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apple II scsi or ide?

H

harshbarj

Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
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28
Location
Omaha
Just wondering if anyone knows of a cheap place to get a scsi or ide card for a IIgs? Ebay wants $200 for an apple II scsi card.

Or a homebrew IDE card would also work if such a thing exists.

Thanks.
 
Apple II SCSI cards are expensive and, AFAIK, no longer being manufactured. A better bet would be an IDE card. Here are three that are still available:

MicroDrive

MicroDrive/Turbo

Focus IDE

I've no personal experience with any of them, though the MD/T received a favorable review in Juiced.GS.
 
harshbarj said:
Just wondering if anyone knows of a cheap place to get a scsi or ide card for a IIgs? Ebay wants $200 for an apple II scsi card.
Click to expand...
Well, of course, eBay doesn't 'want' anything but transactions to take place. Sellers on eBay may want a particular price. But if you're patient, you might be able to get one for $100. But unless you get lucky at a thrift store or with a neighbor, 'cheap' doesn't really enter into the equation here.
harshbarj said:
Or a homebrew IDE card would also work if such a thing exists.
Click to expand...
Here's one site with plans:
http://s.guillard.free.fr/Apple2IDE/Apple2IDE.htm
 
Thanks. Give that the last scsi card I bought for a IIe cost around $80 I'll just stick with that focus IDE card. I may even give that homebrew a shot as I likely have most of the parts already.
 
I prefer the Apple SCSI card since you can daisy chain all kinds of devices to it. The High speed Apple II scsi card can hit $200 but the normal version (fast enough for me) can be found for $50-100 on ebay.
 
I've got a microdrive/turbo in my IIgs, and it works beautifully. SCSI would be a great option for adding more/different devices to the system (would love a card and an SC20) but sadly I never see very reasonable prices listed on the Canadian ebay site. Many on the U.S. site, but many sellers seem to be unwilling to fill out the three pages of paperwork necessary to ship to Canada...

I keep my eyes open though, and every so often the SCSI cards do pop up on the local ebay...
 
Unknown_K said:
I prefer the Apple SCSI card since you can daisy chain all kinds of devices to it. The High speed Apple II scsi card can hit $200 but the normal version (fast enough for me) can be found for $50-100 on ebay.
Click to expand...

Once you go RamFAST, you'll never go back, so don't even look at a machine running with one. Once you throw it into a IIgs with DMA enabled and an upgraded TranswarpGS, you'll think everything else is slow as a glacier. I have a Apple 40SC (40MB HD) and a CD SC+ hooked up to mine. I never did get around to hooking up the 40SC tape drive to it though. I did hook up some odd devices to it over the years like a Floptical drive, Zip drive, and some 300MB per side Sony magneto optical drive that weighed about 40lbs (likely the first commercial drive ever made).
 
Hi!
This sounds almost identical to the PC/XT IDE adapter situation prior to the XT-IDE project. We should really consider a A2-IDE project based on the Apple2IDE homebrew project. If it is kept simple this would not be a complicated project and cost less than the alternatives. If there is sufficient interest, I can help with the PCB but don't own an Apple of any kind so I won't be able to help with the software.

Andrew Lynch
 
lynchaj said:
Hi!
This sounds almost identical to the PC/XT IDE adapter situation prior to the XT-IDE project. We should really consider a A2-IDE project based on the Apple2IDE homebrew project. If it is kept simple this would not be a complicated project and cost less than the alternatives. If there is sufficient interest, I can help with the PCB but don't own an Apple of any kind so I won't be able to help with the software.

Andrew Lynch
Click to expand...

Such a project has been successfully done and several runs of cards made. http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php
 
Hi

Your example rather proves my point though. The XT-IDE costs $12 for the PCB and can be built for much less than the $150 for the CFFA board example you cited. The other options were $100-$200 each. An A2-IDE using simple TTL chips and without a ROM would only cost probably around $20 tops assuming builders assemble their own boards.

However if there is no interest in a simple low cost board it is moot.

Andrew Lynch
 
Cost is a factor, I got my IIgs scsi card for around $55 many years ago the high end ones are way too pricey. I would not even had a Transwarp IIgs if I didn't find one in a IIgs system I got for $10. If you want to run GS/OS on a HD then a memory card with more then 1MB is needed (another big expense).
 
it would be difficult to boot the system from HD without ROM, so I would think it shoud definitely be required. The real concern is the timing problem using simple TTL parts, due to the slower Apple bus. Frankly with WD being the sole manufacturer still producing ATA drives, I am skeptical of the viablility of the project in the long run.
 
I don't really see the lack of new ATA drives being an issue with a project like this. Certainly don't need 500Gb+ on a IIe :)
Surely one would use something like a CF card anyway?
 
Moonferret said:
I don't really see the lack of new ATA drives being an issue with a project like this. Certainly don't need 500Gb+ on a IIe :)
Surely one would use something like a CF card anyway?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but don't you WANT 500GB+ on an Apple IIe? :D That said, capacity is secondary to compatibility. The II does not need to be able to use the entire capacity, but it does have to be compatible with largest drives.
 
dorkbert said:
Yeah, but don't you WANT 500GB+ on an Apple IIe? :D That said, capacity is secondary to compatibility. The II does not need to be able to use the entire capacity, but it does have to be compatible with largest drives.
Click to expand...

So, you had something in mind like this?

corvus_apple_large.jpg


Let's see a 500GB IDE drive would give you how many floppies? Could you even fill one with the total of all software released for the Apple II?
 
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