Re: Turbo IDE card + IDE CD-ROM?

[Jeff Thomas <a2forever@usa.net>]

Mike Tulloch wrote:

> Just curious if anyone has attempted this or if it can even be done....

Yes, it has been done! :-)

A German-based company, were selling them to the general public. I do not
know if they are still operating and/or selling them. This would have been
a couple of years back, now. They even, provided a patch for ProDOS to
recognise larger partitions!

Sorry about the sketchy details, it has been awhile since I've seen them
advertised.

An Ethernet card was also, created for the Apple IIe, as well.

Neither products are official Apple releases, tho...

The most common CD-ROM drives for the Apple II series are external SCSI
ones. The Official SCSI Controller from Apple is called, "Apple II
High-Speed SCSI Controller Card", works only with Apple IIe and IIGS. Plus,
you'll need the necessary CD-ROM drivers. If you, get an Apple IIGS
computer with a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), it is bound to have that card. Being
SCSI, you can daisy-chain other SCSI devices! Some early official Apple
CD-ROM drives were reportedly compatible with the Apple II - not sure,
which models. Even, System 6.0 (OS for IIGS) from Apple was suppose to come
out on CD - but, that could only be a rumour!

Of course, other CD-ROM drives did exist. I have a photograph of external
Philips unit being connected to an Apple IIe, back in 1986/7.

CD-ROMs were more likely to be attached to the Apple IIGS. A few
applications have been written for it, especially in conjunction with the
HyperStudio[?] (like HyperCard for the Mac). The more recent, being the
"Golden Orchard" software compilation CD-ROM, which is also,
Mac-compatible.

If I remember, correctly, most Apple II CD-ROMs were ProDOS based, divided
into 20Megabyte segements (because ProDOS, can't handle bigger partitions).

I hope that sheds some light on this particular issue!

Regards,
Jeff.