rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com (raymond r rankins) (11/17/90)
Does anyone have an info on the new 1.6MB 3.5 in disk drive from Applied Engineering? Mostly I'm interested in how they did it. I thought it wasn't possible to hook a high density drive to the GS port, something to do with the SmartPort interface chip (or we would have been able to put Mac 1.44 MB drives on it)? Did they do it with hardware hacking or a new 3.5 driver? How compatible is it? Anyone have any advance info on this? The ad in the latest A+/Macsider wasn't too descriptive or informative. Ray Ray Rankins |(518) 387-7174 | INTERNET: rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com 2 Moonglow Rd. |(518) 583-3320 | COMPUSERVE: 71131,3236 Gansevoort, NY 12831 | | AmericaOnline: RayRankins <insert standard disclaimer here> | GEnie: R.Rankins
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (11/18/90)
From rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com (raymond r rankins): > Anyone have any advance info on this? The ad in the latest > A+/Macsider wasn't too descriptive or informative. The AE drive is a standard 1.44-meg high density floppy drive. Unfortunately, it requires the SWIM disk controller chip to take advantage of the higher capacity. At present, only the Mac SE/30 and Mac II's have this chip. The IWM controller in the Apple II's will only be able to use it as a 800K drive. Still loads cheaper than Apple's 3.5" drive. BT \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (11/18/90)
In article <13938@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com (raymond r rankins) writes: >Does anyone have an info on the new 1.6MB 3.5 in disk drive from >Applied Engineering? Mostly I'm interested in how they did it. I >thought it wasn't possible to hook a high density drive to the GS >port, something to do with the SmartPort interface chip (or we would >have been able to put Mac 1.44 MB drives on it)? Did they do it with >hardware hacking or a new 3.5 driver? How compatible is it? Maybe they made the SmartPort think it was a REALLY SMALL Profile. Clearly, the drive must be 'smarter' than an Apple FDHD, which expects to see low level info (motor on/off, phase 0,1,2,3,4,??? on/off, read, write) from the disk controller. -- Matthew T. Russotto russotto@eng.umd.edu russotto@wam.umd.edu .sig under construction, like the rest of this campus.
toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (11/18/90)
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) writes: > The AE drive is a standard 1.44-meg high density floppy drive. >Unfortunately, it requires the SWIM disk controller chip to take advantage of >the higher capacity. At present, only the Mac SE/30 and Mac II's have this >chip. The IWM controller in the Apple II's will only be able to use it as a >800K drive. .... Not according to AE. They claim it can be upgraded to 1.4 or higher on a II, and I remember hearing from someone who had actually gotten through to tech support say that it was an EPROM revision _in_the_drive_ -- my guess is that higher densities can be accessed via the smartport packet interface (finally, Apple's in-house attempt at SCSI is good for SOMETHING), which only requires an IWM or equivalent. That is most likely the case if they >800K upgraded drives can be plugged into the disk port; if they need AE's controller then I don't know what scheme they are using. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (11/21/90)
From toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel): > Not according to AE. > > They claim it can be upgraded to 1.4 or higher on a II, and I remember > hearing from someone who had actually gotten through to tech support say > that it was an EPROM revision _in_the_drive_ -- my guess is that higher > densities can be accessed via the smartport packet interface (finally, > Apple's in-house attempt at SCSI is good for SOMETHING), which only requires > an IWM or equivalent. That is most likely the case if they >800K upgraded > drives can be plugged into the disk port; if they need AE's controller then > I don't know what scheme they are using. Sorry, my mistake. I didn't see AE's ad for the advertised "1.6-meg floppy drive" until last night. From the wording of the ad copy, it looks like the 1.6-meg density is available ONLY for the GS, and not the 8-bit Apple II's. Since they all use the IWM, I can only conclude that the difference is in the operating systems. Perhaps AE has some sort of GS/OS driver which will read the high-density floppies? Another question: why is it 1.6 megabytes instead of 1.44 megabytes? I'm not complaining, but shouldn't they just stick to the standard format? \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu) (11/23/90)
In article <201@generic.UUCP> taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) writes: > > Sorry, my mistake. I didn't see AE's ad for the advertised "1.6-meg >floppy drive" until last night. From the wording of the ad copy, it looks >like the 1.6-meg density is available ONLY for the GS, and not the 8-bit Apple >II's. Since they all use the IWM, I can only conclude that the difference is >in the operating systems. Perhaps AE has some sort of GS/OS driver which will >read the high-density floppies? Another question: why is it 1.6 megabytes >instead of 1.44 megabytes? I'm not complaining, but shouldn't they just stick >to the standard format? > > >\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | >/ \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | >\ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | >/ Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| >\ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | >/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) | Well, 1.44 meg are the standard for the Macs and not for the GSs. The Apple IIgs has no standard yet, so AE will be introducing the standard of 1.6meg for the GS. On America Online, there was a chat about how AE would archive (this was a while ago) the HD capabilities for the drive, seems to me like they archive it with a ROM upgrade in the drive an a new GS/OS driver. Just, hope the upgrade will be shipping soon, I would love to have 1.6meg of disk capacity on my GS. =============================================================================== Rafael Yu Internet: rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu America Online: Veraguas ===============================================================================
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (11/24/90)
From rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu): > Well, 1.44 meg are the standard for the Macs and not for the GSs. The > Apple IIgs has no standard yet, so AE will be introducing the standard of > 1.6meg for the GS. 1.44-meg floppies are also the standard for the rest of the world as well (i.e.: messy-DOS computers). Wouldn't it be cheaper for AE to use existing high-density drive mechanisms instead of building their own? Also, a 1.6-meg floppy would be unreadable on a 1.44-meg drive, and unless the AE drive also supports 1.44, it will not be able to read other high-density disks. Even with the right FST, you would not be able to read other 3.5" floppies. Stick with the standard, and you won't get any hassles down the road. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu) (11/26/90)
> 1.44-meg floppies are also the standard for the rest of the world as well >(i.e.: messy-DOS computers). Wouldn't it be cheaper for AE to use existing >high-density drive mechanisms instead of building their own? > > Also, a 1.6-meg floppy would be unreadable on a 1.44-meg drive, and unless >the AE drive also supports 1.44, it will not be able to read other >high-density disks. Even with the right FST, you would not be able to read >other 3.5" floppies. Stick with the standard, and you won't get any hassles >down the road. > >\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | >/ \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | >\ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | >/ Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| >\ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | >/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) | Well, the AE drive does support 1.44 disk, if I recall the same drive is sold for the Mac as a 800K or 1.44meg using the same mecanish. Indead, the drive sold by AE for the Mac and Apple are identical. The only difference is on the softwares (drivers) needed for each computer. Having 1.6meg of storage capacity on a single HD disk on a GS is more convenient than 1.44meg. And as I said before 1.44meg are standard on the Mac and IBM world but not on the GS. Now, how exactly AE came up with 1.6-meg format, I don't know, but I really like what they did. =============================================================================== Rafael Yu Internet: rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu America Online: veraguas =============================================================================== Apple IIgs forever....!!!
kreme@isis.cs.du.edu (Kreme thats all just K-r-e-m-e) (11/27/90)
In article <215@generic.UUCP> taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) writes: >From rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu): >> Well, 1.44 meg are the standard for the Macs and not for the GSs. The >> Apple IIgs has no standard yet, so AE will be introducing the standard of >> 1.6meg for the GS. > 1.44-meg floppies are also the standard for the rest of the world as well >(i.e.: messy-DOS computers). Wouldn't it be cheaper for AE to use existing >high-density drive mechanisms instead of building their own? But 1.6M > 1.44 Megs, and is conveniently twice 800K. SO the new disks hold twice the information. Makes it much easier to calculate. > Also, a 1.6-meg floppy would be unreadable on a 1.44-meg drive, and unless >the AE drive also supports 1.44, it will not be able to read other >high-density disks. Even with the right FST, you would not be able to read >other 3.5" floppies. Stick with the standard, and you won't get any hassles >down the road. Since when are you reading 1.44 disks on your GS anyway? I wouldn't be suprised if this drive COULD read 1.44 disks. All it is is a matter of formatting. If the mechanism can read 800K and 1.6M disks, why couldn't it be made to read the 1.44M disks as well (assuming there was ever an FST [hahaha])? -- | kreme@nyx.cs.du.edu |Growing up leads to growing old, and then to dying, and| |---------------------|dying to me don't sound like all that much fun. | | <Insert cute quote of your choice here!> |
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (11/29/90)
> Since when are you reading 1.44 disks on your GS anyway? I wouldn't be > suprised if this drive COULD read 1.44 disks. All it is is a matter of > formatting. If the mechanism can read 800K and 1.6M disks, why couldn't it > be made to read the 1.44M disks as well (assuming there was ever an FST > [hahaha])? I was thinking for future compatibility. Suppose that there IS an FST which will read Mac HD disks (like you said, hahahaha...), then it would be nice if the AE drive can read the 1.44-meg format. Conversely, I would like to stick a GS high-density into a Mac SuperDrive and use AFE to transfer my files to a Mac. I can't do that with a non-standard 1.6-meg floppy. Mind you, I'm not *complaining*... it would sure be nice to have 1600K available for a decent system AND a large application on one disk. Not to mention less disk swaps when backing up a hard drive! \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
rlw@ttardis.UUCP (Ron Wilson) (11/30/90)
In article <1990Nov18.060307.7413@eng.umd.edu>, russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes: >In article <13938@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> rankins@argentina.crd.ge.com (raymond r rankins) writes: >>Does anyone have an info on the new 1.6MB 3.5 in disk drive from >>Applied Engineering? Mostly I'm interested in how they did it. I >>thought it wasn't possible to hook a high density drive to the GS >>port, something to do with the SmartPort interface chip (or we would >>have been able to put Mac 1.44 MB drives on it)? Did they do it with >>hardware hacking or a new 3.5 driver? How compatible is it? > >Maybe they made the SmartPort think it was a REALLY SMALL Profile. >Clearly, the drive must be 'smarter' than an Apple FDHD, which expects to >see low level info (motor on/off, phase 0,1,2,3,4,??? on/off, read, write) >from the disk controller. Apple sells 2 3.5 inch floppy dirves that work on the IIgs SmartPort: The Apple 3.5, which is a "dumb" disk drive just like Disk ][ The Apple Unidisk 3.5, which has an onboard CPU and talks to the IIgs (or Mac or other II with a SmartPort card) using the SmartPort protocol. There are also a few 3rd party hard disk drives that also use the SmartPort protocol. Because the Smartport protocol is a serial protocol, data transfers are slow. Interestingly enough, the dumb Apple 3.5 drive is actually faster than any of the disk drives using the Smartport protocol (data transfer-wise, obviously HDs have faster seek times). Therefore it's entirely possible for a "smart" disk drive to support any size and/or density disk on the "stock" IIgs Smartport. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- About MS-DOS: "... an OS originally designed for a microprocessor that modern kitchen appliances would sneer at...." - Dave Trowbridge, _Computer Technology Review_, Aug 90 iwblsys\ rlw@ttardis uunet!rel.mi.org!cfctech!ttardis!rlw sharkey.cc.umich.edu/ rel.mi.org is currently sick - back in 2 weeks.
johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) (12/03/90)
In article <1990Nov26.043423.15402@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> rtyu@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Rafael T Yu) writes: > Having 1.6meg of storage capacity on a single HD disk on a GS is more >convenient than 1.44meg. And as I said before 1.44meg are standard on the >Mac and IBM world but not on the GS. Now, how exactly AE came up with 1.6-meg >format, I don't know, but I really like what they did. > Rafael Yu I cannot agree with this. Use of the 1.44 Meg format would mean that AE would have to provide a GS/OS device driver that would provide access to IBM/Mac disks with this format. You then have the potential to add FSTs for these formats, and to write simple conversion programs if Apple never produces the goods. These advantages far outweigh an extra 156K per disk. It may be nice to have a 1.6meg driver, but this needs to be a secondary consideration. John MacLean. -- This net: johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz.au Phone: +61 2 427 2999 That net: uunet!fawlty.towers.oz.au!johnmac Fax: +61 2 427 7072 Snail: Tower Technology, Unit D 31-33 Sirius Rd, Home: +61 2 960 1453 Lane Cove, NSW 2066, Australia.
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (12/07/90)
From johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean): > Use of the 1.44 Meg format would mean that AE would have to provide a > GS/OS device driver that would provide access to IBM/Mac disks with this > format. You then have the potential to add FSTs for these formats, and > to write simple conversion programs if Apple never produces the goods. > These advantages far outweigh an extra 156K per disk. It may be nice to > have a 1.6meg driver, but this needs to be a secondary consideration. I agree. No one (and I mean NO ONE) uses a 1.6-meg floppy format. The 800K standard isn't as bad since the Mac also reads/writes 800K floppies. When you think high-density, you automatically think 1.44-meg floppies. It would be so much "cleaner" if AE just gave us a standard 1.44-meg drive. It looks like the 2.88-meg floppy will become the standard in a couple of years (or less). The NeXT already uses it, and some laptops will be using it in the near future. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) (12/08/90)
|I cannot agree with this. |Use of the 1.44 Meg format would mean that AE would have to provide a |GS/OS device driver that would provide access to IBM/Mac disks with this |format. |You then have the potential to add FSTs for these formats, and to write |simple conversion programs if Apple never produces the goods. |These advantages far outweigh an extra 156K per disk. |It may be nice to have a 1.6meg driver, but this needs to be a secondary |consideration. |John MacLean. Well, this may ease your mind... 3.5" disk all have 80 tracks per side. 160 tracks per disk. Er, 3.5" disk it a bit general, OK. MOST 3.5" floppy disk drives... etc. Anyways, the way they put more data on the disk is putting more block per track. On the current Apple 3.5" drive there's 10 blocks per track, on AE's 1.6MB drive, there will need to be _20_ or double the number on Apple 3.5" , blocks per track. Besides, Apple compatible drives need to be variable speed, IBM drives have constant speed... a drive and FST would be needed to get the 1.6 or 1.44 MB drive ANYWAYS... so your point is moot. whitewolf@gnh-starport
phs172m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Stephen Harker) (12/10/90)
In article <248@generic.UUCP>, taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) writes: > From johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean): > >> Use of the 1.44 Meg format would mean that AE would have to provide a >> GS/OS device driver that would provide access to IBM/Mac disks with this >> format. You then have the potential to add FSTs for these formats, and >> to write simple conversion programs if Apple never produces the goods. >> These advantages far outweigh an extra 156K per disk. It may be nice to >> have a 1.6meg driver, but this needs to be a secondary consideration. > > I agree. No one (and I mean NO ONE) uses a 1.6-meg floppy format. The > 800K standard isn't as bad since the Mac also reads/writes 800K floppies. > When you think high-density, you automatically think 1.44-meg floppies. It > would be so much "cleaner" if AE just gave us a standard 1.44-meg drive. > > It looks like the 2.88-meg floppy will become the standard in a couple of > years (or less). The NeXT already uses it, and some laptops will be using it > in the near future. > The real difficulty, as I understand it, is that to get the so called 1.44Meg format (1.4Meg actually) you need the SWIM chip rather than the IWM on the GS motherboard. This is why all the later Mac's went to the SWIM, and why it was included in the Mac SE upgrade. Without the SWIM you can't write the appropriate disk format (MFM I think) needed. This is also seen in the necessity to connect the Apple 3.5 drive directly to a PC Transporter card in order to read/write IBM format 720K 3.5 disks. The PC transporter incorporates a standard PC MFM drive controller. Of course this raises the question of when/whether Apple will incorporate the SWIM on the GS motherboard, or offer an upgrade. The answer, the last I heard is no. This is another unfortunate indication of Apple's support for the II line. -- Stephen Harker phs172m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au Monash University
taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) (12/14/90)
From phs172m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Stephen Harker): > The real difficulty, as I understand it, is that to get the so called > 1.44Meg format (1.4Meg actually) you need the SWIM chip rather than > the IWM on the GS motherboard. This is why all the later Mac's went > to the SWIM, and why it was included in the Mac SE upgrade. Without > the SWIM you can't write the appropriate disk format (MFM I think) > needed. Aren't Smartport devices simply block storage devices as far as GS/OS is concerned? That is, it doesn't matter how big or small the device is, just as long as the block size is 512 bytes. I assume that is true since you can set your RAM disk to anything you want and GS/OS won't mind. So instead of putting the SWIM chip on the GS, why not equivalent circuitry on the drive itself? It would return a volume size of 2880 blocks and any OS-level calls should work fine. Even low-level block reads and writes should work, as long as the software uses Smartport calls. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ | Brian T. Tao | UUCP: torag!pnet91!taob | / \ | University of Toronto | INET: taob@pnet91.cts.com | \ The Apple II / | Scarberia, ON | taob@pro-micol.cts.com | / Lives On!! \ |:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::| \ / | "Computer guru? Someone who got their computer a | /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | couple of weeks before you did." (Alvin Toffler) |
ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) (12/14/90)
Ther is always the possibility that Apple will put the SWIM chip on an expansion card that fits in slot 5. Seems to me that is why the slots are there right? Also, Apple seems quite willing to produce cards, even if it is loathe to produce new motherboards. I doubt that any of the FSTs' would even need to be rewritten to work with the card. Just an idea of course. UUCP: bkj386!pnet91!ericmcg INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com
phs172m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Stephen Harker) (12/30/90)
In article <263@generic.UUCP>, taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao) writes: > > Aren't Smartport devices simply block storage devices as far as GS/OS is > concerned? That is, it doesn't matter how big or small the device is, just as > long as the block size is 512 bytes. I assume that is true since you can set > your RAM disk to anything you want and GS/OS won't mind. So instead of > putting the SWIM chip on the GS, why not equivalent circuitry on the drive > itself? It would return a volume size of 2880 blocks and any OS-level calls > should work fine. Even low-level block reads and writes should work, as long > as the software uses Smartport calls. > Sure, that would work as would a number of other possibilities such as having a controller card with a MFM controller chip, or using a SCSI floppy controller on the drive itself (some companies make them). Together with appropriate drivers any of these options would work. Indeed with the appropriate FST you could then read/write MS-DOS and Mac high density drives. However all of these cost extra money to the user and would probably stay non standard eg software is unlikely to be shipped in this format. This is a factor in a lot of people's purchase of hardware. Personally I would be likely to buy any solution to the problem of read/writing MS-DOS disks as I don't have a modem at present, and we use PC clones almost exclusively in this department (one Mac "owned" by a lecturer), hence it is a matter of relative cost/usefulness. It would be simplest (from my point of view anyhow) if Apple put the SWIM on the GS motherboard as the AE external drive would then be able to write in the 1440K MFM format with a appropriate driver. Then all we would need would be the FST's (once again). There may be other issues that make it more difficult, but this would be *my* preferred solution at present. Given the lack of a (released?) HFS FST for 800K formats at present I don't think the prospects are all that good. -- Stephen Harker phs172m@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au Monash University
johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz (John MacLean) (01/02/91)
In article <m0ihxtH-00002JC@jartel.info.com> whitewolf@gnh-starport.cts.com (Tae Song) writes: >|Use of the 1.44 Meg format would mean that AE would have to provide a >|GS/OS device driver that would provide access to IBM/Mac disks with this >|format. >|You then have the potential to add FSTs for these formats, and to write >|simple conversion programs if Apple never produces the goods. >|These advantages far outweigh an extra 156K per disk. >Besides, Apple compatible drives need to be variable speed, IBM drives have >constant speed... a drive and FST would be needed to get the 1.6 or 1.44 MB >drive ANYWAYS... so your point is moot. >whitewolf@gnh-starport I am not saying that they should not ship a drive that can support 1.6 Meg. Just that it is FAR more important to get it working with 1.44 Meg FIRST. That means: Provide a GS/OS driver which will access it as 1 1.44 Meg drive. Someone can then write a simple conversion program to get stuff off Mac/IBM high density disks [and just maybe we will get an FST one day that can do it]. John MacLean. -- This net: johnmac@fawlty.towers.oz Phone: +61 2 427 2999 That net: uunet!fawlty.towers.oz!johnmac Fax: +61 2 427 7072 Snail: Tower Technology, Unit D 31-33 Sirius Rd, Home: +61 2 960 1453 Lane Cove, NSW 2066, Australia.
ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) (01/06/91)
Apple will likely not be releasing any further new Apple II CPUs, however they have stated that they will continue to release peripheral cards and system software. What is stopping them from putting the SWIM chip and support circuitry on a card and modifying the 3.5" driver for the FDHD? (Came across an old Disk ][ controller which made me think of this) This makes a lot of people happy, indicates continued support for the user base and is within the corporate guidelines set out. Shouldn't cost much either. UUCP: bkj386!pnet91!ericmcg INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com