Re: Sigh.. sniping..

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

On May 29, 7:12 am, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> sfahey wrote:
> >   To: Steven Hirsch
> >   Re: Re: Sigh.. sniping..
> >   By: Steven Hirsch to comp.sys.apple2 on Thu May 28 2009 03:48 pm
>
> >  > I'm not aware that there is a risk of damage by plugging in a Unidisk under
> >  > any circumstances, but I admit I have not tried this with the newer card.
> >  > Again, I ran for years with a UniDisk on the long card with original firmwar
>
> > Putting a UniDisk 3.5 on a short UDC will let the magic smoke out. It even says
> > so in the barely a manual manual that comes with the drive.
>
> Probably a good thing that I never tried it, then :-).
>
> Seems like the older UDC has its advantages.

Hello,

Got my UDC short working last night after replacing the two caps on it
(sorry I mentioned it in another thread). It's working great with the
Apple 3.5" 800k Drive. It doesn't want to work with my 5.25" Apple
Drive (not a Unidisk 5.25"). It just gives a large groan and spins. I
picked up a manual for it from Henry's site at Reactive Micro. The
manual lists the following compatible drives;  (http://
www.downloads.reactivemicro.com/Public/Apple%20II%20Items/Hardware/Universal_Drive_Controller-VTECH-Central_Point/Manual/)

"Besdies 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-100c 5.25"
Laser FD-356 3.5"
Laser FD-356DC 3.5" daisy-chain drive
Apple 5.25 daisy-chain drive
Apple 3.5 daisy-chain drive"

Interesting that it doesn't note the Unidisk by name but merely Apple
5.25" daisy-chain drives. Can anyone shed some more light on this?
I've read other sites that mention not to plug a 3.5" Unidisk into
this card or it goes poof. Is this the same with the IIc 5.25" or a
Duodisk drive as well? Is anything labeled "Unidisk" a bad idea to
plug into this card?

I tried the Apple 5.25" last night (non-Unidisk) and it was very
unhappy. I also tried my AE 800k drive and it didn't like that either.
No way was I going to plug in the 800k Unidisk after all the warnings.
Perhaps I need a newer BIOS on the card?

I lucked out on an auction last night and picked up two "Brand New!"
Apple/Mac 1.44 Superdrives. They are just the internal drives but I
have plenty of standard 3.5" 800k cases here I can fill them in with.
As I understand the UDC short and the IIgs will just seem them as
800k. I'll have to dig up that elusive Apple 3.5" Drive card I was
bidding on (and should have bid more right up front.. I know..).

The site that schmidtd mentions (http://www.vintagemacworld.com/
drives.html) lists the UDC as compatible with the Unidisk 3.5" and the
Apple 3.5" disk drives at the bottom of the page. However it neglects
to mention which UDC card it is and what the manual states.

I need to order the BIOS from Reactive because I don't have a eeprom
burner. Maybe that's something I should look into eventually. Hah!

Anyhow.. good stuff.

Best!

ATF