Re: Help identifying a card

["Craig Hulett" <First.Last@attbi.com>]

Ethereal wrote:
> "Craig Hulett" <First.Last@attbi.com> wrote in
> news:bv107k$m67sn$1@ID-69649.news.uni-berlin.de:
>
>> Recently picked up a IIGS from eBay in a fit of nostalgia and I need
>> some help identifying a card that I found inside it. It is "full
>> sized" and the only writing on it says "VTECH" & "CPS 1986" on the
>> front and "REV.C" on the back. It seems to be some sort of drive
>> controller as it has two cables going from connectors labelled "Drive
>> 1" and "Drive 2" to matching 19 pin connectors on the back of the
>> IIGS.  The system included some sort of generic 3.5" drive that I'm
>> *guessing* was hooked up to it, but trying to ask the older couple I
>> bought it from only got me "we don't really know".
>>
>> Found something googling around called a CPS Universal Disk
>> Controller, but the picture on the website didn't really match what I
>> have.  So, any help out there?
>
> http://www.deja.com/usenet (UseNet search engine) is your friend.
>
> Quoting Supertimer from 10/18/1999:
>
> "The Laser 128EX/2 has a UDC built in.  The disk port on the
> 128EX/2 (and 128EX, for that matter) is a UDC port.
>
> The UDC card was meant to confer upon the Apple IIe the
> capabilities of a Laser.  Those capabilities are 1) daisychain
> several 5.25" and 3.5" drives of the IIGS/Mac variety
> (instead of UniDisk 3.5, which is rarer and less fast) to
> the disk port.  2) Support of Macintosh 400k and 800k
> disk drives without eject buttons.  3) Support of Laser
> brand 3.5 drives (basically Mac compatible drives)
> and 5.25 drives (basically same as A2 5.25" drives).
>
> In fact, in the later version of the UDC, support for the
> UniDisk 3.5 was taken out so you NEEDED a IIGS or
> Mac style 3.5" drive!
>
> Trivia: Laser brand 3.5 drives work on Macs and Lasers
> but do NOT work on the IIGS.  As mentioned earlier,
> they are equivalent to the "eject buttonless" Mac 800k
> drive.  Except the Laser has a manual eject button too
> (manual like a PC, not electronic like a IIGS)."

Thanks. Your link is the old link to what is now Google, btw, which is where
I was poking around. Didn't realize that "VTECH" was "Video Technology" -
the makers of the Laser Apple II clones.  So, basically this allows me to
hook up Mac or Laser branded drives to my IIGS?  Any advantage to doing
that?

-craig