Re: Disk ][ (Notice I spelled it right? :) ) Query...

["Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net>]

Don,

Don't open those drives. I'll send you a 5.25" disk drive controller
for $5. The Apple 5.25" drive plugs right in and the second drive into
the first one. However, no 5.25 drive controller will operate a 3.5"
drive. You need a Liron for Unidisk, UDC or Apple 3.5" controller
for the Apple 3.5" drive. You can blow up drives and controllers messing
around with cables.

Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprises
http://garberstreet.netfirms.com


Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:oZFwa.14365$JX2.867779@typhoon.sonic.net...
>
> Hey folks, I'm sitting here wondering...
> I've got several physically smashed up, broken-keyboard Apple //es that,
> cannibalized and combined, have morphed to become a total of two
> functional (but one cosmetically hosed, with a big ol' chunk missing out
> of one side of the case) "SuperFat" Enhanced //es.
>
> I have christened them "Humpty" and "Dumpty", for reasons that should be
> self-apparent, and if I can figure out a way to get 'em up and running,
> and onto my Mac-based LAN, those will be their DNS names :) But I
> digress...
>
> I've got assorted cards for them, some of which (Super Serial, 80-col,
> ext. 80-col, AE 256K - Most anything that's marked, anyway...) I can
> identify, and in most cases, I know their purpose for existing. Some
> leave me utterly clueless. Others, like the stack of Disk][ controller
> cards, leave me in an in-between state. I know EXACTLY what they are,
> and I know EXACTLY what their intended purpose is. Unfortunately, there
> were no Disk ][ drives in the dumpster I dove for these units. The local
> "not-really-the-Salvation Army store, but a real similar concept"
> operation used to have a butt-load of them due to an arrangement with
> several local school districts. Alas, that was last year. Now they only
> seem to have the newer Unidrive/UniDisk 5.25 and 3.5 units. Now what I'm
> wondering is this:
>
> I have another disk controller card, labeled
> "I/O Controller 655-0101-C".
> Compare that with the Disk ][ card, which is labeled
> "Disk ][ Interface Card 650-X104-8"
>
> After carefuly examining both of them, and sketching out a set of crude
> but reasonably accurate schematics, unless I'm a *WHOLE LOT* stupider
> about electronics than what I think I am, I find that they are identical
> cards, with the exact same circuit, with the exception of the fact that
> the X104 card connects with two arrays of 2x10 Molex-type connector
> pins, and the 0101 runs the same traces to a single, flat 20-conductor
> rainbow cable header (With one pin of the connector being N/C), and the
> rainbow cable terminates as a female DB-19 connector.
>
> When I say these cards look identical other than the connections, I mean
> right down to the PROM chips (On both cards, they're Apple part
> #3410027-A for P5, and 341-028-A for P6, both bearing a 1981 copyright
> date and the "P5A" and "P6A" notations, respectively) bypass capacitor
> types and values, support chips, the works. There's some slight
> trace-routing differences, but the ends of the traces, regardless of how
> different their paths might be in between, hook up to the same pins on
> the same chips at both ends, with the exception of the "jump off the
> card" connection point, where there are substantial differences to go
> along with the substantially different physical connections being used.
>
> Does anyone know if this means that I should be able to hook up the male
> DB-19 end of a UniDisk or UniDrive 5.25's cable to the X104 (Disk ][)
> card through a properly wired (probably designed and fabbed by me, since
> I suspect my life ain't charmed enough to have it be an off-the-shelf
> item) molex-style header<-->DB-19 adapter, and expect to find myself
> looking at a functional card/drive combination?
>
> Or am I just plumb out of my mind to be coming up with such a
> hare-brained scheme?
>
> Anybody care to weigh in with an opinion on this concept? Yes? No?
> Maybe? "You're outta yer freekin' head"? "Where can I get some of
> whatever you've been smoking"? "If I send ya 20 bucks, will ya make me
> one?" offers? Something else? If so, please don't hesitate to speak up.
> I'm honestly eager to hear some input on the idea from other people,
> whatever that input might be. If it's already been done and published,
> that's fine... Point me at it, please?
>
> --
> Don Bruder -  dakidd@sonic.net <--- Preferred Email - unmunged,
SpamAssassinated
> Hate SPAM? See <http://www.spamassassin.org> for some seriously great
info.
> I will choose a path that's clear: I will choose Free Will! - N. Peart
> Fly trap info pages:
<http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/Horses/FlyTrap/index.html>


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.478 / Virus Database: 275 - Release Date: 5/6/03