Re: Apple floppy adaptor. I'm stuck!

["Bryan Parkoff" <nospam@nospam.com>]

Are you referring you want to hook up PC 3.5" drive to Disk II controller 
card?  It may not work.  You can try PC 5.25" drive and build an adapter. 
You need to write software routine to control PC 5.25" drive.  In other 
words for PC 3.5" drive, you may need Unidisk 3.5" controller card.  Either 
cards can read PC 5.25" / 3.5" drive using GCR encoding format.

Bryan Parkoff


"Tristan Mumford" <xtristan.xmumford@xgmail.xcom> wrote in message 
news:45d5a6a4$0$52925$c30e37c6@lon-reader.news.telstra.net...
> G'day.
>
> As you may or may not know I've been working on a little device to allow 
> PC
> 3-1/2" floppy drives to be used on a disk ][.
>
> It can now do the following:
>
> * de/Select and spin up/down the drive.
> * Detect the write-protect state of an inserted floppy.
> * Move the head around.
>
> What it can't seem to do is read and write. The basic question I want to 
> ask
> is whether the apple2 has an active high or low for read and write pulses.
> I believe it's active high, but I'm starting to doubt myself a little.
>
> By the way. The slow stepping gives the PC floppy that satisfying "GRONK"
> sound of the apple drives.
>
> Another possibility I guess is that I have some kind of weird error in the
> head movement causing it to move to the wrong tracks.
>
> Is there some kind of low level format that I can do on an apple floppy. I
> tried the ProDOS format, but it looks like it only does track 0, somewhere
> in the middle, and track35? I just got that from watching the head
> movements.
>
> I'm hoping I can get this issue sorted, because it's nearly done! I hope I
> can get it working right, because I actually decided to use a calculator 
> to
> figure out final storage capacity *Gasp!*. A 2HD disk should hold 640kb. 
> In
> it's current form a normal 2HD disk appears as one big single-sided 160
> track disk.
>
> Anyway, I appreciate any help that I can get. Especially because my 
> problems
> could be solved in seconds with a CRO, or a knowledgable person.
>
> Tristan.
> -- 
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