Re: Apple II 3.5" Drive Controller Project prototypes!! (High Density Disks!!)

[magnusfalkirk <dean.phares@gmail.com>]

On Apr 17, 1:54 am, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
> Polymorph wrote:
> > On Apr 17, 6:30 am, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >>I guess I don't see why these would be of any interest to collectors--
> >>and for users, they are just second-best to a real Apple 3.5 Disk
> >>Controller.
>
> > I can understand the comment regarding ccollectors as new items have
> > little "collectable value", but for users I would have thought that
> > these cards would be great! If the card works the same as a real
> > Superdrive controller, what does it matter to a user whether it is a
> > genuine Apple card or not?
>
> It doesn't--but if you had the two to choose from, certainly the
> Apple card gets the edge, right?  Certainly you would not expect
> to pay *more* for a clone than for the real thing.
>
> Of course, "a bird in the hand...", but there are only six, and
> then what??
>
> >>Of course, it would be good to see more of these become available,
> >>but I wouldn't expect any price *premium* over an Apple card, which
> >>would be about $100-$150, depending on scarcity.
>
> > I agree that if the price asked for these cards is too high, then most
> > users will probably seek alternative means of storage - e.g. use a
> > CFFA and use the Compact Flash card as a pseudo floppy disk.
>
> That was exactly the comparison I had in mind...
>
> >   Having
> > said that, having seen what genuine Apple Superdrive controllers
> > having been selling for on eBay over the last couple of years, you
> > would be doing *really* well to find one in the $100-$150 price range.
> > Most (if not all) of the one's I've seen go for well in excess of
> > $200, sometimes over $300. Probably the work of collectors, but as
> > these cards are few and far between, the price set by the collectors
> > is the same price that us users are faced with.
>
> Actually, it may well be users who *really* want one, but failed to
> snatch them up when you could buy as many as you wanted for $29...
>
> > If Henry can produce reasonably priced Superdrive controllers, I have
> > a Superdrive sitting at home waiting for a controller to talk
> > to...   ;-)
>
> I agree that it would be good to see such a controller available--not
> just a 6-card run--for somewhere in the price range of a CFFA card.
> That might be difficult given the large component count.
>
> After all, *users* value things by their relative utility, not by
> their cost or relative scarcity, right?
>
> > Until then, my externally mounted Compact Flash card connected to a
> > CFFA controller will suffice.
>
> Hear, hear.  ;-)
>
> -michael
>
> NadaPong: Network game demo for Apple II computers!
> Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>
> "The wastebasket is our most important design
> tool--and it's seriously underused."

If you read what was written about the 6 prototypes they are going to
auction them off the help fund the remainder of this project. Which
suggests to me that there will be more SuperDrive controller cards
coming from Henry. Maybe they are working on a way to make them better
and cheaper and just need additional funding to complete the project.

Just my two cents worth,
Dean