More than a 70 Disk ][ drives have passed through my hands in the last few
years, and I have at leasted tested their fuctionality with a boot disk
before passing them on to other folks, and easily 99% of those drives were
still working just fine -even to the point reading from a tired old boot
disk. A few of the drives were simply dead, and one had been dropped off a
boat into Puget Sound, causing corrosion on the aluminum parts but over all,
I would say the Disk ][ drives were and still are very reliable. I have yet
to find a non-working Disk ][ controller card. Even the off-brand and
unlabeled clone controllers have seemed to be just as reliable.
Generally, the only drives/controllers that I've ever truly loathed were the
ones on the Tandy Model 12/16 computers. They seem to feed on 8" floppys,
and of the ones that worked at all, there was a one in four chance that the
bootup would fail from the start.
E.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> [mailto:owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Richard Erlacher
> Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 8:29 AM
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: Re: Apple Floppy Drives (was: More Apple Pimpers)
>
>
> There were several "fixes" provided by third-party vendors that
> got around the
> very weak clock extraction logic used by the Model 1. Several of
> them addressed
> other weaknesses in the TRS-80 architecture, but the FD interface
> seems to have
> been the most commonly addressed problem.
>
> These hardware patches came along enough later that they're not
> germane to the
> current discussion of the Apple][ disk system, however. In fact
> the TRS-80 only
> came up as a contemporaneous "system" that was available over
> about the same
> period that the Apple][ was being sold. I doubt that anyone will
> argue that the
> TRS-80 was better-integrated, or even that it was more reliable.
> It's well to
> consider that Tandy came out with three different models over the
> market life of
> the Apple][/][+. It's also worth remembering that microcomputers
> were a new
> concept back then, and their makers hadn't yet learned how to
> make them reliable
> enough to make them useful (yet). In that respect, Apple was
> probably out in
> front of its competitors. The only sorts of systems that were
> inexpensive and
> accessible enough to meet the needs of home users were the
> buy-it-by-the-board
> systems that required you do your own integration, which was
> technologically
> "beyond" the typical home user.
>
> The Apple][+ offered a system that was pretty complete as
> delivered, if not as
> reliable as the "standard" disk subsystem, that was only a part
> of the whole,
> and it was capable of twice the data capcity, it was, as a
> system, smaller,
> quieter, and more convenient, than the TRS-80, which was it's only "real"
> competitor in 1980. In the same stores where you could buy Apple
> systems in '82
> or so (remember Computerland?) you often could choose between
> NorthStar, Vector
> Graphics, and Cromemco systems, all offered as ready-to-run
> integrated setups,
> but they were quite a bit (often >2x) more costly. The only
> player in Apple's
> arena, still, was the Tandy offering.
>
> Dick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Dittman" <dittman_at_dittman.net>
> To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 7:17 AM
> Subject: Re: Apple Floppy Drives (was: More Apple Pimpers)
>
>
> > > Ugh! ... you'd be hard pressed to pick a worse example of a "standard"
> inteface
> > > to a floppy disk than the one used in the TRS-80, though lots
> of allegations
> > > were made about it. The TRS-80 is a poor example, apparenly
> right up to the
> > > model IV, and I know very little about its reputation. Tony
> Duell recently
> > > pointed out that his early experience with that indicated
> that it worked
> fairly
> > > well when the drives were well maintained. I only became
> familiar with the
> > > TRS-80 as a problem to be solved.
> >
> > Actually, the Model I with a daughterboard data separator or
> double-density
> upgrade
> > worked pretty well. I never had problems with the Model III or 4 disk
> systems.
> >
> > My Ampro LittleBoard never had any problems, either, along with
> my home-brew
> 8085
> > CP/M system.
> > --
> > Eric Dittman
> > dittman_at_dittman.net
> > Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/
> >
> >
>
Received on Wed Nov 07 2001 - 11:41:32 GMT