writer would be good.
>
> > If you ever get a chance to try any other drives on your card, please
> > let us know how it goes. Not a big deal but I was hoping to drive both
> > Apple 5 1/4" and Apple 800k drives on one machine with the card.
>
> > Best!
>
> > ATF
>
> I thought I read somewhere that you can't chain drives on a UDC.
>
> ]3ob

Hello,

The manual that is posted on Reactive has problems in the PDF version
so I downloaded the JPG's, dropped them into Acrobat Pro, did the OCR
and put the file here (although it looks like the OCR didn't work too
well).

http://www.atfphotography.com/udc/udc_manual.pdf

In the introduction of the manual, it states the following:

"Your UDC can connect two 5-1/4" or 3-1/2" drives to your Apple II
Plus, Apple //e, or Laser 128 computer. Here are the drives we have
tested it with;

Drive Type:                 Drive Size:
==========================
Apple //c external       5-1/4
Laser FD-100             5-1/4

Chinon 800k               3-1/2
Mac 800k external      3-1/2
Mac 400k external      3-1/2
IIgs Platinum drives   3-1/2"

On page three of the manual, it states contradicting information:

"Besides traditional 5.25" drives (143K), the UDC card also supports
the
larger capacity 3.5" drives (800K). Up to a maximum of four disk
drives
(two 5.25" drives + two 3.5" drives) can be hooked up with the UDC
card.
The types of disk drives supported by the UDC card include:

LASER FD·l00c 5.25" drive
LASER FD·356 3.5" drive
LASER FD-356DC 3.5" daisy-chain drive
APPLE 5.25" daisy-chain drive
APPLE 3.5" daisy-chain drive"

I'm thinking that the first two pages of the PDF I generated with
Henry's files are for the first generation UDC while the rest of the
pages are for the second generation UDC.

It clearly marks the Apple drives as compatible and being able to
daisy-chain. The daisy-chain arrangements are listed on page 6 of the
PDF.

What's funny is that one the first page is mentions that;

"The Universal Disk Controller combines the power of the Apple's
Unidisk 3.5 and standard floppy disk controllers into one slot".

Interesting!

ATF