buyse@concave.uucp (Russell C. Buyse) (10/06/88)
This is an issue that has been on my mind off and on for a couple of
years now, and I think that it merits attention from Apple Computer in
the form of a simple, "technologically incremental" product for the Apple
IIe. (I promise I won't take Saint Keith's name in vain... ;-))
I have owned an Apple IIe for a number of years, and have, like most
other users on this system, souped up my system in order to squeeze out
more performance from my well-used and well-liked machine. However, I do
not currently own a hard disk drive and the several options that have
already been discussed here for hard disks have not been quite satisfying
to either my budget or my sensibilities.
I have also *long* wanted to be able to use my IIe with the Apple 3.5
drive to give me that extra capacity compared to my trusty 5.25" disk
drives. I don't really want to buy the Unidisk 3.5 due to its
'uniqueness'-- its slowness versus the Apple 3.5 and its lesser degree of
flexibility on the IIGS. And I *do* plan to buy an Apple IIGS someday
soon, so the Apple 3.5 is the floppy disk drive that would give me the
most mileage in the present and the future.
I suggest that Apple Computer come out with an Controller Card that will
let IIe users use the Apple 3.5 drive directly on their systems. This
seems to make a great deal of sense to me; with the advent of this card,
the Unidisk 3.5 could be eventually dropped altogether in favor of the
Apple 3.5 drive. Since the IIc+, according to reports seen here, already
supports the Apple 3.5 drive, the line of Apple II disk drives could be
unified once again! Apple IIe, IIc+, and IIGS users would once again be
united in their peripheral-of-choice, and all users would be able to take
advantage of the performance and compatibility of this single standard
for the 3.5" disk drive.
This would also be a significant incentive to IIe owners to upgrade their
machines (or buy IIGS's) since the upgrade (or purchase) when it happens
will take less of a budgetary bite-- the disk drives will be the same and
will require neither replacement nor additional peripherals for the best
performance.
I suggest that everyone who agrees with this idea should send some mail
to St. Keith (oops, took his name in vain after all) so that he may
forward the concrete evidence of market support for this "would-be"
product to the appropriate departments within Apple Computer.
I know that if there were such a controller card on the market right now
for a price comparable to that of the current Unidisk 3.5 controller, I'd
plunk down my cash today.
-Russell Buyse.
UUCP: {uiucdcs,sun,uunet,harvard,killer,usenix}!convex!buyse
--or--
buyse@convex.COMshawn@pnet51.cts.com (Shawn Stanley) (10/07/88)
buyse@concave.uucp (Russell C. Buyse) writes: >I have owned an Apple IIe for a number of years, and have, like most >other users on this system, souped up my system in order to squeeze out >more performance from my well-used and well-liked machine. However, I do >not currently own a hard disk drive and the several options that have >already been discussed here for hard disks have not been quite satisfying >to either my budget or my sensibilities. I know what you mean. However, I think you should check out current prices and options. You might find something you can use. I know of someone with an Everex hard drive (SCSI)... I don't know how much it costs, but it does cost less than the Apple 20SC. UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!shawn INET: shawn@pnet51.cts.com
ralphw@C7.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU (Ralph Hyre) (10/08/88)
In article <612@convex.UUCP> buyse@convexc.UUCP (Russell C. Buyse) writes: >I have also *long* wanted to be able to use my IIe with the Apple 3.5 >drive to give me that extra capacity compared to my trusty 5.25" disk >drives. Me too. >I don't really want to buy the Unidisk 3.5 due to its >'uniqueness'-- its slowness versus the Apple 3.5 and its lesser degree of >flexibility on the IIGS. Whats worse is that you can't even daisy chain Apple 3.5s or Apple 5.25s to the back of a UniDisk 3.5 (ONLY on the //e). I only want one floppy controller/system, and Smartport can handle 128 drives! But if I have the misfortune of wanting a 5.25 and 3.25 on a //e, I currently need two controllers! I think it's just a software (ROM) change, too. The UniDisk has a 65c02 and IWM inside, it should be able to control ANY apple drive attached to it. Maybe I'll hack one together someday, but what an ordeal for something that should have been done from the start!