Path: utzoo!utdoe!generic!pnet91!taob
From: taob@pnet91.cts.com (Brian Tao)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: AE 1.6 MB 3.5" drive
Message-ID: <201@generic.UUCP>
Date: 20 Nov 90 17:15:08 GMT
Sender: root@generic.UUCP
Organization: People-Net [pnet91], Etobicoke, ON
Lines: 29

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?


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