Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Cable question
Keywords: drive
Message-ID: <17636@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 17 May 91 14:52:53 GMT
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 25


I have an old 5.25" floppy drive for an Apple II+.  It's beige, with a
ribbon cable.

I want to connect it to an Apple IIe.  (OK, actually a Mac LC with a IIe
emulator card, but that should be the same thing, right?)

I've been talking with a company that advertises in A+ magazine (I
forget which one), and the tech there says that a simple adaptor won't
work, because the IIe drives use an additional signal not used by the
II+ drives.  He says the drive will spin up and calibrate OK, but the
IIe will not see the disk.  He doesn't know whether there's a simple
workaround.  Not being a hardware person myself, neither do I.

Does anyone know whether this can be done?  Can anyone tell me the
difference between the signals used by the two drives?  (I won't
understand you, but I can pass the information on to someone who
will.)  Is there a simple known workaround, or it is known that there
is none?

This must have been a FAQ a few years ago, when the IIe came out.  I'm
hoping someone still remembers the answers.  Anybody?


-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)  I don't speak for my employer. --