Apple /// stuff (was: Re: This weekend's haul)

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Wed Jun 25 02:21:53 1997

Whoah! I ignore my mailbox for a few days and come in to find out it's
waaay over quota and stuff will start bouncing if I don't clean it up real
fast.

Gotta love this group! :)

On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Sam Ismail wrote:

> I would guess that the controller is compatible with Disk ][ drives,
> although it would not surprised me if Apple purposely changed the pinouts
> or used a different connector to thwart anyone attempting to use a ][
> drive with the ///.

Yeah, I guess that wouldn't surprise me. If anyone does know for certain,
please do tell!

> > Thankfully my internal drive works, but I wouldn't mind hooking up a
> > second drive to it... and the chances of finding a Disk /// lying around
> > are practically nil.
>
> I don't think they made such a beast...did they?

Yes, they did. Actually, I picked up a little booklet in a thrift shop
recently, that's labeled "Apple In Depth: A Reference Guide to Apple
Products", and the Disk /// is in there.

An interesting quote from the "Apple Disk ///" page: "The first external
drive that you add to your system just plugs into the back of your Apple
///. Then up to two more drives can be added in 'daisy chain' fashion...
...There are no separate power cords to tangle up because the Apple ///
supplies power directly to the disks."

I don't think I'd trust my Apple /// in its current condition to power
three external drives, though. :)

> ShrinkIt is easy to use. You'll do fine. I'll try to e-mail the images
> to you in uuencoded format sometime within the next few days (I am busy).

Take your time, I have a full mailbox at the moment. :)

> > I don't suppose the /// disks are available at some anonymous FTP site
> > already? It'd be especially cool in .dsk format, as that's how I transfer
> > all of my ][ software. (I never had a decent terminal program for my
> > Micromodem IIe, so I wrote a whole disk transfer program and extract
> > individual files when I have to once the disk image is on my Amiga.)
>
> I doubt it. It would be a good thing to do though.

Once the disks are in my hands, I'll make .dsk files for my own archives,
anyway.

It's funny... I started making these .dsk files in 1993, before I was
aware of anyone else using them for anything. The format is obvious, but
I even used that extension.

I had just discovered, after several years of neglecting my ][+, that bit
rot had set in on a fair number of disks and I wanted to put the data
somewhere safe.

> Sam
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass

Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
Received on Wed Jun 25 1997 - 02:21:53 BST