"Toy" computers (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Apr 25 11:57:57 2002

--- Chris <mythtech_at_mac.com> wrote:
I wrote:
> >I think there was exactly one product from Apple that plugged into
> >the floppy port - a 20MB disk that required strange drivers...

> ...there is a 2nd product that I am aware of Apple made for the floppy
> port. An external 400k floppy drive.

Well, OK. I didn't explicitly mention that they made floppies for the
floppy port. Bu "exactly one", I meant "hard disks" to show that it
wasn't commonly done. i.e., Apple didn't have a range of products
starting at 20MB and going up to 100MB with new models every 18 months.
One. AFAIK, it was developed for the 512KE, anyway, and perhaps the 512K
(the difference being 400KB vs 800KB internal floppy and ROMs to
match).

> They may have made other external floppies
> for the Mac that use the floppy port as well (800k maybe, but I don't
> think they made a 1.44 external)

They did make external 800K floppies. I have several. I even paid $135
for one at Dayton (the "cash" price) to hook up to an A-Max cartridge so
I could run MacOS on my Amiga (my mother owned a typesetting shop and
let me print on her $5,000 laserwriter for free).

I am not aware of any external 1.44MB floppies. I suppose you could
gut an 800K case (not a 400K - there's one wire different, AFAIK)
and drop a FDHD in there, but I doubt it was ever a product. I do not
recall if a FDHD drive will work, even at 800K, in a Mac that isn't
expecting it. I have one FDHD SE and several 800K SEs; I suppose if
I were ever curious enough, I could test the theory.

> There were of course other floppy drives made for floppy ports on the
> IIgs, but I don't know if that is the same functionality, so I don't know

> if those could have been used on the Mac.

Similar, certainly. I don't know enough about the differences to say
either way myself.

-ethan


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Received on Thu Apr 25 2002 - 11:57:57 BST

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