Apple II FAQ

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Mon Aug 7 14:40:28 2000

Adrian wrote:
> Speaking of external floppies, can I use a Mac 800K external on the ][GS? I
> really want to get it running this week if I get the chance, but its
> driveless ATM.

I think that works. The older Mac 800K external drives, in the very slim
beige case, don't have a pass-through connector, so they have to be last
in the chain, which means IIRC that you can't combine them with 5.25-inch
drives, since the 5.25 inch drives must follow any 3.5-inch drives.

The newer Apple 3.5 Drive has a pass-through connector.

The Apple FDHD or Superdrive will work just like an Apple 3.5 drive,
but the IIgs disk controller doesn't support the 1440K mode. Apple sold
a separate "Apple Universal Disk Controller" (or some such thing) that
could support 1440K mode.

The Apple UniDisk 3.5 should also work, but it is less optimal. It has
a built-in smart controller, but because it's too smart (or not smart
enough), the software has to poll it about once a second, and it makes
noise every time this happens.

Note that the Apple II models other than the IIgs cannot support any
3.5-inch disks other then the UniDisk 3.5 unless you use a suitable
controller card. The Disk II controller card only supports 5.25-inch
disks.
Received on Mon Aug 07 2000 - 14:40:28 BST