Re: 800K 3.5" Floppy Drive

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

"Bill Heckel" <wheckelny1@verizon.net> wrote in message 
news:N_jQg.1803$F46.871@trndny09...
> What kind of controller do I need for an 800K 3.5" Floppy Drive ?
>
> Will a standard controller disk for the 5.25" drives work ?
Bill,

    No, 800K 3.5" floppy drive should never be connected to 5.25" controller 
card.  If you have Apple IIgs, both 3.5" controller card and 5.25" 
controller card are built in the motherboard.  800KB floppy drive should 
connect to the smart port first.  Then 5.25" floppy drive is connected to 
800KB floppy drive.  It is done through daisy chain.
    If you have Apple //e, you will need two separate controller cards. 
800KB controller card is installed on slot 5 and 5.25 controller card is 
installed on slot 6.  Then 800KB floppy drive is connected to 800KB 
controller card directly and 5.25" flopy drive is connected to 5.25" 
controller card directly.  They are not done through daisy chain.
    You may need Unidisk controller card for 800KB.  If you are lucky, you 
may find AppleDrive controller card which it allows to read/write 800KB 
using GCR encoding format and 1.44MB using MFM encoding format.  It is 
easier to transfer files between Apple //e and PC using MFM image.  Then 
CiderPress software can extract MFM image into files.

Bryan Parkoff