Re: Central Point Apple II card?

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Wayne Stewart wrote:

>Ernest wrote:
>
>> Will this card allow one to use a 3.5" drive on a IIe?
>> 
>> I have one almost exactly like it, except mine has a crystal (?) just below
>> the bottom IC on the right. What I think is a crystal is labeled:
>> 
>> "16.000 KDS"
>> 
>> I thought that this card was just a generic apple II floppy drive
>> controller, but I'm hoping that I was wrong. I never took a good look at it
>> before now.
>> 
>> Does anyone know anything about the Central Point Universal controller card
>> for the Apple II? I had one for PC computers a long time ago, and it
>> required software that I don't have for the CPS Apple II card.
>
>Mine has the crystal too. There were a couple of different Universal
>Disk Controllers(UDC). I believe they were both made by Vtech but
>also marketed by CPS. There was the earlier full sized card and then
>later a half sized one that used a custom chip to replace a lot of the
>chips. That custom chip was used in the Laser computer which was also
>produced by Vtech.

The one I use in my //e does not have the crystal.

I presume that the crystal was dropped from later production runs
to save cost.  The ASIC apparently synthesizes its clock from
the usual Apple slot signals.

-michael

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