shaver@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Dave Shaver) (12/31/88)
I have an Apple ][+ full of cards and a simple question. I'm pretty technical in both the ][+ hardware and (older) software. However, I've not been following hard drives in the Apple world since the 20M Sider came out. My application is mostly Appleworks (using Plus Works) and AE: Pro. Currently I have a (dead) 5M profile. I'm looking to replace (or repair) the drive. I have access to a Hitachi 40M DK511-5 (ST506 compatible command set) drive. I'm wondering what I can do to get this running on my system. I've considered getting an Adaptec 506 <-> SCSI controller and then getting the Apple SCSI card, but I'm not sure that would work. Does anyone have experience with this? I already spent $120 for the (now useless) Profile controller card. Is there anything out there yet that allows one to hook up a 506 drive to a ][+ (or //e) without using SCSI? Also, does anyone have repair manuals for the profiles? I'm not scared to attack it with my 'scope and iron. /\ Dave Shaver -=*=- CS Systems Support Group, Iowa State University \\ UUCP: hplabs!hp-lsd!atanasoff!shaver \/ Internet: shaver@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu
jockc@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Jock Cooper) (12/31/88)
In article <569@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu> shaver@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Dave Shaver) writes: >Currently I have a (dead) 5M profile. I'm looking to replace (or >repair) the drive. I have access to a Hitachi 40M DK511-5 (ST506 >compatible command set) drive. I'm wondering what I can do to get this >running on my system. > >I've considered getting an Adaptec 506 <-> SCSI controller and then >getting the Apple SCSI card, but I'm not sure that would work. Does >anyone have experience with this? etc... >Is there anything out there yet that >allows one to hook up a 506 drive to a ][+ (or //e) without using SCSI? > I have spent about 100 man hours over the past few months playing with such a setup. I have a Toshiba 105 meg ST-506 and also a Hitachi DK511-5.. I also have the Adaptec 4070 (RLL) ST-506 <-> SCSI controller. I have both Apple and CMS SCSI cards. I have come to the conclusion that the Apple SCSI card is slightly incompatible with the Adaptec board, why I don't know. With the Apple card, I can do pretty much anything I want with the drive, (read/write blocks, send SCSI commands to do low level format, mode sense/select, etc.)... However when the Apple SCSI card initializes itself, it somehow incorrectly interperets the data it gets from the Adaptec. It thinks that odd numbered devices (Slot x, drive 1 or GS/OS device .SCSI1) are offline. You can still read and write blocks to and from a partition, but GS/OS and ProDOS 8 will not bother trying since the card reports that the partition is offline. Even numbered devices (Slot x, drive 2 or GS/OS device .SCSI2) are OK. I have tried using both Disk drives with the Apple card, and have had the same results with both. CMS recognizes its partitions fine. One thing you can not do with the CMS card is send low level SCSI commands (such as low level format) to the drive. So if the drive is already formatted, I'd suggest the Adaptec 4070 / CMS SCSI card combo ... (Adaptec 4070 will give you 60 megs, Adaptec 4000 only 40megs). As long as you don't have to low level format the drive ever, you'll be ok. There is also a ST-506 controller for the // series, made by Perlin electronics I think. I have not heard anything good about the card or the manufacturer. The card is called the Megaboard. ps. I'm investigating patching the GS/OS SCSI.DRIVER to ignore the incorrect status byte returned by the SCSI card... If I figure out how, it should allow the Apple card to work properly with the Adaptec. Of course, I'll probably have to patch Prodos 8 somehow, too. Jock Cooper ihnp4!killer!jockc