Re: Profile drive to Apple IIplus

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Eric Smith <eric-no-spam-for-me@brouhaha.com> wrote:

> "Vince Briel" <vbriel@attbi.com> writes:
> > Hey all, anybody used the profile drive with an Apple IIplus? My drive and
> > controller is on the way and just was curious. Any info on it, I can't seem
> > to find install info. I'm sure I'll have to use prodos, but that's ok.
> 
> Yes, with Prodos it will "Just Work".  You just need to format/init it.

If I remember right, there is only one catch with using a ProFILE on an
Apple ][+: you cannot automatically boot from it unless you have an
enhanced IIe or later machine.  You will have to boot from floppy, or
press Ctrl-Reset to get into BASIC then use the PR#n command to boot
from the ProFILE.

This is due to the values used by the ProFILE controller's ID bytes.
The Apple ][+ and unenhanced IIe firmware were designed to boot from a
Disk ][ controller.  The firmware uses four bytes at locations $Cn01,
$Cn03, $Cn05 and $Cn07 to recognise a Disk ][ controller (they must have
the values $20, $00, $03 and $3C to be recognised).  The ProFILE
controller only matches the first three of these bytes, so the autostart
firmware won't boot from it.

In the enhanced IIe firmware, the autostart code was changed so that it
only checks the first three of the ID bytes, allowing the ProFILE and
other controller cards (e.g. SmartPort/SCSI) to boot automatically.
(The IIgs is the same as the enhanced IIe in this respect.)

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz